Swimming with Sharks

by Nele Neuhaus

  “This bastard Kostidis has been leading a personal crusade against me for the past fifteen years,” he continued. “He’s obsessed with the idea of locking me up behind bars. During his time as the US attorney, he tried everything in his power to denounce me. It wasn’t enough for him to drag New York’s entire underworld and half of Wall Street into court—he wants me too.”

  He stood up without taking his eyes off of Alex. At first glance, he seemed as confident and relaxed as usual, but his eyebrows were tensely furrowed.

  “He’s tried everything already: He accused me of all kinds of Mafia activities, bribery, extortion. He tried to frame me with fraud and union manipulation. All to no avail. I don’t know how many years the US Attorney’s Office spent fabricating accusations. It was all in vain.”

  His expression became sinister.

  “I pay my taxes, provide work for thousands of people, and carry a great deal of responsibility,” he said, his tone angry, “and then this miserable Greek idiot brings his righteous anger upon anyone with an Italian name, calling me a gangster and Mafioso. He’s already caused me enormous damage with his slander, but I don’t get upset about him anymore. Let him make a fool of himself with his missionary zeal.”

  Sergio laughed grimly.

  Alex knew that this was anything but ridiculous, yet she secretly admired Sergio’s performance. He withstood her stare without blinking an eye, and if she hadn’t known better, she would have believed him. Don Sergio, she thought, and a shiver ran down her spine.

  She had to play along with his game. “Why don’t you defend yourself against these accusations? Why do you let them drag your name through the mud?”

  “I don’t need to justify myself over things that I’m not involved with.” He smiled, but his blue eyes were flinty.

  “But a tarnished reputation hurts business.”

  “That’s nonsense,” Sergio said contemptuously, shaking his head. “The people I do business with aren’t small-minded philistines easily intimidated by sensationalist newspaper articles.”

  Alex didn’t say a word.

  “What is it, cara?” He put his hands on her shoulders and gazed intensely into her eyes. “Do you actually believe what they say about me?”

  “I wish I could say no,” Alex replied.

  He grabbed her wrists.

  “Does it really matter to you what’s written in the newspapers?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m as unconcerned with that as you are. I wouldn’t care if you would just be honest with me. But I have a feeling that you’re not.”

  Sergio let go of her.

  “Why do you want to know things that are none of your business?”

  He put his hands in his pockets, and his smile had vanished.

  “Do you think that I’m accountable to you just because I have sex with you every once in a while?”

  Alex stared at him in disbelief.

  “I’ve never asked you to explain anything about yourself to me. But you ask me to believe you. The press has been writing and reporting otherwise about you for weeks. Why should I believe you when you don’t trust me?”

  “It’s exactly like I’m telling you.”

  “Just like in the Bible, right?” Alex laughed and suddenly felt a chill. “True to the words, ‘Blessed are those who haven’t seen and yet have come to believe’!”

  Sergio gave her a serious look. His handsomely sculpted face looked like it was chiseled from stone.

  “I love you,” he said unexpectedly.

  “No, you don’t.” Alex shook her head. “Maybe you desire me, but that’s all.”

  She thought about the natural and loving comfort with which Trevor and Madeleine treated each other. Sergio was completely incapable of such affection. She suddenly didn’t want to see him anymore. She was tired and wanted to sleep.

  “The past few days have been rough,” she said and turned away. “I’m tired. You should leave now.”

  Sergio’s anger, which he had struggled to hold back, flared up. He approached her with three large steps and grabbed her arm harshly.

  “Let me go,” Alex said. “I want to go to bed.”

  “I do too.” Sergio pulled her toward him and pressed his lower body against hers. “With you.”

  “But I don’t want to do this with you.” She pushed her arms against his chest, but he wouldn’t let go of her. He raged with lust. She kicked and punched him in a fit of panic, but any pain that she caused intensified his wild desire. It was a crazy, angry, downright fierce fight, and Alex lost. She endured his brutal passion, her faced turned away. As he climaxed with a muffled panting, she knew that she hated him. Furious, she watched him get up, calmly zip his pants and then straighten up his tie.

