“Aphrodite Corporation?”
“No. That wouldn’t work for my plan.”
I took a deep breath. “What the fuck is your plan, and when can you get me my ten percent back?”
Lena pulled out a chair and sat. She side-eyed me as I took a drink. “Should you be drinking liquor? Are you on medications?”
“I stopped taking all that shit. I was having side effects.”
“Just add a blue pill to your daily medications.”
I did my best to glare her direction.
Lena sat taller, perched on the edge of the chair. “Maybe you’re not ready for this.”
“You fucking took the opening I gave you and sold ten percent of my stock in Wade Pharmaceutical. I can think of no better time to discuss this—well, maybe last week.”
“You were in the hospital last week.” She grinned. “That made it even better. Oh, and ten percentage shares of Wade, not of yours. Mathematically, that’s different. You still have sixteen percentage shares, which will give you controlling interest when Julia gets hers.”
There was now the new matter of the McGraths’ assets connected to Herman Wade being frozen. Instead of bringing that up, I stayed on topic.
“You didn’t have my approval.”
“Via our agreement, I have control of Sherman and Madison and its subsidiaries.”
“Had. I’m back.”
“According to the legal document we had drawn up, Ihad” —she used past tense— “control over all things related to Donovan Sherman. It was rather broad.”
“I should have known better.” The amber liquid burned as I emptied my tumbler. “Start at the beginning.”
“Okay,” Lena said, turning her laptop toward me. The screen had line graphs showing highs and lows. “You were doing too well with Wade.” She pointed to a high with her painted nail. “You paid the balloon payment. You resurrected the perceived value, even the borrowing power was increased.”
My eyes narrowed. “That was the fucking point. This is Julia’s legacy.”
Lena lifted a hand as her bracelets jingled. “Hear me out.”
I eyed the empty glass and decided against a second. “I’m listening.”
“For one second—only one—take Julia out of this equation.”
“That’s impossible.”
Lena pushed the chair back and stood, smoothing her slacks, and walked to the window. The night sky created a mirror allowing me to watch her reflection. “When you called me...” —she spun my direction— “you asked for Jeremy’s expertise to find vulnerable Wade stock. I asked you why you were interested. Our conversation didn’t go to Julia. It went to Marlin Butler.”
I grinned. “I wasn’t ready to share Julia.”
Lena scoffed. “Oh, is sharing back on the table?”
“It never was.”
“My point is that while Marlin and Gwen Butler are diversified, their bread and butter is wrapped up in Wade. You galloping in on your white horse is helping their bottom line, not hurting it.”
“I’m hardly the good guy. If I’m a knight, I’m a black knight.”
“Then fucking remember that.”
I leaned back as Lena’s plan started to make sense. “Who bought my stock?”