Chapter 13
COLIN
By the time Isaac and I arrived at the clubhouse, I was starting to wonder if agreeing to brunch had been a mistake.
This place was one of the most exclusive spots in downtown Chicago, even eggs apparently tasting better when served in the light of crystal chandeliers with your feet firmly planted on imported marble.
Generally speaking, I enjoyed coming here. The food was amazing and the Bloody Marys were out of this world, but after that weird conversation I’d had with Basel, I wasn’t convinced I should be seeing him at all until Jane had had the opportunity to thoroughly consider his proposal.
As a result, I’d spent the whole drive here spiraling. It was not a state I usually indulged in, but Basel Saad had thrown me for a loop last night.
Isaac climbed out of the car after I’d parked, adjusting his sunglasses. He waited for me before we started toward the entrance together. “You look stressed.”
“I am stressed.”
“Why?”
I glanced at him. “Have you not been listening for the last thirty minutes? Basel wants us to do a lot more than overhaul one of our facilities for the perfumery. I told you, he has all these plans and I think today is about pressuring us to make the deal.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” he said, obviously disagreeing with my reservations about going into business with GlobalStar, but where I tended to err on the side of caution, he was relentlessly optimistic.
I usually appreciated that about him, but today, it was just irritating. “I’m not being ridiculous. It’s called being realistic, Isaac.”
He snorted. “GlobalStar is one of the most innovative companies on the planet. They have access to technology we can only dream about in the States right now and having them in our pocket means our expansion into other materials is essentially set in stone. I really don’t see a problem there.”
“You wouldn’t. You’re an engineer. What he’s offering is probably your idea of a wet dream.”
To be fair, Isaac also ran the research, mining, and environmental protection section of our business.
Back when everything had exploded and the entire board had been wiped clean, most of the executive positions in the company had been filled by outsiders, and by the time Jane had gotten behind the wheel, those people were settled in their jobs.
What that meant for our younger brothers was that they had to work their way up the ranks just like anyone else. Jane and I had done the same, clawing our way up the ladder under our uncle’s tenure as CEO, but while Isaac didn’t have a corner office, he carried a ton of responsibility.
I knew that. I also knew that he probably understood in much more technical detail what the benefits of accepting Basel’s offer would be.
Jane and I, however, were the ones responsible for Thayer now. If we shit the bed, the company would go up in flames once and for all.
Plus, our father had managed to destroy a great many things before he’d landed in prison, and the original GlobalStar negotiations had been one of them. That was now our burden to carry and I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t weighing on me.
“This would be a huge deal for the company,” Isaac said as we reached the lobby, nodding our thanks to the doorman who’d pulled open the giant glass doors on our approach.
“Wet dream or not, you know that we’d be head and shoulders above the rest if we do this.
GlobalStar and Thayer together? That’s a match made in money-heaven. ”
“I know.”
From a purely business perspective, this partnership had the potential to be exceptionally lucrative for both companies.
On that front, everything pointed toward yes, the facilities, the research, and even the due diligence I’d been having my people do, but the fact that there was something else going on was bugging me.
Especially since I was the target.
Thayer’s international prospects wouldn’t be sealed with only a business deal.
If that was the only thing I had to worry about, then fine, but Deja was weighing heavily on my mind.
I honestly wasn’t sure yet if she knew what was going on, and after everything Zach had gone through, I desperately didn’t want her to feel like she had no choice.
The short text I’d sent asking her to dinner had been the aftermath of an entire novel I’d initially typed out to send. Finally, I’d deleted that and opted for a significantly less humiliating, one sentence alternative, but the truth was that I’d never felt this unbalanced in my life.
Deja herself was incredible. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
But I was much less certain about her family—and her father in particular.
Basel Saad wasn’t just wealthy or influential.
He wielded real power, altering entire industries with his decisions, and somehow, I’d found myself standing directly in his path.
Despite Isaac’s enthusiasm, I just didn’t feel like that was a good place to be.
“Just relax and let him talk,” Isaac murmured as the hostess led us to a private dining room. “Have you talked to Dad about this at all?”
I scoffed. “No. It’s our baby now. If we bring him in on it, he’ll just start dictating to Jane from behind bars. I’m not doing that to her.”
“Fair enough.”
Basel and Khaled were already waiting when we arrived, both of them rising when we walked in.
I accepted Basel’s hand first and gave it a firm shake.
“Gentlemen, it’s good to see you again. This is my brother, Isaac.
He’s an engineer at Thayer, so he’ll be able to give you much more detailed information on what it would take to turn any plan into reality. ”
Isaac stepped forward and shook with each of them, immediately switching into social butterfly mode. As we sat down, he proved once again that if there was anything he excelled at besides engineering, it was talking.
By the time our drinks arrived, he’d managed to monopolize Basel’s attention, but I was grateful. Khaled seemed dialed into the conversation too, the distraction Isaac was providing giving me time to try to work out their motives here.
