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“The timeline’s already too aggressive.”

“We just dumped weeks of work down the toilet. May as well throw the entire campaign out the window.”

“If we don’t hit this, then the team can’t go on the cruise.”

“Forget your cruise.”

Sophie’s head snapped to the angry voice. “Seriously?”

The designer stiffened. “Not everyone gets to go. In fact, I could go on about how unfair it was you all were chosen.”

“Don’t be a dick,” another designer chimed in. “Just ’cause they didn’t choose you doesn’t mean that the ones they did don’t deserve it.”

“So, you’re saying I don’t deserve it?”

“Are you saying I don’t, either?” The man’s tone snapped. “I wasn’t chosen, but I have personal integrity and want to see this executed cleanly and on time.”

“So now I don’t have personal integrity?”

“Jesus Christ, I didn’t say?—”

“Enough!”

Sophie didn’t need to look to the doorway to know the booming voice belonged to George. The room settled like a dad just walked in and caught the kids fighting.

George stomped into the room. “Talking shit to one another stops right now. Capisce?”

Yikes.

George snugged his tie, then crossed his arms. “Now, someone tell me exactly what happened.”

Malcolm moved to the front of the room, bringing the kind, calm presence needed. He put his hands in the air like he was blocking the team from yelling. “All right, all. We need to take a breath. We’ve been under tight deadlines before, and I believe in all of you. But I’m gonna be real, here. We will need heads down, all hands on deck, laser focused if we have a chance to execute on time.” He grabbed the marker for the whiteboard and jotted down a number:10. “We have ten days to redo and launch. Ten. It’s not a lot of time?—”

“It’s no time!” the designer yelled from the back.

When Malcolm turned to face him, tossing him a look like “how dare you question me in my own home,” the designer shrunk. “It’s not a lot of time,” he repeated, “but I’ve seen you pull miracles before, and this is no different.”

Sophie took a deep breath. She believed in the team, but ten days? They spent a gazillion hours to reach where they were now. Malcolm was right, the team had performed some marketing miracles in the past. But ten days was impossible.

“Let’s go through the positives here.” Malcolm poised his marker over the whiteboard. “Legal has already been reviewed. As long as we stay within the realm of what we said before, a follow-up review will take less than an hour. Headline copy needs to be adjusted, but they approved the messaging on the lower hierarchy. The design, however, was totally rejected.”

“Cool.” A designer slumped back in her chair. “They rejected the most time-consuming thing.”

“Why does everyone think copy takes no time? I’m sick of everyone saying, ‘It’s just some copy,’ with a sense of ease, as if I pull words straight out my a— out of theair. Maybe design takes less time, huh? With AI now, it’s not like you’re creating anything original.”

“Are you kidding me right now?”

“Guys!” Now it was Sophie’s turn to snap. “Come on! You all are the greatest team I could ever work with. Brilliant, all of you. And we’re a family, and families fight. But right now, we need to seriously cut the shit and put heads down.”

George gave her the slightest nod of approval. She looked at her watch and nearly choked. This meeting alone was cutting into valuable seconds that should be spent on recreating images.

“The backup files from the creative we rejected internally are attached to the project plan. Step one, retrieve.” Sophie continued and Malcolm scribbled on the whiteboard. “We’re going to follow standard rush-job protocol. Refresh current assets, pick the three top choices, war room mentality. I’m going to chat with the EA to bring in food and snacks. Design in room B-14, copy in B-25, legal will be on standby. Two team members will be responsible for coming up with something entirely newas an extra fail-safe. Directors, please choose your person and let me know.” She took a breath and glanced up at Malcolm, who motioned for her to continue. “One single source of truth.One. We can’t waste time bouncing back and forth, wondering which spreadsheet or person has the latest information. Everything runs through me, and I will update the project plan in the platform. Any questions?”

The room steadied, all shifting and groans hushed. She’d take that as a no.

George inched closer to the middle of the room. “Everyone, take ten minutes. Call your family to let them know you’re going to be late, and gather what you need. Sophie, let’s get some food delivered by six.” He turned to leave but paused in the doorway. “You guys can do this. I believe in this team.”

The room scattered. Some took out phones and talked in their chairs, some bolted from the room. Sophie gathered her items and glanced at her phone. God, she wanted to talk to Ella so bad. But right now was absolutely not the time to try and call.