by SUE FINEMAN
After they left the attorney’s office, Maria whispered, “She thinks Adler and Baker are in with Jacobs.”
“That’s what I figured,” said Blade.
Blade walked in the board room like he owned the place, and Maria had never been more proud. He walked around the table, smiling and shaking hands, introducing himself and Maria Donatelli. No one asked if she was related to Nick and Cara, who were influential in the business world because of the amount of money Cara invested, but eyebrows raised when Blade introduced her.
They’re impressed, he thought, and she gave him a little smile. Yes, they were impressed. The name Donatelli was connected with great wealth and it often opened doors that were closed to others. Cara didn’t flaunt her money. She was as down to earth as anyone Maria had ever met, but these people didn’t know that.
A woman served coffee and sweet rolls, and a folder with the company logo on the outside had been placed on the table in front of each participant. Colin Jacobs had not yet arrived when Gordon Phillips, Chairman of the Board, brought the meeting to order.
“I’d like to welcome Mr. Blade Banner and Miss Maria Donatelli to the meeting today. It’s an unexpected pleasure to have you with us. We understood that you wouldn’t be participating in the business, Mr. Banner.”
Blade leaned back and surveyed the faces at the table. “You understood wrong,” he told them. “My grandfather left his estate to me, and that estate includes his company stock. I understand Colin Jacobs has been voting those shares, but his power of attorney expired with Edward Banner’s death.”
Maria glanced around the table and stopped on Jim Adler’s ashen face. Aw, shit, he thought. Colin said this was foolproof.
The door opened behind Maria, and Blade glanced at her. The fun is about to begin.
Maria had never met Colin Jacobs. He was the most unassuming man she’d ever seen, about five-ten, with narrow shoulders, thinning brown hair, and silver, wire-frame glasses.
“Sorry I’m late, Gordon,” Jacobs said.
He had his behind in the chair before he spotted Blade, and she knew the instant he did, because his body froze and his mind screamed, What in the hell is he doing here?
“Surprised to see me, Jacobs?” asked Blade. “You told me the meeting wasn’t until May.”
“No, I’m sure I said it was in April. You must have misunderstood.”
Blade looked at the man at the head of the table. “I understand there were some votes taken on some very important issues at the last meeting, issues about safety policies that my grandfather worked hard to institute.”
“That’s right,” said Gordon Phillips.
“Have those changes been implemented?”
“They are being implemented as we speak,” said Joe Grafton.
“I call for a re-vote on those issues.”
“Based on what?” asked Baker.
“Based on three board members trying to take control of this company so they can sell it to the highest bidder. My grandfather’s attorney, a man he trusted, kept my whereabouts from my grandfather for over three years. He obtained Edward Banner’s power of attorney so he could vote for what he wanted, not what was in the best interest of the company, its employees, its customers, or the environment.” Blade nailed Jacobs in an intense stare. “You betrayed Edward’s trust, and you took away three years I could have spent with the only living member of my family, years I could have been learning about his company. Not yours, Jacobs. His.”
When Blade stopped talking, the silence felt so cold Maria shivered.
Blade opened his briefcase and pulled out some papers. “I understand that a week after my grandfather’s death, Hanzer Ships made a bid for the company. Their intention is to break this company into pieces and sell it off.” He glanced around the room. “Are you aware that Jacobs has offered to sell them the controlling shares in this company at eighty percent of fair market value?”
Murmurs of disbelief went around the table, and the Chairman of the Board’s face turned dark with rage. Maria didn’t know what the legalities were, but she knew in any takeover people would be hurt. Jobs would be eliminated or moved overseas, managers would be replaced, and benefits would be cut. Entire divisions would be closed down, and the stock value would take a dive after Jacobs sold Edward Banner’s shares at such a deep discount.
No, thought Jacobs. This can’t be happening.
Baker thought, I’ll kill Jacobs for getting me into this mess.
