Chapter 11
COLIN
Icould think of about a hundred different ways I could’ve made a better first impression on Basel Saad.
Hell, I probably could’ve been caught with my pants down in his office and he still would’ve liked me more than he did right now—provided, of course, that the reason for my pants being down hadn’t been his daughter.
Unfortunately, there were no do-overs for this kind of thing. Instead, I would now forever be known to him as the guy who’d been seconds away from putting my lips on his baby girl.
Fucking excellent. This merger is definitely happening now. God, Alex is going to kill me for this.
Basel had insisted I stay and I awkwardly agreed to his request, but before he’d disappeared with Deja, he’d made it crystal clear that he wanted to see me after he’d spoken to her.
So I sat at the dining room table, hands clasped in front of me, listening to raised voices drifting from the far side of the house.
Ashanti was making herself busy in the kitchen, visible from the corner of the table where Basel had told me to sit, but she was wincing every so often, looking slightly uncomfortable whenever Basel got loud.
Fortunately, I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Deja and her father were going head to head, but they were doing it in an unfamiliar language. While it was becoming increasingly louder, it was literally foreign to me. I was pretty sure I knew what it was about, though.
Despite both Deja and I being fully grown adults, the Saad patriarch had looked like he’d been about to have a stroke when he’d opened that door to find our faces mere inches away from each other. I’d caught a vein bulging in his forehead like was ready to blow a gasket.
I was grateful her father wasn’t a mind reader. If he knew what I was imagining doing to his daughter, the old man would have ended up in the hospital.
A door slammed somewhere down the hall and silence fell across the house. I sat up a little straighter, my brow furrowing. It was probably my turn now. Khaled waltzed into the dining room seconds later, his hands tucked into his pockets and a sheepish look on his face.
“Do you have a few minutes to talk to my father?” he asked. “I’m sorry about all this, by the way. I should’ve told Deja we were getting in today, but after I pitched the merger to my dad, he was adamant that we get the ball rolling as soon as possible. The man has no chill.”
“Oh really? I didn’t notice.” I rose, catching the pinched smile Ashanti sent my way as I strode toward her husband. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get this smoothed over. I’m sure your father is a reasonable man.”
Khaled and Ashanti both started laughing, which chipped away at my confidence a bit. This hadn’t been the best start to a business meeting, but the only way out now was through.
“Just show me where he is,” I said, shaking my head.
Khaled led me down the hall and I followed him through the house until we ended up in a sparsely furnished office that was obviously being used more as Gabrielle’s crafting room than a study.
Basel looked completely out of place against the wash of white furniture and quilting supplies, but his stormy expression said everything.
He sat behind a rickety looking desk that was absolutely covered in scraps of fabric, colored paper, and knitting needles, but not even the crafting stuff softened the look of him.
His bushy, graying eyebrows were knitted tightly together and he folded his arms over his chest, eyeing me closely with his glittering black gaze tracking my movement across the room.
I kept my chin up and my shoulders back.
The man could shoot me the stink eye all he wanted.
I knew how to stay composed in a high stakes meeting.
Did the guy expect an apology? For almost kissing his twenty-nine-year-old daughter? He should be apologizing to me for interrupting a nice moment.
Khaled stepped into the room with us and closed the door behind himself. I turned to face Basel directly, refusing to be intimidated despite the fact that he was built like a linebacker and was worth more than the GDP of most developing countries. Combined.
Instead of apologizing when I hadn’t done anything wrong, I chose a different tack. “Nice to meet you, sir. I didn’t know you were into quilting.”
Khaled made a strangled noise behind, although I couldn’t tell if it was suppressed laughter or shock. His father arched an eyebrow at me but was otherwise a blank mask.
“What do you want for your future, Colin?” he asked, surprising the crap out of me. “Are you happy as CFO or do you have larger aspirations?”
“I love my job and I’m exceptional at what I do,” I said without skipping a beat or breaking the staring contest we seemed to have entered into.
“Thayer Steelworks has taken some hits, I’ll admit that, but it remains a strong competitor in the manufacturing industry and my sister and I are working hard to restore the company’s reputation to its former glory.
I don’t believe there’s any larger aspiration than securing the financial well-being of a company that was a pioneer and a leader of its industry and has always been known for its innovative practices. ”
He paused for a moment to simply nod thoughtfully in response.
“Do you think Thayer has another hundred years of prosperity left in it? You can downplay it all you want, but those hits you mentioned had a significant impact on the company itself as well as public perception of it. Your father might be out of the picture, but the damage he dealt very much remains.”
“That’s true,” I admitted, not afraid to confront the facts.
If we were going to go into business together, I couldn’t pretend like none of this history mattered, and besides, I preferred to be upfront with potential partners. It saved everyone a lot of grief further down the line if everything was clear from the start.
“What we’re focused on, however, is not the past,” I said firmly.
“It’s the future. Under my sister’s leadership, we’ve repaired a lot of old relationships, and thanks to the Westwoods’ support, we’re even expanding into industries we haven’t formerly been involved with.
So, to answer your question, we don’t only have another hundred years of prosperity in us, sir.
We have as many years as there are generations of our family to continue what we’re building. ”
Basel’s pitch-black gaze moved from one of my eyes to the other, but once again, he didn’t comment on or respond to the answer I’d given.
“What about you? Personally, I mean. It’s common knowledge that your father’s assets were seized, but a man builds wealth of his own rather than only relying on what his father leaves behind. ”
“I agree,” I said, knowing full well that he was edging toward the conversation I’d subconsciously known was coming since that moment on the yacht.
