Page 24 of Wrong Room, Right Billionaire

“You mean like social media?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says, and I swear to God the man has sequins in his eyes.

“I guess that makes sense. People love doomscrolling through reels of other people’s lives while they eat pastries for breakfast,” I say, cringing at the thought. I’ve never been a sweets person. Especially first thing in the morning. “Alright, so we find the person for the job, someone with a million followers, lots of experience, a superior wordsmith, and all that, and then what? We just…pay them to go resort hopping for us?”

“I mean, we could…” Donovan shrugs.

Just then, my door opens again. This time, Conrad saunters in, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Talk about a shit show, am I right?” he asks.

“That’s one way to put it,” Donovan says coolly. Donovan has never liked Conrad.

In fact, when I hired Donovan, that was one of the stipulations he made me agree to. That he would never work directly with my brother. It was a done deal at that point. I hired Donovan because of my lack of a civil relationship with my brother. Having someone on my team and my team only was half the point.

“What do you want?” I ask.

Conrad takes a seat on my desk before sucking his teeth and nodding up to me.

“I want to know what the plan is,” he says. “I don’t know if you read the morning paper, but we are kind of a sinking ship right now.”

“I’m aware of our circumstances,” I grit out.

“Alright. So what are you going to do about it, boss?”

Conrad puts emphasis on the last word not because he respects me as his older brother or even the Bale brother in the driver’s seat of this company, but because he doesn’t.

“We’re figuring out collateral damage,” Donovan jumps in. “A way to brighten the face of Bale so this whole debacle doesn’t hurt our image too much.”

“Brighten the face…” Conrad nods, finally hopping off my desk and pacing my office with his hands shoved in his slacks. “Listen, that’s a great idea. Don’t get me wrong. But how much makeup does it take to make a pig pretty?”

Donovan stands up, knowing that I am about to stand up too.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

“I mean nearly a million views and tens of thousands of comments on Bale Resorts?” he cringes. “It’s bad.”

“Luckily, we are working on a plan right now,” Donovan says in an attempt to put out the fire. Meanwhile, Conrad just keeps adding more gasoline.

“Interesting, because I happen to have some thoughts myself,” he says.

“Oh, really?” I scoff. “And what kinds of plans are those? Because the last time I checked, you don’t do a lot of the actual work around here.”

Conrad’s eyebrows arch. “I don’t do any of the work?” he echoes. “You don’t think visiting the hotels and doing inspections and showing face, something you wouldn’t do with a gun pointed to your head, is work? News flash, brother. You might be on the throne of Bale for now, but the only reason anyone even knows who you are is because the paparazzi catch side profiles of you from time to time at the whiskey bar down the street. In fact,” he chuckles, “the word in those comments is that a lot of people didn’t even know you were still alive. They thought you died when–”

“Finish that sentence and you’ll be digging your own grave,” I growl, and it’s not until I feel Donovan’s hand on my shoulder that I realize I’ve closed the space between my brother and me and I am standing chest to chest with him.

“Morgan,” Donovan says.

I take a step back.

“I think you need to prepare for the worst,” Conrad dares to go on. “Shit like that is going to tank us. A lot of things in those comments have the power to tank us. But if I had to guess, you haven’t even read the comments. You just looked at the aftermath, the numbers, and ordered your sidekick to find a solution. Well, I have a solution for you, brother. It involves me lawyering up and you stepping down.”

I meet his eyes with a hard glare. Conrad engages for a moment before leaving, slamming my door behind him.

“He’s all talk,” Donovan says after a minute. “He measures his dick against yours every few months and then goes back to his shenanigans. This time won’t be any different.”

He’s right. But something about this threat felt different. Like, for once, it might not be empty. I make a mental note to keep an even closer eye on my brother.