Page 124 of Goal Line
“My wife was hospitalized last night after you assaulted her outside the event.”
His head rears back in shock, but his voice is low when he says, “I didn’tassaulther. I simply asked to speak to her this morning.”
“Simplyasking to speak with her left a pressure bruise around her arm and sent her blood pressure spiking so high she almost had a seizure right outside the restaurant. The hospital has already documented the injury and I’m sure there’s ample video footage of the incident on the security cameras of all these businesses. My lawyers are working on getting the recordings as we speak.”
His voice is a quiet growl when he says, “I barely touched her.”
“The bruising on her arm would suggest otherwise.” I rest my elbows on the table, steepling my fingers together as I lean forward, channeling Preston as I say, “I don’t take kindly to people who hurt those I love.”
He holds his hands up in front of him and says, “I had nointention of hurting her. I only grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving so I could talk to her.”
“Intimidate her, you mean?”
“No. I only requested that we meet up to talk this morning.”
I lean back in my seat and lift an eyebrow. “And tell me, Hans. What exactly did you want to talk about?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t even know who you are, and you expect me to talk to you about this?”
I hold out my hand. “Luke Hartmann. Eva’s husband.”
“Hartmann?” he says, staring at my hand rather than taking it. It’s clear he recognizes the name. And although it sounds like Eva introduced herself as a Hartmann last night, he obviously hadn’t made the connection.
In the early hours of this morning, my brothers and I learned that his wife, Adele, had replaced her father as the head of the family’s automobile manufacturing business in Germany well over a decade ago, and grew it into a global operation—not unlike what my father did with Hartmann Enterprises, and what Preston has continued to do since Dad retired.
She met Hans when she decided to hire someone with more international experience to replace her as CEO of her family’s business. Now she serves as the president of the board of directors, but technically, the company is hers and he just works for her.
We’ve done business with them in the past, and according to Tristan, he had to step in when Hans tried to change the terms of a sale of microchips he was purchasing from one of our subsidiary companies. From what I understand, Tristan only gets involved if you’ve fucked up.
“Yes,thoseHartmanns.” I drop my hand since he’s made no move to shake it.
Hans clears his throat nervously.
“So, let me explain to you what it looks like when you fuck with the wrong family.” I don’t like to be this guy, but I’ve sat through enough board meetings—and seen Preston at his absolute finest—to know that sometimes you have to remove any possibility of compromise because the stakes are too high, or the people involved are too important, to entertain any outcome but the one you’ve already decided on. “That private island in the Mediterranean that you and Adele love to spend a month on every summer? I bought it a few hours ago?—”
“Impossible. The family said they’d never sell it.”
“Maybe what they meant was that they’d never sell it toyou. And that luxury box you’ve had your eye on in Munich? My family is really looking forward to taking it over so we can catch afootballgame a few times a year. Oh, and the contract you were about to sign for the new headquarters in Berlin? That space has, unfortunately, just been leased.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Oh, you don’t like it when people toy with things you care about? How about people? Eva tells me that your wife is absolutely lovely. How would she feel if she knew that you are worried you might have conceived a child with someone else?”
His face drains of color.
“Let me be very clear. My next move is to buy up fifty-one percent of the stock in your company. Bad move, by the way, convincing your wife to sell so many of her shares. With that much stock available, anyone with enough money canbecome the majority shareholder and demand the board appoint a new CEO.”
“All this because I had sex with your wife?” The absolute arrogance in his voice and look of indifference on his face, as if Eva isn’t worthy of his concern, remove any guilt I might have felt about taking such an extreme approach. He’s getting exactly what he deserves after messing with the most precious person in my world.
“Let’s be very clear. She was not my wife when you were with her, soshehas nothing to feel ashamed about. I imagine your wife, on the other hand, might not feel so forgiving when she hears about what happened. Especially when she can only sit by and watch as the Hartmanns buy up fifty-one percent of her company, before breaking it apart and selling it piece by fucking piece.”
He balls his hands into fists and clenches his jaw, knowing he’s been bested. “You wouldn’t.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Not onlywouldI, but I’d also delight in doing it.” We sit there for a moment, staring at each other.
“You may think I’m a shitbag,” he says, and I nod in agreement, “but we have an open marriage. It’s not like I was cheating on her. But neither of us has any desire to have a child, so I’mveryinterested in making sure she doesn’t find out about this baby.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” I say. “Just to be completely clear, this ismybaby, and you’ll be staying the hell away from my wife and my kid.”
