“I don’t know how much you know about business, young lady,” Gotthard starts, but I interrupt him with a gesture.
“If you’re about to be condescending to my wife, I suggest you shut your mouth now.”
His teeth click closed.
“I was thinking a seat on the board,” she says, looking at me. “With your mother’s fifteen percent, it shouldn’t be a problem. You can take her seat. You’ll have a say in how the company gets run and who they hire as the CEO, but you won’t be the public face. That might be better for you in the long run.”
“I like it,” I say, frowning a bit. “Honestly, the day to day of managing a company sounds horrible.”
Gotthard practically gags as he glares hatred at me and Bob only laughs like he can’t believe this is happening.
“Great, that’s settled.” Tara crosses her legs, her gorgeous fucking legs, and sips her wine. “Once Hugh is done as CEO, Kellen will sit on the board. I’m thinking he should get more shares in the company too, maybe the opportunity to buy another ten percent.”
“Ten percent?” Gotthard sounds outraged. “That’s how much my employer owns. How in the world—”
“Perfect,” Tara says, twirling her hair. “You’ll sell them to us at a very fair price. Our broker will be in touch.”
Gotthard gapes at her and Bob laughs again.
“I can get behind this plan,” Bob says. “Especially if it means getting rid of Gotthard.”
“You little bastard,” Gotthard snarls and Bob only shrugs. “I won’t sell. You can’t force me to sell.”
“We’ll put our people in touch with you, Bob,” I say and stand up. I finish my drink and hold out a hand. Tara takes it, stands, and slips her arm through mine. “We can force you to sell. I’m sure Deutsche Bank would prefer to keep its people alive and will be more than amenable to a deal.”
Tara waves at the stunned pair.
“Lovely meeting you both,” she says and winks at Gotthard who sits there red-faced and fuming.
“We won’t sell,” he says firmly. “It won’t happen.”
“It better,” I say as I turn my back on him. “Or else what’s about to happen to Hugh will happen to you. That’s not a threat, by the way, just an observation.”
Bob howls with laughter as I walk out of the room with Tara. We reach the quiet hallway and she’s about to speak, but I wave a hand and tap my ear. They’re listening, I mouth and she nods, although at this point we’ve already said some potentially incriminating shit. Still, better not give whoever’s eavesdropping any more ammo to use against me. We leave the building in silence, pausing only to tell the maître d’ that he’s a stuck-up crooked cock, before we step out into the afternoon heat.
“I hope you’re okay with what happened in there,” Tara says, leaning against me as we walk to the car. Finn’s waiting in the driver’s seat with the AC blasting and the engine running. “I know that wasn’t ideal.”
“You’re wrong, that was perfect. I didn’t really want to be CEO, or at least I don’t want to run the company myself. But I sure as fuck don’t want Hugh to do it either.”
“Twenty-five percent stake in the company is a big deal. You’ll have a lot of sway on the board.”
“Which means I can steer how Hayle functions without having to get my hands dirty. It’s an ideal position.”
“I’m glad you’re happy.”
I kiss her neck and pause outside of the car, despite the sweltering sun. “We only have one problem now.”
“Hugh,” she says, nodding. “Sorry, sweetie. I can’t fix that for you.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ve got a plan in the works, something that looks very promising. I’ll find him, and kill him nice and slow.”