5. Ares
A res~
I just smirked at Peter’s text message, his thumbs up telling me everything that I needed to know about where we were with Martha Holdings.
While the papers might not be signed yet, that didn’t mean anything at this point.
Drummond Cohen’s back was up against the ropes, and now all we had to do was wait for the official phone call to make it happen.
“Ma’am!” My head jerked upward at the sound of Ulma’s screeching voice on the other side of my office door. “Ma’am! You can’t go in there!”
I stood up just as the door to my office flung open, and I could only stare as Capri Cohen stormed inside, and it was safe to say that her pictures hadn’t done her justice.
While I’d never had the privilege of running into her neither socially nor professionally, when Peter had explained that she was the brains and effort behind Martha Holdings, I’d done a little more research on her, including stalking her business pages and social media.
Without heels, Capri Cohen was about five-foot-three, and her suit was tailored enough to show off a very petite frame, and so I imagined that her aggressive nature was to make up for her lack in stature.
Nonetheless, strong women didn’t bother me.
In fact, I preferred them over giggling or sniveling females like my sister.
At any rate, not only was the woman on the accurate side of feminine, but she also had a curtain of raven-black hair that was pinned on top of her head with random strands framing a very stunning face with ice-blue eyes, and she actually reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor a bit.
Her coloring was a striking combination, and she wasn’t just beautiful for her age of thirty-eight, Capri Cohen was beautiful period.
“Mr. Cormac, I’m so sorry,” Ulma rushed out, racing in after the lovely Ms. Cohen. “I tried to stop her.”
“It’s fine, Ulma,” I assured her. “Please close the door and make sure that we’re not disturbed.”
My secretary’s hazel eyes widened with shock, and I could only imagine what was running through her mind right now. Normally, I’d be calling security right now or throwing the person out of my office myself, but if I ever got my hands on Capri Cohen, it wouldn’t be to throw her out of my building.
“Uhm...of...of course,” Ulma stammered. “Yes...yes, sir.”
As soon as she shut the door behind her, I turned my attention to the furious firecracker standing before me. “And how may I help you, Ms. Cohen?”
She planted her hands on my desk as fire shot out of her eyes. “You can leave my company the hell alone,” she answered, and I could see that Peter hadn’t exaggerated about her fiery disposition.
I stood up from my chair, though not to intimidate her, but because if she had the balls to storm into my office like this, then she deserved better than me remaining in my seat like she wasn’t worth my time.
In a world full of people watching everything that they said and did, I could admire her not giving a fuck when her livelihood was at stake.
“Now why would I want to do that?” I asked, letting her show her cards first.
“Look, I don’t know why you started eyeing Martha Holdings, but it’s not for sale,” she hissed, making me wonder what all her father had told her. “So back the fuck up.”
I arched a brow, surprised that the f-word would fall so seamlessly from the lips of someone so damn tiny. “What exactly are you accusing me of, Ms. Cohen?”
“Being an asshole,” she answered, all emotion.
I straightened to my full height, ready to finally get to the point. “Look, I’m not sure what you’ve been told, but all you have to do is take a closer look at the books to see that Martha Holdings is on the verge of bankruptcy, Ms. Cohen. None of which has to do with me or TCC.”
“That’s bullshit,” she spat, also straightening to her full height. “I’d know if Martha Holdings was in financial trouble.”
Rather than argue that point, I said, “You have two months at the most before bankruptcy is inevitable, so it’s simply a choice between ruination or selling out.”
“That’s not true,” she went on. “My dad explained how you’ve been-”
“Ms. Cohen, I don’t care what your father has told you,” I informed her, interrupting her.
“The fact of the matter doesn’t change with whatever it is that you choose to believe.
What you want also doesn’t make a difference.
Your father owns sixty percent of the company, so even if you refuse to give up your forty percent, I’ll still come in owning the majority.
” I cocked my head a bit as I underestimated just how much of a prick Drummond Cohen was.