“I’m able to provide for myself, I have some money set aside, and I have a thorough investment portfolio.
All of which I’ve accumulated for myself and with no help from my father or his assets.
So if you’re asking if I’m up to my eyeballs in dept or if I’ve simply been sitting around, waiting for my trust fund to be returned, the answer is a very firm no. ”
Finally, a flicker of something passed behind Basel’s eyes. I couldn’t quite determine what it was, but at least it hadn’t been disapproval. “That’s good news. Khaled said you were smart. So far, you are proving that my son’s judgment of your character is correct as well.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“There’s a contract being negotiated,” he said, leaning forward and watching me a little closer again. “Alex Westwood has been working on it tirelessly behind the scenes.”
And until right now, Deja and I have been left in the dark, which is bullshit, but since I’d already figured it out, the news itself didn’t come as a shock. “Yes, sir. I’m aware.”
“You are?” He arched a dark eyebrow at me. “I was told we would all talk together.”
“We will. No one has brought me into the loop regarding the terms of the contract or anything like that. I simply deduced from some of the things people have been saying to me.”
He nodded slowly, taking me at my word, which I appreciated. When he finally focused on me again, I could tell that we were now about to get into the actual reason for him asking me to meet.
“GlobalStar would like to make a deal with Thayer Steelworks,” he said. “It was in the works before your father was arrested and it would be monumental for both companies.”
“I’m not sure a steel manufacturing company and a chemical company have any business together,” I said honestly. “Regardless of what my father believed, the logistics alone would be difficult and the financial data points?—”
Basel didn’t wait for me to finish before he leaned forward and hit me with the hard truth. “Your family has been embroiled in scandal for years, Colin. A merger with GlobalStar would be a lifeline you’ve yet to have access to.”
“The scandal will be behind us before long,” I argued. “As I mentioned before, we’re looking to the future.”
“Yes, you did mention that, but I’m caught up on the current proceedings.
Part of your immediate future is yet another trial that will air all that old dirty laundry again.
Do you honestly think that Thayer Steelworks can survive your father’s eventual release from prison with only Westwood and Sons backing you? ”
Aggravation rolled through me like a wave, my patience with him finally starting to run out.
I’d been honest, level-headed, and polite so far, but at this point, I was unsure if I was being held against my will and Basel Saad had no business poking around the effects of my father’s release from prison.
Hell, we didn’t even know if it was going to happen, and even if it did, Jane and I had a plan. One that did not involve being rescued like a damsel in distress. If this old man honestly believed that the company wouldn’t survive without him, he had another thing coming.
“What do you actually want, Basel?” I asked straight out, dropping the sir in favor of treating him more like an equal now.
“Is it access to Thayer’s manufacturing network or is there something else?
I’ve been led to believe that you were in need of state-of-the-art facilities that could be converted and that this deal makes sense because both companies could benefit, but I’m not interested in the games that are being played right now. ”
The man eyed Khaled for a moment before he nodded when he turned back to me. “I appreciate your directness, but there are no games, Colin. To put it bluntly, I think your company has a market overseas and I want to be part of it. I also want you to head it up.”
He paused for a beat, not moving his gaze away from mine. “The way I see it, this wouldn’t just be a merger, but a union of two powerhouses. GlobalStar would take Thayer international. That’s what I want.”
Stunned speechless for a second, I finally managed to speak again when I realized that neither Alex nor Khaled seemed to have known the extent of Basel’s plans. “This conversation shouldn’t move forward without Jane in the room.”
Basel glanced at Khaled again, but he did seem impressed that I’d mentioned my sister. When he looked back at me again, he didn’t argue. “That’s fine. I’m in town for a week and I’ll have my people get in touch with yours. There’s much to discuss.”
I got the feeling that this entire conversation had been about sizing me up, but I had no idea how I’d fared when Khaled suddenly strode toward the door and opened it for me.
After saying my goodbyes, I walked into the hallway and Khaled stayed in the room with his father, shutting the door behind me.
All by myself, I waited for a beat before I walked through the house without him, deciding to just see myself out. I was almost to the foyer when I heard Deja call my name. “Colin! Wait up.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see her hurrying down the stairs to meet me, still dressed in the outfit she’d had on earlier, but her eyes were brighter. Worried, perhaps.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I think so,” I said slowly. “Hey, uh, do you know about what’s going on?”
She started to say something, but before I could make sure we were on the same page about what exactly I’d been referring to, my phone rang.
Alex’s name popped up on the screen and I groaned. “It’s almost ten p.m. This can’t be good news. I should take it, but I’ll call you in the morning, okay?”
On an instinct I didn’t even realize I should fight at first, I grabbed one of her hands and tugged her closer, about to kiss her goodbye before I remembered myself.
Immediately letting go, I took a step back and tried not to notice the fact that she was just a little breathless—and looking at me like she wouldn’t have been opposed to the kiss.
“I had a great day with you,” I said briskly, then saw Basel coming down the hallway over the top of her head. “Goodnight, Deja.”
She smiled at me, but it was pinched now that we could both hear her father’s footsteps behind her. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Colin.”
There was so much more I wanted to talk to her about, but Basel was now watching and my phone started ringing again, so instead, I just turned and walked out of their house, my head spinning after everything that had happened today.
It’d been a good one, for sure, but after that conversation with Basel, I had a lot more to think about than I’d been expecting, and honestly, I had no idea how I was even going to begin telling Jane about his proposal.