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Victoria drove the three of them to Alexa’s office, which was only twenty minutes away from hers. They were so close and they had never realized…
Dwelling on that wouldn’t help either, though, so she tried to put her thoughts to more productive channels.
Victoria had requested that the meeting be held at Alexa’s office. Alexa probably saw it as a concession on Victoria’s part, allowing the meeting to take place on Alexa’s turf, which worked for Victoria. Truthfully, she didn’t want Alexa in her space. Her office was like a second home to her. Her actual home was already saturated with memories of Alexa. She didn’t need that at work, too.
Mike and Luke were murmuring quietly in the back seat, but didn’t try to bring Victoria into the conversation, perhaps sensing that she was lost in her own thoughts.
There was someone waiting at the door to usher the three of them through the building, straight to the conference room.
Alexa was already seated, but she stood when Victoria and her team walked in.
“Welcome.” Her voice was the opposite of welcoming as she pulled out a polite smile. “Please, sit down.”
Victoria endeavored to copy Alexa’s smile. It felt strangely foreign on her face, and she hoped she didn’t appear as conflicted as she felt.
“Well, let’s get down to business, shall we?” Victoria said the moment they were all seated.
“Let’s. I think we all know that if we continue with it, the battle for this patent is going to be long and expensive. It’s best to come to a settlement now.”
“I agree. No one needs a drawn-out court battle.”
“Excellent. I’m glad to see we’re on the same page. To that end, I have an offer to make you. Though I still contend that it isn’t rightfully yours, I am willing to put that conviction aside for now and make you an offer to buy it from you.”
Alexa slid a piece of paper across the table. It had a number written on it. There were a lot of zeros.
Victoria almost laughed. Of course, she and Alexa would come to the same strategy. They were too similar not to.
“I have a counter-offer.” Victoria took out the notebook she had brought with her and wrote down her second bid. Her first bid was lower than what Alexa had offered, but her second exceeded it by quite a bit. She had five separate bids prepared.
Alexa looked down at the paper, studying it intently for a moment. “I see we are of the same mind. If your offer is anything to judge by, I take it you are not willing to sell the patent?”
“No, I’m not.” Victoria knew that in the long run, the patent would make up what she was offering Alexa tenfold. Unfortunately, Alexa seemed to know that as well.
“Then perhaps I can sweeten the deal. I will offer you the amount I named, plus one of my smaller patents. The information is here. As you can see, it’s small fry compared to what we are dealing with now, but if you read the report, you’ll see that with some time and investment, it could be developed into something much larger.”
Victoria didn’t need to read the report. She recognized the name of the patent from the heading. Alexa was telling her the truth of it. it was a patent she had been jealous of from the start… however, even if it did as well as Victoria suspected it could, it would have nothing on the one they were negotiating for now.
“Like I said, I’m afraid I’m not willing to sell. However, since I see it is so important to you, I can make you a better offer.’
Victoria wrote down her third bid and handed the paper to Alexa.
Alexa barely glanced at it before shaking her head. “That patent is mine. I’m not giving it up. I am prepared to negotiate for it, but if this meeting does not end with an agreement to transfer the rights of the patent over to Rossi Corporation, we’re going straight back to court.”
Victoria did her best to hide her annoyance. She remembered what Luke had said and tried to think of this as any other business meeting. So, one of Alexa’s non-negotiables—getting the patent—clashed with one of Victoria’s non-negotiables—keeping the patent. That should be a surmountable problem. it just meant that they both needed to reconsider exactly what they were prepared to negotiate.
She should offer Alexa a share in the patent. She could start at ten percent and let herself be worked up to forty. It would be a blow, but her business would survive, whereas they risked losing everything if they went ahead with this case.
The idea of sharing anything with Alexa was distasteful, to say the least, but if she wanted to make this meeting work, Victoria didn’t have much of a choice.
“I can offer you a ten percent share in the patent, for no financial motivation from your side.”
Alexa was already shaking her head. “That patent isours.”
Victoria had been in the business a lot longer than Alexa had. She knew when to push and when to give. Bending on your non-negotiables was never easy, and it clearly wasn’t a skill Alexa had learned yet. Or maybe she had, but she simply wasn’t able or willing to do it now.
Victoria gritted her teeth. She was only willing to bend so far, even in the name of compromise. She hadn’t gotten to where she was by being a pushover and giving ground for nothing. She opened her mouth to respond, but Luke cut her off before she could begin.
“I think we should give Victoria and Alexa some time alone to discuss this.”
