Miss Manage (Miss #9)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

CHARLOTTE

My stomach pitched as the elevator doors opened onto the top floor. The glossy marble gleamed beneath the bite of my four-inch heels, each click a reminder that today was supposed to change everything.

“I deserve this promotion. I’ve earned it.”

I repeated the mantra in my head until my heartbeat slowed to a respectable pace.

Nobody knew the internal struggle I fought to appear calm under pressure. Especially today, I was determined to win that battle and maintain my signature composure. There was so much on the line.

The gravity of the situation was represented in the form of three men seated in the executive conference room, each of them dressed impeccably in suits and ties.

“Hello, Charlotte, thanks for joining us,” Wendall Wright greeted. Wendall was the outgoing CEO of Arrow Communications and had been both my mentor and my boss over the last nine years. That relationship would end tomorrow when he officially retired.

“Happy to be here,” I replied.

He leaned in, whispering. “Did you leave your phone downstairs, I hope?”

“Yes, of course.” I knew the rules. The owners had a quirk about cell phones being in their meetings and asked for them to be checked at the door, or better yet, left behind.

Reggie and Ronald McMillion sat at the far end of the gleaming table.

Brothers in their mid-sixties, they’d been born into privilege as heirs to a newspaper empire which had once been profitable but had turned into a dying industry.

Two decades ago, they’d been smart enough to pivot, buying Arrow Communications.

The brothers were opposites in look and manner. Ronald was tall and lined with age, from his weathered face to his hands. Reggie was squat with a thick middle, and the skin on his face was pulled taut from a number of plastic surgeries.

Both men rose to shake my hand, showing an effort to be personable.

I suspected, soft skills didn’t come naturally to either of them.

Nevertheless, the grip of their hands was firm.

But their expressions showcased their differences in personality, with Reggie smiling warmly and Ronald holding a neutral expression in place.

Reggie, the more social of the two, greeted me first. “Charlotte, always a pleasure to see you.”

“A pleasure to see you both, as well. I hope you had a nice trip back from London.” They’d recently returned from a busy week seeing clients there.

“Yes, the trip was—” Reggie shared a look with his brother. “Successful.”

I took my position in one of the leather conference room chairs, sliding my gaze to Wendall for some sort of clue, but his expression was unreadable.

Reggie continued. “Speaking of the trip to London, we have some news to share.”

My hands clasped together under the table while I steadied my breath and facial expressions. No matter the decision regarding my promotion, I would react professionally and with calm.

“We’ve officially acquired one of our competitors, Juniper Communications.”

Not the news I’d expected to hear today. My head instantly filled with dozens of questions. Juniper was a smaller firm based out of London, but I hadn’t known they were in the market for a merger.

“That is news. Congratulations.” An expansion of our presence meant a foothold in Europe to better service our international clients.

“With such a transition, we couldn’t in good conscience appoint a permanent CEO,” Ronald added, his tone gravelly and matter of fact. “We’d like for you to be the acting CEO until we recruit for the position formally. You understand, of course.”

Acting. Interim. Temporary.

Acid crawled up my throat. “Of course. I understand.”

Wendall offered a reassuring smile. “I think we can all agree you’re the clear frontrunner for the permanent position, but with the timing of this merger, optics are…important.”

I forced a polite smile. “I look forward to proving myself in this role.”

Hadn’t I already been proving myself for years? That I could balance work and family without dropping the ball? For sixteen years, I’d juggled board meetings with school pickups, deadlines with midnight fevers, quarterly reports with science projects and baseball practices.

What was one more hurdle? This was what I did. What I’d always done. Kept the plates spinning, carried the weight people doubted I could, and made it look effortless.

But if I’d thought not getting my promotion would be the only bomb of the day, I’d have been wrong.

“And we’ll need you to cut five percent of staff in the next three to four weeks,” Reggie added casually, as if he were discussing lunch options.

“Layoffs?”

Ronald checked his watch, clearly more interested in the time than the subject under discussion. “Juniper adds five hundred to our fifteen hundred employees. With any merger, there’s redundancy, and now is the perfect time to trim the fat.”

