“It’s not good practice for you to be in the room for these negotiations. The update wasn’t promising because the situation isn’t. It seems there were a lot of the terms of the agreement that got lost in translation on both ends. The outcome might not be favorable. You don’t need to be in there for that.”
“I don’t care if it’s good practice or not. I’m here now. I might as well take a swing at it. Don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think.” His arm shot out to block me when I reached for the door. “Seriously, Marco. You said you had other business to attend to. Your time is better spent on that.”
“I’ve attended to all my other business. I’ve closed four other deals since we’ve been here, and now I’m going to see if I can close this last one. This is the one we came here for. Get out of my way, Gianluca. I’m doing this.”
He exhaled heavily but dropped his arm and twisted the doorknob to open it again.
“Gentlemen,” I said as I walked back inside, motioning for them to take their seats as I took the one at the head of the table Gianluca had previously occupied.
He came to stand behind me, his feet planted about a foot apart and his arms folded. The scowl that settled on his features didn’t intimidate me, but several of the others shrank back a little.
One man who didn’t flinch at Gianluca’s display of whatever the fuck he was playing at was Edward Lee. He was around my age and had been the first person I’d proposed this deal to a couple of months ago.
I focused on him, knowing he was the one in charge of calling most of the shots. “It’s starting to look like this might not be the deal for me. I’ve given you my terms, and if they’re not what you want, I’m going to have to walk away.”
“Surely, we can discuss this,” Edward said as he pushed a lock of inky black hair back. “You and I agreed on the control my family would continue to exercise. Your man is going back on that.”
“He’s not going back on anything.” I lifted my chin as I sat back, my eyes never leaving Edward’s. “We agreed on management, not control. I was very clear about that. This isn’t a hostile takeover. We want to continue working with your family and we value your input and experience. That being said, I’m not going to invest a sum this large in a company I don’t have control of.”
“If you want our input and experience, you’ll have to give us the proper incentives. I’m just not seeing those at the moment.”
“The proper incentives?” A humorless burst of laughter shot out of me. “If you don’t take this deal, you risk losing the company your family has spent generations building. There’s your incentive.”
“There are other companies who have made us offers.”
“If any of them were even close to my offer, you wouldn’t have spent the last week personally hammering out the details of an agreement you and I have already made with my lawyer.” I flicked a hand at the others around the table but kept my unwavering gaze on Edward. “I don’t even know who these people are, but I know you wouldn’t be five to one around a table with my guy if you had better offers to consider.”
Doubt flickered in his eyes. Eventually, his shoulders slumped and he held up his hands. “Fine. You’re a very persuasive man. Do you know that?”
“I’ve been told.” I rose to my feet and brought a hand to the button on my jacket. “Do we have a deal or not, Edward? I have a plane to catch and no more time to waste.”
He sighed but nodded and grinned as he offered me his hand. “You just acquired yourself a shipping line, my friend.”
“Glad to hear it.” My own lips spread into a grin as I shook his hand. “You will have to come to my home in Italy sometime. I’ll take you out for a proper celebration.”
“I’ve been wanting to take a trip there,” he said, tilting his head as he released my hand. “I hear it’s lovely this time of year.” Anticipation suddenly glittered in the black orbs of his eyes, replacing the doubt that had been there just a minute ago. “You don’t happen to have any space for us in that plane you have to catch, do you?”
Gianluca made a sound of displeasure behind me, but I ignored him. “It just so happens that I do. We have a whole jet with only myself and Gianluca onboard. I’ll have my assistant send you the details.”
“We’ll see you there.”
Gianluca and I left after Edward introduced me to his team and we said our goodbyes.
As soon as we walked out into the bright sunlight outside, he slapped a large hand down on my shoulder and threw his head back as he laughed. “I shouldn’t have doubted for a second that having you in there was a good idea. You were great. Even if I’m not thrilled about having to spend more time with them than I already have, I’m glad things turned out well in the end.”
“So am I.” I shoved his hand off my shoulder and smirked at him as I slid my sunglasses on. “We’re going to make another billion this year with this. Easy. Never doubt me again, Gianluca. You should know so much better than that by now.”
Chapter 2
Addy
Pots and pans clanged as they were slung down for preparation for service to begin. Plates and silverware clattered as the industrial dishwashers were unloaded. We were almost ready for the restaurant to open, but then the door to the kitchen banged open and our boss came in. He stuck his fingers between his teeth and let out a screeching whistle.
“Stop,” he hollered. Everyone did just that and turned to
