Page 43 of Billionaire's Accidental Marriage
He chuckled. “Unfortunately, yes. Money rules the world of business. That’s just how it works.”
I groaned. “Dammit!”
“If that would make you feel better, sure.”
I shot him a playful look before I shook my head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Mike. I really don’t.”
“Well, have you made a decision on whether or not to leave this place and throw yourself into your father’s work?”
“That’s the thing; I haven’t. The idea of leaving here makes me physically ill. But, I’ve been sitting here for the past two hours, staring at work I need to do for the spa, and all I can think about is the work I have to figure out how to do for the boutiques. I think I’m sick or something.”
He barked with laughter. “You’re finding your inner businesswoman. There’s a difference.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
But instead of laughing at my joke, Michael grew serious. “What if someone offered you the money you needed to fix all the things that need to be fixed. What then?”
I scoffed. “Well, uh, they’d probably be better off buying the damned things.”
“Take this seriously for a second, Maggie. If someone came up to you and said, ‘I’ve got the five million you need to revamp, fix, and update every store you own,’ what would that deal look like to you?”
I puffed my cheeks out with a sigh. “With a valuation like that, with where everything is sitting now, they’d easily be a fifty-fifty partner in this whole thing.”
Then, he leaned forward and held out his hand. “So, we have a deal?”
I blinked. “Sorry, what?”
He scooted even closer to me. “You just said five million for fifty percent of your businesses. So, I’m in.”
I held up my hands. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This was hypothetical.”
“Mags, this is what investors do.”
“I didn’t ask you to invest.”
“What if I want to invest?”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you doing?”
He narrowed them back. “Helping you. What does it sound like?”
I swallowed hard. “I can’t just take that kind of money from you. I can’t. It feels like cheating. I need to come up with this on my own.”
He cupped my cheeks. “Listen to me, Maggie, because I’m only going to say it once. This is what investors do. My restaurants sit under one conglomerate business umbrella, and that umbrella has an entireboardof investors. They promise you money in exchange for a certain percentage of the business, and then both parties determine whether or not the investment is a one-time scenario or a cash-flow scenario.”
I swallowed hard. “Right.”
He released my cheeks and smirked. “So, I’m proposing a deal. Five million up front for half of the business, and then once I start seeing a return of eight percent each year, it’ll become a cash-flow scenario where I’ll funnel up to one hundred grand every quarter into things you might need, whether it’s repairs or updates or purchasing more stock. Whatever works for the business model at the time. And so long as that eight percent return holds steady, it’ll be as even of a trade as you’re going to get. What do you say?”
He held out his hand for me once more, and I simply looked at it. His deal sounded too good to be true, and yet he was the only person I trusted enough to carve out this kind of negotiation with. I peeked over my shoulder at the fiduciary’s papers sitting on my small desk, and the idea of finally being done with all of this nonsense was what propelled my hand forward.
And as I shook Mike’s hand, his smile grew bigger.
16
Michael
After drawing up the most basic, rudimentary agreement and signing it for Maggie’s peace of mind, I took her into my arms for one last kiss. We had blown over her lunchtime, and I knew she’d probably catch hell for it. I hoped the money I could afford her helped clear her mind so she could make the best decision for herself. Whether she wanted to sell off the boutiques and keep what was hers after paying me back or whether she wanted to continue in her father’s footsteps, neither of those things could occur until all this stress was off her shoulders.
