Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Thank you so much for your warm and enthusiastic welcome,” Sebastian said, pulling my attention away from my phone. I finished up my last text and tucked my phone into the interior pocket of my suit jacket.
“When the idea of the Courtland Enterprises and Bluepoint Industries merger was first floated to me, I was skeptical. We’ve been in competition across several fields for a couple of decades. Sometimes, we came out on top. Sometimes, you did. But I saw the synergy that would result if we became one company. The efficiency we could achieve. The lowered costs that could be passed along to our loyal customers. It was all brilliant.”
I lifted my gaze to the boardroom table and watched as Sebastian smoothly pushed out of his seat to stand. Sebastian was a pacer, particularly as he talked. The man had to be moving constantly. It was his only way of burning off the endless amounts of energy he possessed. I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched him grow more animated about the merger while he threw out all the business buzzwords he hated.
He stopped behind the chairman’s seat, his hand resting on the back as he released an extravagant sigh. “But…we had to conduct our due diligence, for the safety of all our people.”
“Formality, formality,” Barnes said, waving a hand as if Sebastian shouldn’t worry about insulting him with such silly nonsense. “Both companies had to run their checks.”
“Yes, and I apologize for us taking so many months. It was my fault. I needed to be sure that all t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted.”
That was my cue.
I stood up, straightened my jacket, and walked to the box one bodyguard had carried into the building for me. Within it were two large stacks of two-hundred-page binders. I grabbed as many as I could comfortably carry and began handing them out to the people seated around the table.
“My findings should not come as a shock to most of you. The surprise is likely that we found what your people tried so hard to hide.” Sebastian paused and flashed them a grin that would have befitted a great white shark. It was all I could do to maintain my stone-faced expression. A heady mix of fear and excitement was bubbling through my veins. He was going to drop the hammer.
Turn them into dust!
“In our six months of research, we found evidence of rampant embezzlement, fraud, trade violations, dangerous working conditions, and employee harassment. Your books are so cooked, they’re extra crispy. Not even the Colonel would touch your books. If Enron and Worldcom had a baby, Bluepoint would be that embezzle-baby.”
Barnes launched to his feet, his entire body shaking as his face turned so red he looked as if he were about to explode. “How dare you!”
“How dare you!” Sebastian shouted back. “Not only did you spearhead this illegal behavior, but the point of this merger was to bury all your secrets within Courtland Enterprises while you walked away with your oversized payoff and the marketing manager you’ve been sleeping with.” Sebastian lowered his voice to a fake whisper. “By the way, I forwarded the spicy video we came across of you and her ‘trapped’ in the elevator to your wife’s private investigator.”
Barnes fell into an apoplectic fit, hissing and gasping, his face looking more purple by the second. But it wasn’t just him. Everyone at the table was turning new and interesting shades of color, ranging from very pale to ghastly green to eye-popping red. I stepped away when I finished handing out the binders detailing all the information we’d uncovered.
A firm hand grabbed my elbow, and I glanced up to find Neil, one of Sebastian’s part-time bodyguards, pulling me a little farther from the table and closer to our exit. The entire time, his gaze never wavered from Sebastian, who had resumed his pacing. Unfortunately, the lunatic was on the far side of the room, the giant wooden board table between him and the bodyguard. Thankfully, he kept moving as he spoke, leaving the board of directors to flip frantically through the binders with horrified expressions.
“Oliver Danvers, Wallace Barnes, and probably other executives before you spent decades creating this house of cards, creating lie after lie to hide your shady dealings. As you reached a point where it was on the verge of toppling, you decided to sweep all your dirt under the rug, and the rug you chose was Courtland Enterprises.”
At last, Sebastian worked his way around the table so that he was within feet of his bodyguards, and I could breathe again. Now we just had to get Loki Jr. out of the building.
Sebastian grinned and clapped his hands together. The sound was like a shot above the gasping and seething. “To show my appreciation for choosing Courtland Enterprises as the company you wanted to turn into a dumpster fire, I have shared all the information that I’ve uncovered with the SEC, IRS, FTC, and the federal Department of Labor. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from all of them shortly.”