Page 4 of Beauty and the Billionaire

When my people had set up the meeting, my name was dropped from the conversations. It was an indulgence, and I wouldn’t apologize for it. Instead, I leaned back in my chair and watched the three men slowly speculate what was up.

“Do you think they’re watching us?” Nicholas asked.

“Don’t be stupid, Nicky,” Julian said, his voice anything but certain. “What psycho would do that?”

The black square lit up, and the three men stopped speaking, their lips parting. My office was dimly lit, but the light from the screen was enough to reveal my face.

“Oh, shit,” Maxwell said.

“Right,” Julian muttered. “I stand corrected.”

I let their clamoring die down. Still watching, I took another sip of my whiskey. “Gentlemen, thank you for accommodating my schedule.”

“If I knew whose schedule it was, Blackthorne…” Julian began.

“There’s no need for that,” I said, lifting my hand to stop him there. “I won’t keep you long. This is merely a courtesy call.”Liar, I told myself and resisted a smirk.I just want to see your faces.

“I don’t believe we owe you any courtesy,” Julian said.

“You are mistaken,” I explained patiently, almost giddy that I got to do it. “I am doing you a favor by informing you before the remaining shareholders with small stakes are all gathered tomorrow morning. We are scheduled for nine, are we not?”

“We?” Julian asked, outraged. “What are you talking about, Blackthorne?”

“Let me get down to business, shall I?” I asked, my voice dropping low.

The door of my office creaked open. My valet stood in the light that poured in from the hallway. “Sir, a visitor.”

“Not now, Orwell,” I said with the even tone of an infinitely patient man. Perhaps that was a stretch, but the delight of this evening was enough to soothe my temper.

“Very well, sir,” Orwell said and shut the door.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” I said politely to the three assholes on the screen. Even Julian’s tan was receding as blood drained from his face. “Where was I? Ah, yes. I wish to give you a fair warning so you don’t look like utter morons before the remaining shareholders in the morning. However much I would like to make fools out of you, it’s just poor taste, don’t you agree? The short version of it is that as of six in the afternoon, I am the majority owner of HVB. The longer version is that I will be proposing several minor changes in the early hours of the next morning, such as the change of the board members, as I’m sure you fully understand. After all, who would want to be around someone who can so easily slip it in while you’re not looking? Isn’t that right, Blake?” I barely contained my anger as it threatened to rip away from the cool politeness.

The three men stared at their screens, wide-eyed and stunned. Julian was the first to recover. “That can’t be right.” He spoke to someone off-screen while Voss, ever the slow one, asked if I was pulling a prank. “What do you mean?” Julian demanded.

“Whoever you are speaking to, Hale, means precisely this. When you panicked about the share sales last week, suspecting a takeover, you were far too late,” I said.

“There are three of us, Blackthorne,” Julian snapped.

Of course, the three of them would have ensured they had the majority.

“What did you suspect, Julian?” Maxwell asked, sweat beading on his tired face. “What sales?”

Julian brushed it off. “Unimportant, Max. Some of the smaller shareholders were selling to various funds.”

“So why were you worried?” Maxwell demanded.

“Because it was faster than usual,” Julian said, running out of patience.

“The funds are mine, and so are your shares, kids,” I said.

Nicholas seemed completely caught off guard, not fully understanding how anything worked. Maxwell wiped his brow with a handkerchief. But Julian refused to believe me. “No, no, no, Blackthorne. Even if you bought all of them, you’re still short of a majority.”

“I’m growing tired of this,” I admitted. “Truthfully, I hoped for more. You would absolutely be right, except for one thing. Isn’t that so, Blake? When you got cocky calling the shots with your risky investments, you wanted to test your luck elsewhere. Not much of a poker player, are you? You see, gentlemen, your trusted friend has mounted a considerable gambling debt, and just this afternoon, he finalized a sale of a significant portion of his shares to Evergreen Investments. As it happens, my holding company is the sole owner of that firm.”

“You did what?” Julian snapped.

“You should have fucking told me you suspected foul play,” Max yelled back.

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