An Heiress to Remember (The Gilded Age Girls Club #3) - Maya Rodale Page 0,9
worth doing shouldn’t be done halfway.
And now, a mere sixteen years later, vengeance was about to be his. His slow burn of a plan had been in the works ever since that day in June and now, finally, the ultimate success was so close he could almost touch it, taste it. Own it. Claim it.
Dalton had not been invited to the meeting of the board of directors of Goodwin’s Department Store, but he still walked in like he already owned the place. Because that was how men like him—self-made millionaires with broken hearts rebuilt with steel and concrete and cash money—moved through the world.
A phalanx of distinguished-looking men in dark suits were seated around a long, highly polished table. The light was dim in the wood-paneled room. The air was thick with the smoke of cigars, the low rumble of male voices, the creak of wooden chairs and leather upholstery as older male flesh settled in and made itself comfortable.
Here was the Old Boys Club.
Edward Goodwin sat at the head of the table.
He was, as he was more often than not, a hell of a mess.
Dalton almost felt a pang of sympathy for him. He’d run his birthright into the ground and was about to sell the store for a pittance and a fraction of what it had once been worth, and to a man he thought beneath him. Even though Dalton had more money, more power, more success.
But Wes did not feel a pang of sympathy, because Edward Goodwin had been born with everything and had lost it due to his own stupidity and sense of entitlement. But that was to be expected when, from the moment of his birth, he’d been told he could do no wrong and that he could have whatever he wanted. As such, Edward never stood a chance against Wes when it came to innovation and competition among their stores.
But the man could have at least tried.
The distinguished members of the board all turned their attention to Dalton, the intruder in their midst.
“Gentlemen. I heard you’re selling Goodwin’s.”
A chorus of grumbled voices—How did he know! They had not decided!—conveyed that this was true and they were outraged that he knew it.
Dalton smiled as he said the words Estella had once said to him. “I’ve come to make you an offer that you can’t refuse.”
The swift silence indicated that they were indeed of a mind to sell and interested in his offer in spite of themselves.
“Hold your horses, Dalton,” Edward said, already letting his pride and ego get in the way of the best deal he was likely to get. “There will be a formal process. We’ll entertain bids. Consider our options. Get the best price.”
Wes Dalton had not risen to such power and wealth by abiding by formal processes or bidding or waiting while people considered their options.
No, he made the first move. Dazzled. Blinded. Seduced.
It was his first rule of retail: surprise and delight. Never fail to astonish the customer.
“Two million dollars. Right here, right now. It’s more than a fair price. We all know that. It will spare you the embarrassment of a formal process of evaluating insultingly low bids that will reveal how few options a creaky old store like this actually has. We all know that Goodwin’s is not what it used to be.”
On the first of June in 1879, Goodwin’s had been the premier store in Manhattan.
On the first of June in 1879, the Goodwin family’s greatest ambitions had been realized. Through a dash of genius, good luck, and a strategic marriage, Barney Goodwin had made Goodwin’s Department Store into a successful retail empire and Estella Goodwin had navigated their entry into high society. The pinnacle of success was their daughter accepting the offer of marriage from an English duke.
Today the store was on the verge of bankruptcy and the daughter was divorced.
Oh, how the mighty had fallen.
Dalton stood, by all appearances, bored to death, while the board of directors grumbled and debated amongst themselves. They were in turns insulted by the presumption of the offer and tempted all the same. Perhaps it would be easier to just accept the offer now and wash their hands of the entire business. Buy a yacht, move on with their lives. That sort of thing.
Dalton checked his timepiece. He did not have all day for them to dither before ultimately accepting. He had no doubt of their acceptance. He always got what he wanted.