Page 117 of Unbind

I sigh. ‘Honey. I feel like I’m in a dream—it’s like you’rewaving your magic wand and giving me everything good I could ever have wanted in my life.’

He brushes his lips over my temple. ‘That’s precisely my aim. Take a look at the numbers, why don’t you? Remember, this is your baby. You’ve built a beautiful brand. I really, really believe in it, and I believe in you as a business leader. But if you’re going to give away equity, it needs to be worth your while.’

Nervously, I turn to the next section. Adam is proposing taking a thirty percent stake for now, at a valuation of…

Holycrap.I jerk my head up to look at him and then glance back down. Numbers aren’t my forte, but that’s alotof zeros.

‘Is this—’ I begin, and he nods.

‘Yep.’

‘Surely that’s not right. What about our debt?’

‘You’ve got a few credit cards, sweetheart,’ he says, ‘but it’s honestly not a big part of your enterprise value.’

I don’t know a lot about valuing companies, but I know that valuations are usually based on some multiple of sales or profit, and the multiples Adam’s using makes me wonder if he’s smoking crack.

‘How can you justify paying that for us?’ I ask him. ‘We’re still so small.’

He laughs. ‘You’re supposed to be trying to negotiate me up, not down.’

‘I know, but…’ I trail off. ‘I don’t want to be a charity case,’ I say in a small voice.

He puts his hands on my shoulders and turns me to face him. I let my hands fall, defeated, onto the book in my lap.

‘Listen to me. I’ve told you a million times, the size of your opportunity and your current financial circumstances are two very different things. That valuation there is basedon your brand value and the potential for growth. You’ve been capacity constrained up until now. We could plug you into the Wright infrastructure and quadruple your sales in the first couple of months.

You get a collaboration going with Elysium; we pitch hard to the big soft furnishing brands for a licensing agreement; we get you some PR, and boom. Given your size, the growth could be very fast and still be very manageable.’ He slides his hands up my shoulders so they’re cradling my jaw. ‘I amnotacting with my heart here. Your brand equity is incredible. We just need to light a fire under all that latent potential and watch you take the world by storm.’

‘Do you mean that?’ I ask, furiously blinking away the moisture in my eyes.

‘Yes, I do. I mean every word. You seem to think I’m some gracious benefactor, when really, I want to get my grubby mitts on your beautiful brand. I’m itching to dial it up and see what we can achieve—together.’

‘Okay,’ I whisper, as much to convince myself I understand as to convince him.

‘You should take a good look at the numbers,’ he tells me. ‘Get some advice. Talk to your dad, Gen, whoever else you tend to bounce decisions off. The next few pages have a full breakdown of how that capital could be allocated, but I will say this. The people who run my brands don’t do it for the good of their health. They compensate themselves properly. There’s a suggested salary for you, and hopefully it reflects the fact that you’re both the CEO and Creative Director.’ He nods. ‘Take a look.’

I leaf through with shaky hands, because a salary, as he knows well, has been an indulgence too far for months and months now. I squint as I attempt to decipher the financialtables in front of me—reading complex financial statements on sight is not my forte.

‘Here.’ He turns over a new page, and there it is, spelt out for me.

Holy fuckingshit.

I gape at him. He has a stern look on his face.

‘It’s what you deserve, Nat. Nothing less. And that’s just a starting point. As the brand grows in scale, this should, too.’ I open my mouth to speak, but he shakes his head. ‘Just know that if we were to hire an external candidate for both of these positions, we’d be looking at more than this.’

‘I know you’re right,’ I murmur. ‘It’s just a lot to get my head around. Could the brand really afford this?’

‘It has to. And I’m confident it can. We’ll be stripping cost out in other ways, remember? Once we take out some of the operational functions, we’ll actually free up quite a bit of cash. But my CEOs don’t work for free, nor do my Creative Directors.’ He jabs the page with his finger. ‘Talent gets rewarded. That’s really important.’

I nod, looking back down at the number he’s proposing. My head is spinning. It’s just somuch.With every page of this book, he’s removing stress from my life. Adding value and pleasure and opportunity like I can’t even imagine.

‘I know how it feels to undervalue yourself,’ he whispers now. ‘Believe me, I’ve been there. I know it’s been a tough few years for you, but you’ve done the hard work to get this far. You’ve built an incredible brand, and it’s time to have some fun. Please trust me when I say you are absolutely everything I look for in a leader when I consider investing in a brand.’

I nod again. Jesus, I’ve lost the power of speech. I’m going to need to lie on a sofa for a full day and allow myself to daydream about all these gifts he’s throwing my way. Thefuture was bright when I woke up, but this dazzling vista he’s painting for me in both my personal and professional lives is stealing the breath from my lungs. On one of the shortest, darkest days of the year, everything feels vibrant. Blinding.

‘There’s one more thing,’ he says. ‘I’ll never tell you what to do, but when I came up with that salary number, I hoped it would give you the financial freedom to give up Alchemy. As your investor, I’d like to know you were free to focus on growing Gossamer.’ He hesitates. ‘And as the man who’s hopelessly in love with you, I’d like to free up your time and energy. I know we’re both pretty work-focused, but at the very least, maybe we can work together in the evenings before we crash in front ofTed Lasso.’

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