“How do you think that’s going to work out for you? ”
Now, could I tell her about the rumors? Yes.
However, I didn’t need to give her another reason to hate me, especially since I didn’t know them to be fact.
Drummond Cohen could be giving up because of a gambling problem or simply because his heart wasn’t in it anymore.
Either way, it didn’t matter, and I wasn’t trying to get into anything personal between the man and his daughter.
“Have you really no conscience?” she accused. “My grandfather built Martha Holdings from the ground up, leaving thousands of people depending on it for their livelihood. Are you really so bored that you’re destroying small companies for fun now?”
Recognizing that there was no talking to her while she was this upset, I decided to end this meeting already, especially when you considered that I had a million other things to do today.
“What are you doing here, Ms. Cohen? Because if you’re here to talk me into backing out of the sale, then you’re wasting your time. ”
Her chin when up, and she really was fucking stunning. “You really are the bastard that they say you are, Mr. Cormac. You really fucking are.”
Lest she begin to believe that I was anything but a bastard, I said, “I need you to leave, Ms. Cohen. This meeting is unproductive, and you are also here uninvited.”
If looks could kill, I’d be ash right now. “This isn’t over,” she threatened, but it was, and she was the only one that couldn’t see it.
“Please leave before I have someone escort you from the building.”
Credit to her, she didn’t start begging or turning on the waterworks. She didn’t begin screaming or throwing things around. She just stared me down like a queen disgusted with her subject, and after making her point without one word spoken, Capri turned her back on me, then walked out of my office.
As soon as the door was shut, I dropped back in my seat, then dialed Peter.
While her father might be an idiot, Capri Cohen wasn’t, and I didn’t need her pulling some last-minute miracle to save her company, which I could see happening if she was ballsy enough to storm my office and curse me out like a sailor on leave.
“Peter here,” he answered on the third ring.
“I don’t want to wait until the end of the week,” I told him, foregoing any kind of greeting. “I want Cohen’s signature now.”
“Uhm...sure,” he stammered. “Uh...can I ask what happened?”
Since I wasn’t na?ve enough to believe that office gossip didn’t happen, I told him the truth. “Capri Cohen just left my office, and she’s pissed.”
Peter let out a low chuckle. “I told you that she was something else.”
“Well, I don’t want to give her time to pull a rabbit out of her hat,” I told him. “She seems rather capable, if the past few minutes are any indication.”
“I’ll call Cohen immediately,” he assured me. “I doubt that he’s up to dragging this out, especially if his daughter is that upset.”
“Get it done,” I said right before hanging up.
As I leaned back in my chair, I couldn’t help but think of the ebony-haired goddess, and it wasn’t often that I was impressed by someone, but Capri Cohen had definitely impressed me.
With the financial power that I had, there were only a few men in the nation that would ever come at me like Ms. Cohen just had, and she’d done it with absolutely no fear.
Even after being dismissed, she’d made it clear that she was going to keep fighting for her company, and it was a lot more than her father deserved.
Her fight also got me thinking about what to do next.
Drummond Cohen aside, Martha Holdings was a successful investment firm and had always been.
If not for his gambling addiction, the company could go on to support the second generation of Cohens if Capri planned on having any children in the future, and generational wealth wasn’t always easy to maintain.
Oh, it was easy to inherit, but changing with the times wasn’t always the easiest thing to do.
Now, while my unofficial competition with Kingston had only trickled into personal territory once, I hadn’t ever thought of getting married or having kids just to keep up with the man, but Capri Cohen had me thinking things now.
If she stayed on, then Martha Holdings would still be able to run smoothly without me having to deal with the messy aftermath of the buyout.
With Drummond out of the picture, I couldn’t see any foreseeable issues with profit, and as long as he stayed away, his gambling problem would be his own.
Honestly, I couldn’t see Capri sympathizing with him once she found out the truth about how they’d lost the company.
Yeah, I was definitely thinking things now.