  “You asshole,” she whispered. “You just raped me!”

  Sergio leaned over her and turned her face so that she was forced to look up at him.

  “You should remember one thing very precisely, cara mia.” He smiled, but the chill in his eyes was arctic. “I always get what I want.”

  Then he walked to the door and disappeared. Alex began to sob. Why hadn’t she listened to all of the warnings, even when she’d sensed deep inside that the terrible rumors were true? She was no longer in control of the situation, and realized she actually never had been. She learned the hard way: Sergio Vitali was not a person to be gotten rid of that easily.

  December 21, 1999

  Shortly before Christmas, Alex closed one of the most spectacular deals of the year. Maxxam was a blue-chip company with a good international reputation, a conglomerate that was massively expanding in the computer technology sector. Alex had learned that Maxxam was interested in IT-Systems, a hardware giant from Texas, and she had managed to outdo all the competition with her clever and skillful negotiations.

  The fact that she hadn’t mentioned a single word to Zack filled her with a special sense of satisfaction. She was more than curious how he would react to her announcement at the next board meeting—the main topic of which was the presentation of the company’s financial results at its annual press conference in January. LMI would represent Maxxam in this deal. Although it hadn’t been possible for Mark and her to find out how the complex constructs of offshore companies were related to LMI, they were both firmly convinced that Zack brazenly abused the information that Alex passed on to him. This is why they had prepared and worked on the Maxxam deal in secret. By the time Zack heard about it today, it would be too late to build a position in Maxxam or IT-Systems shares. Alex had carefully prepared for this presentation. Even though she was on the brink of collapse after the intensity of a 120-hour week, she looked forward to the triumph that was certainly awaiting her. Before Vincent Levy officially opened the meeting, she rose from her seat between John Kwai (the director of emerging markets and international business) and Ron Schellenbaum (the chairman of the board) and asked for everyone’s attention.

  “Gentlemen,” she said, after the chatter died down, “I would like to make an announcement that should delight all of you. It’s an early Christmas present, so to speak.”

  Everyone looked at her expectantly.

  “I’m happy to announce that Maxxam Enterprises has given us the mandate to arrange a leveraged buyout for its acquisition of IT-Systems.”

  The large conference room was as silent as a tomb. Everyone was stunned as they stared at Alex. They had all heard about Maxxam’s interest in IT-Systems, but only through rumors up to now. Suddenly, everyone started talking at once, and Alex barely managed to hold back a satisfied smile.

  “I worked out an LBO price of forty dollars per share,” she continued and immediately regained the undivided attention of everyone in the room. “We’ll issue high-yield bonds to raise five hundred million dollars. LMI serves as the underwriter for this debt.”

  Levy asked CFO Michael Friedman if LMI was actually capable of financing such a gigantic deal. Alex thought that this question was hypocritical considering that the Privat
e Equity Technology Partners trust alone managed assets worth five hundred million dollars.

  “How is this supposed to work?” Zack asked, visibly irritated. “How could you work on such a deal without informing anyone about it in advance?”

  “This is my job,” she said, “and the Chinese wall prohibits me from sharing information about such an LBO in-house. Maxxam’s management is enthusiastic, and I built a detailed financial plan with our colleagues from the corporate finance department.”

  Zack fell silent, but anger flashed in his eyes.

  “Maxxam doesn’t have sufficient funds of its own at the moment to acquire IT-Systems, which is why they need to finance the deal,” Alex said in a loud voice. “IT-Systems is an excellent and profitable company and the market leader in the area of computer hardware. Unfortunately, it has been run into the ground by poor management. However, in addition to Maxxam, other industry giants such as HP and Microsoft were also interested in IT-Systems. I had no choice but to go with the higher-risk option. The interest rate that I demanded was one percentage point below that of the competition, which ultimately tipped the scales at Maxxam in our favor and resulted in the LBO winning the mandate. Gentlemen, the total volume of this deal is 1.2 billion dollars. In addition to the fees for our advisory work, we will generate about one hundred million dollars in financing fees from the bonds that we issue.”

