Kosta shrugged his shoulders. ‘I presume it has something to do with P & A?’
Thanos’s stare was direct. ‘Yes.’ He gestured towards the table. ‘Please, take a seat.’
The old man hesitated for a moment and then did as he’d been bid, moving to a chair on one side of the table and settling himself into it. Alice watched as he lifted the coffee to his lips, sipping it, then returning the cup to the saucer at the same time Thanos took a seat at the head of the table.
‘You’ve received my offer?’ That confidence was back, brimming and blinding. Alice stared covertly at Thanos as she settled herself at the end of the boardroom table, flipping her laptop open and pulling up a blank Word document to take notes.
‘My lawyer advised me of it,’ the older man remarked with another shrug of his shoulders, in what Alice was recognising as a trademark gesture.
‘And?’
Kosta expelled a soft breath. ‘Did my silence not answer your question?’
Alice jerked her gaze to Thanos on autopilot. He didn’t visibly react to Kosta’s question. ‘Silence can mean many things.’
Kosta’s lips compressed. ‘Not in this instance.’
‘You want to sell.’ It was a question and yet Thanos delivered it more as a statement, one that was laced with iron.
‘To the right buyer, yes.’ Kosta took another sip of his coffee.
Alice hovered her hands over the keyboard.
‘You are aware that your business contains part of my business?’
Kosta’s eyes narrowed. ‘I bought Petó from you and your brother many years ago. Whatever claim you had to it transferred to me on that day.’
From where Alice was sitting, she had a full view of the table. She saw the way Thanos moved his hand to beneath the table, and the way he squeezed his fist so tight his knuckles glowed white.
‘But you must dispose of your business,’ Thanos said slowly, carefully, with no hint of emotion in the words.
‘Why must I?’
‘Because you are not married, you have no children, no grandchildren, and because P & A is a family company. You will not list it publicly, nor would you wish it to be broken up and sold off after your death.’
Alice bit down on her lip, sympathy for the older man rushing through her. How strange it must be to have someone refer to your mortality in such a cavalier fashion!
‘The fate of my company is not your concern.’
Thanos’s eyes narrowed and Alice’s heart gave a little lurch. As handsome as he was at any time, like this—formidable and businesslike—he was impossibly fascinating.
Thanos held Kosta’s gaze for a long moment, a muscle jerking in his jaw that only Alice was in a position to see. ‘Your profit has been down these past two years.’
‘It’s a tough economy.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Thanos pushed ruthlessly. ‘You’re losing market share and you don’t know how to get it back.’
Kosta’s eyes glinted. ‘You think I came here to be lectured?’
Thanos didn’t apologise, nor did he back down. ‘I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. If you do not act now, your once great business will fade away into insignificance. Thousands of people will lose their jobs. All because you are too stubborn to see what you must do.’
Kosta’s rejection of that assertion was obvious. ‘My business. My problem.’
At this, Thanos straightened in his chair, his expression like flint. ‘I might have agreed to sell Petó to you, but I never stopped thinking of it as mine. You rolled it into your business, which means I care about your business too. Sell me P & A and I will ensure your legacy is safe.’
Kosta let out a laugh of disbelief that had Alice slipping her gaze to focus on the older man’s face. ‘You think I would trust you with my company?’
‘Why should you not?’ It was a banal enough question, but Alice heard the undertone of steel and looked to Thanos once more. A tight smile was cracking his face but waves of anger were shifting off his frame.