C - Suite

12 | Crescendo

"IT WAS COMPLETELY unprofessional." Nyla said, stretching out her legs from under the table. George was seated across from her listening to what she was saying. "They said the site had already been purchased. You are sure that I went to the correct site?"

George looked a bit offended at Nyla's questions. "Yes of course."

"I just wanted to check all of my bases." Nyla explained. "I still don't understand how someone else swooped up the site before us."

"Nyla, it wasn't just anyone."

Nyla sat up straighter. "Don't tell me, was it G-Health? I'm going to fucking kill him."

George looked alarmed at her outburst. "No, it wasn't. It was one of our competitors. A subdivision of L'Oréal, Aveda."

Nyla frowned. "Never heard of them."

"They are a company focusing on natural products, but they mostly produce shampoos, and other oils for hair and nails." George explained.

Nyla sighed. She now knew why they'd lost the bid. If L'Oréal was bidding for something, it was more likely to go to them. Especially since they were the bigger company. Renne was growing but didn't have the same capital as the others.

"Are we not going to talk about the fact that the first though that came to your head was to accuse the CEO of G-Health?"

Nyla's face warmed. She'd hoped that George and forgotten the point of her outburst. "It was a mistake on my part."

"Is it normally to distrust someone this much, especially since they are your partners in a new venture?" George asked casually.

Nyla knew what he was saying underneath it all. If she didn't trust Darius, why had she gone into business with him. But the truth was, she did trust him, just not at the level she trusted George or other employees of her organization. Trust was something that took time to be built, and she and Darius hadn't really spent much time together in order to develop it.

"It's normally to distrust everyone." Nyla said quietly. "I made an assumption, and I was wrong."

George nodded his head but accepted her answer. Nyla looked up at her screen as another message popped into her mail box. She read it quickly and turned the screen towards George.

"We got rejected for another site."

George read the email. "They haven't indicated why."

Nyla leaned back in her chair. It didn't make sense. This was the third site in which she had been in deep in negotiation before something just blew the deal off.

"Is there a politician we might have upset, perhaps some governor?"

George shook his head. "No, for the most part, we stay out of politics. Besides of course your involvement with the New York senator regarding education for women in business."

Things weren't lining up for Nyla. She'd kept most of the site locations a secret from the staff with only upper management knowing about her plans.

"Do you think it's someone on the board trying to make my life more difficult?"

The lines on George's forehead wrinkled. "It's possible—although I don't know why they would be trying to do that. The line can help them increase the change in their pockets."

"Trust me, those board members don't think like the rest of us do. If they think they might be about to lose money because we were reinvesting in the business, they might actually sabotage plans. It's a possibility." Nyla clicked the pen a couple of times. "I'm going to have to make a few phone calls it seems."