CHAPTER 1
Maya
“WE’RE FUCKED, DO YOU HEAR ME?FUCKED! AND NOTin a good way. In a dry, lubeless, close-your-eyes-and-think-of-England way.”
“Is that really what you do when you’re having bad sex? Seems counterintuitive.”
“Maya.” Ezra sounded pained. “Please. This is an emergency.”
“I’m well aware.” I nestled my phone between my ear and shoulder and grabbed the bottle sitting on the top shelf of my parents’ medicine cabinet. “First, stop talking about lube, or the lack thereof. Second, calm down. I have a plan.”
“Oh, thank God.” He let out a relieved sigh. “What is it?”
“We’re pulling every product in the pasta line off the shelves. Put together a press release that we can send out within the next two hours. The sooner, the better.”
“Everyproduct?” Ezra spluttered. “But the reported cases have only been linked to the lasagna. If we pull every product in the line, the financial loss would—”
“Still be less than the long-term harm of keeping them on the shelf. We haven’t traced where the outbreak started, but the frozenpasta all comes from the same factory. The last thing we want is to pull the lasagna, only to have new cases crop up related tootherproducts. This is about consumer trust and health, not money.”
As the chief brand officer for Singh Foods, my top priority was protecting the company’s reputation. That included managing crisis communications—and a listeria outbreak linked to our most popular productdefinitelyqualified as a crisis.
“Right.” Ezra cleared his throat. “Then consider it done. I’ll have a draft press release to you within the hour.”
His foul language and dramatic outbursts aside, Ezra was great at his job as communications director, which was why I didn’t question him before I hung up.
I clutched the bottle I’d “borrowed” from my parents and slipped out of their bathroom. Despite my cool assurance on the phone, my heart raced like it was in the last mile of a marathon.
Ezra was right. It was alotof product to pull off the shelves, but I’d convinced the CEO it was the right thing to do after the third reported case. I’d staked my reputation and possibly my job on it.
If it turned out the contamination really was limited to the lasagna, and our stock didn’t improve after the press release…
My heart rate climbed another notch.
No.I’d made the right call. I couldn’t risk more people getting sick because I wanted to save the company money.
Something about the outbreak nagged at me, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, so I pushed the thought aside for now.
I had one non-work-related item on my to-do list tonight, and it was just the distraction I needed to brighten up an otherwise hellish day.
I jogged downstairs and almost made it to the kitchen when a familiar figure stopped me in my tracks. She planted her hands on her hips and pinned me with a suspicious stare.
Crap.
I quickly hid the bottle behind my back and summoned my most innocent smile. “Hi, Diya.”
Diya was my family’s head of household. She’d practically raised me and my sisters, which meant she knew all of our tricks inside and out.
“Hand it over, Ms. Maya.” She held out her hand, her expression stern.
“Hand what over?”
“Don’t be cute. Tonight’s party is important for Mr. and Mrs. Singh, and I won’t let you ruin it by pulling a childish prank on that boy.”
I suppressed a grimace at the mention ofthat boy.
“I would never prank anyone, not even him.” I placed my free hand on my heart. “I’m a top executive at a Fortune 500 company. Do you really think I have time to run around and play tricks on our dinner guests?”
Diya raised her eyebrows and kept her hand outstretched. She didn’t say a word.