"Have you tried turning it off and back on again?"
••
Christian Ivonov, CEO of Ivonov enterprises, had always been the best at fucking things up. Whether it be relationships, or company connections, nothing was too far out of his reach to ruin.
Alex...
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"I'm thinking we hit up Maverick's Corp about potential long term investments. Give them the same sort of offer, but throw in some compensation. We'll give them a portion of our cut from the next Gala, as well as promote their new front line fitness products in our gym's." Brad spoke.
He was currently sitting comfortably in the office chair across from mine. My desk was covered in files and contracts as Brad desperately did everything he could to save the millions of dollars we were about to loose with Larington.
I was currently paying him zero attention.
"With this little contribution, you're very soon going to run this company into the ground, Christian." Brad finally cracked when he noticed me shooting a quick text under my desk.
I gave him a sigh. "I'm sorry, man. Something's been on my mind."
"What's up?" He asked. I gave him a shrug.
It was sort of hard for me to get into words.
"Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if you walked in on a private conversation where one of your employees was saying some less than polite shit about you and your company... hypothetically speaking."
"Someone said something about you, and they're still breathing?" Brad asked in too serious a tone.
"Hypothetically speaking. Hypothetically."
He rolled his eyes at me.
"I think it would all depend on the person. If they prove to be a valuable asset to the company, I would sit down with them and have a very real conversation. If they're expendable, then I wouldn't really go the distance. I wouldn't necessarily lose sleep over a janitor saying some things about you, Christian."
He wasn't exactly a janitor, I thought to myself. My teeth clamped down harder on the insides of my cheek.
After a little while longer, I nodded.
"I'm more surprised by the amount of thought that you've put into this. You're usually not one too... Well.. Not one to think before acting." Brad said those words as if, at any moment, he could choke on them.
"You're totally right. This is what's bothering me, man. Like why do I care so damn much? If it was anyone else, They would have been fired on the spot."
"I think you're just not used to overhearing people say anything about you." Brad replied. I rolled my eyes at him. "You don't handle criticism well, Christian. Like at all. So you don't have anyone there to push you." He continued.
"I have you."
"I'm also your brother. I'm not sure that even counts." I couldn't help but tense up at those words.
