33. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Tanner
W e meet the Blue Vista crew at the hospital and everyone coos over tiny Westley. He’s pretty cute and I can see both Spencer and Lis in his features. They’re released the next day, and we visit them when they’re home, bringing dinner so no one has to cook anything, though Lis says she wants to.
“I haven’t spent so long outside of a kitchen since I was a kid.”
We visit again on Sunday, seeing if there’s anything they need. We hang out, helping them get settled in as new parents. Vic holds Westley like a pro and has already started spoiling him. I’m reminded of how I wanted to be with all my nieces and nephews. I wanted to give them everything I hadn’t had growing up. For me, it was fun activities my parents couldn’t afford or had time for. With Vic, I think it was love.
I return to work and everything goes to shit. Richard is pissed I took so much time off over the holidays, despite me explaining that no one wants to be in the office at this time of year, so nothing would have gotten done even if I had been around. He doesn’t care, giving me project after project to complete, which means I’m back to staying late most evenings. When I get home, sometimes I’m so late, I can do nothing but crawl into bed beside Vic and hold her while she sleeps. When I try to tell him that I have plans with Vic, he reminds me that I’ll be CEO soon. I need to put the business first.
What he’s really saying is, if I don’t stay in line, and despite our contract, he’ll stop the transfer, and I won’t get anything.
Part of the problem is that I’ve just had a week and a half off and I know what it’s like to be able to be home with my wife, spend time with my brother and my other friends, because that’s what the Blue Vista crew has become again. Friends. These are all things I’ve been missing in my life.
When I started at Sterling, I had to prove something. To myself. The world. I had student loans to pay off. I had a financial goal I needed to achieve. But I’d achieved it years ago and never did anything with it, too afraid to spend money for fear it wouldn’t be there later.
Now, I realize how much time I’ve spent focusing on the wrong things. Worried about the wrong things. I want to do something that makes me happy. I won’t ever be able to do that if I work at Sterling. Even if I own it.
This is the realization that hits me in the middle of the Board meeting on the first Friday back after the holidays. The Board has turned down all the proposals I brought them that I would have liked to work on. A small restaurant on Commercial Drive, a bakery in Metrotown, and a coffee shop in Surrey, not far from the new Blue Vista location. Instead, they want more upscale hotels, more golf courses. And they want me to do it all.
They’ve decided on a hotel in North Vancouver they want to add to the portfolio. It’s been for sale for the last three months with no offers, so the sellers will be eager. They want me to write up the proposal for next week with the lowest offer I think they’ll take based on the information we have, basically forcing them to sell at a loss since we’re the only ones interested.
Richard closes the folder in front of him and slides it over to me. “So Tanner can—”
“No,” I cut in. Because I can’t. I just can’t do it anymore. I hate this job so much, the wheeling and dealing. Offering less than what a place is worth in order to gain the most profit.
“Excuse me?” Richard says, turning to face me.
“No. I won’t write up this proposal. I’m done being led around like I’m some good little dog with the CEO position held out like some treat. I’m tired of you and this old boys’ club of a Board. I’ve given you dozens of options for properties that would have been excellent investments over the years. Companies that needed our help. But because you didn’t think they fit with the aesthetic of the company—”
“Brand,” Richard interjects.
“Whatever. You decided they weren’t going to work. We could have been millions ahead of where we are today if you had listened to me. I’m done listening to you.”
I close my laptop and disconnect it from the cable, making the screen behind me go blank. I pack up the rest of my stuff without speaking.
“What are you doing?” Richard asks when I’m about to leave the room.
I pause at the door, more angry than I’ve ever been. Not just with Richard. With myself for staying here far longer than I should have. I turn toward him. “I’m done. I’ve tried to leave this company four times. You’ve reeled me back in over and over. I can’t do this anymore.”
“If you walk out that door, you’ll never be allowed back. You won’t see a sliver of this company.”
I take a breath. “When I take over, are you going to let me run Sterling, or are you going to step in at every turn, overturning any decision I make if you think I’m wrong?”
Richard looks at me, then at the Board members, then back at me.
“I won’t let you run my company into the ground, but I won’t have to do anything massive. You know how I want this company run. You wouldn’t do anything drastic.”
“So if I decide to go ahead with the coffee shop in Surrey once I’m in charge, you’re not going to put a halt on it?”
“Well. The coffee shop doesn’t fit with the Sterling brand. Of course I’d step in if you were going to go that route.”
“Right.” I look down at my shoes, gaining the composure I need to say the rest. Then I look up and meet his eyes squarely. “You want to know something, Richard? I never wanted this company. I only went along with your scheme because Vic wanted it. You remember her? Your daughter? The one who built a multi-million dollar business in a matter of seven years? The one who you think isn’t good enough to take over? You’re wrong. If you want to give the business to someone, it should be her.”
I leave the boardroom and return to my office. I must be scowling or something because as soon as she sees me, my assistant, Carly, sits up straight and scrambles to follow me inside.
“Is everything all right, sir?” she asks.
“No, everything is not all right. I just quit.”
“Quit?”
She sounds confused. Which makes sense. The whole company knows by now that Richard had been setting me up to take over. Now, here I am, leaving a mere two weeks before the big change. Leaving without getting control of the company. The company I promised twenty-five per cent shares of to my wife. Who only married me in the first place because of that promise.
What have I done?