“I’ll tell him you assaulted me,” Bianca hissed.
Mary Alice slapped the ruler against her knuckles again and Bianca cried out. “Assault this, you viper.”
“I thought nuns were supposed to be nice!”
“We’re the defender of good and will always battle evil. And you, Bianca, have an evil soul.”
“This isn’t over,” Bianca called out as Mary Alice chased her out of the office with the ruler.
A minute later Mary Alice was back. “I’m sorry, Mr. Faulkner. I don’t know how she keeps getting inside.”
“It’s okay, Mary Alice. Please talk to security again.”
“I will. Also, Dr. Mark Conroy called and we scheduled the recognition ceremony for the day after you return from New York. It’s on your calendar.”
The annoyance Bianca caused lifted as the image of Kenzie filled his mind. “Excellent. Thank you.”
Suddenly Ryker couldn’t wait to get this meeting over with and get back home. He had a nurse to see and then hope she wouldn’t change completely when she found out who he was. Feelings. Ugh, what horrible things they were. Even if they made him smile at just the thought of her.
4
New York City . . .
Olivia Townsend crossed her slim legs as she sat back in the boardroom in the most exclusive office towers in New York City. She was on the top floor of SA Technologies with her client, Ryker Faulkner. They were meeting with the owner of SA Technologies, Sebastian Abel. Sebastian was a business tycoon who resembled Ryker in his secretive ways and mysterious holdings. No one, not even Olivia, knew the full extent of Ryker’s business or financial portfolio. The same was said about Sebastian Abel.
The spacious boardroom had three windowed walls and a table that looked to be made from a giant fallen tree, and she was about to broker a deal she knew little about. Both attorneys had been kept in the dark as to the details of the contract they were negotiating. Instead, Ryker and Sebastian said they’d add the description to the contract themselves after all the terms were reached. The two of them had been working on it for a month.
Ryker sat next to her. Across from her were Sebastian and his attorney, a fifty-something named Huff, wearing an expensive suit and a slimy smirk. Two young men who looked to be in their mid to late twenties also sat at the table. One was tall, dark, and mysterious. He sat on Ryker’s other side. He wore fitted designer jeans and a dress shirt over muscles that bulged slightly when he moved. His black hair was buzzed short and his blue eyes made her think of the turquoise shallow waters of the Bahamas. The other was the complete opposite. He sat next to Sebastian. He was lanky, but had wide shoulders and was in jogger pants and a wrinkled old T-shirt. His Latino skin was smooth, but his dark brown hair was shaggy.
“We know this is unusual,” Sebastian said to Olivia and his own attorney. “However, Ryker and I appreciate you both going along with our demands to keep this contract completely confidential. Ryker has a business I want to join with my friend here.” Sebastian pointed out the shaggy man. “We’re going to become partners instead of competitors. Here are the terms Ryker and I have agreed to.” Sebastian slid a piece of paper to her and to his attorney. “We have not agreed upon the price for my buy-in. We want you two to go into the room next door and type up a legal and binding contract after you both reach an agreement on price.”
Olivia had learned that men expected women to give things away. Instead of trying to leap in and prove she could play with the big boys, she sat back and let them show their hand, which they usually did when they were patting her on the head, telling her what a good little girl she was and to let the men handle it. That’s when she went in for the kill. This time would be no different.
“How can we do that when you’ve shackled us?” Sebastian’s attorney asked, clearly peeved about being kept in the dark.
Ryker lifted up the top pages of his notepad and barely tapped his finger. Holy shit. This wasn’t a little deal. Olivia glanced at the numbers so quickly she was sure the opposing attorney didn’t even see her do it. She had the range Ryker was hoping to get. She was authorized for anything above that range.
“The description will be added after the fact. When describing the sale, tell them to see attached Exhibit A,” Sebastian was saying. “You have one hour.”
Olivia stood, grabbed her laptop and the terms Ryker and Sebastian had written out before striding to the adjacent room. She was already seated and typing up the contract from one of her own contract templates when Sebastian’s attorney walked in.
“Good. You can type since you’re used to it. I don’t type anything. That’s what secretaries are for,” Huff said dismissively, as if he were too important to type anything.
Olivia didn’t react. She didn’t even roll her eyes. She simply added five hundred million to the price she thought she’d lead with to start the negotiation. She’d get her revenge for his dismissive attitude in the numbers.
Huff muttered to himself and made a call to his office while she worked on the contract. She made sure she added favorable terms for Ryker while including all the terms Sebastian and Ryker agreed to. Those terms were small details, like if there were any mediation done, it would be done in Charleston instead of New York, among other things, that would add up to give Ryker the slightly better end of the deal.
“It’ll take three point five billion dollars for your client to buy in,” Olivia said calmly, not even looking up from the laptop.
“How can you say that? You don’t even know what we’re dealing with.”
“Widgets.” She suddenly felt as if she were back in law school negotiating the fictitious, generic item every class used for mock trials. “If your client wants half of our widgets, then the price is three and a half billion dollars.” The top price Ryker had hoped to get was two billion. But this lawyer had pissed her off and he was going to pay by having to explain to Sebastian Abel—who, while sexy as hell, was also scary as hell—why he overpaid for the widgets. That would teach him to tangle with her.
“One billion. See, I can play this game, too. Just throwing out numbers.”
Olivia looked up at him. “I’m not throwing out numbers. I have authorization from my client. Didn’t you get that before you came in here?”
“This is idiotic,” Huff spat before shoving the door open and heading back into the main conference room. He came back thirty seconds later looking as if he’d had a talking down.
Olivia sat back and crossed her legs. She laced her fingers together and stared directly at him. “Three and a half billion. Don’t give me a bullshit counter either or I’ll simply refuse to sell to your client and you will have to explain to Mr. Abel that you wasted all of his time.”
The lawyer glared at her with disgust, his perfectly capped teeth bared in a snarl. It only made Olivia smile back at him. She’d gotten in his head. “Two billion.”
“Respectable, but come on. You know who my client is. You know who your client is. We’re not going to bullshit this for days with offers and counter offers. I’ll give you one more try. We’re down to seven minutes on our clock.” Which she’d said purposely to make him feel rushed in the negotiation. “I’ll even come down to three billion.”