Chapter Rating: G - What? No Swearing or Sex?? I want a fracking refund gosh-darnit!!!
"Gentleman, Ladies," Olivia acknowledged the presence of those gathered before her as she entered the large conference room and strode confidently to her seat. "I'm glad that everyone was able to make it on such short notice," she opened as she tossed her attaché on the table, removed her jacket to place it on the back of her chair, and sat down. "I promise you I will make it worth the inconvenience."
For a quick moment she glanced down the long table in front of her, surveying the full room of eyes that were fixed upon her. Fifteen men and four women were anxiously waiting to hear what pressing matters the hotel owner had to discuss with them. She leaned back in her seat at the head of the table – the fearless leader in her rightful place of power. She took a deep breath.
So good to be home! she thought contentedly to herself. She allowed herself a few more seconds to revel in the thrill of being back where she belonged. In the position in which she thrived, doing what she loved. Commanding respect and demanding excellence. Revered and esteemed. Feared, yet obeyed. Always in complete control.
Oh yes, Olivia Spencer is back on top, she smirked.
"I can see that you are wondering why I have called you to this meeting," she began. "No doubt you are all aware of the untimely demise of the hotel acquisition in California..." She heard a snort from one of the attendees. Rather than blowing up at everyone until she could weed out the culprit, she, instead, leaned forward with her forearms folded flat on the table in front of her and moved her eyes over each person in the room.
"And I am sure that some of you may have your own theories as to what I could possibly have done while conducting the business of this deal that resulted in the total loss of it. Allow me to state clearly, for the record, that there was nothing that I nor anyone else could have done to stop what has happened." Olivia kept her voice even and calm. "If there is anyone in this room that does not believe this to be fact and has, perhaps, lost faith in my ability to close such a business transaction successfully, then I would please invite such a person to kindly exit this meeting, through that door, right now." Her voice had become low and incredibly stern. "Such an individual is not the type of colleague that I need on this team. If you stay seated, however, I am going to assume that I have your complete confidence and unwavering willingness to move forward with me into what is going to be a very, very exciting transition for this company."
The atmosphere crackled, but no one moved an inch.
"Splendid," Olivia ended with a bit of sarcasm. She leaned back and proceeded to pull a stack of report folders from the case beside her and motioned to her assistant, Greg, to begin handing them down the table.
"Please refrain from tearing into these like kiddies on Christmas morning," she chuckled. "Allow me a few moments before we open them," she ordered, and although it was difficult for each member to avoid the temptation, they all placed the folders back onto the table.
"Two days ago, whilst attempting to solidify a reasonably negotiable deal with the owner of the Empire hotels, I was ambushed, so to speak, with the news that the entire franchise had been offered to Livingston-Westgate for a near total of 17 billion dollars. Last night, I placed a call to the public relations team at the LWG and asked for some non-confidential information." She leaned back in her chair, gripping each end of her pen between the indexes and thumbs of both hands and moved her hands in alternating circles. She narrowed her gaze and gave a slight cheshire grin. "The offer has not yet been accepted."
"Olivia, if you are about to tell us that you've gone and made a 17 billion plus dollar counter-offer on the Empire, we all might as well just..." The interrupting man was stopped abruptly as Olivia slammed her pen, with her palm on top of it, down hard unto the table, causing many of them to jump. No one moved a muscle nor looked up at the angered woman for fear of getting singed by the heat of her glare.
"This would be a prime example of someone who is not willing to accept me as a capable leader." She did her best to control her temper as she turned to the offending businessman. "Anyone who believes that I would be so asinine as to consider such a thing, knowing full well we haven't the means by which to do so, obviously has no faith in me. And, quite frankly, it tells me that you think that I'm a fool," she said resentfully.
"I would never…"
"You. That door. Right now." Her voice was low and venomous. The embarrassed man looked as though he was about to try and salvage his position at the table when Olivia shot a straight arm outwards, finger pointing directly to the exit. He rose out of his chair without looking anyone in the eyes and proceeded quickly out of the room.
Olivia took another deep breath to extinguish the small fire that had ignited within her. She continued to speak to the rest of the group in the same, professional tone that she had used before being interrupted.
"Where I learned of this new deal, made not by Mr. Rivera himself, but by his daughter, Natalia... " she paused momentarily, seemingly unable to even utter the name without a deluge of emotions flooding her already busy mind. "...was during a closed meeting with the entire Rivera clan. During this encounter Ms. Rivera, in the course of trying to defend her actions, let something slip that I'm sure she thought would go unnoticed."
