THREE
“YOU DID WHAT?”
Julius McAlm, his deceased father’s number two, was like an uncle. In business, the older man deferred to him when others were around. In private, Julius would nudge here and there. The personal was a whole other ballgame. Less nudging and more full force advancing.
“It makes sense,” Brogan said to Julius, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
Seated in the guest chair on the opposite side of Brogan’s desk, Julius appeared baffled.
“Why would you want to date the Sear girl?”
“Have you seen her?”
Julius blinked. “Yes, but there are far flashier girls out there if beauty’s your requirement… and far less complicated ones. Her father won’t let this happen. He despises you.”
“Conway Sear is exactly why this has to happen,” he said, powering down his laptop and linking his fingers to look at his mentor. “You wanted to know how we’d get the edge at the Gault pitch? She’s it.”
“When you were a kid, you’d fall out with your father when he was ruthless like this.”
“Yeah, and he’d tell me to toughen up,” he said, glaring across the desk. “Toughen up, Julius.”
“I don’t have a problem with you seducing her for the good of the company. Just watch yourself with this one.”
“Meaning?”
Sinking deeper into his seat, Julius pondered for a moment. “You could be thinking too small.”
“Too small?”
“The Sear family have been a thorn in our side for a long time. Bram’s being groomed to take over. They’re not a threat that goes away when Conway goes away.”
“What do you suggest?”
Opening his hands, Julius joined the act with a loose shrug. “Marry the girl.”
Piss take. Overkill. “What?”
“You don’t have to fall in love or be faithful long-term.
Didn’t you always say if you couldn’t stick it with Honey, you’d never stick it with any woman?
” His ex, Honey, was more patient than most. “This would be a business decision. Instead of being on opposing sides, you’d be on the inside of their decisions, primed to take over when Conway pops off. ”
“You think Bram Sear will hand off the reins of his father’s company to me?”
“Gianna will inherit something. It’s no secret her father keeps her out of the business. Who better to hand her corporate responsibilities off to than her husband? Take her place on the board… you could vote our way.”
“Sear Inc. is in financial decline.”
“Yes. And they have some impressive assets.”
“That will be liquidated.”
“Unless someone rights the ship.”
Considering it for a minute was a minute too long. “She’d never go for it.”
“Don’t ask her permission. Give her the life her family deny her. Spoil her. Let her think you give a shit. Women fall hard for a guy who shows them respect.” His friend relaxed further. “I’ll talk to Garrett.”
“Her ex?”
“He’s a friend of a friend.” When someone needed something, everyone was a friend of a friend in this city. “Insider information will help.”
Brogan shook his head. “You’re just through telling me her father won’t let her date me. Now you’re saying he’ll let me marry her?”
“Conway Sear putting up barriers will push her toward you. To her parents, she’s nothing, an afterthought compared to Bram. You’re her ticket to freedom, her way out.”
The men held eye contact. “I made this deal to ensure success with the Gault pitch.”
“He says it’s not a pitch.”
“Yeah, and the guy’s batshit.”
“Eccentric. Enough that no one knows who he’ll choose for the big chair when the bids roll in,” Julius said.
“Gault doesn’t like disharmony; you did good getting Gianna on your side.
Now you can portray yourself as having no bad blood with a competitor.
You better hope Conway and Bram Sear don’t figure this out or they’ll play too. ”
“Play?”
“Don’t be surprised if they drop their objections to you two dating to show Gault they can be amiable.”
That would add another layer to the complex negotiations.
“If Gault considers both proposals on their own merits, I have no doubt he’ll choose ours.”
“Use this new connection to get information about the Sear offer.”
Closing the lid of his laptop, he slid it off the desk into his briefcase. “You said yourself, she’s not involved in business.”
Julius’s smile was slow. “Change that. She’s your girlfriend, right?
Educate her. Encourage her to ask questions.
All else fails, in a month or so, when she’s falling for you, right before we’re going away, get a tour of the Sear complex.
Plenty you can glean from just hanging around and flirting with the right assistant. ”
“I know the game,” Brogan said. “Why would she take me to Sear Incorporated?”
“Lay the groundwork. Encourage her to visit here, include her in meetings, maybe offer her a low-level job. It will piss her father off, sure, but if he’s thinking ahead to Gault, he won’t object. Then you casually slip in a comment about how open you’ve been about your business…”
“Quid pro quo.”
“Exactly,” Julius said. Wasn’t a bad idea. “Play it by ear.”
“Right,” he murmured.
Julius checked his watch as he stood up. “Great strategy, this is going to go our way.”
That was the plan. Do enough work and anything was possible in business.