by Ellie Danes
“You go out with me, you take me out on a real date. Give us a real chance again, show me a good time—and you'll get the investment you need. That's my condition, and it's not going to change. So, there's the offer for you, on the table. Are you going to take it, or are you going to leave it?”
Chapter 19
Marie
I showed up for the meeting with Cory dressed in a conservative business suit with a nice scarf that didn't show off much of anything. I had learned from past experience just how creepy he could be, and I certainly didn't want to give him any ideas.
We were meeting at a nice sushi place, and I figured that at least that would be a decent consolation prize for having to put up with Cory for however long this meeting would last. I had always loved sushi, so any excuse to have some was welcome.
I arrived just on time, carrying a folder with summarized notes I'd made about Isaac's goals when it came to the deal. I was feeling a little nervous, as representing someone as prominent and well respected as Isaac was in the investor community was a hefty responsibility. Everyone had to have a baptism of fire sometime though, and I figured that this would be mine. And besides, I figured that I didn't really have to be that nervous about the whole thing. I mean, Cory wasn't that much older than me, and surely couldn't have that much experience in the field. I think that I would have been a lot more intimidated by someone with a few more decades of experience under their belt than Cory.
That was not to say that I wasn't a little nervous though. Cory could be devious and was no doubt a sly negotiator. What he wanted to get out of the deal and what Isaac wanted were two different things, so at least one party was probably going to come out of this feeling like they'd been ripped off.
I was determined to make sure that it wasn't me. I really, really didn't want to let Isaac down. He had put a lot of trust in me with this, and I wanted to prove to him that he had made the right decision by doing that.
I walked into the sushi place and saw Cory easily enough. He was looking especially slick and groomed, dressed in a charcoal gray business suit with a black shirt. He nodded and smiled when he saw me, and I felt a little shudder of unease run through me from the way he was staring at me. I did my best to hide it, though. Confidence, confidence, confidence—that was the impression I wanted to give off.
I strode briskly and purposefully over to the table. He stood up, and it looked like he was moving in for a hug, but there was no way I wanted a hug from this creep, no matter how good looking he was, so I preempted this with a quick hand stuck out for a handshake. He saw my extended hand and reluctantly shook it, a look of clear disappointment crossing his face as he did.
“Good afternoon, Cory,” I said to him, keeping my tone formal.
“Well hey there, Marie,” he replied, grinning. “You're looking fantastic.”
“Thank you,” I said as I sat down, avoiding the eye contact he seemed so hungry to make with me.
“So, the old man sent you to negotiate with me, huh?” he said. “He must really trust you.”
“I've worked hard over the past few weeks,” I said, “and evidently, I've made enough of an impression that he does trust me.”
“Hopefully that trust hasn't been misplaced, huh?” remarked Cory with a smirk.
“Oh, it hasn't,” I countered, keeping my cool and not falling for his bait. I knew that he would try to rattle my cage a little, to try to intimidate me and thus push for a deal that would be advantageous to him rather than Isaac. I wasn't going to let that happen, though.
“How about some drinks to get things going?” suggested Cory. “Tequila?”
I stared at him with a skeptically raised eyebrow and a cool expression on my face. “This is a business meeting, Cory, not some frat boy drinking night. I'll have a glass of wine—just one—and that's it.”
“Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug and a grin. “But I find that negotiations go so much better with a little bit of, how should I say, lubricant.”
The way he said that made it clear that a business negotiation wasn't the only sort of interaction he had on his mind, and a shiver of disgust rippled through me. I didn't really have a comeback for this. All I could do was shake my head. “Listen Cory, could we please act like adults and get on with this?” I asked. “Seriously.”
“Come on, don't you want to get to know the man you're negotiating with?”
“No, not really.”
He smiled, and this time the condescension was unmistakable. “And there's your first mistake. If you don't know your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, how do you know what strategy to employ when negotiating with them? How do you know what strategies they're likely to use against you? I'm starting to think that the old man was a real fool to have placed such immense trust in someone like you.”
Sudden understanding flooded through me. He was right. How could I expect to negotiate effectively with someone when I didn't know the first thing about them? My face and neck felt hot, so I loosened my scarf and set it on the empty chair next to me.
“Maybe,” continued Cory, “old Isaac Wallace didn't actually send you here to negotiate with me. Maybe he sent you here to learn from me.”
“All right,” I said with a very put-on smile. “Let's talk, then. Let's leave negotiations aside for a while and just . . . talk.”
He nodded, still smiling arrogantly. “Now there's a smart girl. So, how are things going with your boyfriend Jace—or should I say Everett J. Cooper IV?”
That sent a sting jabbing straight under my skin, injecting pain and venom into my veins. I began to stammer, “Things are. . .we're not dating.”
He chuckled before asking, “Were you ever dating, or was that just something you said to get me off your back?”
He was really starting to get to me, but I knew that I had to keep my cool, and not let him know that he was getting to me in such a big way. “No, we weren't ever dating,” I admitted. “And yes, I said that to get you off my back. Because there's no way, no way in hell, that I'd ever date you, Cory Burton.”
