32. Declan
32
DECLAN
I yawned and sat down at my desk with a mug of tea, content to be back home. After a few more meetings, and a half day of sightseeing with Olivia and Catie, we’d flown home late last night. I’d decided Orel wasn’t a good fit for acquisition at this time, but I was still happy with the trip.
Catie had loved the adventure. And I’d fixed what was wrong between me and Olivia. I’d sit through any amount of boring meetings for results like that.
I was whistling ABBA to myself when my cell buzzed with an incoming call from Thomas.
“What’s up?”
“He’s selling it. O’Rourke is selling his fucking mansion,” Thomas blurted.
My eyebrows shot up. Thomas hardly ever swore. But if there was ever a moment that justified it, this felt like it. Hell, I wanted to commission some fireworks to blast in the sky saying, “Fuck Yes.”
My heart thudded. Now that the moment was here, I couldn’t quite believe it was true. “I thought he still had one more property he was going to try to sell? How’d you block that?”
“Lots of bureaucracy, sweet-talking, and favors. Also, I owe someone a hand-knit sweater. You don’t want to know,” he said. “The point is, we stalled the sale long enough, and it got us the end result that we wanted. Mark O’Rourke put the mansion on the market ten minutes ago. Your shell company is set up and ready to go. This is really it. It’s happening.”
“That’s grand, Thomas. Fucking grand.” I leaned back in the chair, letting the news finally sink in.
We’d done it. I’d done it. The revenge I’d fantasized about for fourteen years was finally coming to pass.
“I wanted to confirm you still want to buy and to get your budget before I move forward with the next steps,” Thomas said.
Olivia won’t be happy . I shoved the thought aside. This was one area of my life where Olivia didn’t get a say. It would have felt like a spineless betrayal of my da to let his killer off the hook, just so I could avoid a difficult conversation with a woman.
I forced myself to ignore the uneasy feeling in my chest.
“Do it,” I ordered. “Whatever the cost. There is no budget—spend whatever you have to to lock him in and outbid any competition. But use the shell company. He won’t sell to me.”
“Got it.” There was silence on the other end of the line while Thomas scribbled down notes. “You know, sometimes it helps loosen up a buyer if you can make them certain promises about what the space will be used for.”
My grin had a hard, cynical edge. “Don’t make any promises. But imply it’s being purchased on behalf of a flighty rich American who loves The Deer and the Warrior , who will probably tire of it and put it back on the market in a few years.”
“Leaving the possibility on the table that he can snap it back up when the family finances are in better straits,” Thomas finished. “Got it. Keep the hints vague and let Mark’s imagination fill in the rest. Just out of curiosity, what are you actually going to do with the mansion? You’ve been chasing it so hard, I know you must have a plan for it.”
I was about to answer, when I thought of all the other people in Ballybeith Thomas did business with. A few of them might be upset when I razed the mansion. The mansion was linked to the festival, which brought in the tourists who filled the coffers for plenty of local businesses. They couldn’t see that O’Rourke was a cancer in our town, and this was the only way to keep him in check.
I didn’t want to put Thomas in a difficult place with any of his other clients down the road. So all I said was, “Don’t worry about that for now. I’ll loop you in once the sale has gone through.”
We chatted for a bit, and then I ended the call so I could plug in my headphones and hop on another video call with Anil.
He looked disgruntled when he logged on.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“A good morning to you too,” he said sarcastically. “I think my date last night stole my credit card.”
I winced. “What do you mean, you think?”
“I can’t actually remember how many credit cards I have.” He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I have to start dating better women.”
“Or take a break from dating,” I suggested. “Sometimes the right woman just comes into your life.”
He gave me an intrigued look. “That sounds surprisingly optimistic, coming from you. Are things going that well with Olivia?”
I avoided that conversation by clicking into our company calendar. “I’m thinking of working in Dublin for most of next week, given everything on the schedule.”
“Agreed. Especially if we might acquire Orel,” Anil said. “You’re welcome to my guest room, if you want to stay up here for the week while we hash things out. It’ll save you the bother of having to deal with a hotel.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think we should make an offer on Orel. They’re good people, and there is a lot that’s intriguing about their product. But there’s too many sloppy elements in their business model that would become huge issues when we plugged them into Snug and scaled up.” I sighed. “I’ll send you the files so you can make your own decision, but I don’t think it’s a good fit.”
“Nah, I trust you,” Anil said. “Although if we pass, Grayson Frost is going to be unbearably smug at the next tech conference.”
I snorted. “We can’t make business decisions based on avoiding things that will make Grayson smug.” Grayson was competitive, with the brain to back it up. He won in business more often than anyone else I knew.
“Shoot! My credit card company is calling,” Anil said.
I signaled that he should take it, and we ended the call.
I took off my headphones and jumped when Olivia cleared her throat.
“How long have you been there?” I asked, trying to remember what I’d said when Anil had teased me about her.
“Just a few minutes.” She shifted on her feet, nervously awkward. “I, uh, wanted to pick a time when you could help me film my sponsorship video?”
I grinned, glad she was really doing this. “Absolutely. We should do it during daylight, so you can have natural lighting. Either that, or I could hire a camera crew from Dublin to come out here…”
“Natural light is fine,” she interrupted. “When’s the next slot you’d have time during daylight?”
I opened my calendar and winced. We might not be acquiring Orel, but my schedule was still plenty packed. I didn’t want to pick a fifteen-minute window when I’d have to rush Olivia. I wanted to be able to give her all the time and focus she deserved.
We could do it over the weekend, but unfortunately, the weather was supposed to be absolute shit.
“So you’re not buying Orel? I thought you liked them,” Olivia said.
“I do,” I said. “But they’re too messy right now.”
“Then why not work with them to improve?” Olivia asked. “Why walk away from everything just because it’s not perfect?”
There was something in her voice that made it sound like she was talking about more than a potential business deal for Snug.
I turned my chair around to face her. “There’s a world full of potential business partners out there. It’s better in the long run to wait until you find the right one, rather than wasting resources on a company that’s the wrong fit.”
“Oh.” She crossed her arms and looked down at her feet.
Understanding dawned. “Is this about the company that offered to publish your book? Because if there’s something you don’t like about them, I can help you and Molly break the contract and look for another publisher. You don’t have to settle.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not about that. I was just curious about how you think. How you decide what’s worth investing your time in.”
“Ah. Well. I’m an open book. Any time you want business advice…”
“I know who to come to.” She smiled, but there was something uncertain at the edges that I didn’t like to see. “So what day should we film the sponsorship video?”
I scratched the back of my neck. “Is nine days from now too late? If it is, I can cancel?—”
“Nine days from now is fine,” she said. “Thanks. I should go. I think I hear Catie calling me.”
I frowned. I didn’t hear anything.
Then again, I’d probably ruined my ears long ago listening to headphones at full volume.
Olivia left.
I returned to my work, trying to shake off the feeling that I’d missed something important.