Claim Me Now - Lea Nolan Page 0,3
But for-sure millions will.” Tiffany smiled as she cast a sidelong glance at the beautiful, well-dressed woman sitting perfectly still in the corner.
“Who is she?” Raven asked.
“None of your concern,” Tiffany shot back.
Raven gestured to the woman in the suit. “Who do you work for?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” the woman uttered with the self-assurance of someone who worked for a company with a colossal bottom line.
Raven turned to Tiffany. “Come on, at least tell me what company is swooping in here to give you these for-sure millions.”
Tiffany smiled. “It’s a done deal. The papers were signed with Sun Co, LLC, this morning.”
This turn of events was so absurd and reckless, Raven laughed. “Never heard of it. Which means it’s a shell company. Let me guess, was this a leveraged buy out?” She glanced at the woman in the corner whose pink lips quirked. Suspicion confirmed.
Even worse. Raven spun back to Tiffany. “Did they let you keep any part of the company?”
“Ten percent,” Tiffany answered, looking extremely self-satisfied.
Raven felt sick. Tiffany had led her family to slaughter and didn’t see the firing squad. “You don’t realize what you’ve done.”
“Uh, we just made bank.” Tiffany snapped her fingers, and her brothers cheered.
When the fools finished celebrating, Raven said, “You’ve sold your family’s fourth-generation business to a bunch of vampires.”
Tiffany’s face turned ghostly white. “What? Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no such thing as vampires.”
“Then you’re even more ignorant than I thought. Your new partners have financed the purchase of Paulson Diagnostics with a crapload of debt. That means they’re going to restructure, fire employees, slash benefits, and suck everything good and valuable out of this company before they off-load it in about five years.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” the woman in the corner said smugly.
“You don’t have to speak to her, Kiara,” Tiffany told the woman.
Ignoring Tiffany entirely, Raven spoke directly to the mysterious Kiara. “Don’t insult my intelligence. I had plenty of job offers to join private equity firms when I graduated from Wharton, but I chose to keep my soul instead and fix troubled companies, rather than destroy them. Tell me, how many of my people are you firing today?”
“There will be some minor staff adjustments,” Kiara admitted.
Raven huffed out a laugh. “Minor, my ass. You’ll gut our human capital and force those who remain to pick up the slack.”
Tiffany shook her head. “You’re wrong. Sun Co understands our needs far better than you do, and they know how to show their appreciation of our worth.”
Raven leaned in on her elbows. “They only wanted this company because of the changes I put in place that made it profitable. Let me guess, you told them about the new blood sugar monitoring device and gamification app?”
Tiffany looked at Raven as if she was an idiot. “Of course. It’s our newest product. They needed to know what we had coming.”
“And I bet you didn’t counter with a higher asking price when you told them about it.”
Tiffany shook her head stubbornly. “No.”
Raven felt the blow almost as if it were her own company. Two years of her vision, planning, and hard labor, all for some vampire capitalists to swoop in and profit from it. “Your partner knew exactly what they were buying and how much it was worth. They screwed you.”
“Tiff, what is she talking about?” Dumb’s voice filled with unease as comprehension dawned.
“Is that true?” Dense asked.
Dimwit looked at Raven and tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Your sister gave away your family legacy,” Raven answered.
Tiffany rose to her feet, red-faced, and thrust a pointed finger toward the door. “Get out! Your services are no longer required.”
Raven stood up. “Oh, I’m leaving, all right. I can’t bear to watch you sink this ship.” She glanced at the smiling Kiara, who must have been loving this, knowing how much her company stood to profit because they’d taken advantage of a greedy and inexperienced woman-child and her moronic brothers. Raven couldn’t help tossing a little missile in Kiara’s direction, too. “Enjoy today’s victory. Sun Co, LLC, got a great deal. But remember this: You can buy companies and pretty much whatever you want, except integrity.” She spun on her heels and headed toward the conference room door.
Mari pushed back her chair and started to stand.
“Mari, stay where you are. You’re my assistant now,” Tiffany said.
Mari froze, mid-crouch. “I thought I’d make sure she packed all her things.”
Raven paused and shot a glance at Tiffany over her shoulder. “And that I don’t steal any corporate secrets.”
“Oh,