He put on a look of mock shock. “Oh, my! Well, I think one of these days you’re going to change your mind—I can tell you’re attracted to me.”
“No, thank you,” I said coldly. Handsome as he was, he came off as too arrogant and entitled to ever be attractive to me. “Seriously, stop being such a jerk. No matter how hard you try to convince me—and yourself—that I'm attracted to you, it's never going to be the truth. Never. So, let's just move on, shall we?”
He chuckled. “If you say so . . . but I say you're just lying to yourself. You're the delusional one.”
“Whatever. Now let's get off this topic, all right?”
“Fine.”
The waiter came over and we ordered some drinks—a glass of wine for myself, while Cory, of course, had to go all out to try and impress me by ordering a twenty-one-year-old single malt whiskey.
“Hey,” he remarked, “if I can afford it, why not enjoy it?”
We chatted for a while, and remarkably, he didn't try to hit on me anymore. I could see from the way that he looked at me that he was still after me, but I made it clear that nothing was going to happen between us, and that despite what he believed, I was not attracted to him at all. His new distance actually made him seem more likable, which I never would have thought possible.
We ordered our food, and it was fantastic—as I had hoped earlier, a worthy reward for having to spend time with this guy. We ate and got to know each other more, and I learned he’d been raised in Virginia but came up to New York for school and then got into business, marketing, and investing. When he’d met Barbara Ameson, she had taken him under her wing, sort of like Isaac Wallace was doing for me.
“It’s hard being at someone else’s beck and call like this, sometimes,” Cory said.
I nodded. “That makes sense. Although Mr. Wallace is really a great mentor.”
“I’m glad you found him, then.”
Eventually, we g
ot on to talking about the deal. I knew exactly what it was that Isaac wanted to get out of this, and I wasn't willing to back down on any of the demands he had set. Cory was a skilled negotiator, but I was determined to get what Isaac had asked for, so in the end he ended up conceding to Isaac's demands and agreeing on the deal.
“I gotta hand it to you, Marie,” he said as we got up to pay the bill, “you're far tougher than I thought you were.”
There was a grudging respect in his tone; he wasn't just saying this. I felt a glimmer of pride shining inside me; I had managed to broker a pretty good deal for Isaac. Not everything was perfectly ideal, but the conditions had surpassed the minimum targets he had set out in his report.
“All right, Cory,” I said. “It was good doing business.”
He nodded. The arrogant smirk had long since vanished from his face, and in its place was a look of respect. “I came away with less of a deal than I thought I would,” he admitted, “and that's probably because I underestimated your abilities. I'll be a lot tougher with you next time we have to negotiate.”
“And I'll be an even tougher opponent by then, Cory, so you'd better come prepared.”
“Listen,” he said, “I know that you think I'm a certain kind of guy, and you said you'd never, ever date me—but I'm asking you out. Come on, we could be so good together. We could take on the world, you and me. You've got my number. Call me any time—any time at all.”
“It's not going to happen,” I said. “So, don't get your hopes up.”
“We'll see,” he said, smiling.
“Goodbye, Cory,” I said as I walked out.
I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away, but I didn't turn around. I just walked straight to the car and drove off.
As I was driving, I realized that I was near Plant Power, where Jace and I had first met. That thought was bittersweet now. I was still thinking about him all the time, but I just couldn't get past the fact that he hadn't told me who he really was. I felt guilty for not contacting him, but his lack of transparency and honesty had really gotten to me in a big way. What was going to happen between us now? I mean, the date we'd gone on had been pure magic, with such intense chemistry between us. And the kiss we had shared—it had been pure, fiery passion.
I decided on a quick drive past Plant Power, since I happened to be in the area. I don't know why—I just wanted to.
I pulled into the street and drove slowly up to Plant Power. There was, as usual, a line coming out of the door, and it looked pretty full inside, too. I stared through the glass into the area where people were seated at the tables—and almost crashed my car.
There, sitting at a table, was Jace—and standing next to him, brushing her fingertips along his forearm, was Samantha Wood. They were both laughing about something and looked as if they were having a wonderful old time.
So, that was that. Now I knew the truth—the awful, ugly truth about who Jace really was. I sped off, tears burning the edges of my eyes and a sob choking my throat. It had all been lies, all of it, and I had been such a fool to fall for those lies.
It was over. I wouldn't see him again. There was no way I ever wanted to see him again.
I pulled the car over and dried my eyes off and blew my nose. My phone was buzzing in my purse. If it was Jace, I was going to chuck the phone onto the highway.
But it was an unfamiliar number.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hi, this is Cory Burton,” he said. “You left your scarf at the restaurant.”
I looked wildly to the passenger’s seat, and sure enough, my scarf wasn’t there. I’d been so happy about my great negotiation that I hadn’t paid attention to gathering it when I left.
“May I return it to you?” Cory’s voice turned teasing. “Maybe over that dinner date you’ll never let me take you on?”