  “Are you saying that we could earn as much money with this deal as with all of last year’s deals combined?” Friedman’s jaw dropped.

  “That’s correct.” Alex smiled triumphantly. “If I have understood Mr. Levy correctly, he wants LMI to be a major player in M&A. With this deal, that will definitely be the case.”

  She opened her briefcase and pulled out a stack of photocopies, which she then distributed to everyone.

  “This is irresponsible!” Zack jumped up. His cheeks flushed in anger.

  “I think it’s brilliant,” Levy said, looking up from his document, “simply magnificent. How far along are the negotiations at this point, Alex?”

  “The IT-Systems board of directors will meet tomorrow and approve the proposed LBO, in all likelihood. I just spoke at length with Bernie Ritt, the president of IT-Systems. Maxxam agreed on very favorable terms for the IT-Systems shareholders. They’ll exchange the shares at a ratio of one to one and pay out a bonus stock dividend of one share per ten shares. All employees will be taken over, except for the management, who will receive generous severance packages. If everything goes well, then we should have the okay before Christmas. It’s the biggest deal in years. LMI has the fish on the hook.”

  “And what if the management of IT-Systems doesn’t approve?” Zack asked anxiously.

  “In that case,” Alex replied in a relaxed tone, “Maxxam’s board has left no doubt that it will pursue a much less lucrative hostile takeover. Ultimately, the shareholders determine the future, but they won’t get a better offer than this one from Maxxam. All of the other potential buyers would break up IT-Systems.”

  “Stop it, Zack,” Levy said to his managing director. “Alex has done excellent work here, and we should acknowledge that, even if it comes as a surprise to all of us. I’m absolutely sure this is the largest deal that LMI has ever financed.”

  For the remainder of the meeting, the Maxxam deal was the main topic of discussion and pushed the annual report press conference into the background. Alex had done her job. Now it was up to corporate finance and the securities and fixed-income departments to put the leveraged buyout into practice and issue the bonds to their clients. After the meeting was over, Alex rushed to get out of the conference room. Her entire team was already waiting at Luna Luna to celebrate the completion of this gigantic deal. She said good-bye with a smile on her face, and everyone congratulated her—except for Zack. She wasn’t surprised about that; this confirmed her grave suspicions.

  “Alex!”

  She stopped as she heard Zack’s voice behind her.

  “Come to my office!” he ordered. She obeyed, shrugging her shoulders. He sat down behind his desk, but didn’t ask her to sit. He managed to disguise his anger behind a phony smile.

  “Why am I hearing about such a deal this way?” he asked. “Didn’t we agree that you’d inform me in advance?”

  “It was incredibly hectic,” Alex answered with a smile that was just as fake. “And you weren’t in the city. I simply forgot to tell you.”

  “Forgot?” Zack opened his eyes wide in pretend astonishment. “I think you’re overestimating your authority a little bit here, sweetie.”

  Alex stopped smiling. She put her briefcase down and leaned over with her hands on the desk. Zack crossed his hands behind his head with a slight grin.

  “I suspect that you’ve misunderstood the meaning of a Chinese wall in the past,” she said quietly, “because a birdie chirped in my ear that every single one of my deals was preceded by peculiar price fluctuations. This is a surefire sign of illegal insider trading.”

  Zack was an accomplished actor, but leagues below Sergio. Alex noticed a slight flicker of fright in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched in brief panic.

  “You take yourself very seriously,” he said.

  “No, I take my responsibility seriously.” She straightened up again. “Because I have a responsibility to the financial markets. And your reaction confirmed my suspicion.”

