Chapter 32
ALEX
Iwent to see my dad after work because he’d called twice before noon to complain that I’d gone MIA now that I was married. As if a wife was some kind of cloaking device.
I should’ve known better than to assume it would just be the two of us, though. Douglas was hardly the needy dad type, who just checked in with us because it’d been a while since we’d last hung out.
When I walked into the sitting room, I stopped short. “Well, if this doesn’t feel like an ambush, I’m not sure what would. Did you bring guns? Knives?”
Sterling looked up from the armchair, one ankle crossed over his knee and a glass of bourbon in his hand. He grinned. “You wound me. We came all this way to surprise you and this is the welcome we get?”
Jameson was sprawled out on the couch like he’d made the journey all the way from California on foot rather than a private jet. “I feel like we need a do-over. Do you want to walk back out, come in again, and then screech about how happy you are to see your cousins?”
I laughed, but then Harlan spoke up. “Alexander.”
He stood near the window with his hands clasped behind his back, his posture as military straight as always. “It’s good to see you again, son.”
“Harlan,” I replied, nodding, then looked back at Sterling and pointedly widened my eyes. “You were supposed to tell me when you were landing.”
He shrugged, slowly arching a brow as a smirk spread on his lips. “Where’s the fun in that? I like surprises.”
“Surprises are how people lose money,” I said dryly.
Jameson snorted. “Says the man who married into a hostile board situation.”
My father cleared his throat from his chair and waved me into the room. “Sit down, Alex. It’s good to have all of us in the same room again for once, isn’t it? It’s been too long.”
Although I still had the distinct feeling that this was an ambush, I sat, mostly because I wanted to hear what it was really about.
We did the polite catch-up first, Sterling asking about the performance of the Westwood branch in Chicago while Jameson wanted to know why Jane hadn’t killed me yet.
I asked about their kids and how San Francisco was surviving Sterling’s leadership.
It was normal. Easy. Honestly, I would’ve been thrilled to see my cousins if I’d known they were coming. We all got along well. Always had.
These two and I, in particular, were close enough in age that they’d always been some of my best friends despite living in different states. Jameson and I even shared Trent as our closest friend who wasn’t related to us by blood.
Usually when these guys came to town, we had a blast together, but they weren’t here to blow off some steam with their cousins this time. Their impromptu visit was about Thayer, and if they’d all felt the need to come, then I wouldn’t like what they wanted to discuss.
It was a suspicion that was confirmed when Harlan shifted his weight and the temperature in the room suddenly changed. He glanced at me. “Talk to me about the Thayer board,” he said, finally addressing the elephant in the room.
I leaned back, my grip tightening on my drink. “What about it?”
“I hear you’ve made yourself known,” Sterling said carefully. “They know what’s coming.”
“They do,” I replied, my voice even but flat. “You already knew that, though. So why are you here?”
“Well, in my case, I wanted to tell you in person that I’m in,” Harlan said. “If you need my vote, my influence, or my name attached to it, you’ve got it. I considered what you said during our last meeting and you have me in your corner.”
I didn’t hesitate. “I know.”
Sterling laughed. “Of course, you do. Cocky bastard.”
Jameson finally sat up, his bourbon dangling between his fingertips as he leaned forward, eyes intent on mine. “For what it’s worth, I’m ready to help Colin however I can. If it’s agreed that he should remain in his position as CFO, I’ll make sure he has the backing and resources he needs.”
“I appreciate that,” I said, a tiny thread of relief sliding through me. “He’s good. Better than the current board gives him credit for.”
“No argument there,” Jameson said. “Finance game recognizes finance game.”
I grimaced, trying to fight back laughter. “Now there’s a phrase that will never catch on.”
Jamie winked. “That doesn’t make them any less true.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re not wrong,” I said, grinning until I turned to Sterling. “Which brings us to you. Your dad’s in and your CFO is keen. Where’s your head at?”
Sterling swirled his drink, carefully considering his words. “I’m more cautious, as I should be. Our branch of Westwood and Sones doesn’t get to be aggressive just because you’re emotionally invested.”
I smiled, but there was no humor attached to it. “You say that like it’s a flaw.”
“It’s a risk,” he countered calmly. “My job is to name those. You would do the same if you were in my position.”
He wasn’t wrong either, but part of me still wanted to put a fist through his face for saying what he was. Thayer Steelworks was a damn fine investment, and if he wasn’t so worried about me, he would see that.