I gave a deep, cleansing breath. Jace was completely out of the picture—he’d already moved on, in fact, without bothering to tell me first. “You know what, yeah. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 20
Jace
Samantha ran her fingertips over my forearm suggestively.
“You're a great temptress, you know that?” I said to her, staring into her beautiful eyes.
She laughed proudly. “You should feel privileged, Jace. I could have any man I want, any man in this town—and I rarely go back for seconds. But we had a really good time, and I choose you. You're the one I want.”
I laughed derisively. “And I should be feeling privileged, huh? I should be feeling so stoked that you're after me?”
She laughed—but now her laughter was getting colder as she saw where this is going. “What's the matter with you?” she suddenly snapped. “I'm offering you another chance to be with me. Do you know how many men would kill to spend the night with me? How many millions of men across this country have fantasized about me? How many of them would give everything they have to take what I'm offering you?”
“Maybe go chase after one of them then,” I said coldly.
“You're not a man,” she hissed, her eyes now cold like those of a reptile. “You're not a real man. You're pathetic.”
“I am a real man—and that's why I want nothing to do with you. My heart belongs to someone else, and I would never do anything to hurt her. So, you can take your deception, your temptation, and you can go find someone else. I have honor, Samantha—a concept that someone like you could never understand. And it means so much more to me than anything . . . So much more. So, with all due respect, you can take your offer, and you can shove it. I'll come up with the funds myself. I don't need your help, or anyone else's.”
“You idiot,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “You stupid, ignorant, pathetic idiot. I can't believe I wasted my time on you. I know for a fact your billions are all tied up in other things. You need this investment—you need my money. And now you can’t have it.”
She stormed off, and I shook my head. She was a real bitch, that one, and I was glad that I had chosen not to have anything to do with her.
However, now I was faced with a real problem—the funding we needed for the final boost before going public. Because of what Matthew had done, investor confidence had plummeted. Now nobody wanted to put the capital into my company—not unless I got rid of Matthew. And that was something that I simply wasn't going to do.
Well then, I guess there was only one way to do this. I would have to provide the capital myself.
I could give up my penthouse, and maybe two or three of my sports cars. I could sell the cars at well below market value, the penthouse, too. If I could get rid of all of that in a week or two, I would have the money we needed.
All right, so that was it, that was the plan. It wasn't the greatest plan by any means, and I’d miss the Ironwood, but it was what I had to do. And when things get rough, you simply had to buckle down and ride out the storm. So that was exactly what I was going to do.
I got up, having finished my smoothie, and headed outside. I got on my bike and started the long ride home, thinking while I was riding about how much capital I could realistically expect to come up with in this little flash sale I was about to have.
I was lost in my thoughts when a car horn blared just to my right, causing me to swerve and almost fall off the bike. I looked over to my right, thinking that maybe it was an angry car driver I'd cut in front of or something, but instead I saw that it was my Aunt Barbara, in her limo.
“Everett,” she said, “we saw you cycling, and I told my driver to follow you because you and I need to chat. Have you made a decision about Matthew White?”
“All right, Aunt Barbara, let's just pull off the road and we can have a chat. There's a park two blocks down, I'll meet you there.”
“Very well,” she said, and the limo sped off.
I cycled down to the park, leaned my bicycle against a tree, took my helmet off, and walked over to the limo. The back door was open, and there was my aunt, sitting inside and looking coolly out at me.
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br /> “Get in,” she instructed.
I climbed into the limo and had a seat across from her.
“Would you like anything to drink, Everett? You must be thirsty after all that cycling.”
“No thanks, Aunt Barbara,” I answered. “I just had a big smoothie, I'm good.”
“So, let's cut straight to the chase, shall we. The Matthew White situation—what have you decided to do?”
I figured there wasn’t any point in beating around the bush, so I cut straight to it. “Matthew is staying.”
She stared at me in shocked silence for a few moments, her eyes looking as if they were going to pop out of her skull. “Foolish, foolish, foolish boy!” she hissed. “You're committing financial suicide if you do this!”
“No, I'm not,” I said. “This thing is going to blow over, like all scandals eventually do. I'll get Matthew to make a public apology, to donate a generous sum of money to a charity of his choice as a gesture of apology, and he'll attend AA meetings. And we'll go public with the news about his father's terminal cancer. As much as I don't like the thought of doing that, when the public knows about it, they'll be more sympathetic toward him and they'll understand better why he did what he did. And then, in a few weeks, maybe months, everyone will have forgotten about it. Everything will go back to normal then.”
“That's all very well and good, Everett,” she said sternly, “but you don't have a few months! Your IPO is next month! And if you don't get a significant injection of capital before then, it's going to be a disaster.”
“I know that. And that's why I'm going to sell my house and my cars. With a quick sale, at bargain basement prices, that should give me enough capital.”
“You'd do that?” she asked, seeming almost incredulous. “You'd go to those lengths to protect your friend?”
“I would,” I answered, without a moment of hesitation.
She nodded slowly, and I could see that she was thinking intently about something. After a few moments, she looked up at me and spoke. “There is another way. Without you having to sell your house and cars at a huge loss.”