And Adler just wanted to get out of the room.
I don’t believe this, Vanessa Milhauser’s mind said. Dad will kill me for not pulling this off.
Maria scribbled a note and handed it to Blade.
Who is Vanessa Milhauser’s father? Is he with Hanzer Ships?
Blade’s mind said, I don’t know.
Maria tried to tune in to the thoughts of the people in the room, one at a time, and she missed part of the discussion. Blade was speaking again, and she listened closely.
“Based on the information I’ve given Miss Nettles before this meeting, information which she will share with the President and Chairman of the Board after this meeting, I strongly suggest you stop the implementation of the changes voted on at the last meeting.”
“All in favor,” said the Chairman.
Jacobs glared at Blade. “You don’t own any stock.”
“And you no longer have my grandfather’s power of attorney,” replied Blade. “Those shares, for now, will not be voted.” Blade turned to face Vanessa Milhauser. “Will you vote with us, Miss Milhauser, or with your father?”
She sputtered and her face turned pink. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do we have your votes or not?”
“Yes, of course,” she said.
Blade went around the table, skipping the three crooks on the other side of the table, and everyone voted with Blade. “Is that enough votes to pass, Mr. Phillips?”
“Yes, it is, Mr. Banner.” He shot a look of contempt at Colin Jacobs and his cohorts in crime and then stared at Vanessa Milhauser. “Vanessa, is there something you want to tell us?”
She didn’t answer.
Gordon Phillips got the meeting back on track and took care of routine business. Blade and Maria sat quietly until the meeting ended. Adler, Baker, Jacobs, and Milhauser ran out of the room like rats leaving a sinking ship.
Elisa Williamson shook Blade’s hand. “I haven’t enjoyed a meeting as much since Edward retired from the board.”
The remaining board members, with the attorney and Blade and Maria, enjoyed a friendly lunch together. Maria was impressed with the way Blade handled himself in the meeting and in how he’d gained the support of these members of the board.
He took her hand under the table. “I’ll be back in June with Maria and the kids. We’d like to show the kids one of the ships, if there are any in port at the time.”
“Let me know your schedule and I’ll see what we can do,” said Joe Grafton. “In the meantime, if there’s any way we can help bring you up to speed on the internal workings of the company, all you have to do is ask.”
“I want to know who Vanessa’s father is,” said Elisa.
“So do I,” said Blade, and everyone laughed. He stood and shook hands with each person at the table. “Maria and I are on our way home, but we’ll be back in June, before if you need me.”
As they rode the elevator down to the lobby, Maria asked, “Is it over?”
“For now.” But Blade wasn’t any too sure. Jacobs and his crew had been exposed, but there was a lot of money at stake.
The company might be sold at some point. He wouldn’t rule it out, but he wouldn’t give it away, and he wouldn’t support a buy-out from another company that intended to gut his grandfather’s business.
He owed Edward Banner more than that.
Chapter Eleven
After the board meeting, Blade leaned back in the limo and took a deep breath. The meeting had gone better than he�
��d expected. He’d shocked some people by showing up, and not even Grafton had expected him to bring a Donatelli with him.
“Well, that was interesting,” said Maria.
“What did you pick up?”
“I can only ‘tune in’ to one person at a time, so I missed more than I picked up. Jacobs couldn’t believe you were there, Baker wants to kill Jacobs for getting him involved, Vanessa’s father is going to be angry because she didn’t ‘pull it off,’ whatever that means, and Adler just wanted to get out of the room. Elisa thinks you’re like your grandfather. I liked her. And everyone wondered why I was there. Some speculated about my relationship with Nick and Cara and others thought I must have money of my own to invest. Vanessa was impressed with your body, but since she’s gay, she wasn’t interested for herself. Martha Nettles was definitely interested, although she didn’t think she could compete with a Donatelli.”
Blade smiled. He didn’t expect to hear this. “What about Phillips and Grafton?”
