The CEO He Hired

Tess Okafor built her software company in a Detroit coworking space, one customer at a time, and she is eighteen months into a patent suit she cannot afford. The competitor's parent company offers a settlement with one ugly string attached: their interim COO will run her company for six months. Rafa Mendez arrives in a pressed suit and starts reorganizing the floor. Tess hates the floor. She hates him more. Then she overhears a call and realizes Rafa was sent here to fail on purpose, so the parent company can dissolve her quietly. She says so, out loud, in his office. He does not deny it. The two of them make an alliance against both of their employers and spend eleven weeks arguing about whiteboards, purchase orders, and the very unprofessional night in Chicago that neither of them will call a date. When the absorption papers go out, one signature decides whose company survives.