Dirty Beginning (Dirty 0.50)

I walk in, but I have no idea what he is doing. Is he trying to give me fake confidence? Is he trying to distract me? I have no idea. I push the thoughts from my head and instead walk into the room with an intense expression on my face. I try to pretend I’m Killian walking into the room. He wouldn’t be smiling and happy. He would be glaring at everyone, forcing them to do what he said with just one look .

I can’t keep the expression up long though as I walk in. I’m a little in shock at the number of people in this room. There is close to thirty, and the room isn’t even filled yet. I was expecting to present to an intimate small team of ten people, maximum. Instead, I’m going to be presenting to what feels like the entire company .

Killian puts his hand at the small of my back, guiding me to the front of the long table in the center of the room that has at least ten chairs around it. Those are probably for the most important people. On either side of the table, there are three rows of chairs holding at least thirty more people, and they are all staring at me .

“Killian, why didn’t you tell me there was going to be so many people at this meeting? Who are they?” I hiss between clenched teeth .

He smiles brightly. “I didn’t want you to be nervous, but no need to worry. You’ll do great. You are completely prepared. The main table here is the execs, which is where you will need to focus most of your attention when you talk. The rest are their assistants and staff who will be in charge of helping to implement the expansion. They might have a few questions for you because they are more familiar with what the day-to-day operations will look like .”

I stare, wide-eyed, until we get to the end of the table where we each take a seat. I realize now why he’s being so nice to me. It’s not because he wants me to do well. It’s because he has fed me to the wolves, and I’m about to get slaughtered .

I’ve never given a speech in front of this many people. The only thing I have done in front of this many people is model, and all that involved was looking pretty while walking down a catwalk without falling. It was nothing compared with this .

Killian leans over to me. “You wanted a chance. I’m giving you a chance. This is what it’s really like to run the company .”

He grabs my hand and gives it a quick squeeze before he stands. It does nothing to reassure me. Instead, I feel my palm growing sweaty from where he just touched it .

“I’m Killian Browne, VP of Operations. Today, I’m supposed to present the plans

for the expansion of the Felton Grand. I’m not going to do that.” He pauses while people uncomfortably shuffle in their seats at his statement. “Instead, I’m going to let the person who ran the data explain. I would like to introduce you to Kinsley Felton .”

I stop bouncing my foot under the table and stand. The room has fallen silent now that they know Robert’s daughter is the one who will be speaking. I smile weakly around the room as I make my way to where Killian is standing. He winks at me before taking a seat .

“Hi. I’m Kinsley.” I can feel my heart beating out of my chest with every word that I’m saying. “Today, I would like to show you my thoughts on the expansion and what the data shows.” I walk to the computer that is already set up with my slides. I press the button for them to turn to the first screen .

I realize I’ve been staring at the ground the whole time, so I look up. I feel what feels like hundreds of eyes on me, but to my surprise, they are all smiling. A few of them are trying to check out what’s underneath my pencil skirt and pink shirt, but for the most part, I’m getting friendly faces in return. I can do this .

“As you can see from the graph, the numbers show a steady increase from month to month in the hotel and casino revenue. This shows that there is a need for expansion because we can’t keep up with the demand .”

I continue talking, uninterrupted, for thirty minutes, explaining every reason that we should do the expansion and why it is in the best interest of the entire company. I feel good about my presentation. It seems to be going well, and everyone is giving me their undivided attention. I even glance over at Killian a couple of times, and he seems to be nodding his head in approval .

I click the computer to get it to move to the last slide, the one where I give my recommendation. I feel good throughout my speech. Maybe I can really do this. Maybe this is where I belong. “After looking at all the data, it is my recommendation that we increase the expansion to one thousand rooms. That would also allow us to increase the number of slots and the high-roller rooms by fifty percent. It…” I don’t continue though. As I glance around the room, there are about a hundred hands in the air. At least, that’s what it looks like .

“Yes,” I say, pointing to the closest gentleman at the center table .

“I’m sorry, but it would be ridiculous to spend that amount of money on an expansion where we will never get our money back out of it. If we put those kind of resources behind the Felton Grand, we aren’t going to have enough resources to keep the others from failing .”

I freeze at his question. “I, um…I’m not sure .”

I point to the next man, hoping he will say something positive to save me .

“The data you used doesn’t make sense with the data we already have. I just went through the numbers again. They don’t line up. Can you explain why we have different numbers ?”

“I don’t know .”

“What metrics did you use?” another man says .

“I…I’m not sure.” I have no idea what he is talking about, and I can feel my face getting redder. I try to gather myself. “If you would just turn your attention to this slide, I can better explain to give you more confidence in the plan .”

“Wouldn’t expanding to just five hundred give us the same amount of profit in just a month longer with less risk ?”

“Maybe, but — ”

“Then, why don’t we just do the five-hundred-room expansion ?”

“I—”

“Killian why have the plans changed?” a man sitting less than five seat from me asks .