Page 58 of My Office Rival

I gritted my teeth, responded “haha,” and went back to work.

An hour later,I was waiting outside of Gene Delafonte’s office while he chewed someone out on the phone, loudly, and without a care as to who might hear him. I guess no one was typically in this office to overhear anything. Just another oddity to add to my list. Gene seemed to be here just a few hours a day, storming around the halls in his oversized suits and gold necklace.

“Then make sure it fucking stays quiet!” His voice rose, and I heard a muffled response from the other person on speaker phone.

“I willmakethisyour problem.” He lowered his voice slightly, and I strained to hear. “This will not be the thing that takes this company down. We’re almost out and this needs to go smoothly. Handle it.”

He slammed the receiver down and I jumped. That sounded bad. That sounded…illegal.Fuck. Maybe I was taking it out of context. I waited a few minutes and then made my steps audible as I approached the door and knocked.

“Yeah, come in.”

I entered to find Gene finishing a sandwich, mustard on his tie and his feet up on the desk.

“What’s up?” Gene asked. No ‘how are you,’ no attempt to be polite. This man was a slug. I schooled my face and unbuttoned my jacket before I sat. I hated dealing with Gene, but the company didn’t have a lawyer and he was our main point of contact.

“I want to walk through some of the revisions the TJR team requested on the purchase agreement.”

“Those idiots.” He snorted and took a bite of his sandwich.

“Yes.” I gave him a slight, forced smile, so he knew I was on his side, even though I normally didn’t tolerate this type of behavior from clients.

He raised a brow, and I opened my copy of the document Cynthia had sent over this morning.

“So I know we’ve been pretty tight on what we’ve provided during diligence, but it’s leading to some unusually strict representations in the agreement.” I kept my voice neutral and made sure to use “we” so he knew I wasn’t antagonizing him. What I really meant was, “you’re being an unreasonable ass, so of course the other side picked up on it.”

“Such as?” He smirked.

“They’re making an aggressive request on the litigation representations. Is there anything else we can give them in the diligence materials so they have more comfort?”

“Nope. We don’t get sued. We handle shit before it gets to court.” He sounded smug.

Well, that was ominous.

“Okay, what about the environmental hazard reports for the store sites? We didn’t produce anything saying the city had signed off on the environmental analysis for the new stores. Those are a significant part of the expansion plan. They’re asking for substantial concessions if we don’t produce them. We’re talking several million dollars if it turns out the reports weren’t obtained.” As well they should, because failing to follow the city rules meant the chain couldn’t expand.

A flash of irritation crossed Gene’s face, but he masked it andsmoothly responded, “No one at the city had any issues. I’ll see what I can find.”

“That would be great.”Asshole.I cleared my throat. “Last item is the employment contracts. It says here that no employees are to be retained above the store level. So no one in corporate? Is that right? Argan is going to make us pay if they have to replace everyone.”

“Yes, it’s right.” I could see his irritation growing with me, and I tamped down my response.

“Gene, this is all highly unusual. We have to be more forthcoming, or we won’t be able to push this acquisition through.”

“I thought that’s what we paid you for.” His words were daggers.

“Yes, but I can only work with what I’m provided.” I clenched my jaw. “If there’s anything else you think could help us out, please send it along. We’ll review everything before it goes to the other side.” My patience was admirable.

“Well, golly gee, I’ll just get right on that.” He turned to his computer. “Now, if that’s all, I have some actual work to do.”

Stone-faced, I rose and escorted myself out, icy with rage. This guy was such a fucking prick.If only he weren’t my client. I’d love to get just one good punch in.

I strode through the halls and ended up at Cynthia’s office. Why was I even here?I rapped my knuckles against the door. I couldn’t be alone with my thoughts right now.

“Come in. Oh, it’s you.” Her voice was a little breathless, and a spark of heat went through me.

“It’s me. Can we get lunch? I need a break.”

Her eyes went wide. I guess because I never took breaks.Am I letting on too much?Screw it. I was done with Gene.

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