The Princess and the Paupers

Chapter 63
This place was seriously going downhill. Not a spark of life in sight.
Arabella walked back into the office and barely took a seat when Dean, the perpetually late assistant, barged in.
“Sorry I’m late, huh? Where’s the boss? Wasn’t he supposed to be here today? Kid, have you seen the boss? You need to get
up; he should be arriving soon! You can’t sit there!”
Dean rattled on, then realized the girl in front of him was just watching him with a nonchalant air that sent a shiver down his
spine.
“Arabella.
“Ms. Bennett,” Dean rushed forward, scared out of his wits.
From his stammering explanation, Arabella got the gist.
A year ago, the Collins family entered the fashion industry, hiring a number of talents, some good at management and others at
design.
They even sent a head honcho, Oscar, to oversee things.
But as time passed, the company saw little improvement.
Disappointed, many of the talents left.
From initial expectations to complete neglect, the headquarters had grown distant. The overall atmosphere in the company was
pretty lax.
Dean had been here for a year, and despite his frustration, he lacked the capacity to change things.
“Call a meeting half an hour from now. I want every department head and member of management present.”
“Yes.” Dean rushed off to send out mass notifications.
Half an hour later.

In the meeting room, out of 38 chairs that should have been filled, only nine people showed up.
“Ms. Bennett, the head of finance says her kid’s sick today; she took a leave to take him to the hospital.”
The head of procurement says he’s not feeling well; he’s resting at home.”
Before Dean can finish, Arabella cut him off: “Tell them if they’re not here tomorrow, they needn’t bother coming back ever.”
Those who came to the meeting thought Arabella was just playing tough.
“Just because I’m here, it means you folks need to kiss your lazy days goodbye, or you can kiss the company goodbye.”
Everyone looked up at her; little did they know she ran her own company with an even tighter ship. Any employee who didn’t pull
their weight would’ve been fired long ago.
“Now, who can tell me the current state of the company, any progress we’ve made, and our future plans?” Arabella scanned the
room.
Nobody spoke up.
“I’ll ask again.” Arabella repeated her question, but the response was the same: no one answered.
She realized instantly that this was the current state of the company. No progress, no future plans.
Just then, a voice piped up.
“Ms. Bennett.”
“Hmm?”
“Also, I think our department’s designs are pretty awesome, but for some reason, we just can’t make a sale.” Arabella kept silent.