The campaign that had paved the way for this building and this business was forged by a friendship with a man he’d worked with briefly who ended up going to another company.

That man was Dan Harris. That friendship and business relationship had allowed him to pursue his dreams.

He sighed, then headed into the office.

Every Monday morning at Precision Design, everybody would meet in the conference room at nine o’clock. This was one of Kevin’s favorite parts of the week—to get everybody together, see how their weekend went, share some stories, laugh a lot, and then talk about the upcoming week. It was a meeting that he’d held for a few years now, and it still didn’t feel routine or forced. He enjoyed the way everybody strolled in at a leisurely pace, bringing a cup of coffee and a notebook or their laptops to take notes on.

This Monday was the first day back since the meeting in New York. And because of who he was and the company he’d built, Kevin wasn’t about to keep that information from them.

I’m going to tell them everything I can.

He took a sip of his coffee and glanced around the conference room. This was a great snapshot of Precision, with its modern black-and-white furniture and sleek layout. Awards littered the wall in a decorative rather than ostentatious way. Small pieces of the ten-year history of the company could be seen everywhere, from the groundhog that had been the star of an early campaign for a golf resort to the signed picture of James Gandolfini, who’d been involved in a charity that Precision helped worked with.

In the silence before the rest of the gang arrived, Kevin thought about what he was going to say, but then he shoved those thoughts away. This didn’t require any sort of rehearsed speech. He was going to just be honest and straightforward. That was how he approached all of his clients and employees. He hated playing games, stalling, running around the obvious. The team deserved to know what had happened with Silverschone Investments.

Zack Shields came in first, as usual. He was probably the most talented person on his team, and Kevin was including himself in that roster. Zack was an insanely creative designer and he could do things with a speed that astounded Kevin. Zack’s only negative was his age. At twenty-five, he still needed to learn the art of taking input and satisfying customers’ needs. Sometimes Zack could do something that visually was a masterpiece, yet it didn’t match what the client had originally asked for.

“Morning,” Zack said as he sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs and put his iPad on the table.

They won’t be getting a Christmas present like that this year.

Last year, after a nice profitable year, Kevin had surprised everybody at Precision with a new iPad. He could justify giving them out because it did help with their jobs. It wasn’t crucial, but happy employees were motivated employees. Zack especially had flipped after receiving the gift.