Claire was faster to react than everyone else as she quickly gathered the documents from the table and dragged Sara to the private elevator. Once inside Sara recovered from her initial shock and turned to Claire stammering "what just happened?" Claire seemingly unsurprised by the events responded as the elevator rose to the executive floor "well you're now CEO, but based on the circumstances I couldn't allow you to stay in the room."
"I understand that but why? I'm just a director in the company. I'm not ready to run it." Sara stated, frustration seeping with every word as she was dragged to the CEO office. John turned to face the two ladies, quickly taking the documents from Claire before hesitantly speaking ,after Sara sat down "ma'am you have a meeting with directors in 2 hours followed by a meeting with Mr. Josue Ramirez of Ramirez Construction. There is also a …" Suddenly the door to the office opened and Sean walked in. He had ditched the blue sports coat sometime on his way to the office but the emotionless eyes seemed to darken when he looked at the woman sitting in the office chair. "The company is running at a deficit of 1.2 million a week and you have enough money in the account to last till the end of next month. So tell me how do you plan on resolving this issue?" His cold voice seemed to drop the temperature in the room.
Sara glanced at the man before realizing that he was challenging her. She quickly responded in her own cold tone " Sir, just because your father is a shareholder does not entitle you the right to barge into any office, much less this office. If you want to discuss something you can ask Mr. John here to fit you into my schedule. I have just taken over and I need some time to sort out what is happening and where dead weight is. If you think you can do better than by all means call another meeting and have yourself voted CEO. If not then please leave and allow me to start my new job."
John and Claire instantly looked between the two people realizing what she had said. Claire grew a newfound respect for this woman while John was nervously looking at his real boss thinking internally 'has this woman gone insane.' The couple was instantly shocked when Sean's face turned to a smile while responding, much warmer to Sara " alright then. Let's see how you do. I'm Sean McAlester of Golden Business Consultants, you're chairman has recruited my services to assist you. Now let's reconvene tomorrow morning 8am in your lounge. John make sure to note it on her schedule." Before anyone could respond, Sean turned around and left the room. Claire immediately leaned over to John and whispered "have you ever seen him smile before? Thats scarier than when he's on the hunt for blood." John just shook his head at his wife's words before turning to Sara who seemed to ignore everything that had just happened and began diving into the files that were already on the desk.
John and Claire left the office to find Sean standing outside John's new office. He was back to his normal cold and aloof persona and quickly told John "Empty that meeting room there, that will become my new office for the time being. Claire get her sizes and have the office wardrobe stocked for her, also call Emmanuel and have him get a dress for tonight. John any word from the shareholders?" Claire huffed before leaving for her new assignment while John stated "a few have began to look for buyers of the shares while Justin has already began negotiating with Ramirez to sell. It seems that you're still a step ahead of them."
"Very good. I believe word will hit the business world that we will be blacklisted by Henson before lunch. Get Sebastian ready to call the press conference. Who is her closest person in the company other than Marcus?"
"That would be her best friend Miranda. She is a designer in the marketing department." John quickly responded after checking his tablet. "Have her transferred to be assistant to the CEO. It's best to have her surrounded by allies at this time than by people she doesn't know." John stated before heading off towards the elevator, leaving John to wonder what was so special about this woman.
Inside her office and oblivious to the schemes just out side her office. Sara was busy looking at reports when she suddenly realized that she had a meeting with Dearborn scheduled this morning. After she promptly answered Claire's questions about her sizes she paged John who promptly entered the office. "John I had a meeting with Dearborn this morning before I scheduled before I was made CEO. Can you reach out to them to reschedule, as it seems my day is packed with meeting then the banquet tonight." John quickly pulled out a file from his stack of paperwork and stated "when Isaiah stepped down after the board meeting Dearborn sent a representative over to sign the contract since Mr.Marcus is now free to lead project. I had Ms.Miranda sign on behalf of the company for you. Also Ms. Miranda has been transferred over to help me assist you with your duties."
"Why has Marcus suddenly been free to lead this project, he was supposed to be taking on the Henson project." Sara looked up with slight elation at the new the project had been signed off and hearing that her best friend was going to be transferred over, but these visible emotions were quickly replaced with worry for Marcus and the company, as his deal alone would've pulled the company into the black. "Well ma'am about ten minutes ago The Henson family announced that they have black listed us and most companies that we were negotiating with have pulled out stating lack of a financial future."
Sara sighed as she knew she couldn't compete with the Hensons and that now she was the captain of a sinking boat. She then ran the numbers in her head before she looked at John and asked hesitantly "if we can have Ramirez increase their deal by 15% we should be able to come out of this for the time being alright. Although Ramirez isn't as broad as Hensons they are strong enough to cause them to back down right?" John looked at the woman sitting there with a newfound admiration for her intellect before replying "15% will be a stretch to get Ramirez to commit to but a 5% increase will show that the company is able to make deals with large companies despite the blacklisting. That will surely cause some companies to switch sides as people view Ramirez on the rise unlike the Hensons, who while large and influential, many have seen their declining bottom line as a signal of their future collapse." Sara tapped her finger on the desk listening to John's input seemingly absorbing every word before stating to him "let's get a contract drawn with the new terms and I'll see if I can get Mr. Ramírez to sign it today. Have it to me by the end of the director meeting." After she finished her words a young woman who exuded happiness walked in and quickly shouted with a voice that exuded cheerfulness "Oh my God Sara I thought that they were joking when they said you were the new CEO."
"Miranda, we can discuss this over lunch. I have a meeting to go to." Sara coldly responded before leaving the office. On her way to the meeting room she looked over at the room that Sean had reserved and saw the stacks of documents sitting on the table when her arm was suddenly grabbed. She heard the normal icy voice say "when you go into this meeting even though they used to be your colleagues you must now treat them as subordinates. Show respect when needed but reserve the right to terminate them". However her brain seemed to focus on the warm breath tickling her ear and the electricity running from the hand on her arm. Before she realized what had happened Sean let go and had disappeared down the hall.