“Phillips was angry, I mean really angry, but not at you, and Grafton wondered if you were after his job. I think they’ve both known, on some level, what the three men were up to, but I don’t think anyone saw Vanessa Milhauser as a threat. That was risky, asking her if she was voting with you or with her father.”
“I know, but it paid off. She was too flustered to do anything but go along with me. Phillips and Grafton don’t have enough proof to force the troublemakers out. It’ll take a combined vote of all the other major stockholders to force them off the board, but it won’t happen until I get my hands on my grandfather’s stock.” He’d need a private attorney to unravel the estate mess, but Martha Nettles said she’d find someone competent in New York to handle it for him. If Jacobs balked at turning over the estate, he could spend time in prison. He had to be in his sixties, and any prison sentence at his age could mean life.
“What if all four of those board members dump their stock on the market at the same time?”
“The value will drop significantly and another company could pick up those shares. I’ll only own thirty-seven percent of the stock, so I can’t force any changes on my own. I’ll have to gain the trust of the other members of the board and keep their trust until I decide how involved I want to be.”
“You earned their trust today. What would your grandfather want you to do?”
Blade had asked himself that question last night, when he plotted his strategy. “He’d want me to influence policy and maintain the reputation of the company. I’ll do what I can, but I can’t be involved on a daily basis. I can’t live in New York and sit behind a desk all day. I’d be climbing the walls.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Learn to sail, write a novel, ride my Harley, walk on the beach. I’m not a city person, Maria. I don’t mind working from home, where I can stop and walk outside every now and then, but I get claustrophobic in an office, and I hate big cities.”
She squeezed his hand. “Bad memories?” she asked softly.
“Yeah. Sunny used to drive me to downtown LA and drop me off so I could buy her drugs. I wasn’t ten years old and I was buying crap from some sleazeball who could have popped me or stuck me if I looked at him funny. I had some close calls, but the only thing Sunny cared about was her next fix. She used to bring some of those people home, and they’d empty her purse. Sunny always blamed me, so I started helping myself. I cleaned her out when I left. She had over a thousand dollars in her purse, enough for her next buy, and I took every penny she had. I figured she owed it to me. My old man hadn’t been around in ten years, but he was still sending her a check every month.”
Maria leaned into his shoulder. “Sunny is in jail, Blade. She can’t do anything from jail. Did you make reservations for the trip home?”
“I’ll take care of it this afternoon.” He wanted to donate the small painting from his grandfather’s study to Cara’s museum in California, but it was too valuable to ship. He’d ask Nick if her pilot could fly them home with it. If Cara’s plane wasn’t available, he’d charter a small jet. He could afford it.
He’d never been tied down with possessions, and now he had many. The only thing of importance he’d ever owned was his Harley, but that had changed. He not only had possessions, he had responsibilities to other people. By the time he returned to Gig Harbor, he’d have a wife. If they could make their marriage work, he’d be a father-figure to her children. He’d have a house of his own, an extended family, nice furniture instead of second-hand junk, and an important role in a company. No more contract work when he could get it. No more training sessions in big company conference rooms with harsh neon lights and unwilling participants. He’d spend his time managing his own investments and attending board meetings, writing what he wanted to write, and trying to learn how to be a good husband and father.
Goodbye freedom.
“I heard that,” said Maria. “Have you changed your mind about stopping on the way home?”
“No.” Freedom is highly overrated.
Tell me that in six months. If you’re not satisfied with me then, we’ll call it quits.
Trying to get rid of me already?
I’m giving you a way out, Blade.
What had he done to deserve this kind of consideration? His grandfather showed him kindness, he was shown respect in the boardroom today, and he had a considerate, passionate lover and companion.
Don’t wonder why, just accept it.
I’m trying, Maria. I’m trying.
