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I went upstairs to my office, but I didn’t like being out of sight of what was going on, so I grabbed my laptop and went downstairs. I found a comfortable chair in the main room, one which gave me a clear line-of-sight on the windows of the conference room.
The men inside seemed to be laughing. Owen was smiling broadly. There were no papers or laptops that I could see. Just a conversation. Throughout it all, Furio sat at the corner of the table, steepling his fingers and watching the others talk with satisfaction painted on his beautiful face.
I wasn’t the only employee trying to spy on the meeting. Dave had an office upstairs now, but he returned to his favorite bean bag downstairs and pretended to work while gazing at the conference room. Lots of other workers visited the kitchen often, where they had a view of what was going on. Will Won either had a bladder infection, or he was going to the bathroom every ten minutes because the path carried him right in front of the conference room where the ACS founders were speaking with the fifth-richest man in the world.
I knew he was the fifth-richest man in the world because I Googled him while waiting, savoring the irony of using the man’s own search engine to learn about him. He had founded Google with Sergey Brin, although both of them only owned six percent of the company these days. He wasn’t the CEO anymore; he was merely a member of the board.
Why is he here?I wondered.Does he want to personally invest in ACS?
By the time the door opened and the men left the conference room an hour had passed, but it felt like ten. Everyone who had been spying on the events quickly turned away and pretended like they were busy, but sidelong stares followed Larry Page as he was escorted back to the entrance.
I studied Jude and Owen as they said goodbye to him. They were happy and smiling.Genuinesmiles, not just the fake ones put on for a potential business partner. Whatever had happened, it was good.
As soon as the gray-haired billionaire walked outside, I leaped up from my chair and joined the others. “What happened? What was that about?”
“That was Larry Page, the founder—” Owen began.
“I know who he is!” I interrupted. “Why is he here?”
Jude put his mouth next to my ear, whispering so only I could hear. “They want to buy us, Amber. Google wants to buy ACS.”
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Amber
His words washed over me, stunning me instantly. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It was all I could do to keep standing there on my own two feet.
Google wants to buy our company.
Melinda came up, and Owen leaned close to whisper to her. “I don’t understand,” she whispered back. “Why did Larry Page come? He’s not even CEO anymore.”
“They wanted to blow us away with his presence,” Jude said faintly. “Bringing out the big guns, so to speak.
Owen turned to him and grinned. “We did it, Boston. We did it.”
“We did,” he replied, and they clapped each other on the shoulders.
“You two are going to be very rich men,” Furio said happily. “Richer than you are now, of course.”
“The same for you, pal,” Owen replied. “Assuming their offer is as big as we think.”
“You heard what he said,” Jude chimed in. “They’ll overpay to make sure we sell now rather than going public.”
Furio put one hand on each of their shoulders. “Two amazing companies created and sold, and you are not yet thirty! You two will don your golden parachutes and move on to your next endeavor, and whatever it may be, I know it will be successful as well.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “What do you mean? Golden parachutes?”
“Larry mentioned that Google has their own cryptocurrency platform in development,” Jude explained. “ACS will likely get folded into that department. We will be given severance packages and stock options for Alphabet.”
“Alphabet is Google’s parent company,” Owen said. “It makes sense to clean house after an acquisition. They’ll want to put their own teams in place. Nobody wants the old founders sticking around, voicing their opinions. But with how much money they’ll pay us? I’ll fuck off to the Congo if they asked!”
I was concerned before, but now I felt alarm rising up in my chest like nausea. Google would buy Advanced Crypto Solutions. Things would change. Most notably the removal of Jude and Owen. I wouldn’t be working with them anymore.
“So it’s over?” I demanded, panic turning my stomach to jelly. “They buy us, and then it’s all over?”
Owen looked around, then put a hand on my arm. “Not so loud. This is all privileged information until they make their official offer. Nobody else is supposed to know. I shouldn’t even be telling you and Melinda, to be honest.”
The lights in the ceiling seemed to brighten, too bright, and the walls tilted unnaturally. I put a hand out on Melinda’s desk to steady myself, barely hearing the men around me ask if I was okay. As soon as the walls stopped swimming I grabbed my laptop from my chair and rushed upstairs.
