Chapter Forty-Two #2
“You were going to fire her here?” Mandy asked. “On her own Essence Quest?”
“We were giving her a promotion. To chairman. An opportunity for her to focus on what she does best.”
Now Charlie was the one lying, in the crudest way. Not inventing a story or flipping the narrative—just telling a version
that suited him. Even if Mandy didn’t know Babette personally, she was certain taking away the CEO title would have killed
her. Breaking the news deep in the Grand Canyon wouldn’t have been compassionate. It would have been a form of damage control,
a way to prevent Babette from fighting back with the full arsenal of her loyal following.
Babette had always ferociously defended her work and grown her business.
Maybe she didn’t do it in exactly the way Charlie would have, but there was no question that she’d been more than just a well-moisturized face.
She’d built an alternative to the corner-cutting, planet-harming corporations that controlled the cosmetics industry.
Under Babette, CareFree would have been a liberation cry.
With Charlie and Stefan at the helm, it sounded like just another way to make a buck.
Maybe that was extreme. Charlie had been Babette’s partner since the beginning. But old scars could open fresh wounds, especially
between siblings.
“What will you do with CareFree now that you’re CEO?” she asked.
Charlie’s response surprised her. “I’m not the new CEO. I was never going to be. Like your dad said, I work best in the background.
It would be Devon. She was just as frustrated with Babette as I was.”
Devon. Mandy thought back to how the steely older woman had consoled her brother after Babette died. How she’d steadied him
after they fell into the river that first day and applied aloe to his sunburned neck later that evening. Every time Charlie
struggled, Devon planted herself like an iron rod beside him. Mandy had seen her as a caring older sister, but maybe that
was misguided. Maybe Devon hadn’t been supporting Charlie but forcing him to stay in line.
“Was Stefan’s boss involved in this plan?”
It was Thor who asked the question. The others turned to the back of the raft in confusion, as if they’d forgotten the guide
was there.
“Stefan told me he wasn’t the investor,” Thor continued. “He worked for the big money person. Said he was hired help, like
me.”
Mandy seriously doubted any multinational firm would employ someone whose chief skill seemed to be diving headfirst into waterfalls.
“I don’t know.” Charlie turned to Guy. “Did you ever meet Stefan’s boss?”
“No. My connection was with Stefan, and their firm was set up such that the investments he managed were air-gapped from the rest of the business. Every department at the Regent Group works that way. I met him a few years ago when we were both vetting an IQ-boosting candy company. Ultimately, I didn’t invest—the value prop didn’t set me on fire—but I liked Stefan.
He was always looking to make big moves. With his boss’s money, of course.”
“Is it typical for big investors to have someone like Stefan who manages their business?” Mandy asked. “I thought part of
being a shark was getting to show your teeth.”
“That’s just how it looks on TV,” Guy said. “Big money is whale money. And whales like to hide way down deep.” He looked at
Charlie. “Of course, with Babette and Stefan dead, that whale’s going to come sniffing at you now. CareFree’s in your hands.”
“Devon’s hands,” Charlie corrected him. “But I don’t know that the whale will choose to get involved. As you say, they compartmentalize
everything at the Regent Group. We were lined up to make the leadership transition this week. I assume they’ll assign a new
representative from Stefan’s division and we’ll move forward as planned.”
Mandy wondered if Charlie was aware how this sounded, like he was already getting back to business as usual. He’d presented
himself as a humble ambassador striving to make the company the best that it could be. But what if he was lying? What if there
was no transition planned? If Stefan didn’t want to replace Babette, if he’d resisted the ouster, it could be a good reason
for Charlie—and Devon—to shove him out of the way.
She thought back on what she and Stefan had discussed on the hike to Thunder Spring, hunting for anything that spoke to his
intentions. But all she remembered was the strange comment he made about the threats, his sense that the messages in the hats
were intended to misdirect. “Stefan told me he managed a portfolio on distraction.”
“That’s right,” Charlie said.
“He said it was one of a few divisions at their firm. Do you know what the other ones are?”
“There are four of them,” Charlie said. “Hard to forget, because they’re so odd. Babette liked the idea that our chief backer
had a creative streak. The Regent Group focused on four different investment areas: love, attention, distraction, and yearning.
Apparently their founder believed that each could be a gold mine.”
“Smart whale,” Guy said.
“What do you mean?” Mandy asked.
“Anyone can invent a product worth selling,” Guy said. “But the thing that lights up buyers is the promise, not the product.
It isn’t the pen, the condo, or the face cream. It’s the letter they’re going to write with that pen to win their lover back.
It’s the home that makes them feel secure for the first time. It’s the cream that’s going to take their pain away. It’s the
promise that makes it worth buying. And those four departments—what were they again?”
“Love, attention, distraction, and yearning,” Charlie said.
Guy licked his chapped lips. “All fundamental human desires. When a product’s promise matches a universal desire, BAM! You’ve
got yourself a hot ticket.”
Her dad kept riffing on his grand theory of no-lose investing. But Mandy ignored his bloviating and thought about what he
and Charlie had just said.
Love, attention, distraction, and yearning. CareFree was in the distraction department, poised to help millions of people
forget their worries. And Stefan had also invested in Hitch, the social media platform. It made sense.
Distraction was one heck of a drug. But the Regent Group’s other departments sounded just as powerful.
Love.
Attention.
Distraction.
Yearning.
There was something else there. It was only when she fully tuned out her father’s rambling that she could see it.
“Remind me,” she interrupted. “What was it Stefan repeated when he was dying?”
“Huh?” Her dad was midway through a story. “Oh. Lady. He seemed to be arguing with a woman who was accusing him of being disrespectful. A lady.”
With that, Guy turned back to the other two. While he riffed on the power of yearning and an investment he had made in a podcaster-slash-spiritual medium, Mandy focused on what he’d told her.
Lady, Stefan had said. Love, attention, distraction, yearning. L-A-D-Y.
She didn’t think the acronym could be a coincidence. The question was: What on earth did it mean?