<>
As soon as Blade got home and out of his suit, he called Nick. “I have a painting here for Cara’s museum, but I don’t want to ship it back. It’s appraised at a half-million, and I don’t trust anyone with it. I could charter a plane, but—”
“Is this the painting Maria told us about on the phone the other night? One of the treasures missing from World War II?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll send Cara’s plane for it.”
“Could he give us a lift back? There are some priceless family pictures and other things I don’t want to take on a commercial flight.”
“No problem. We don’t need the plane for another week.”
They talked about the logistics, and Blade said, “We need to make a brief stop on the way back.”
“No problem. I’ll ask one of the guards to come along. Everything okay there?”
“I think so,” he said on a sigh. “I’d like to sit down and talk money and investments with Cara when we get back. I’m like a fish out of water, Nick. The most valuable thing I’ve ever owned is my Harley. Now I have more money than I know what to do with, a position of power in a company I know little about, and people who depend on me.”
“Yeah, I hear you. I remember how it was when Cara took over her grandfather’s estate. She was lost there for awhile, but she did okay. So will you. Remember one thing, Blade. Money changes the way people treat you, but it doesn’t change who you really are inside. It makes life easier and it causes problems you didn’t know existed. The most important thing in my life is my family. That’s what really matters.”
Blade didn’t have a family yet, but he was about to acquire one. Each day that passed, he relied more on Maria. The Mommy that Andy and Jimmy were afraid to face after Daisy fell in the oil had become his best friend.
Time to get his lady home to her kids, to her family. They’d steal time together when the kids were at school. There must be a small furnished cabin somewhere in Gig Harbor that he could rent, someplace with a soft bed and a lot of privacy.
<>
Wednesday afternoon, Blade met with the attorney Martha Nettles had recommended. Mort Schuler said he’d petition the court to appoint another executor for Edward Banner’s estate. Mort didn’t think it was a good idea to declare that Edward didn’t know what he was signing. It could tie the estate up for years, and that could not only put Blade’s life in limbo, it could end up hurting the company. He advised Blade and Maria to go ahead with thei
r wedding and send him a certified copy of their marriage certificate to show the judge, if necessary. After they married, Jacobs would have to turn over the stock.
Blade and Maria took care of all the last-minute things in the house, made sure Bridget’s notes on the packing were complete and everything had been properly tagged, and gathered the treasures they’d be taking with them on Cara’s plane.
Late Thursday morning, they said goodbye to the staff and were driven to the airport, their last ride in the limo. The butler would stay in the house to help the buyers interview and hire his replacement, and then he would retire. The limo and driver would stay, as would the gardener and the housekeeper. And Bridget would begin her new job in Gig Harbor on the first of May.
Maria had brought six cases of wine for her family, enough to last through several family celebrations. She left at least that much more in the wine cellar, but Blade didn’t go down to look. He’d wrapped several paintings in blankets, including the family portraits and the one for Cara’s museum, and he’d brought the family photo albums, jewelry, and a few rare books. The rest would be shipped.
An hour later, Blade and Maria were in the air and on their way to Las Vegas. Blade knew it wasn’t the way Maria wanted to be married. This wedding was about business. If and when they decided to try a real marriage, they’d do it up right, in the church with her family and friends there to witness the nuptials. As much as he’d enjoyed their time together in New York, he still wasn’t sure he could handle normal family life with four kids, a mother-in-law, and all that togetherness.
The plane touched down in Las Vegas and a car took Blade and Maria to a wedding chapel, where an Elvis impersonator performed the brief ceremony. Blade slipped the ruby and diamond ring on her finger and promised to love her forever. At that moment he thought it might last forever.
Or only for six months.
Maria looked ready to cry, but she held herself together through the ceremony and after, when he had their driver stop at a sporting goods store so he could buy presents for Andy and Jimmy. He’d brought gifts for Sophia and Molly and Robbie, and the only thing he could think of to get for the younger boys was a ride on the Harley, but he wouldn’t take them out without helmets and leather jackets.
