Page 37 of Open To Negotiation

“Hi Oli, I don’t believe we’ve met.” Richard stepped around me to get closer to Oli and I took a few steps back. This time the use of his nickname had his smile dropping and his eyes narrowing. These men were intimidating with their suits, glares and cold nature. It seemed they had a work mode that was much different from the friendly open vibe they had on Friday. “Richard Walters, I’m Miss West’s boss.” He held out his hand again, this time though Oli did grab it.

“Oliver Thornton,” he said briskly, emphasizing his full name.

“Oliver is our CFO so I wanted him to join to advise on budgets,” Theo said curtly as we all turned to settle in.

“I’m eager to get the team started on this project,” Richard began as he sat beside me, his body turned so he was partially facing me. “I think you’ll be pleased with what we have to offer.” Theo and Oli took seats at the other side of the table. Theo was directly across from me looking unhappy, his one hand resting on the table clenched into a fist.

“I don’t believe I requested your presence. Mr. Walters.” Theo’s tone was clipped.

“Quinn here isn’t senior enough to handle an account of this magnitude on her own.” The jackass patted my hand as his gaze flicked over me before turning back to Theo with a condescending smile on his face.

Theo’s eyes had caught the unwanted contact and his jaw tightened. “I was quite clear that I wanted Quinn to head up the team.”

“I wanted to ensure that you were set up for success.” Richard wasn’t bothered at all by the gruff tone Theo was using on him. “I wanted to be here to make team recommendations as well.”

“Today was really more about brainstorming and getting budgets aligned. We weren’t planning on kicking anything off since it’s our first time telling Quinn what we’d like.” Oli tried to throw Richard a bone, but he didn’t take it.

“Understood. I was planning on assigning Mike Chambers. You’ll love him and he’s excellent with budgeting. He’ll be a great addition to the work you want to do here.” I met Theo’s eyes and gave a quick shake of my head. Mike Chambers was not good at his job, he made shit decisions and someone was always cleaning up after him. “We should also look at Emma Lane.” Again, I subtly shook my head since Theo was still watching me, not even glancing at Richard as he spoke. I liked Emma but she didn’t work well on most teams, and she wasn’t interested in the demographic that Knight Enterprises was trying to target.

“I don’t think you need to be assigning anyone.” Theo finally looked back at Richard. “I requested Quinn for a reason.”

“She’s fine,” Richard started but instead of going on he stopped talking to look me over, probably remembering that I was sitting right here. His eyes lingered too long on my chest.

I was about to say something when Theo cleared his throat loud enough to startle Richard and I. My gaze flicked to Oli who was covering his mouth to hide a smile, but it wasn’t directed at me.

“I suggest if you want to keep your job and your eyes, you look the fuck away from her right now.” Theo’s voice had a low menacing quality that had Richard reaching up to adjust his tie.

“Apologies,” he mumbled. “Let’s talk strategy.” He tried to push through the awkwardness and the redness in his cheeks.

“Richard, I don’t think—” I tried to step in to calm the fuming man across from me. Dick clearly didn’t realize what I was doing for him.

“I think we should do a full court press. We need to get you on TikTok and reels, you all will sell the brand well. We’ll make you the faces of it, get you everywhere. Just a bonus that you’ll have enough women in your DMs to keep you busy for a while. I bet a video of you all doing one of those dances would go viral.” He winked at Theo who blinked at him coolly for a few moments before speaking.

“Miss West,” Theo looked at me, “do you agree with that strategy?” I sent a subtle glare at Theo for calling me out like this before everyone looked at me.

“While those are effective strategies for some businesses, I don’t believe that it should be yours.” I sat up straighter, although I agreed with Richard, it was a little weird that Theo picked me. I wasn’t planning on letting him down.

I’d done a ton of research over the last few days and even looked at what some of their competitors here were doing that they weren’t and what they’d done in London. I was over prepared, just how I liked it.

“Please elaborate,” Theo said as he rubbed a hand on his jaw, like he was trying to hide a smile.

“While your faces might go over well, the demographic that Richard mentioned would be in your DMs, aren’t driving business to Knight Enterprises. Almost fifty percent of users on the TikTok platform are people aged eighteen to twenty-four. While they have a ton of users, that isn’t who you are going after. You’re best to keep to more traditional marketing styles, LinkedIn articles, blog posts, email blasts, magazine spots, and news reports.

“I think you’ll also find a lot of success specifically targeting the organizations you do business with back in London that are looking to expand to North America, or that have, but need to grow more. It’s an easier sell for you since you have a map for success. It’ll also be efficient for ease of billings and legal requirements.” I grabbed the glass in front of me and took a sip of water as the silence hung over us for a moment before Theo nodded.

“I’m comfortable moving forward with her leading the team. Oliver, do you agree?”

“Absolutely,” he said with a serious nod even though his eyes were bright. I felt Richard deflate beside me and look down at the table. He didn’t speak for the rest of the meeting.

Theo decided that we didn’t need to do more brainstorming today, probably because he didn’t want to deal with Richard butting in.

No complaint from me on that one.

Oli gave me budgets that were more than double what my clients usually spent on this kind of campaign, and I tried to not let my surprise show. He also provided me with a list of contacts for both the company here and head office in London. I was told to call anyone, they already knew to provide me with any information I needed. It was a lot to take in.

“Richard, can you please give us a moment, Quinn will join you once we’re done,” Theo said as we stood up at the end of the meeting.

“Uh… sure. I’ll wait in the lobby,” Richard stuttered as he made a hasty exit, closing the door behind him.