Plus, I happened to know that he hadn’t exactly been thinking with his head when he’d saved his own wife’s little company a couple years ago. It was fucking rich that he was coming at me with this shit now, knowing what he’d done for her not so long ago.
Yeah, but her company didn’t cost nearly as much, a logical voice reasoned softly from the back of my mind.
I sighed, lifting my chin and clenching my fingers into fists in my lap, but I didn’t let them fly. Harlan turned to me again, his face a mask of that cool, collected calm that my family was known for in business. “Let me ask you something, Alex.”
I met his gaze. “Go on.”
“What happens if the board convenes to vote on the ouster of the current CEO, and Nora Thayer doesn’t vote in your favor to install her daughter in that position?”
“That’s not even a remote possibility,” I said immediately, frowning as I wondered where this was even coming from. “Nora would definitely vote in Jane’s favor.”
Harlan didn’t look convinced. At all. His head tilted and he studied me like I was a chessboard he’d been staring at for decades. “Are you certain about that?”
“Yes,” I said, but then after a beat, I knew I couldn’t just leave this. Neither my dad, nor my uncle, nor my cousins just floated random possibilities when billion-dollar deals were at stake. What-ifs weren’t their style. Not unless it was relevant. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“Because Nora stands to get a massive payday if Thayer sells out in its entirety,” Harlan said, his expression solemn. “We’re talking about a lot of money here, son.”
My jaw tightened. “Is that confirmed?”
Harlan nodded. “According to Zach’s research, yes. Nate has corroborated it. What interests me is that she hasn’t disclosed that little tidbit, has she?”
“No,” I said. “Not as far as I know.”
And I would’ve known.
Jameson frowned, sitting up a little straighter now, as if he was only just joining the meeting for real. “The board wants a sale?”
“Eventually,” Harlan said. “All of you already know that they want to keep Thayer functioning just well enough to pad their own pockets while they look for a way to sell the company piece by piece. It leaves them with clean hands clutching big checks, the biggest of which will be in dearest Nora’s hands. ”
Sterling exhaled. “That could be a real problem.”
My spine felt like someone had replaced it with a boiling hot broomstick. “Jane doesn’t know about this.”
“Of course, she doesn’t,” Harlan said, blowing out a breath before taking another sip of his drink. He swallowed it slowly, real empathy in his eyes when he looked at me again. “They don’t want her knowing, Alex. Right now, she’s the obstacle.”
“Understatement of the fucking year,” Jameson muttered. “She’s an actual, living brick wall blocking their plans.”
Harlan inclined his chin at his son, but he spoke mostly to me, only glancing at the others every so often. “If the board votes her out and pushes for a sale, Nora’s vote becomes very valuable.”
I shook my head once. “She won’t do it.”
Harlan’s voice softened, which somehow made it worse. “You’re thinking like a husband, not a board member.”
Sterling set his glass down. “Okay, so if this is a real issue, why don’t we just offer to buy out Thayer as is? That solves the problem cleanly.”
I gave him a sharp look. “It would also permanently plummet Thayer’s production value and its standing in terms of future contracts.”
Jameson nodded slowly. “Hostile buyouts poison the well, bro. You know that.”
“Not to mention that I’d be handing my wife a rotten fruit. One she spent years trying to save. I’m not doing that.”
Harlan watched me closely. “You’re loyal.”
“Yes,” I said. “I am.”
Sterling sighed after studying my face for a beat. “You’re in deeper than I thought.”
“I married her,” I said. “What did you expect?”
Jameson smiled faintly. “Honestly? Less teeth.”
“Jane Thayer rebuilt that company with no support, no safety net, and a board actively working against her,” I said. “I’m not going to be the man who finishes what they started.”
Silence fell as they all stared at me, but finally, Harlan nodded again. “Alright, Alex. We won’t acquire them outright.”
Sterling picked up his drink. “We’ll proceed carefully instead.”
I looked around the room at my family, feeling the weight of their names and expectations, but I still felt oddly steady. “No one sells my wife’s company out from under her. Not the board, not us, and sure as hell not her own family.”
Naturally, my dad watched us with a painfully smug expression on his face. He leaned back in his chair with his hands laced over his stomach, looking like a man who’d successfully predicted the weather and wanted credit for inventing the sky. “I told you this was a really good match.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “You sold it under the banner of efficiency. A sure thing for the majority.”