  “You’re an arrogant bitch!” Zack suddenly resorting to unprofessional insults made Alex grin.

  “And you’re a sore loser,” she countered, grabbing her briefcase. “I’m going to celebrate with my team a little bit. They deserve it. Have a nice evening, Mr. St. John!”

  Her entire department was already at Luna Luna, a cozy bar on Broad Street mostly frequented by brokers and bankers. They greeted Alex with applause and enthusiastic whistling when she entered. She asked for everyone’s attention and then reported about the events at the meeting and the board’s reactions.

  “All right, people.” Alex raised her hand, and it became quiet again. “Enough of this, let’s move on to the fun part of the evening. You’ve all done a great job, and I’m incredibly proud of you. As a token of appreciation for all the nights and weekends that you worked around the clock, all drinks on me tonight! Celebrate your achievement! You earned it!”

  After another surge of applause, the first round arrived. The mood was cheerful and boisterous, the alcohol flowed freely, and the inhuman hundred-hour work weeks were behind them. Christmas and New Year’s were just around the corner, which meant even the financial district would be quieter for a few weeks. After a few drinks, Alex found a moment to speak with Mark.

  “How did it go?” Mark inquired.

  “Zack went berserk. He could hardly control himself.”

  “Bingo.” Mark nodded seriously. “So you were right.”

  “Well,” Alex said and let out a sigh, “but I still don’t know how far up his little side dealings go. Does Levy know of them?”

  “He knew about Shanahan,” said Mark quietly, “and I’m sure that he knows about this.”

  Alex frowned. She was in this thing up to her ears. No one would believe that she was stupid enough not to know what Zack did with her information. If the regulating authorities caught wind of this, she would face a harsh fine in addition to possibly losing her work permit.

  “Damn it,” she said, her good mood swept away. “I was a pretentious idiot. I had it coming.”

  “Why is that?” Mark looked at her, surprised.

  “Oliver tried to tell me about it months ago.” Alex shrugged her shoulders. “But I refused to listen to him. He was right about everything.”

  “I didn’t believe him either at first,” Mark replied.

  “Do you still see Oliver every now and then?” Alex asked. The alcohol had lowered her inhibitions, and she suddenly wanted to know whether Mark was aware of what had happened between her and Oliver, and what he thought about it.

  “Not for a while.” Mark threw a
brief glance at her. “He left the city in May for a few months because…”

  He stopped.

  “Because of—what? Keep going, Mark!”

  “I don’t know. It…it’s none of my business.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  Mark struggled with himself for a moment, and then he looked at Alex. “He was attacked in May and beaten pretty badly. His apartment was ransacked while he was in the hospital.”

  “What?” Alex’s blood froze in her veins. “When was this exactly?”

  “I don’t know if I should talk about it,” Mark replied evasively, biting his lip. “It’s really none of—”

  “Mark!” Alex insisted. “Tell me what happened! Please!”

  “Oliver told me that you showed up at his apartment one night and revealed to him that you’d had an affair with Sergio Vitali,” he said, visibly embarrassed, “and that the two of you had a disagreement. The next evening, three masked men were waiting for him in the hallway and roughed him up pretty badly. One of the men told him to stop sticking his nose into matters that are none of his business and to keep his hands off of you.”

  “My God,” Alex whispered in deep horror. Sergio knew about Oliver and her, but he had never spoken a word about it! The thought that Sergio had her monitored was so outrageous and frightening that she didn’t dare to believe it. She tried to remember the day after the fight with Oliver. Yes! Sergio had taken her out for dinner at Le Cirque and showed her the penthouse apartment afterward. While she dined and laughed with him, Oliver had been brutally beaten. Her shock mixed with a feeling of cold fear. She knew all too well what Sergio was capable of. Did he still have someone trailing her? Was he tracking her every move? Involuntarily, she glanced around the packed pub, looking for a stranger among the happy faces of her team members.