Jason King is perfect. Whether it's the British accent, his flawless fashion sense or having been able to pick up life again after having been through trauma as a result from his kidnapping, everyone agrees that this man is immaculate.
However, thin...
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ANTHONY STOOD UP FROM HIS seat and clapped his hands to get the attention from everyone in the meeting room. "Perfect," he said.
Perfect. One word, two syllables. A summary of what Jason was supposed to be.
"I think we're done then," the same man said, thus concluding the meeting. The eleven others sitting at the round, metal table slowly got up too, each of them grabbing their stuff and getting ready to move on to the next appointment on their schedule.
"Not yet," Malcolm interrupted him.
Those words caused Anthony to sit down again and the rest soon followed.
"We haven't gone over what we should do with the employees when the companies merge." Malcolm's tone was emotionless, as if he didn't have to decide over people's lives.
"Can I ask a question?" Jason dared to ask the kidnapper.
A cold, harsh reply. "No."
Next to him, Emily shook her head, telling him not to do it. However, he ignored both the kidnapper and Emily when he spoke his question aloud. "Why?"
Jason held back a sigh but didn't say anything. He didn't think this was his area of expertise—or something that interested him if it mattered. He preferred the actual business part of the business: negotiations, downsides, successes. The meetings between Dynalogic and Abbington Aviation didn't grab his attention because the topics—energy, planes, and now unemployment—weren't captivating.
His eyes glided past all the faces in the room. He counted twelve; too many. Of those, he didn't know the names of nine. The others were Anthony—who'd been a part of the company for years, was the previous CEO before giving Malcolm this position at the age of fifty-nine, and had continued to work at Dynalogic for another thirteen years after that—, Malcolm and a lawyer. The lawyer had been present in the past few meetings leading up to the merger to make sure everything worked out and was being done correctly.
All eyes were on him or his dad; together, they sat at the head of the table. It took some getting used to, being relied upon—actually, he still wasn't used to it. The responsibility of an entire company on a twenty-two-year-old's shoulders was tough; he was asked questions he didn't know the answer to and was expected to make decisions he wasn't ready to. This issue was a perfect example; when the companies merged, jobs would be lost, and no one wanted that.
"Can't we try and let them all stay on the job?" a guy asked. His question wasn't directed at anyone specific, so Jason kept quiet in the hopes that anyone else would answer. Keeping all members on the workforce was what everyone desired, but he knew it was unachievable. The finances of both companies couldn't survive such a risk yet.
However, he didn't want to be the one to bring the bad news. Why were they all looking in his direction? He wasn't the boss yet, he shouldn't tell everyone what he thought after only working here for a few months. Why was he even asked to fill the position of CFO in the first place? Other people were more qualified than him, and he wasn't ready for the responsibilities.
