Page 30 of The Disasters of Dating
I grin because I can almost see Poppy’s face when she realized shetexted me. I’m nearly a hundred percent certain she texted me by accident. I nod. “Yeah. It’s from a girl I met earlier this week.”
His head quirks to the side, and I can see he’s trying to hold back a grin. “You met a girl, huh? Is she hot? Do you have a picture of her?” He smirks at me, and I can tell he is doing to me exactly what I did to him when he first met his fiancée, Shay. But I was still a punk kid then. Evan is a grown-A man.
“As a matter of fact, she is quite hot.” I give him a take-that look.
He sighs. “Okay, I see you’re not going to open up about this girl, so I won’t press you. But just know, I’m here if you need me.”
I nod. I know he is. As much as I complain about Evan being my boss and everything, I love him. And I appreciate everything he’s done for me. “Thanks, bro.”
Evan nods, giving me time to change my mind and open up.
I don’t.
“Okay. Well, we have some new developments that I’m going to need your help with.”
I nod, excited that he is bringing me into more of the business. Does this mean he thinks I’m doing a good job? “No problem. I’m up for more responsibilities.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Something has come up, and it’s moving faster than I wanted. But it can’t be helped. It’s a bit of a tricky situation, and I’m going to need your help to pull it off.”
I frown. “Oh?”
Evan bites his cheek. “The company that bought GridWolf, my first company—” he looks at me as if I wouldn’t remember that little nugget.
I nod and wave my hand for him to continue.
“They’re driving it into the ground on purpose.”
I steeple my fingers in front of my face. “Why now? They bought the company almost six years ago.”
He nods. “In the buyout contracts, it stipulated that they couldn’t do that or lay everyone off for four years.” He shrugs. “The time limit is over, and they are making their move.” He shakes his head, looking almost sick. “I can’t allow it to happen.”
I study him closely. “What can you do about it?”
He shrugs. “The stock prices are hitting rock bottom. I want to set up a series of shell corporations that aren’t linked to me.”
My eyes widen. “You’re positioning yourself for a stealth acquisition?”
He nods. “If they can’t manage the company, I will. Once I have controlling stock, I’ll call an emergency board meeting. When they have all the information presented to them, I’m certain they will see the wisdom in allowing me to take over GridWolf again.”
I’m stunned into silence for a moment. I mean, you see things like this on TV, and we read case studies about it in school. But I’ve never actually seen it in person. “This is what you want to be doing the month before your wedding?”
He shrugs. “No. But it won’t wait for me. If I wait until after the wedding, there will be no company to save.”
I nod slowly. “So, what do you need me to do?”
He leans forward and puts his elbows on my desk. “We need to set up the shell corporations. This will need to be done quickly and quietly. They’re not wasting any time gutting it.”
“How much time do we have?” I lean forward and rest my elbows on my desk.
He sucks in a breath. “I’d say we have three months, tops. After that, we risk the company collapsing before we have made our move. And I don’t have to tell you what the financial implications for that will be.”
I shake my head, my mind spinning.
“I have you meeting with the attorneys first thing Mondaymorning.”
I frown. I’m scheduled to fly to Salt Lake on Sunday night. “Why don’t you meet with them?”
Evan holds up his hands. “My name needs to stay out of the paper trail as much as possible. I know you’re heading to Salt Lake, which is great. The attorneys I’ve engaged are in Utah. That will put another layer of distance between me and this deal.”
