Page 71 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

“Just do it.”

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

—

Nico Savage sat on the couch in his boss’s office, listening to Petry apply the hard sell to a potential client over the phone.

“I don’t understand your reluctance,” Petry was saying. “You won’t find a better company to partner with than us. With our help, you are all but guaranteed to succeed.”

Through the speaker, the CEO of the start-up Petry was courting said, “I’ve heard some disturbing news about a lawsuit brought against you that you lost.”

The muscles in Petry’s jaw flexed. “Oh, that. It’s not what you think. Sadly, the judge had it out for us right from the start and excluded vital information that would have exposed the other party as an opportunist trying to take advantage of me. We’ve appealed and are reliably told the judgment will be overturned.”

“You’re appealing?”

“You bet I am. In any sane courtroom, the suit would have been dismissed on the first day.”

Nico’s phone vibrated. He looked at the screen:No Caller ID. It could be any number of people, most of whom he would have no trouble ignoring. Unfortunately, there was at least one person he could not.

He accepted the call and whispered, “Yes?” into the receiver.

Petry shot him an annoyed glare, then continued on with whatever nonsense he’d been spewing.

“Nico? It’s Simon. Is this a bad time?”

“Depends on the reason you’re calling.”

“I have very good news.”

“Hold on.” Good news was something Petry should hear.Nico walked over to his boss and whispered in his ear, “It’s about the paintings.”

Petry’s eyes lit up. “Mr. Greer. Unfortunately, I have a meeting about to start. I’ll call you back and we can continue this discussion then.”

Greer said, “I don’t think that will be—”

“Bye now.” Petry hung up before Greer could say anything else. He pointed at Nico’s phone and mouthed,Put it on speaker.

Nico did so, then said, “Sorry about that, Simon. What’s this good news you wanted to share?”

“We are now in possession of our first Matilda Stone painting. It’s even on the list.”

Nico cringed.

“What’s that mean? On the list?” Petry whispered.

“I’ll tell you later,” Nico whispered back.

“Fine, but why only one?” Petry asked, his tone turning annoyed. “What’s the holdup?”

“I told you this would take time,” Nico whispered back. He raised his voice again, “Thank you, Simon. That is good—”

“Give that to me,” Petry said, no longer hiding his presence. He grabbed the phone out of Nico’s hand. “This is Winston Petry, Nico’s boss.”

“Mr. Petry, I didn’t realize you were there. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah, yeah. How long is it going to be before you have any more?”

“I should have a second painting within a week, and a third a week after that.”

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