CHAPTER 3: SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT.

Chloe was seated at her desk when two emails popped up. The first one was from Ethan's office secretary with the caption " SEPECIAL ASSIGNMENT”. The second one was from Ethan demanding that she should see him in the next thirty minutes.

She heaved a disgruntled sigh. Other employees were discussing Ethan's relationship life and how he was supposed to get married to a certain Vanessa Sterling. Well, she had no interest in such matters.

Her phone vibrated. A text from Lily that read, "Did he fire you?”

She scoffed and replied, "I guess he's waiting for the perfect moment to ruin my life.”

….”At least, your life will be ruined by a handsome billionaire.”

Chloe scoffed and dropped the phone. When it was time, she left her desk and returned to Ethan's office. The man was still in his chair.

"I'm here, Sir,” she said.

Ethan went straight to the point.

"My secretary must have sent a message to you. Now, this international campaign is very important to this business. You'll be working with me on this one.”

Chloe was stunned. She had expected to get more of the voice note talks. But, she was supposed to work with him. Oh crap.

"Why…would someone as busy as you want to work with a marketing strategist?"

Ethan responded as he searched for something in his drawers.

“I need this done well. Besides, I don't oversee incompetence."

Chloe smiled. “Is that…a compliment?"

Ethan glanced at her and scoffed. “Don't get ahead of yourself. Consider it as one of your tests." He dropped a file on the table. “Here."

Chloe took it. “What's this?"

“It contains the company's current international campaign strategy. Go through it and report back to me at 2pm."

“And what if I find something?" She asked him.

“Well, you better have a solution for it."

Chloe was dismissed. She returned to her desk and quickly buried herself in the file. She was an expert on financial matters, hence, she could easily find loopholes in the planning of the campaigns. She quickly scribbled down a few points….

“....The campaign was targeting an audience that didn't match the company's intended customers.”

“....The company seemed to have been spending a whole lot on advertisements without matching their customer conversions.”

And the budgeting too. At the time she was done revising it, a reminder popped up. The meeting in the conference room would begin soon.

In the next couple of minutes, everyone's seated in the conference room. Chloe sat there wondering what everyone was thinking about her following the voice note she sent to the group.

“We will begin now," Ethan said.

One of the senior executives stood up and presented the current campaign plans of the company. Chloe listened carefully. But then, these were issues she already challenged while going through the file.

“Does anyone have anything to say?" Ethan asked as the man was done.

Silence. No one said a word. Chloe glanced at him and noticed he was looking at her. But, she was hesitant. She was new and not the level of them there.

She eventually raised her hand. Everyone watched as she stood and spoke. She spoke about the problems she already identified and how they were affecting the company.

“This isn't good enough,” one of the executives challenged her. "Our strategy was developed by professionals with years of experience. Who are you, again?”

She was reluctant, but replied anyway. “Years of experience doesn't make a strategy effective, Sir. If it's not working, it's not working."

"What do you propose we do?” Ethan asked her.

She summarily gave him her ideas. Ethan studied her keenly for a moment. Then, he looked at the report.

“You came up with this within a few hours?"

“I had to," she replied.

There was a brief moment of silence. Then, Ethan said, “We'll test your approach. Bring the revised proposal to my office."

The meeting came to an end. Chloe eventually went into Ethan's office to leave the revised proposal with him. He was standing by the floor to ceiling glass windows and looking over the city. Chloe, for a moment, noticed how exhausted the man was looking. She simply walked to his desk and dropped it.

“It's here, sir."

His phone on the table was ringing. He walked over to take it. When he saw the caller, his countenance changed. It was his dad. Chloe saw it too, but kept mute. She wanted to discuss the proposal further, but she could tell the man needed his space.

“Mr Montgomery, I'll take my leave.”

As she walked away, Ethan called her. "Ms Bennett.”

She turned.

"Your speech was good," he said.

“I'm guessing it's a compliment this time."

“Don't make me regret it,’ he said and sat down. "You can go.”

She took her leave with a smile on her face.

Later in the evening, Chloe decided to stay back and review the international campaign’s financial records. While she was comparing the figures, she figured out something strange. A significant portion of the company's finances were given to an external marketing agency. However, the agency's performance records don't justify the amount it was getting.

Mismatch between invoices and expenditures. She could tell something was wrong. But it was too early to start pointing accusing fingers at anyone. So, she decided to look into it further later.

But just as she was about to shut down her computer, an email popped up. The highlight read, “Stop investigating the international campaign."

Her interest got piqued and she opened it. The rest of it read, “You have no idea whose business you are interfering with, Ms Bennett.”

The smile on her face completely vanished.