Page 38 of A Man of Wealth

He leans back and studies me. “Do you want to write about me or the company, Vivienne?”

Damn, Jared is smarter than I give him credit for.

I consider my words before I speak. “Both. You are the face of Confervo. Your story is its story.”

He nods after a moment. “Are we on the record?”

“Only if you want to be,” I state.

“I’d rather we keep tonight casual. I can set up a meeting in my office next week to discuss formalities.”

Damn.

“Do you mind if I just ask a few questions tonight? Off the record, of course. I’m just curious, to be honest,” I say as I sip more of my drink.

The waiter chooses this moment to walk up to us. We place our food orders.

“What would you like to know?” he says as he steeples his fingers in front of him.

I pretend to be nonplussed about his agreeing to my questions.

“Confervo is an international company. There have been so many issues with shipping lately, having enough product is key. How do you keep your competitive edge?”

He takes a sip of his drink. “We have a great shipping company. I believe you know this.”

Fuck.

“Sterling Corporation?”

He nods. I decide to go in for the kill.

“Do you find they meet all your needs?”

“For the most part, yes.” He watches me intently as though trying to figure out what game I’m playing. He wants to be the cat in his game of cat and mouse. I’ll let him think he’s one.

“You’re lucky. Burling Pharmaceuticals has really suffered from their shipping agreements lately.”

I see a flash in his eyes alerting me to the fact that my statement was not what he thought I’d say.

“Are you writing about them, too?”

I shrug. “I like to keep my options open.” I pause as the server sets our entrees down in front of each of us and explains them before stepping away. “They found a shipping company that keeps up with their demands by shipping twice a week from their European factories in Germany. They get supplies in on Monday and Friday.”

Jared smiles at this information. It may be a slight lie, I don’t know what days they actually have shipments.

“Ours is better,” he says with a smirk as he takes a bite of his steak.

“Oh?”

“Yes, rest assured. We have the edge on them.”

I lean forward. “Sterling Corporation has your product arriving more than twice a week?”

He nods. “And we have the middle of the week covered.”

Bingo.

“Wow. That’s great. I’d love to chat more about it at our meeting.”

---