Actually, the perfect time would have been before the merger, when severance could have been built into the deal and expectations set up front.

The weight of it pressed against my chest like a stone. I understood business and had made hard calls before, but letting people go was the part of leadership that never got easier. “I’ll do what’s necessary to ensure a smooth transition,” I replied calmly.

“As any good future CEO would.” Reggie’s words landed less like a compliment and more like a subtle reminder the position wasn’t mine yet.

The meeting wound down with a few final notes on the merger. At last, the brothers stood, handing me a thick folder, the detailed contents of which I knew I’d spend the next twenty-four hours studying. Wendall walked me out, and the ride down to the twentieth floor together was heavy with silence.

In a small conference room, he closed the door behind us. “I wish I could’ve warned you.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “You owe me no favors, Wendall.” Even if he’d known for weeks, I would never have expected him to break confidence regarding the deal or decision on the CEO position.

Still, the ache was there. After years of sacrifice, of clawing my way toward being the first woman to hold the top job for Arrow, I still wasn’t done climbing the rungs on the ladder. But I didn’t have the luxury of licking my wounds. Not now.

I straightened in my chair. “Let’s talk Juniper. What details can you share?”

He nodded, relieved by the pivot. “Most of it you’ll find in the report, which includes biographies on each employee.

You’ll want to focus on your three leaders, who will all be here on Monday for onboarding and orientation.

Then you’ll want to travel to London as soon as possible to learn more about their operations there. ”

“I assume the three Juniper leaders will all be applying for the CEO position?”

“Probably, although in my opinion your biggest competition is Gabriel Chambers, the COO at Juniper who will retain the title for now since you’re now acting CEO. He’s relocating here.”

Terrific. Not only was the CEO role temporary, they’d already backfilled my old one. Efficient, if nothing else. Then again, if I didn’t end up keeping this position permanently, did it matter? It wasn’t as if I had any intention of going back to COO.

I flipped to Gabriel Chambers’s bio page and blinked at the photo. Corporate bio pictures were supposed to be functional and boring, not thirst traps. Yet there he was looking like he’d trademarked “Sexy Businessman” with his chiseled cheekbones and clean-cut looks.

“He’s smart, ambitious, and he’s been in the industry about as long as you have.”

Wonderful. Not only was he the poster child for CEO, he had the credentials.

“But he’s not you.” Wendall leaned forward, voice steady.

“He lacks your people skills, your intuition, and your patience. That’s what sets you apart.

What you have in common is you both like a challenge, so expect him to be one.

He could’ve coasted as COO at his father’s company, but instead he carved his way up through some of the toughest firms in the industry. ”

His last name clicked. “His father is Gerard Chambers of Chambers Technology?”

Wendall nodded, a grin tugging at his lips. “Indeed. Makes you wonder why father and son couldn’t work together, doesn’t it? Gerard’s not getting any younger, so I was surprised when Gabriel went all the way to London to take the COO job at Juniper last year instead of stepping into Chambers Tech.”

Interesting, but hardly shocking. Working with family would be tough no matter the dynamic.

“I appreciate the insight.” I took a calming breath. This was a lot for one day. But none of this was Wendall’s burden. This was his last day before his well-earned retirement. “I’m surprised they didn’t ask you to stay on through the merger.”

He shook his head. “They know you’ve got this, Charlotte. Juniper’s leadership team will be here next week.”

One week didn’t give me a lot of time to prepare, but I’d manage.”

“Do they know about the layoffs?”

“Not yet. Cuts are a very unfortunate side effect of this merger.”

“Very.” My pen tapped against the Juniper report, the numbers staring back like my most important homework assignment. Fifteen hundred and ten Arrow employees. Five hundred and sixty more from Juniper. Over a hundred jobs to cut. “I’ll start by looking at the lowest performers and go from there.”

“I have no doubt you’ll make the right choices.” Wendall’s gaze softened. “My greatest pleasure in two decades here at Arrow has been the last nine years working with you. There’s no one more qualified to be my successor.”

I appreciated his vote of confidence more than I could ever convey. “Thank you, Wendall. It means a lot coming from you.”

I deserved this promotion. I’d earned it.

But I had my work cut out for me.