Page 9 of Cocky Counsel

Five

Ethan

“Hey Graham.” I answered my phone, holding it between my ear and shoulder as I climbed out of the car. I gathered my things and gave a quick nod to my driver before he sped off and I made my way toward the office. “I meant to call you yesterday, but the day got away from me. We hired a new attorney to help with some of my clients and it took longer than expected to get her set up.”

I walked briskly through the main lobby as I headed toward the private elevator in the back. Graham was quiet on the other line which made me wonder if the call had been disconnected or if he was silent because he was pissed that I hadn’t gotten back to him yesterday regarding the Gainesworth Investments deal we had been discussing. I knew it was a high priority for him and that he was the last client that I needed to piss off right now. Or ever.

“I’ve been looking at every angle and I agree that it’s best not to present this as a hostile takeover— “

“Liam’s dead,” he interrupted. I stopped in my tracks and ran a hand through my hair. Surely, I had misheard him.

“What?”

“Dead. Died of a heart attack.”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. The elevator dinged beside me as the doors opened.

“Wow,” I muttered, unsure of what to say. I knew that Graham and Liam had a rocky past from what he had told me, but I didn’t know how this news was affecting him. While he acted cold and calculated when it came to business, the deal with Liam was more than that. It had been personal at one point in his life. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, me too,” he sighed. I could hear the stress in his voice, the worry about what to do. “As you can imagine, this drastically changes my position with purchasing Gainesworth Investments. On top of that, there’s already a buzz about other potential takeovers.”

“I’ll start working on this and see what I can find out before we make a move. I’ll touch base as soon as I can with a plan.”

My mind was racing with what the next steps should be as we hung up. I’d spent the morning in my office with the door closed, making calls and doing research. It turned out that Liam was smarter than I’d thought and had created an escape plan to prevent an unwanted takeover. The poison pill that he set up to allow existing shareholders to purchase additional shares at a lower price to devalue the company and make it less desirable to potential takeovers. There were several layers of ownership and it was going to take some time getting through them all. I had to find the right person that I could talk some sense into and make this deal go the way we needed.

By noon I had talked with a handful of people. My head was throbbing, but I had figured out a way to temporarily freeze any movement. My plan, while it would take more time than I had, was to use a white knight defense. I had spoken to the two shareholders who held the largest percentages of the company and explained what was going to happen if the company Liam had been working with took over, or worse—if another company was willing to attempt a hostile takeover. Just because the value of the shares had been diluted by Liam’s Poison Pill defense didn’t mean that the company was safe. There were plenty of greedy people in Manhattan who could care less how much money they spent to get a company that they wanted.

The white knight defense was our best option at this point which meant that I needed to sit down and discuss with Graham what he needed to do. I sent Graham a quick text with the update, knowing that he was in a meeting, and he had asked not to be disturbed unless it was crucial. I let him know that I would be in the office the rest of the day and asked that he stopped by when he was able. I turned my attention to my email and started responding to the new ones that had come in late yesterday that were marked as urgent. I was so focused on what I was doing that I hadn’t seen Eva walk into my office until she was standing right in front of me.

I was surprised to see that her hair was down instead of in a ponytail or some sort of updo on her head. Long, soft waves framed her face as the black in her hair made her eyes look even darker. Her red lipstick was the only pop of color and pulled my eyes directly to her lips. I found myself staring a little longer than I should have when she cleared her throat to get my attention.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, my voice husky. I leaned back and ran a hand down the side of my jaw, giving her my full attention. “What can I do for you?”

“Regina suggested that I come over to see if there’s anything I can help you with.”

I opened my mouth to speak, to thank her for the offer before explaining that there was no way that I could stop what I was doing to delegate anything to her at this point. My Tuesday was acting like the worst Monday, and I simply didn’t have the time or effort to give anything else my attention, including her. She held up her hand and stopped me.

“She said that you would have an excuse about how you’re too busy to stop and let anyone help you and asked that I remind you that I was hired to work under you to assist with your workload.”

She pulled her fire red lips into a thin line and waited. She shifted her weight. Her arms folded across her chest as if fighting the urge to reach out and touch something, like a child in a candy shop that’s been scolded by their parent and told to keep their hands to themselves.

“Well, Regina is right— I don’t have time to stop and I’m glad she’s well aware of it. I’m also fully aware that you were hired to work under me, and I plan to implement that as soon as I’m able to.”

The words had rushed out of my lips faster than common sense could happen. I swallowed hard as I watched her reaction. The sudden lick of her lips before her eyes causally traveled down my body. There was no way that she hadn’t heard the not-so-subtle meaning laced in my words. She blew out a slow breath and pulled her shoulders back before cocking her head to the side to look at me.

“I understand that you’re busy and that you feel like the task of training me would be far too tedious for you right now. However, I have worked in corporate law for over ten years and can guarantee you that I am fully capable of handling anything you give me. Rest assured, if I have a question, I will ask you before I proceed.”

I felt the frustration and tension start to drain from my body. She was right, and I knew it. I had been so focused on staying on track to make sure nothing fell in between the cracks that I hadn’t even given her the chance to show me what she could or couldn’t do. I wasn’t treating her fairly, and I felt like a dick about it.

“Fine,” I said and shrugged my shoulders. “I’m working on a case for a client and need to have documentation outlining white knight defense. That’s where—”

“A company that is being threatened with a hostile takeover seeks a friendlier firm to purchase a controlling interest before the hostile bidder can move in. The white knight tends to pay a premium above the acquirer’s offer and may decide to restructure the company after the acquisition is complete in a goodwill manner to support the target company’s management.” She gave me a smug smile after finishing my sentence for me.

“Impressive,” I nodded appreciatively. Not that it was a lie, I was impressed that she knew the details so easily off the top of her head. It was a relief that I didn’t have to sit down and explain it to her. She pursed her lips together and met my gaze.

“Graham Morgan will be by sometime today to discuss a possible takeover, and I would like to talk to him about the white knight approach. He’s a very smart businessman, however, he will want to take the information with him and run the numbers on his own. I would appreciate it if you could work on gathering the information that he will need before he gets here.”

“I’m on it.” Her smile briefly crossed her lips before it disappeared as she walked out of my office and closed the door.

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