She sat back again. "That one little mistake, coupled with the fact that Mr. Rivera has tentatively halted all progress of the transaction with the LWG, is about to turn the tables in our favor... exponentially." She reached over to grab the remote for the overhead projector and had Greg open his laptop and begin the presentation she had him whip up late last night.
Upon reading the first page that lit up against the far wall of the conference room, the individuals at the table started looking back and forth at each other with wide eyes.
Greg leaned into Olivia and whispered, "I think they are a pleasantly surprised."
"I think they are stunned shitless, " Olivia grinned contentedly. "Hey, why do you always have to make our slide presentations light pink?"
"You're joking, right?"
Olivia winked at her assistant and smiled. The two of them watched as the others began talking quietly to one another about the shocking new business plan in front of them.
"Now then, who here would like to join their colleague out in the hall, and who is willing hop on this wild ride with me?"
Again, no one made an attempt to speak.
"That's what I thought," she said amusedly and motioned to their folders. "Shall we then?"
-----------------------------------------------------------
The room was now buzzing with excitement. Olivia watched was they conferred with each other, occasionally glancing at her with disbelieving yet intrigued stares. Some shook their heads and laughed as if to acknowledge that she certainly wasn't mistaken about her plan being a 'wild ride'.
"As you can see," Olivia stood up as they had finished perusing their way through the content in their folders, "you are all here because I consider you to be the experts of your different fields. I need each and every honest opinion, prediction, analysis, and strategy that you all can come up with. You have a task to complete in the next hour or so. You will each take a closer look at the numbers that Greg and I have been able to pull up and the data we have been able to put together. Analyze the information and research more thoroughly into it. Use your personal expertise to include your own recommendations on how you believe we should proceed with this. We will meet back here to discuss our options in moving forward." She leaned down and placed both palms flat on the desk.
"Time is of the essence here, but I also require a great attention to detail. This is our one shot and the plan has to be executed with complete precision. If two reports come back from two different financial advisors, for example, that have differing data and information in them, we will go back to the drawing board and start from scratch to find out what we've missed. No room for errors. Understood?"
They all nodded, eager to go off and work on their assignments.
"Alright. Back here in one hour." She smiled enthusiastically. "Class dismissed."
"Gentleman, Ladies," Olivia acknowledged the presence of those gathered before her as she entered the large conference room and strode confidently to her seat. "I'm glad that everyone was able to make it on such short notice," she opened as she tossed her attaché on the table, removed her jacket to place it on the back of her chair, and sat down. "I promise you I will make it worth the inconvenience."
For a quick moment she glanced down the long table in front of her, surveying the full room of eyes that were fixed upon her. Fifteen men and four women were anxiously waiting to hear what pressing matters the hotel owner had to discuss with them. She leaned back in her seat at the head of the table – the fearless leader in her rightful place of power. She took a deep breath.
So good to be home! she thought contentedly to herself. She allowed herself a few more seconds to revel in the thrill of being back where she belonged. In the position in which she thrived, doing what she loved. Commanding respect and demanding excellence. Revered and esteemed. Feared, yet obeyed. Always in complete control.
Oh yes, Olivia Spencer is back on top, she smirked.
"I can see that you are wondering why I have called you to this meeting," she began. "No doubt you are all aware of the untimely demise of the hotel acquisition in California..." She heard a snort from one of the attendees. Rather than blowing up at everyone until she could weed out the culprit, she, instead, leaned forward with her forearms folded flat on the table in front of her and moved her eyes over each person in the room.
"And I am sure that some of you may have your own theories as to what I could possibly have done while conducting the business of this deal that resulted in the total loss of it. Allow me to state clearly, for the record, that there was nothing that I nor anyone else could have done to stop what has happened." Olivia kept her voice even and calm. "If there is anyone in this room that does not believe this to be fact and has, perhaps, lost faith in my ability to close such a business transaction successfully, then I would please invite such a person to kindly exit this meeting, through that door, right now." Her voice had become low and incredibly stern. "Such an individual is not the type of colleague that I need on this team. If you stay seated, however, I am going to assume that I have your complete confidence and unwavering willingness to move forward with me into what is going to be a very, very exciting transition for this company."
The atmosphere crackled, but no one moved an inch.
"Splendid," Olivia ended with a bit of sarcasm. She leaned back and proceeded to pull a stack of report folders from the case beside her and motioned to her assistant, Greg, to begin handing them down the table.
