71. Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-One
Kat
Ispoke to Bex. It was as bad as she’d said. WORSE than she’d said. Even just rumors of a company pulling out because of a breach of a morality clause or disingenuous intentions, especially one as big as Blackstone, had caused tidal waves throughout the software community.
Security companies, airlines, structural and urban development companies, private contractors.
All spooked.
All feeding off each other.
All because I looked like someone not worth being morally in bed with.
Projections were showing a loss of half of ALL our contracts, not just the new ones, by the time the fallout settled into ash.
And I’d need to let go about half of my employees.
And cancel the expansion in London, which meant another five thousand jobs canceled.
I’d fucked this up so, so badly. I never should’ve spoken to him again after finding out he was a driver.
After finding out he was a driver for the company I had signed a contract with. I just hadn’t thought it could even POSSIBLY come to this. I’d thought the NDA was the worst of it.
That was nothing.
My advisory board—that purposely didn’t have ANY of my C suite on it—would be sending over their recommended plan of action.
But I already knew what they would say. I already knew the only way to fix this, now that it had spiraled out of control in the media and in the software community and honestly everywhere else in only six hours.
Resigned, I knelt on the concrete before Henry’s car, finding it somehow fitting that my squishy pad was gone. Forcing my way through one of my worst triggers was just… something I had to do.
Because by morning? I’d likely be resigning as CEO.
Handing over my stake in the company.
Saving all those jobs.
Begging Blackstone to KEEP the software anyway, even if it wasn’t keeping me.
And fully losing everything that I was and everything that mattered to me in one fell swoop.
Andy tried to talk to me. I ignored him, except for things regarding work. I couldn’t handle anything else, and I needed to get this finished, get this working right. I NEEDED to.
I was hoping I could somehow convince Blackstone to keep me. And if it were just Basti, it would be no problem.
Hell, he already knew a lot of what had been going on, APPARENTLY. But it wasn’t him. He wouldn’t cause this kind of uproar.
It had to be the owner. Who I hadn’t even met. I probably would now.
Great.
I worked. And worked. And got every. Single. Fucking. Sensor. Replaced that had been broken. And then as dawn was breaking on my second all-nighter in three days, I got to work making sure all the sensors were fully connected to the software.
And then I worked to make some patches so that Tim could use the software and sensors we had working NOW even if I never got the chance to finish the rest of it.
But it was time. I needed to go take my pitiful bath and get myself as presentable as possible. I knew I looked like shit. But it was what it was.
I made sure the fucking hickey was covered by both clothing and half a pound of makeup. Luckily one of the white team shirts with purple stitching had a slightly higher neck.
Just as I was thinking maybe the rumors were unfounded and I could use that to keep the rest of my contracts, I got an email from Basti.
Requesting my presence at a meeting this morning before the race, attended by the owner and Tim as well as himself.
Excellent.
Apparently, Tim ran the exit interviews. Never took him for an HR crony.
Or maybe he was just there to escort me off the premises. Who knew. I certainly wasn’t trustworthy enough to be left to my own devices, after all.
I was *gasp* a woman. There weren’t any of those in their garage for a reason, apparently.
I took care with my makeup, knowing I needed to look as professional as I could, even with my casts and sling and everything else.
And I held my head high, walking toward the gate.
Even if it felt like I was walking toward my own execution.