Chapter 19
KAIRO
By the time I reach the office, the arguments are in full swing.
“How could they know to do this? Where would someone like her even get the money?”
“Never mind the money, what makes her think she can even win something as frivolous as this?”
“I say we double down. Drain whatever loan she’s managed to acquire until she’s forced to back down!”
Erin, Donald, and Trent argue among themselves as I stride into the office and take my seat.
Ryan immediately rises and plants both hands on the table next to me and stares. “What took you so long?”
“Sorry,” I reply. “I left my teleporter at home. Does someone want to explain to me what is going on?”
“The bakery!” Erin throws her hands in the air and sags backward. “They’re going after the land rights. The company lawyers received a call from her lawyer a few hours ago, and now this project is in jeopardy once more.”
My heart skips a beat. Devon has a good lawyer if they move this quickly.
“So how do we stop it?” Trent looks between everyone as if they’re hiding the answer from him. “How do we cut this down before it hits the papers?”
“We can’t,” Donald replies grimly. “With the money she’s got and the underhanded way we acquired those rights, she’s got a good case.”
“Whose side are you on?” Ryan barks across the table, slamming one hand down. “I don’t care how underhanded it was back then. The point is that the bakery is on our land and I want that fucking building turned to dust.”
“We can wrap them up in a legal battle. It’ll take a few years, but we’ll wear them down eventually,” Trent offers. “And we could question every single detail—”
“No,” Ryan cuts in. “We’ve wasted enough time. I want you to dig into her finances and find out where the hell she suddenly got the money to pursue this. You told me the daughter was even worse off than the parents!”
“She is,” Erin insists. “I don’t understand. We even raised the parents’ insurance to really bleed out the last of their savings.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
I knew this company was responsible for several underhanded tactics, but it never crossed my mind that anyone here had the kind of connections that can mess with someone’s health insurance.
Erin suddenly changes in my eyes, from a cold woman focused on feeding her family to just another greedy, cruel snake in this nest.
“Do you have nothing to say?” Ryan’s head whips around to face me and our eyes meet. “You’re the one who’s been chomping to get this deal passed and now we’ve hit another wall and you’re silent.”
“What do you want me to do?” I tilt my head. “It sounds like she has a perfectly legal claim on the land her bakery stands on and her lawyer is pursuing it. There’s nothing for us to do but let the lawyers duke it out.”
“Are you serious?” Ryan’s face changes hue as his frustration builds. “Did you forget our little talk about how much money we’re hemorrhaging while waiting for this to clear? I’m not delaying this a moment longer.”
Tension throbs through my skull while I lean forward. “So what are you going to do?”
“What can we do?” Donald asks. “Short of something like the old days.”
“Maybe that’s what we need.” Ryan starts nodding and straightens up.
“We dig in and find out who her backer is. There’s no way she got approved for a loan.
We made sure of that. She must have someone with money helping her.
A friend or an ex or something. And while we look, I want a smear campaign started.
Everything from her home life, her personal life, and her school life.
Make her look like a bully, find out what she was up to in L.A.
I want reviews crashing that bakery. Food poisoning.
Toothpicks left in cakes. Rotten fruit. Rude customer service.
Hell…” His eyes begin to glow with greed.
“They’ve won awards. I want to call into question the legitimacy of those—”
“No.” I cut him off with a single, quiet word that silences the murmurs of agreement from the others around the table. All eyes turn to me.
“No?” Ryan lowers his hand. “What do you mean, no?”
“We’re not attacking their reputation. We’re not destroying their livelihood. We’re not smearing anyone, understand?”
“But Kairo—”
“No.” I lower my tone and glare at him. “Enough of this, you hear me? Destroying their reputation with false allegations means they won’t ever be able to rebuild if we win this lawsuit.
We do this properly and by the book, or do you want the negative press of the gigantic company destroying the sweet bakery to be the headline at New Year's? Since all you care about is money and appearance, then think of it this way—if we take this to court and fight it, then yes, we might win, and we’ll win fairly. But we might lose, and honestly…”
I stand slowly. “I think court is where this deserves to be fought.”
