happen again. The thought that she was back in control sent her spirits soaring until she glanced over at Dalton Granger. He gave her a smile that sparked, revealing his amusement, before he flashed a huge grin. She had a feeling he was up to something but had no idea what.
Her gaze left Dalton and returned to Jace to find him watching her. “Ready?” he asked, and to her way of thinking, a huskiness seemed embedded in his tone.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“I’ll go on ahead,” Vidal said, smiling. He moved close to Jace and whispered privately, “I told you she was good.” He then quickly left the room.
Coming around to the front of his desk, Jace escorted Shana out of his office with Dalton and Caden bringing up the rear.
Chapter Eleven
When they arrived for the meeting, it appeared that all of the key players were in the conference room waiting with a mixture of curiosity and expectancy on their faces.
Jace glanced around the room while escorting Shana toward the front with him. He would be sitting at the head of the table, and he had asked his administrative assistant to reserve a chair for Shana at his right and two chairs for his brothers on his left. This would be the first official meeting he would hold as CEO. He had made his rounds yesterday morning and met briefly with every man and woman in the room at the time. All had kind words to say about his grandfather, and Jace recalled having seen many of them at the memorial service. However, he knew they were all wondering what was on his mind. The rumor mill was hard at work, and Jace needed to get control quickly and decisively.
“Good morning. I appreciate your flexibility in changing your schedules to accommodate this meeting. However, we have an important matter that needs to be discussed,” he began, glancing around the table.
“To put it bluntly, Granger Aeronautics has lost a number of major clients over the past twelve months, and I intend to find out why so that we can reclaim our position as the number one provider of aerospace products and services. To do so, Shana Bradford of Bradford Crisis Management will be working with us in the coming weeks. Her firm has a stellar reputation for reinventing companies.”
A hand rose, and Jace recognized the tall man with the bald head as Cal Arrington, third VP and currently in charge of the products and designs division. He had held that position for close to fifteen years. “Yes, Cal?”
“Honestly, Jace, do you think such a move is necessary? I agree we need to consider better ways to market our products, but the clients we do have are firm. I don’t believe your grandfather would have considered such a move.”
He saw several department heads nod, agreeing with Cal. Jace had known he wouldn’t get everyone to buy into what he was doing. “Yes, I think the move is necessary and is one my grandfather would have considered. In fact, he had planned to do so before his untimely death.”
He hadn’t mentioned it to Shana or his brothers, but when he worked late that night, he had remembered the code his grandfather had given him years ago to access a special folder in Richard’s computer—it was Jace’s name spelled backward along with Sheppard’s date of birth. The folder contained Richard’s thoughts and concerns that he would jot down for future use. Jace had seen Richard’s notes that outlined the idea of bringing on Shana’s firm because he suspected someone had shared trade secrets with a rival company.
He looked over at Freeman, who was sitting at the table with tight lips. Jace figured the man was probably annoyed that Jace hadn’t run the idea by him first. “I’m giving the floor to Ms. Bradford, who will advise you about what information she needs from each of your departments. She will be working in the office next to mine, and I’m hoping her presence will assure every employee that I am taking steps to regain Granger’s position as number one in the aerospace industry.”
He glanced around the room. There were those who, like Cal, hadn’t bought into the idea, and the expressions on their faces made it obvious. But then there were others who, by their nods and smiles, clearly agreed with his bold move.
Shana stood. “Good morning.”
Jace leaned back in his chair, confident that Shana was capable of handling things from there. He knew she would win