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I resist beaming a smile to give him the satisfaction that he’d complimented me, and say, “Thanks. I thought so, but sometimes, I, uh.” I clear my throat. “I… second-guess myself.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Nate asks.
“They’re ready, guys.” Tricia waves us toward the door.
Grateful from the emotional reprieve, I step inside the room and take my seat across from the duo.
“Your decision?” I ask.
“We’ll take the deal,” Bryan says.
I glance at John, who’s clearly sulking like little Rhett does when my cousin tells him he can’t have ice cream for dinner. “And you’re on board with this as well, John?” I ask, pointing at him with a direct stare.
He hardly meets my gaze as he nods slightly and murmurs, “Yeah.”
Tricia claps her hands once. “Wonderful. Here are the documents for you to sign.” She slides over papers from a folder she’d brought with her.
I stand up. “We’ll give you a few minutes to look over and sign those.”
John pulls a pen from his suit jacket pocket and says, “Don’t bother.” He scribbles his name on all four pages without reading them, then slides them to his brother, who does the same.
After trying to play hardball, I’m shocked by this. “You don’t want to read them?”
They stand and shake their heads.
“No, we trust you,” Bryan says. “We trust that what was in that proposal is all there. Or are you not men of honesty and integrity?”
One last attempt at trying to intimidate me. Got it.
“Of course, we are. Yes, everything in the proposal is on those documents. We’ll wire the six-hundred thousand dollars this afternoon.”
“And the severance packages to our employees?” John asks as he heads for the door.
“Those will be drawn up and sent to you for distribution. If they decide to take them, the money will be wired to you as well for you to distribute.”
I reach my hand out and John shakes it. “Good luck with your employees. Let them know they can keep their jobs if they so desire. As long as they adhere to our standards of employee conduct.”
“Yep.” He dips his head, and I shake Bryan’s hand as Tricia walks them to the elevators.
“That went well,” Nate comments.
“I agree,” Roman says.
I put my hands in my pockets and head toward the door. “I would have given him double. He just didn’t play hard enough.”
Nate chuckles. “I know.”
***
It’s the end of the day, and as I climb into the Bentley in front of our building, I ask Lucas to stop by a deli so I can grab dinner. I plan to work from home tonight and don’t want to be disrupted by having to order and then answer the doorbell.
“Of course, sir,” he replies, heading for my favorite Italian deli that isn’t in the greatest part of town, but the food is well worth it.
Lucas parks in front and I get out, strolling toward the entrance when something catches in my peripheral vision. I look over to see a large rusty dumpster, a small cat hiding behind it. Its face peeks out, and it stares at me with big green eyes. Intent on ignoring it, I go inside and order my food. Once my capicola and salami sandwich is ready, I thank the staff and head back outside. I was going to mention the cat to the staff but forgot. I’ll just put the food in the car and go back inside to let them know.
Before I can make it to the car, I glance over and see the cat still staring at me from behind the dumpster. It meows, staring at me.
I open the bag and remove a piece of salami from my sandwich. “Can you put this in the car?” I hand the bag to my driver.