“What are you going to do?” Erin asks eagerly. She hungers for information, expecting some cruel plan to fall from my lips, but nothing of the sort exists inside me.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Several voices clash together.
“Yes. Nothing. You said it yourself, the bakery is within its rights to fight and overturn what was a bullied deal in the first place. If they win, and they will, we will absorb the loss, just as we have done countless times over the years. We are not in the business of destroying lives anymore, you hear me?”
An uncertain silence follows and gradually, each pair of eyes flicks to Ryan. I follow suit. Ryan glares at me with dark anger. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“One bakery is not destroying my life’s work!”
“If your life’s work hinges on one tiny bakery, Ryan, then you should reevaluate what you want out of that life because that’s just pathetic. I’ve made my decision. Let them take this to court, and if I detect even one hint of a smear campaign, I’ll order our lawyers to concede. Understand?”
It’s the best I can do to stop them digging.
If someone finds out that Devon’s money is coming from me, then the complications that will arise are terrifying.
A conflict of interest, for one, never mind the rules in my own contract stating that any sort of relationship with an employee is strictly prohibited.
While Devon isn’t my employee in the traditional sense, our marriage places her and her bakery within my family network, which creates a direct conflict of interest with Silver Canopy’s best interests.
But as long as this stays with the lawyers, no one will find out.
“So, what do you want us to do?” Trent asks since Ryan is visibly too angry to speak.
“Call the lawyers and tell them to let this take its course.”
“That’s it?” Erin asks. “We just do… nothing?”
“That’s what most people do in legal situations, Erin. We let those who know the law fight it out and we accept their ruling. Now, I have somewhere to be. If you’ll excuse me.”
Their voices rise as soon as I close the door behind me, but what they have to say no longer concerns me.
My money is enough to help Devon and hopefully, I can keep those snakes at bay long enough to help her on this end.
By the time I reach the elevator, Mom is blowing up my phone.
Ryan must have called her.
Several texts of angry insults are followed by a call that lasts two seconds, then another.
Then another.
It’s her way of pissing me off.
She calls and hangs up before I can answer, so the notifications drive me crazy, and I’m forced to call her back.
As soon as I do, she explodes.
“Is it true?” she yells. “Tell me it’s not true! Tell me you’re not spitting on your father’s legacy like this! Tell me you’re not destroying everything he’s built!”
“If what he’s built can be destroyed by a simple land rights disagreement, then he didn’t build something very strong, did he?”
“You little bastard,” Mom snaps. “How dare you talk about him this way! He might not be here anymore, but it’s your reputation that will suffer. And mine!”
I study my reflection in the elevator mirror as I descend. “My reputation won’t be affected by this.”
“You don’t think so? Silver Canopy is a great company and this isn’t about the bakery.
It’s about what it represents. Kairo, listen to me.
If they win, we’ll lose out on this billion-dollar deal.
No one will want to work with us again. We’ll destroy all the goodwill we’ve built through signing deals early, and all the other ratty little businesses in the way of greatness will start thinking they can stand against us! ”
I meet my own eyes and Devon fills my mind, particularly how she looked on that bridge in the snow. “Mom.”
“You’re insane, Kairo. Should I call a doctor? Has someone got to you?”
“Mom.”
“We can’t let this happen. How will I be able to face anyone when this collapses? It’s all we’ve spoken about for five years!”
“Mom.”
“What?”
“It’s not that important. It’s just a business deal. There’s more to life than destroying a simple family-owned business that brings so much love and warmth to so many people, just to build another block of replica apartments. We have eighteen blocks of them already.”
“Your father would be ashamed of you,” Mom snarls.
“Good.” I end the call and immediately dial my lawyer’s number. I don’t trust the board on this. He answers on the third ring.
“Mr. Sycamore. How can I help you?”
“I’m sure you already know what’s going on,” I say as I step out into the frozen New York street.
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t fight it.”
“Excuse me?”
“We both know they’re in the right. I don’t want to fight this. Silver Canopy isn’t going to fight this. Are we clear?”
My lawyer coughs softly. “You’re seeking to ruffle a few dangerous feathers here, Kairo.”
“I know. Do I have your understanding?”
“You pay my bills, Kairo. I do your bidding. Silver Canopy will not fight this attempt.”