Mergers and Acquisitions

by A. E. Radley

  “We all have to start somewhere,” Georgina reassured her. “You must be passionate about this new career to leave a paid job to become an intern?”

  “I am.” Sophie looked at her seriously. “I really am. I love marketing. I want to learn everything there is to know about it. That’s why I wanted to come here, I wanted to learn from Kate. Learn from the best…” Sophie’s eyes widened as she realised what she had said.

  Georgina chuckled. “No offense taken,” she joked.

  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  Georgina held up her hand. “It’s okay, Sophie. I know what you meant. Kate is excellent at what she does. We’ll agree to disagree on her being the best, though.” She winked.

  Sophie giggled. Georgina took another bite of her apple and regarded the girl. She fidgeted with her thick-framed glasses, a nervous tic that Georgina nearly found endearing. Almost. She made a mental note to look out for the tic in the future; it could lead to clues about what Kate was up to.

  “So,” Georgina said. “I presume you know where to find a decent coffee around here?”

  Sophie beamed. “That I can do.”

  “Wonderful. You won’t be surprised to hear that I’m very particular about my coffee—”

  “Large, hot caffè latte with almond milk and an extra shot,” Sophie recited.

  Georgina regarded her for a second. “Sophie, you and I are going to get on just fine.”

  Chapter 8

  Kate held her hand to her forehead to stop the sunlight from blinding her. Yannis had been talking without pause for the last ten minutes. She had a lot of experience at pretending to look interested in various engine types, information on horsepower, and the pros and cons of different air intake systems. But she was fast losing her patience with this particular speech. Why he had seen fit to drag them all out to a racetrack was beyond her.

  He was clearly having the time of his life. He stood in his racing outfit, emblazoned with the Atrom logo, and a crash helmet resting casually in the loop of his arm. They had yet to see the car itself; Yannis wanted the grand unveiling to be just that. Grand.

  Kate would have been just as impressed seeing the car for the first time in a showroom. Or a garage. Or in a photograph. The sweltering heat and the noise of the racetrack was not appreciated. The longer they stood in the intense heat, listening to him yammer on about throttle control, the more intense her need became to throttle him.

  Of course, Georgina was encouraging him. Every time he stopped for breath, she asked him for more pointless information on the technical aspects of the engine, the aerodynamics, or the material the car was built out of. The heat either didn’t bother her, or she didn’t show it.

  Michael and Jonathan had both divested themselves of their suit jackets and their ties, even rolling up their shirtsleeves as the midday sun beamed down on them. Both looked on excitedly as sports cars powered noisily around the track beside them.

  The noise, the heat, and Georgina’s incessant questioning were giving Kate an almighty headache. She hoped that her illness wasn’t flaring up, she didn’t have time to be sick.

  “Can I get you a water?”

  She turned to look at Sophie who had softly whispered the question to her. Why Georgina felt it so important to bring Sophie on the outing, she didn’t know. Kate’s plan to insult Georgina by assigning her Sophie seemed to have backfired spectacularly.

  Georgina had only been in the office for two days, but it was already clear that her strategy was to kill them all with kindness. Not that Kate was falling for it, not for a second. She knew Georgina’s game, she’d played it herself once or twice over the years.

  “Kate?” Sophie repeated.

  Kate glanced at the furrowed brow of the young girl and shook her head. She turned her attention back to Yannis. She wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to shine, or to pull the rug out from under Georgina. Yannis and Georgina were getting on a little too well for her liking. In fact, everyone was getting on a little too well with Georgina for her liking.

  Georgina was famous for going through members of staff as if they were hot dinners. Her temper was legendary. And yet, all Kate had seen was a friendly, forgiving, smiling face which could only belong to Georgina Master’s little-known twin sister, the one that didn’t breathe fire. The one that appeared to be made of sweetness and light.

  Kate ground her teeth in frustration. Her own temper was also legendary. However, she’d always prided herself on the fact that she wasn’t as bad as some in the industry. Sure, there was the time she deliberately ordered three back-to-back fire drills, just so the chubby kid in IT would get to walk up and down the twelve floors of the building. And she was known to shout. And fire people. Yes, Human Resources had taken to emailing her snippets from the Employment Law handbook every Monday morning. But she’d always told herself that she wasn’t as bad as some. She certainly wasn’t as bad as Georgina Masters.

  Except Georgina was about to be anointed a living saint. The problem with judging yourself against someone else was that the other person could have a drastic personality transplant and leave you looking worse for wear.

  “I was actually thinking about that very point,” Georgina said.

  Kate tuned back into the conversation. Bugger Georgina’s delightful temperament. It couldn’t last. If she was going to attempt to depose Kate, she’d have to show her true colours. She’d have to make a move at some point, and this might just be it.

  “Yes?” Yannis asked excitedly.

  “You obviously have the prototype, and now you’re going to build the real deal,” Georgina was saying. “I think we need to set up cameras so we can record the build. That footage would have so many uses. Sped up, it would make a wonderful minute or two of time-lapse footage. Let people see The Bolt come to life in front of their very eyes.”

  Yannis’s own eyes shone at the prospect. “Yes, yes! That is what I’m looking for. Fresh ideas that will bring this project to life, ideas that will make everyone feel like they have a part to play.”

  “Well, of course we’d record the build,” Kate said. “The real key will be choosing what to do with the footage. We need to maximise its impact.”

  “What do you think, Georgina?” Yannis asked.

  Kate felt her annoyance level spike.

  “Oh, I think that’s something that Kate and I need to discuss in more detail. Don’t you, darling?” Georgina looked at Kate expectantly.

