Page 30 of My Cruel Billionaire

Sometimes in the wild when two alpha males of the same species meet each other, and they both know that it would destroy them both to gain a victory, they will decide to work together.

Neither of us would just knuckle under. The energy in the room grew heavier than the thunderstorm rolling through outside.

I could escalate, or I could try to de-escalate. I decided to keep my cool for the time being, but I had to call him out for his behavior. I settled upon a way to do it without acting overtly rude myself, but rather pointing out the discrepancies in his protocol.

I arched my brows at him.

“Oh, hello, Evan. Nice to see you. Pleasant weather we’re having. You have a funny way of greeting your business partners.”

He shook his head curtly. His eyes locked with my own. Though we stood motionless, facing off against one another, an image popped into my head.

An image of two alpha wolves circling on the Alaskan tundra. Hackles up, fur bristling like a porcupine, black lips peeled back to flash fangs white as the bone they can crack with ease. Steam hissing from black velvet noses, chuffing the frigid air. Would the snow be stained with red today?

In the financial world, the color red is associated with loss. I’ve fired people for loss before, and I will do so again. Somehow, the connection in my mind caused me to remember where I was, and what we were doing there.

Trying to make money, not lose it. No red. Just black, numbers checked in the positive column from top to bottom.

“Evan, you’re going to have to say something to let me know what you’re thinking. I did not, in point of fact, spontaneously develop telepathy last night.”

He snorted.

“Cute. You’ve been reading up on a website on how to be wittier, I see. You really want to pretend you don’t know what I’m upset about?”

I shook my head and forced myself back into my present circumstance.

“I can’t fathom what you’rethisupset about.”

His lips twitched into a snarl. Again I was reminded of the snapping maws of lupine origin.

“Don’t give me that. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I thought the plan was to keep the merger between NonPoint and Leisure Unlimited a secret until the last minute?”

“Yes, that is the way that we had planned it initially.”

“You’re damn right that’s the way we planned it initially.” His nostrils flared as he faced off with me, knuckles on top of his desk, looking like a silverback gorilla.

“So tell me, Michael, what happened to the plan we came up with in the first place? Huh? What was with the big reveal?”

He straightened up his posture and tossed his hands into the air, letting go of some of his tension.

“And then, just to put the icing on the freaking cake, as if it hadn’t already been broadcast to everybody and their fucking brother, I turn on the news and find out that there’s going to be… a press conference?”

Evan turned around and walked toward the window looking out on the city.

“A press conference!” He ran his hand down over his face and then shook his mane of hair. “A press conference. This is how you panic investors. This is how you lead to a fire sale sell-off of people who have spent decades investing in our respective brands.”

“Yes, you’re right,” I said. “That’s Business Management 101 right there. Only this time, I think that things turned out better than keeping it a secret. I mean, a press conference is a perfectly respectable way to disperse this type of information.”

He scoffed.

“Do forgive the incredulity, but I don't think you and I have the same definition of respectable. Respectable would have been a string quartet or something. Not electronic dancing disco shit the kids are listening to, and a huge party hosted by DJ PhreshManx who I am told is all the rage on that TikTok bullshit the zoomers love? It was like you were trying to do the exact opposite of what we had planned, and draw as much attention to the merger as is humanely possible. And I must say, if that was your goal, you exceeded my expectations and then some.”

“You see, this is exactly the reason why I said it should have been me and you taking the lead on this from the get-go.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I told you that we can’t rely on common people. This whole fiasco you’re ranting and raving about? It was all Jenna’s doing. I literally had nothing to do with it.”

“Nothing to do with it? There’s a picture of you with nearly every reporter and journalist who covers the financial sector.”

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