"Please refrain from tearing into these like kiddies on Christmas morning," she chuckled. "Allow me a few moments before we open them," she ordered, and although it was difficult for each member to avoid the temptation, they all placed the folders back onto the table.
"Two days ago, whilst attempting to solidify a reasonably negotiable deal with the owner of the Empire hotels, I was ambushed, so to speak, with the news that the entire franchise had been offered to Livingston-Westgate for a near total of 17 billion dollars. Last night, I placed a call to the public relations team at the LWG and asked for some non-confidential information." She leaned back in her chair, gripping each end of her pen between the indexes and thumbs of both hands and moved her hands in alternating circles. She narrowed her gaze and gave a slight cheshire grin. "The offer has not yet been accepted."
"Olivia, if you are about to tell us that you've gone and made a 17 billion plus dollar counter-offer on the Empire, we all might as well just..." The interrupting man was stopped abruptly as Olivia slammed her pen, with her palm on top of it, down hard unto the table, causing many of them to jump. No one moved a muscle nor looked up at the angered woman for fear of getting singed by the heat of her glare.
"This would be a prime example of someone who is not willing to accept me as a capable leader." She did her best to control her temper as she turned to the offending businessman. "Anyone who believes that I would be so asinine as to consider such a thing, knowing full well we haven't the means by which to do so, obviously has no faith in me. And, quite frankly, it tells me that you think that I'm a fool," she said resentfully.
"I would never…"
"You. That door. Right now." Her voice was low and venomous. The embarrassed man looked as though he was about to try and salvage his position at the table when Olivia shot a straight arm outwards, finger pointing directly to the exit. He rose out of his chair without looking anyone in the eyes and proceeded quickly out of the room.
Olivia took another deep breath to extinguish the small fire that had ignited within her. She continued to speak to the rest of the group in the same, professional tone that she had used before being interrupted.
"Where I learned of this new deal, made not by Mr. Rivera himself, but by his daughter, Natalia... " she paused momentarily, seemingly unable to even utter the name without a deluge of emotions flooding her already busy mind. "...was during a closed meeting with the entire Rivera clan. During this encounter Ms. Rivera, in the course of trying to defend her actions, let something slip that I'm sure she thought would go unnoticed."
She sat back again. "That one little mistake, coupled with the fact that Mr. Rivera has tentatively halted all progress of the transaction with the LWG, is about to turn the tables in our favor... exponentially." She reached over to grab the remote for the overhead projector and had Greg open his laptop and begin the presentation she had him whip up late last night.
Upon reading the first page that lit up against the far wall of the conference room, the individuals at the table started looking back and forth at each other with wide eyes.
Greg leaned into Olivia and whispered, "I think they are a pleasantly surprised."
"I think they are stunned shitless, " Olivia grinned contentedly. "Hey, why do you always have to make our slide presentations light pink?"
"You're joking, right?"
Olivia winked at her assistant and smiled. The two of them watched as the others began talking quietly to one another about the shocking new business plan in front of them.
"Now then, who here would like to join their colleague out in the hall, and who is willing hop on this wild ride with me?"
Again, no one made an attempt to speak.
"That's what I thought," she said amusedly and motioned to their folders. "Shall we then?"
-----------------------------------------------------------
The room was now buzzing with excitement. Olivia watched was they conferred with each other, occasionally glancing at her with disbelieving yet intrigued stares. Some shook their heads and laughed as if to acknowledge that she certainly wasn't mistaken about her plan being a 'wild ride'.
"As you can see," Olivia stood up as they had finished perusing their way through the content in their folders, "you are all here because I consider you to be the experts of your different fields. I need each and every honest opinion, prediction, analysis, and strategy that you all can come up with. You have a task to complete in the next hour or so. You will each take a closer look at the numbers that Greg and I have been able to pull up and the data we have been able to put together. Analyze the information and research more thoroughly into it. Use your personal expertise to include your own recommendations on how you believe we should proceed with this. We will meet back here to discuss our options in moving forward." She leaned down and placed both palms flat on the desk.
"Time is of the essence here, but I also require a great attention to detail. This is our one shot and the plan has to be executed with complete precision. If two reports come back from two different financial advisors, for example, that have differing data and information in them, we will go back to the drawing board and start from scratch to find out what we've missed. No room for errors. Understood?"
They all nodded, eager to go off and work on their assignments.
"Alright. Back here in one hour." She smiled enthusiastically. "Class dismissed."
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