Never Forgotten: Second Chances by Alana Hart, Marlena Dark Page B

of, left them alone.
    The papers she'd had sent over sat on the table between them, the thick stack a visible reminder of the complexity of the task ahead of them. She liked that too. Hers was the only visible paperwork. He gave her attention and had told the secretary he wasn't taking calls. These small touches, along with the voice, his look, were tools of his trade. Someone who did business based on building confidence needed to look and sound the part and to make you feel special. She liked being around him, and although she found herself responding to him, she was certain he was as at ease with men and made them comfortable as well. He was confident without being threatening. It was a manner that men would respond to, make them want to be friends, an ally of this competent man. Before he'd even outlined his ideas she knew that he could do the job that needed doing.
    "I asked you about limits," he said.
    She recalled him asking, remembered her own reaction. "Yes. That confused me. I assumed that any reasonable offer should be on the table. Of course, as you explained, there are things that might make a deal unacceptable and you need to know about them."
    "And there is another factor we haven't broached yet." She tilted her head, waiting for him to finish the thought. "I need clarification as to who my client actually is."
    She laughed. "Isn't that obvious?"
    He turned in his seat, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Not at all. You've come here looking for a good deal, correct?"
    "Of course."
    "The question is, good for whom? Good for Megan Cross, or Diamond, only one that benefits all stockholders equally? Because they aren't equal you know. The three of you will want different things."
    "We are all invested and want the company to survive."
    "Is that true?"
    "Surely."
    "What about Thom? From what he's said, he simply wants to sell his shares at a profit and doesn't care about the rest."
    "I suppose that's true."
    "It's a vulnerability. For your goals, I mean."
    "How? He's the one that suggested that buying him out be part of the deal."
    "True, but his suggestion isn't a promise that he'll do anything specific, and a promise is only useful when it's in writing."
    "Good points."
    "Now back to you. What if there was an offer that would keep the company moving along but required a personal sacrifice on your part? What about one that wasn't the greatest offer from a profit perspective but included a spectacular job offer for you? Those options all could exist. They conflict, however, and I need to know if my client is the company or Megan Cross."
    The question surprised her. "I hadn't thought of that at all. I assumed any deal that was good for me would be good for the company."
    "It seldom works that way. Deals are made by appealing to special interests, getting a majority of the stockholders to agree to it, not according to what is best for anyone in particular. So you and Thom might get what you want while Craig Lester finds himself with a pot of money and angry because his program is gone."
    "Why?"
    "There are people called salvage experts who might make a good offer for your shares. You know Thom wants to sell, and if they buy his shares and yours, they'd have sixty percent—a majority ownership. With that, they could take that and then sell the program to someone."
    "Then the company would be worthless."
    "Not so. They'd still have assets to sell off—the existing products would be worth something to a competitor. Breaking up the company that way they'd easily make more than they paid for the stock. Because you don't have creditors breathing down your neck, it might be more lucrative for you to do that yourselves—break up the company and sell it off. I need to know if that is on the table. Another scenario is allowing another company to buy you, effectively becoming a subsidiary of the bigger company. You could negotiate a budget for the launch, but your shares in Diamond would convert into a tiny