Page 123 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
“I told you I’d give you the money,” Thane grumbles as he fiddles with a pencil he must have pulled from his pocket.
“Listen very carefully, Thane. And watch my face so you fully understand my meaning. If you ever attempt to throw money at my problems again, I will physically remove you from this conversation myself.”
His gaze darts back and forth across my face with his lips turned up into a smirk.
“That would be a physical impossibility. I outweigh you by at least eighty pounds, and I have over twelve inches on you.”
I feel my nostrils flare as I attempt to keep my tone light. “It was a figure of speech.”
“Not to interrupt whatever is happening here…” Sebastian says with a smile.
“She’s said something you find amusing?” Thane asks.
“Everything.” Sebastian laughs. “I’ve known Lottie a long time. It’s nice to know someone has gotten under her skin. But to get us back on track, I might have a solution.”
Thane halts the pencil he was twisting between his fingers and lifts his head to join the conversation.
“Your plan is to invest in a technology company, but one that is not owned by Thane. However, I assume that Thane will be involved in some way?”
I nod. “He understands the technology in a way that I don’t. Not yet anyway. We’ve agreed it’s too important to be left to someone who isn’t the best.”
And Thane is the best.
“Have you heard of the Fitzgerald Group?” Sebastian asks.
Thane leans over to the seat next to him and removes his computer from the satchel at his side. He doesn’t use it often, but I think it does help him to have things in black and white.
“I haven’t heard of them, no.” I angle my body so I can see both Thane and Sebastian, but really, my attention is on the man beside me.
Thane listens intently as Sebastian explains that before his horrible ex-wife died, she made a last-ditch effort to right things by willing him enough shares in her father’s company—the Fitzgerald Group—for him to have a controlling interest.
“This is good. This is very good.” Thane mutters to himself as he pecks with his pointer fingers at the keyboard.
“What is?”
His head jerks to the left, his gaze studying every inch of my face, before the lines of concentration fall away from his eyes.
“The Fitzgerald Group is, or was, in the top ten tech companies in the United States. It’s been mismanaged.” Thane never breaks eye contact as he explains the situation to me. “But the company has the infrastructure you require, and with the right people behind it, could be wildly successful again.”
“What exactly are you suggesting, Sebastian?” These two men are seeing a future I can’t quite hope for yet.
“I want nothing to do with that company.” Sebastian is calm as he speaks, but I sense the undercurrent of betrayal in his tone. “So what I’m proposing is selling my shares, at a deeply discounted rate, to you. With the understanding that I’ll vote on behalf of my children’s shares however you need, as long as Thane has a hand in bringing that company back from the brink of bankruptcy.”
“Brilliant. That’s a brilliant plan.” Thane’s nodding excessively, and I bite back a smile. This is what he’s wanted all along—a way to help me without getting in my way.
“Why would you do that, though?” It all seems too good to be true, and I know more than most that powerful men generally have ulterior motives.
Sebastian smiles. “It’s simple, really. I love Rowan, and she loves you. If helping you makes her happy, that’s just a bonus for me. And I’ll be honest—I’ve heard rumblings of what Thane’s company is bringing to the table. If he’s doing a tenth of what the gossip has said, he’s about to change the world my children will grow up in, and I can’t think of a better reason than that. Is that a good enough answer for you?”
“Yes,” Thane grumbles. I’m beginning to realize he handles praise about as well as a minnow fighting off a shark. “A simple ‘because I want to’ would have sufficed.”
“Thane,” I gasp.
Rowan rounds the island and slams into me for a hug. “This is amazing, Lottie. Thank you for trusting me with your baby.”
In all my years of friendship with Rowan, she’s never once initiated a hug. I settle into the embrace, allowing it to mend the years of fractured friendship where we both held the other at a distance. I hug my friend and see a future so clearly that I know Thane was right all along—failure is not an option.
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