“Are you trying to get me inebriated, Mr. Sherman?”
His lips quirked upward. “Perhaps.”
“If you think that will help you take advantage of me, you’re wrong. When it comes to you, I’m quite fond of being taken advantage of. I don’t need any more motivation than your shimmering gaze or the way you change your voice.”
“I change my voice?”
He was doing it, the rumble reverberating within me. “Stop.”
Van settled where he had been seated earlier. “I’m not giving you alcohol to take advantage of you. I’m giving you a drink to soften the blow.”
“What blow?”
“I have a theory.”
“I’m listening.”
“Once the shares diverted to your name, you” —he shrugged— “and I suppose Butler, depending upon how your prenup was written...”
I shook my head.
“You didn’t have one, did you?”
“No.”
“My theory doesn’t make sense, even to a man like me.”
“A man like you…?”
“I’ve told you that I’m a wolf in business. I single out prey and consume it, using it in a way that will benefit me, and then I move on to the next victim. Prior to Wade, the only deal I’ve made based on anything except numbers was the Sherman Brothers acquisition. I wanted that. It worked for me, but it could have destroyed me before I ever truly got my footing in this world.”
“What are you saying?”
“The numbers with Wade indicate that it was a poor business venture for me to seize shares and finance a payment. I’ve looked at the research information you shared with me. I’m not a scientist, but it appears as though there’s a long road from where Wade is today in its research and applying for FDA approval and patenting a medication. And yet your mother used her home, her family home, as collateral with the knowledge that the balloon payment would be due in two years.”
“Why would she risk it?”
“Back to the theory about your shares. Once the shares diverted to you and Skylar, the payment burden would also.” He shrugged. “Technically, it would be the corporation that owed, but as majority shareholders, it would be up to you and your new husband to secure the funding.”
My pulse kicked up a notch. “And if we didn’t or didn’t know how?”
“You’d have been thirty-nine percent owners in a failing company and more than likely willing to sell at a low price to whomever would make you an offer.”
I let his answer sink in for a moment, spinning the stem of the wine glass between my fingers. “It would have been my decision, mine and Skylar’s.”
Van nodded.
Wade would have faltered and failed under me. Another thought came. I met Van’s gaze. “Instead of combining the Butler shares with mine, Marlin would have sold them, freeing himself from the burden.”
Van nodded.
“What about my parents’ home?”
“Theoretically, they could go to the bank with proof that they were no longer direct shareholders and ask the bank to secure another form of collateral or simply let the interest rate go higher. That wasn’t a guaranteed out.”
Millions of bits and pieces of information were flying through my head. “Does this have anything to do with the contesting of Grandfather’s will?”
“You were the one who mentioned it when we arrived at their house. Your parents inherited the house. If somehow the will was deemed in question, everything from Wade to the house would go into probate. Throwing the house into probate would be an incentive for the bank to seek another form of collateral. The process would take time and the house would be tied up during it.”