“Put your hand on my back, so I know where you are,” David told Brook.
While he didn’t expect trouble, he wanted to be between it and her if it happened. Once she did that, he put on his best smile and walked to the door. The security team created a semi-circle in front of the two of them to hold the crowd back once they were situated.
“Get the f— out of my way!” a woman barked, punching a hole through the crowd.
She obviously had somewhere to go. She pushed past the security team and stepped between David and Brook.
“Move it,” the woman grumped as she pushed past.
David loved New York.
He gave a brief statement that included a plug for his movie and another for Holistic Wealth Management.
“Now, I’m going to take questions one at a time. If you shout over each other, I am done,” David warned.
He pointed at one of the scruffier ones. He’d found they needed the money more than the others and asked the most interesting questions.
“Where’s your mom? I understand she’s now the darling of the UK.”
“Yeah,” David drawled. “I don’t think you guys are ready for my mom. If I were you, I would steer clear.”
He pointed at another one.
“Brook, everyone wants to know why you dumped David.”
David stage-whispered, “Tell them what I told your cousin.”
Brook thought about it for all of a second before catching on. Her cousin had been digging for dirt on Brook, so David had told her it was his fault Brook left him. He might have implied it was because she was scared of his ample package. He was sure that the movie folks would love that rumor to get started.
No, really. David was sure they would.
Brook gave some lame explanation about her moving.
When the following three questions were for Brook, he could see she was about ready to kill someone. He made a wise choice, grabbed her hand, and pulled her inside.
That turned into its own shit show when half the building was in the lobby.
“I’m going to kill your mom,” David said under his breath.
By the time they reached the elevators, Brook understood why he wanted to just slip in through the garage entrance.
◊◊◊
Brook led David to her mother’s office. The door was partially closed, and they could hear Ava talking to someone. Brook tried to grab his arm, but he walked in like he owned the place. He saw that Ava was talking to Phyllis, Grace’s PA, about the board meeting.
“How’s my biggest fan?” David asked Phyllis.
“David, could you give us a minute? We need to wrap this up,” Ava said in a very businesslike fashion.
“Actually, Brook needs to have a word with you,” he replied.
“I do?” Brook asked, clearly confused.
“You do,” he said and saw Brook understood. Then he turned to Phyllis. “I could really use a cup of tea. Please show me where it is so I don’t have to hunt for it later.”
David could see Phyllis was unsure what she should do. He assumed that she was worried he shouldn’t be running for his own tea because he was a big-time actor. What she didn’t know was that he wasn’t that guy. David was more than capable of making his own tea.
“Go. It sounds like my daughter has to have a word with me. Just come back so we can print off the agendas,” Ava said.
◊◊◊
Phyllis took him to the break room and then begged off because she had work to do. David realized too late that being alone while drinking a cup of tea was an invitation for everyone in the company to ‘stop by and say hello.’
Ava must have put Brook to work because it was over an hour before she came looking for him.
“Tell us another story,” Keira urged as David spotted Brook.
David was surrounded by Brook’s sorority sisters. When he figured that out, he started to dig for dirt. They were savvy enough to make him tell a few Brook stories in return.
“What’s going on?” Brook asked.
“Did you really pay him to go out with you?” Mallory asked.
“You are not allowed to talk to them … ever,” Brook said to him with a bit of heat.
“Sorry. I forgot that was a secret,” David said, acting timid.
“What else did you tell them?” she asked.
“That I am way better in bed than your boyfriend,” he whispered.
Yep. This whole hitting thing was new.
David really liked Brook’s sorority sisters. She’d made some great friends.
◊◊◊
David had arranged a pre-meeting with his people. Brook took him to a conference room where he found his dad, who usually attended these meetings for him. Also present were Frank Ingram, one of the managing partners of IDC – Public Relations; Jack and Bev Mass, owners of Mass Investment; and Kent Crain, senior manager for Dawson Management. Kent had brought with him Kendal Miller, David’s first PA, and now one of the managers.
They were all part of his original company that Grace Davenport had bought. Everyone was now under the Holistic Wealth Management umbrella.
David wasn’t surprised when Brook took the seat next to his. It really did feel like old times. The only one missing was Caryn Buckley, his former COO and president of Dawson Management. She now ran the California branch of Holistic Wealth Management and hadn’t made the trip. If needed, she would be available for the board meeting via video chat.
“I wanted to get the old gang back together to make sure the buyout was working for everyone. If there are any issues, I’d like to know about them before the board meeting this afternoon,” David said to kick the meeting off.
“Before we do that, you need to be brought into the loop about something,” Rob Dawson, David’s dad, said.
“There has been an offer made to take over Holistic Wealth Management,” Bev Mass shared.
Brook opened a folder and handed David the proposed terms of the takeover. The company potentially buying them was Morgan Fletcher Investments. They were one of the bigger ones and had recently been aggressive in gobbling up their smaller competition.
He would get all of the money he’d loaned Grace from the original buyout, plus an insane amount for his nine percent of the company.
When David saw that, he glanced at his dad.
“Read the next page,” Rob encouraged.
Morgan Fletcher Investments planned to fold Holistic Wealth Management’s clients into their company and not offer the additional services. Those services encompassed what made HWM unique, including personal management that handled everything from paying their bills to managing their careers to PR services to even offering a stylist. Those portions of the company would be sold off, as Morgan Fletcher only focused on managing investments.
“Are they willing to sell your companies back to you?” David asked Frank, Kent, and Jack.
“They would be sold to the highest bidder. I think we would take the money offered and start over,” Frank said.
“I read that they would make everyone sign a three-year noncompete,” Bev Mass shared.
That would put them all out of business.
“So, I am assuming that you all are against this?” David asked.
“We would have to look at this seriously,” Jack said, surprising David.
It was a lot of money.
“It might not matter what we think. Grace owns 51 percent of the company,” Frank reminded everyone.
“That’s not true. She gave my mom 5 percent, and Mom is leaning towards rejecting the offer,” Brook shared.
“Does Grace want to sell?” David asked.
Everyone turned to Brook, who shrugged.
“She’s weighing the short-term gain from selling versus the long-term potential growth and revenue associated with the business,” Brook said.
“Nothing has been decided yet?” David asked.
“No. My grandmother is having lunch with the owner and her counsel before the meeting,” Brook said.
“Tell Grace that I want to dine with them,” David said.
“Why?” Brook asked, looking concerned.
As he glanced around, David saw that everyone, even his dad, looked unsettled.