Playing the Bosses

Honest Feelings

Justin and Eva's meeting with Emiliano had been going smoothly for the past forty-five minutes and they reached the final half of their time with Emiliano. It was Justin's turn to lead the conversation and he started it with a request.

"Mr. Rossi, we'd like to request additional funds from you this month."

"How much?"

"Two point five million."

Why the fuck do they need that much? Eva thought to herself. She maintained a calm demeanor as she watched Emiliano's body language. He leaned back in his seat, bringing his elbow to the back of it as he tilted his head to the side.

"That's a big ass request. Why do you need that much?"

"We're launching another brand and the two point five would be startup costs for us."

"Oh? I thought your whole thing was buying competitor brands or some shit? Now, you wanna open your own company?"

"Well... this new brand isn't exactly something we can buy from another company because what we want to do doesn't exist yet."

Emiliano snorted his amusement. "Aren't you a big ass conglomerate for luxury goods? They've got luxury everything — always looking for a chance to charge out the ass for anything... You lying to me? You in trouble or some shit? Last I checked, you were bringing in good money for us while cleaning the cash we send you. Did you guys fuck up?"

Justin raised his hands defensively and shook his head. "No! No. It's not like that... This is one of the few types of offerings that doesn't have a luxury option."

"And what might that be?"

"Well, it's..." Justin looked at Eva and then back to Emiliano. "It's a luxury plus-size clothing brand. Er— I mean, a size-inclusive clothing brand, but luxury."

Eva maintained her pokerface, though she was confused about Justin's proposal.

"A luxury plus-size clothing brand..." Emiliano turned his attention from Justin to Eva. "Did you happen to influence this decision, Eva?"

"I um..." This was a rare occasion where Eva felt deeply uncomfortable. Interacting with a mafiso who had an illegal business deal with the company she was sent to spy on and take down put Eva on the verge of panicking. She wasn't sure how best to answer Emiliano's question. If she said no, would it lead to more questions as to why she was at the meeting in the first place? If she said yes, would Emiliano then look into her background since she was influencing PMC Group's business decisions?

"She did," Justin answered for her.

Emiliano cut his eyes at him. "I didn't fucking ask you," he said sharply before turning back to Eva, softening his tone. "So you, assistant to him and his two friends, influenced them to ask for two point five million to invest in a business? How'd you pull that?"

Stay calm, Eva, she told herself. Treat this like a typical business meeting with some financiers or some shit and not like you're looking into the eyes of a guy who'd kill you without a second thought.

"Well," Eva started. "I'm passionate about size inclusivity. Specifically, making clothes that fat folks can feel comfortable and good about themselves in. In fact, specifically women's clothes that are considered 'plus-size' are actually closer to the average size of women here, yet we get othered for it. I want to see a high-fashion brand for people who are in 'larger' bodies because we deserve it."

"Hm..." Emiliano's gaze remained on Eva's face as if the action would allow him to see into her soul. Several moments passed until he spoke again. "Sounds good to me!" he said casually. "Honestly, PMC Group makes so much money for us, I couldn't give a fuck what your response would've been. I just like fucking with Justin here. He's so uptight, I never would've expected him to be fucking his assistant."