AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let me continue. I propose making the investment in two stages: ten million now and another ten upon completion of a milestone.”
The idea of a milestone for payment hadn't been one of our talking points earlier. This put us in completely new territory, but ten million certainly got us a long way toward where we needed to be. It would buy us a lot of time.
“What milestone? And how long?” I asked.
“Three months max.”
I waited for the gotcha.
“This is going to sound a little off the wall…” he said.
I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the unexpected. He had surprised me at the bar and again at his penthouse, and in the most pleasant of ways. He had surprised me yesterday when he showed up at our meeting, and he was doing it now.
He leaned forward. “I want you to consult for me, Amy, to help me close a deal to purchase an alternative company to Tiffany's.”
It was certainly odd, but it didn't sound as bad as he had prepared me for. “I'm not sure what I can do that you can’t get done with any one of a hundred people you have working here.”
“No, it has to be you,” he said firmly. “First, let me say that my investment would be a passive one. I’d give you proxy rights to vote my shares as you wish,” he continued.
It didn't make any sense. Private equity investors didn't ever give up their voting rights. It was their one source of leverage. I searched his eyes for any sign of deceit and came up empty, but there had to be a catch.
It no longer appeared I had a choice in the matter, without jeopardizing the future of our company. And, after signing the paperwork, I might look forward to some more time with Liam. There was something electric about his presence. He was daunting, annoying, and alluring all at the same time. Nothing with him made any sense.
“How much time will you require for this consulting? I do have a full-time job at Tiffany's, you know.”
He smiled. “Not very much, I hope——mostly evenings over a few weeks, perhaps a month or two. Like I said, three months max. We have a secondary acquisition target. I'm going to need your help to close the deal.”
Perhaps this was the catch. “And what happens if you don't close the deal?”
“Weclose the deal,” he said. “That's a good question. If you put forward your best effort, then you will have satisfied our agreement, regardless of the outcome.”
Yes, this was the catch. Everything was dependent upon his assessment. “And if you don't think I've done well enough?” I asked.
His eyes bore into me. “I promise you, I'll be objective.”
“And I'm supposed to just trust you?”
His eyes narrowed. “Amy, I always keep my promises. You can take that to the bank. But let me reiterate that I'm willing to make a ten-million-dollar investment tomorrow in Tiffany's. The remaining ten million is only dependent on you making your absolute best, full-faith effort to help me close this deal. Nothing more.”
His voice and his eyes conveyed determination and truthfulness. I had given my body over to him a few nights ago, trusting him completely. He hadn't let me down, and I sensed he wouldn't now. I had nothing to go on other than instinct, but there was something about him that engendered my trust. This was also the best deal that had come along, even if we only got the first half of the money. It would be most of the fifteen to eighteen million we needed right now.
I squeezed my thighs as our evening together came back to me. “If I agree, what kind of consulting help do you need to close the deal?”
A smile grew slowly on his face. “Pretend to be my girlfriend for the duration of the negotiations.”
Girlfriend?
Chapter 9
Liam
I closedthe door and locked it. The knock came less than two minutes later, followed by another.
Leaning back in my chair, I closed my eyes, ignoring the sounds. The meeting hadn’t gone quite as I would have liked. Finding common ground to purchase Tiffany’s would have been ideal, but that wasn’t in the cards. At least I had an option now to work on Springbok.
Amy had been shocked by my suggestion, but what woman wouldn’t be? I replayed the conversation in my head, visualizing her reaction to my words, looking for clues, aspects I needed to put more thought into before we talked next. I didn’t come up with anything important.
But I had to come up with the words to sway her.
