“And what if the management of IT-Systems doesn’t approve?” Zack asked anxiously.
“In that case,” Alex replied in a relaxed tone, “Maxxam’s board has left no doubt that it will pursue a much less lucrative hostile takeover. Ultimately, the shareholders determine the future, but they won’t get a better offer than this one from Maxxam. All of the other potential buyers would break up IT-Systems.”
“Stop it, Zack,” Levy said to his managing director. “Alex has done excellent work here, and we should acknowledge that, even if it comes as a surprise to all of us. I’m absolutely sure this is the largest deal that LMI has ever financed.”
For the remainder of the meeting, the Maxxam deal was the main topic of discussion and pushed the annual report press conference into the background. Alex had done her job. Now it was up to corporate finance and the securities and fixed-income departments to put the leveraged buyout into practice and issue the bonds to their clients. After the meeting was over, Alex rushed to get out of the conference room. Her entire team was already waiting at Luna Luna to celebrate the completion of this gigantic deal. She said good-bye with a smile on her face, and everyone congratulated her—except for Zack. She wasn’t surprised about that; this confirmed her grave suspicions.
“Alex!”
She stopped as she heard Zack’s voice behind her.
“Come to my office!” he ordered. She obeyed, shrugging her shoulders. He sat down behind his desk, but didn’t ask her to sit. He managed to disguise his anger behind a phony smile.
“Why am I hearing about such a deal this way?” he asked. “Didn’t we agree that you’d inform me in advance?”
“It was incredibly hectic,” Alex answered with a smile that was just as fake. “And you weren’t in the city. I simply forgot to tell you.”
“Forgot?” Zack opened his eyes wide in pretend astonishment. “I think you’re overestimating your authority a little bit here, sweetie.”
Alex stopped smiling. She put her briefcase down and leaned over with her hands on the desk. Zack crossed his hands behind his head with a slight grin.
“I suspect that you’ve misunderstood the meaning of a Chinese wall in the past,” she said quietly, “because a birdie chirped in my ear that every single one of my deals was preceded by peculiar price fluctuations. This is a surefire sign of illegal insider trading.”
Zack was an accomplished actor, but leagues below Sergio. Alex noticed a slight flicker of fright in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched in brief panic.
“You take yourself very seriously,” he said.
“No, I take my responsibility seriously.” She straightened up again. “Because I have a responsibility to the financial markets. And your reaction confirmed my suspicion.”
“You’re an arrogant bitch!” Zack suddenly resorting to unprofessional insults made Alex grin.
“And you’re a sore loser,” she countered, grabbing her briefcase. “I’m going to celebrate with my team a little bit. They deserve it. Have a nice evening, Mr. St. John!”
Her entire department was already at Luna Luna, a cozy bar on Broad Street mostly frequented by brokers and bankers. They greeted Alex with applause and enthusiastic whistling when she entered. She asked for everyone’s attention and then reported about the events at the meeting and the board’s reactions.
“All right, people.” Alex raised her hand, and it became quiet again. “Enough of this, let’s move on to the fun part of the evening. You’ve all done a great job, and I’m incredibly proud of you. As a token of appreciation for all the nights and weekends that you worked around the clock, all drinks on me tonight! Celebrate your achievement! You earned it!”
After another surge of applause, the first round arrived. The mood was cheerful and boisterous, the alcohol flowed freely, and the inhuman hundred-hour work weeks were behind them. Christmas and New Year’s were just around the corner, which meant even the financial district would be quieter for a few weeks. After a few drinks, Alex found a moment to speak with Mark.
“How did it go?” Mark inquired.
“Zack went berserk. He could hardly control himself.”
“Bingo.” Mark nodded seriously. “So you were right.”
“Well,” Alex said and let out a sigh, “but I still don’t know how far up his little side dealings go. Does Levy know of them?”
“He knew about Shanahan,” said Mark quietly, “and I’m sure that he knows about this.”
Alex frowned. She was in this thing up to her ears. No one would believe that she was stupid enough not to know what Zack did with her information. If the regulating authorities caught wind of this, she would face a harsh fine in addition to possibly losing her work permit.
“Damn it,” she said, her good mood swept away. “I was a pretentious idiot. I had it coming.”
“Why is that?” Mark looked at her, surprised.
“Oliver tried to tell me about it months ago.” Alex shrugged her shoulders. “But I refused to listen to him. He was right about everything.”
“I didn’t believe him either at first,” Mark replied.
“Do you still see Oliver every now and then?” Alex asked. The alcohol had lowered her inhibitions, and she suddenly wanted to know whether Mark was aware of what had happened between her and Oliver, and what he thought about it.
“Not for a while.” Mark threw a brief glance at her. “He left the city in May for a few months because…”
He stopped.
“Because of—what? Keep going, Mark!”
“I don’t know. It… it’s none of my business.”
“What did he tell you?”
Mark struggled with himself for a moment, and then he looked at Alex. “He was attacked in May and beaten pretty badly. His apartment was ransacked while he was in the hospital.”
“What?” Alex’s blood froze in her veins. “When was this exactly?”
“I don’t know if I should talk about it,” Mark replied evasively, biting his lip. “It’s really none of—”
“Mark!” Alex insisted. “Tell me what happened! Please!”
“Oliver told me that you showed up at his apartment one night and revealed to him that you’d had an affair with Sergio Vitali,” he said, visibly embarrassed, “and that the two of you had a disagreement. The next evening, three masked men were waiting for him in the hallway and roughed him up pretty badly. One of the men told him to stop sticking his nose into matters that are none of his business and to keep his hands off of you.”
“My God,” Alex whispered in deep horror. Sergio knew about Oliver and her, but he had never spoken a word about it! The thought that Sergio had her monitored was so outrageous and frightening that she didn’t dare to believe it. She tried to remember the day after the fight with Oliver. Yes! Sergio had taken her out for dinner at Le Cirque and showed her the penthouse apartment afterward. While she dined and laughed with him, Oliver had been brutally beaten. Her shock mixed with a feeling of cold fear. She knew all too well what Sergio was capable of. Did he still have someone trailing her? Was he tracking her every move? Involuntarily, she glanced around the packed pub, looking for a stranger among the happy faces of her team members.
“How… how’s Oliver doing now?” she whispered.
“I think he’s okay again,” Mark answered, “but he was in the hospital for almost three weeks.”