Vegas Virgin (Nevada Bad Boys 1)

“Shit...” Max stormed towards the bathroom. “I have to shower and get to the office.”

I STRUGGLED TO HOLD myself together as I walked into the office. I didn’t even bother with a shower. I used the bathroom at the end of the hall to clean myself up, tied my hair in a ponytail with a rubber band, and walked into the office in the same dress I wore to the Fair. My makeup was the best job I could do in the car on the way to the office. I saw my team assembled in the conference room with Mr. Hawthorne and Adam. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, seeing all eyes turn towards me.

“I’m sorry, I came as soon as I looked at my phone.” I looked at the table and sighed. “This is really bad, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Mr. Hawthorne sat down and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t even bother to shave. “This is a nightmare. This is going to bankrupt Energy Enhanced and all of the money we’ve invested—damn it—I don’t know if we’ll survive.”

“I waited until you were here.” Adam stood up. “Because I wanted to tell you instead of having you hear it from someone else. I’m resigning, effective immediately. I can’t have my name associated with this campaign.”

“You’re leaving?” I stared at Adam and opened my mouth in shock. “You are the one who told me we didn’t have anything to worry about with the FDA report.”

“Wait a minute.” Mr. Hawthorne looked up. “You had a report that told you Energy Enhanced was garbage? You didn’t tell me that...”

“I didn’t understand the report.” I shook my head as everyone started to look at me, angry expressions forming on their face.

“You’re the Team Lead.” Mr. Hawthorne stood and I could see his face turning red. “You’re supposed to figure that shit out. If you don’t understand it, ask someone.”

“I asked Adam...” I pointed at him. “Adam, you agreed when I said anything that was in those reports was for Energy Enhanced to worry about.”

“Yes.” Adam nodded solemnly. “I obviously made a mistake. I didn’t read the report and I just assumed it was routine.”

“Both of you—out.” Mr. Hawthorne pointed towards the door. “I don’t want either of you here while we try to clean up this fucking mess.”

“What?” I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

“Yeah, Abby.” Mr. Hawthorne pointed at the door again. “You’re fired.”

My hands shook as I started putting my personal items in a cardboard box. I couldn’t believe my dream was over, ended in an instant because I didn’t read one stupid report. If I had, I would have known Energy Enhanced was dangerous and avoided the inevitable. I felt the weight of the child’s sickness on my chest and my head started to spin. I picked up a picture of Sebastian and cried when I put it in the box. The two of us were going to be homeless and starving if I didn’t find another job quickly. I walked out onto the sidewalk with my box in hand and hailed a taxi. My car was still parked at my house. Once it dropped me off at home, I collapsed on the couch and started sobbing.

Chapter 20: Max

“How bad is this?” I walked into the room with my legal team already surrounding the table.

“You’re the principal investor, so it isn’t good. You don’t technically own the company—that is probably the only good part of this.” The lead attorney for the firm, Carmen King, opened a folder and pushed it towards me. “This is the FDA report. It was recently sent to Energy Enhanced and West End Marketing.

“Why are they doing an FDA report now? This product has been on the market for years...” I sat down at the table and read it.

“It’s the new advertising campaign.” Carmen replied with a sigh. “Energy Enhanced was previously marketed as an energy drink infused with vitamins, so the testing standards were different. Once they started trying to switch the marketing to a vitamin drink, there were more in-depth tests done.”

“I thought the marketing hadn’t really started yet...” I flipped the FDA report to the second page.

“It hasn’t, but they already changed their logo and the wording on the can to match the new campaign. They’re using the name Vitamins Enhanced now. They were hoping to have it all in place by the time the campaign launched. Some soccer mom in Ohio bought it for her son and he collapsed after drinking—three cans.” She sighed again.

“Three cans?” I felt my blood boiling. “Three fucking cans? Who the fuck does that!?”

“Well nobody would do that with an energy drink—well, if they did they would expect the consequences I suppose. It’s a different story with a vitamin drink, but the damage is done.” She closed the folder. “The family has lawyered up so a lawsuit is coming.”

“Does Energy Enhanced have insurance to cover that?” I looked up from the report.

“Not this kind.” One of the other lawyers spoke. “They have product liability insurance, but there’s a clause in the contract that requires them to pull the product if they get a report like this. Failure to do so voids that policy.”

“So why didn’t they do it? They should have read the report!” My anger started to flare again.

“The company is fucked no matter what and they won’t recover from this, but I’m sure the official answer will be to put the blame on someone. That’s what West End Marketing is doing.” Carmen picked up her cell phone.

“Wait.” I held up my hand. “What do you mean West End Marketing is putting

the blame on someone?”