I’d made it quite clear last night that I wouldn’t be making any decisions about GlobalStar’s proposal without my sister’s involvement. Then Khaled had reached out indecently early this morning to set up this meeting.
Now we were here, but there was no sign of Jane.
On the other hand, Alex was coming too and she’d probably drive with him. At the end of the day, all I could do right now was wait. Wait and see what the Saads had up their sleeves today.
“So I switched majors from business to engineering,” Isaac was saying when I briefly tuned back in. “My professors thought I was insane, but I went ahead and skirted our family tradition anyway.”
Basel looked amused. “Business wasn’t to your liking?”
“Nah.” Isaac shrugged. “To be honest, my classes were boring my socks off and I’ve always just looked at things differently, you know? Even as a kid, I always just wanted to know how stuff worked.”
“You were twenty years old and you made such a big decision by yourself?” Basel asked, sounding impressed. “I suppose it is useful to have someone in your family who understands the technical side of things, but I still can’t imagine it was easy.”
“It wasn’t,” Isaac agreed immediately. “I was an idiot.”
Basel laughed. “Most twenty-year-olds are. Especially boys.”
“Amen to that, but at least in my case, it worked out.” Isaac lifted his coffee in Basel’s direction, clearly happy to keep sharing his entire career journey while we waited for Alex to arrive.
I left him to it, noticing both Basel and Khaled glancing at me every so often. My phone was on silent in my pocket, but while I kept wanting to check it, I refrained, not proud of how much of my attention belonged to a woman who wasn’t even present.
Instead, I studied a spot at the center of the table, only half-listening to them talk while I kept mentally replaying my day with Deja. She’d been way too casual to have found out what they had in mind for us yet. I was sure of it.
“You’re overseeing mining now as well?” Basel asked at one point. “That’s important work.”
“It keeps me out of trouble,” Isaac said. “Mostly, anyway.”
The other two men chuckled, segueing into the topics of technology, sustainability initiatives, and mineral extraction. I just kept quiet, studying the arrangement of small white flowers in a vase in the middle of the table.
For possibly the first time ever, I found myself wondering what those flowers actually smelled like. Whether Deja would’ve been inspired by them if she’d been here and if, perhaps, tiny little flowers just like those might be used for her next scent.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I barely even noticed when Isaac finished explaining his involvement in a reclamation project in Minnesota. Basel nodded at him, but then, without any warning whatsoever, turned to me.
“Do you want children?” he asked.
I looked up, so stunned that for a second, I wondered if I’d hallucinated that question. “Excuse me?”
Basel reached for his coffee, patiently holding my gaze with an expression on his face that suggested he thought of this as a perfectly ordinary and acceptable conversation topic with a virtual stranger at brunch. “Children. Would you like to have any or not?”
I glanced at Isaac, but he just shrugged at me, so I turned back to Basel and finally nodded. “Yes, I would very much like to have kids someday. It’s actually incredibly important to me.”
As random as the question had been, it wasn’t complicated. I’d never doubted the fact that I wanted a family. It was something I longed for, if I was being honest, but I wouldn’t say that out loud. Especially not to a man whose motives were still unclear.
Basel simply nodded in response, then took a sip of his coffee without comment or explanation. While I would have liked to know why he would ask something like that, I had a feeling I’d be finding out soon enough anyway.
All of this was leading up to something. Of course, I already knew that he was considering a marriage between Deja and me, but something about the whole thing still felt off to me.
Before I could just come out and ask, the door opened and Alex finally arrived. Alone. I waited for Jane to appear next, but she never did.
Alex crossed the room and shook hands with Isaac, Khaled, Basel, and me, exchanging pleasantries as he sat down, but as soon as he’d ordered a coffee of his own, he finally got the ball rolling for real—still without Jane being present.
“Alright,” he said, his gaze sweeping across the table. “Are we ready to get down to business?”
Thank God. But also…
“Is Jane joining us?” I asked, glancing at the door again. “Possible merger discussions usually involve the CEO.”
Basel waved a dismissive hand. “That’s not necessary for today.”
I frowned, but Alex and Khaled both seemed amused. Only Isaac was with me on the confusion side of the fence.
Leaning back in my chair, I smoothed my tie and once again dug in my heels. “It is necessary. If we’re meeting to discuss?—”
“My people are already talking to your people,” Basel said. “Our lawyers have been in contact with yours and Jane is well aware of the offer we’re making.”
My eyebrows inched up, surprise mingling with the uncertainty in my veins. When Khaled had asked for this meeting, I’d been sure that they wanted to pick up where we’d left off last night, but clearly, it wasn’t that.
Mentally bracing myself for finally—hopefully—getting some of the answers I knew I’d been missing, I looked directly into his eyes and nodded. “Okay, but if that’s true, then why the hell am I here?”