Troy Shipping was a good company, but their potential was a minor aspect of my desire to mesh them with Rush Shipping.
“Upon further research, I found you’re not the only company interested.”
His brows scrunched, and he took a deep breath as if preparing to deliver bad news. Not that it mattered because I knew what he’d say before he said it, and honestly, it was the furthest thing from bad news. It was the carrot making me chase it.
“Continue,” I ordered at his hesitation.
“It seems Mariano Shipping has been in contact with them for a while. Almost like they're grooming them for a merge, but I don’t think that’s what their main goal is. At least not historically. Mariano Shipping is more of a take control rather than let’s be partners.”
I snorted my disdain.
Of course, merging wasn’t their plan. It never was. Even though I was expecting the news, my fists still clenched when he said the name.
Mariano Shipping.
The company that had almost completely dismantled my family’s. The company that had taken and taken, leaving my grandfather struggling and overworked at his weakest, breaking him down to the man who faded every day before it was his time.
Mariano Shipping was the reason for my interest in Troy. Obviously, they were a good business decision. I wasn’t about to cut off my nose to spite my face. But the joy of snatching a company out from under Mariano filled me with a petty joy. I did it quietly with one of my other companies I’d added to my empire. I did it for me.
That, and there were also rumors that Mariano was hiding a closet of bad business moves that were slowly bulging out in the open beyond their control. The more I studied them, the more I believed it. To some, it may look like them moving at a faster pace, but when you added the quick purchases all up, it resembled more of a scramble than a strategic plan.
Buying businesses on the edge of a breakout, made quickly, quietly in a manic way. Like a vampire on the edge of death, desperate for any source of blood, even if it was a small, inconsequential animal, unable to stand on its own.
Just recently, they’d hired Camden Conti as their new CFO, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. He was let go at his last job for questionable reasons, but he was also heavily connected. It made me assume that what he’d done at his previous company far outweighed his connections. Which made me wonder why Mariano needed those connections over a morally sound CFO.
Mariano looked to be crumbling—quietly and slowly—but doing it on their own. And the pieces fell right into place for me faster than I expected, putting my goal within reach. I had to remember to be patient and not show my hand too soon when I reached out to take it. I needed to continue to wait, just as I had for years.
“Good,” I said to Ryan. “Keep looking and notify me if anything changes. What’s next?”
“We discussed moving forward with the Sequirus project. They came back to us and listed off three times as much as originally planned within the time limit they originally requested.”
“No. We outlined what our process is, and they agreed. I won’t compromise our company because they squabbled their time away and decided they wanted more after we’d reached an agreement.”
“Would it help to know they offered to double the fee on top of the baseline cost to ship?”
I hesitated, running the numbers in my head. “It still puts us in a position to struggle to meet the demand of other projects.”
“About that.” Ryan flipped through some papers before pulling one with scribbled notes to the top. “Ms. Barrone offered an exceptional plan that has a few kinks but could definitely work. She briefly jotted notes of a schedule and organization that is different from what we usually do but has merit. Especially for one created in the moment. With more details and time, she could create a functioning plan.” My lip curled at the same time my cock twitched in my pants. “Don’t look too excited,” Ryan deadpanned.
Even after the weekend—after my tryst with the vixen in red—I couldn’t get Verana off my mind. My dreams started with the masked woman in my arms, only for her to turn and tug off her mask to reveal brown eyes that screamed innocence and devilry all at once. I’d hoist her in my arms, and before she could sink onto my cock, she would whisper, “I’m a liar, but I can make it worth it.”
Counting to ten, I focused on relaxing my jaw and forcing my cock to focus on the lying part of the dream and not the wet heat.
“Send her in after lunch. She can go over her notes with me, and Angie can take it from there.”