  Kate smirked. “Absolutely.” She felt like Georgina had kicked her in the shin and then offered to clean the wound.

  Yannis seemed oblivious to the tension in the air. Instead he announced that he was ready to retrieve the prototype Bolt from the pits and give them a demonstration. Kate watched him walk away and shook her head. Yannis was too caught up in his project to see that Georgina was manipulating him.

  “What are we going to do about the name?” Georgina asked Kate as soon as Yannis was out of sight. “We can’t call it a Bolt. I know what he’s going for, but he’s forgetting the other connotations associated with bolt. Bolting away, through fear. Escaping.”

  Kate nodded. “I know, it conveys the speed, but not the control. No one wants to think about a sports car that’s out of control.”

  “Exactly. Bolt doesn’t portray safety. That’s going to be a problem,” Georgina mused. “You should bring it up with him, he trusts you.”

  Kate regarded the woman for a moment. “Why don’t you bring it up?”

  “I can, if you don’t want the conflict?”

  Kate bit her lip. She was trapped either way. If she brought it up, Georgina could defy her and side with Yannis. If she didn’t bring it up, Georgina could and would take all the credit. Not to mention the fact that the gauntlet had been thrown down right in front of her.

  “I’ll do it,” Kate said through gritted teeth.

  “Sophie, be a darling and take some pictures.” Georgina handed Sophie her phone. “In case I need inspiration later.” />
  Sophie put her notepad under her arm and took the phone. She pressed a button and then looked shyly towards Georgina.

  “Um, it’s locked.”

  Georgina grinned. “Oh, silly me.” She stood beside Sophie, slightly pressing her side into the young girl as she leaned forward and pointed her finger towards the screen. “You’ll have to memorise my code so you can access it whenever you need.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. Georgina was taking the whole act a step too far. It almost seemed that she was cosying up to Sophie just to prove a point.

  Georgina stepped away from Sophie to stand in front of Kate.

  “Kate, I think we can agree that working together on this project is essential and yet… impossible. Neither of us wants to have to explain the ins and outs of our every thought to the other. And integrating the teams like that is going to be extremely difficult.”

  Kate was surprised by Georgina’s admission, but also cautious. “What do you suggest?”

  “That we split the tasks down the middle. We already know the basics of the campaign, so we can take the different elements and assign them to either the best team, or, where the teams are equally matched in experience, we can divide them up equally. We both work with other agencies from time to time on certain projects, this will be no different.”

  “That certainly sounds like a good idea,” Kate allowed. Of course, she had her reservations. In some ways, she relished Georgina returning to New York. In others, she wanted to keep her where she could see her.

  “Fantastic. We can explain that to Yannis, split the tasks, and then I can return to New York. I think it would be best for everyone involved, don’t you?”

  “Absolutely.” Once Georgina was back in New York, Kate knew she could spend some quality time massaging Yannis’s ego and securing the account. Though there was a niggling feeling at the back of her mind that she was falling into a trap.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the roaring of a loud engine. She looked up to see a silver and red car tearing out from one of the pits.

  “If you were going to call it Bolt, wouldn’t you at least paint it blue?” Kate chuckled.

  “You would have thought so,” Georgina agreed.

  The Bolt sped past them and entered the main racetrack. The sound was deafening. The heat from the engine as it passed them was enough to make Kate feel breathless.

  Sophie jogged towards the wall of the pit area. She held up the phone and started to take photos as the car powered around the track.

  “Wherever did you find her?” Georgina asked with a lazy grin.

  Kate chuckled. “She’s a work in progress.”

  “That dress.” Georgina shook her head, clearly displeased with Sophie’s style.

  Kate looked at Sophie and smiled. “Just wait until you see the burgundy trousers.”

  Kate knew that Sophie’s dress sense would not be to Georgina’s tastes. Georgina was known for her fashion sense as much as her business acumen. Mastery worked with several top New York designers, and Georgina ensured that her brand was always in fashion.

  “She reminds me a little of Jessica,” Georgina confessed.

  Kate looked at her. She was staring at Sophie as the girl continued to take pictures.

  “Jessica?” Kate played dumb.

  “My assistant. Turned lover. Turned ex.” Georgina turned her attention from Sophie, back to Kate. “The day she turned up at Mastery, it was like a preppy millennial bomb had exploded. Of course, I saw the potential under the rags she wore. Within a few days it was less polyester, more Gaultier.”

  Kate recognised the feeling. She’d made her own disparaging remarks about Sophie’s clothes. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t really know why she did it. Sophie’s sense of style was her own business. But something inside caused her to constantly pick at Sophie, especially over the last couple of days. Which led Kate to wonder if she was taking her dislike of Georgina out on Sophie.

  “Maybe you can work your magic on her,” Kate commented. “Though I doubt it. She’s quite stubborn under the mousy exterior.”

  “So was Jessica. And while she may have changed her wardrobe at the office, at home… well, she wasn’t about to be changed. It’s funny, as much as I hated her sense of style in the early days, I came to appreciate it once we were together. It showed that she was her own individual, there were things about her that she wouldn’t change. Things about her that I couldn’t change. That was something I didn’t realise was important until I met Jessica.”

  Kate nodded. “Contrast is important. In a relationship, I mean.”

  “Absolutely, if you’re dating someone like you, then you’ll never grow. You need someone to tell you when you’re being ridiculous. Even if it means your partner sometimes wears a frankly burnable pink hoodie from the nineties.”

  “Really?” Kate chuckled at the thought of Georgina allowing such an item into her home.

  Georgina leaned closer to Kate, a devilish smile on her lips. “There’s something oddly arousing in taking a woman to an awards dinner in a Westwood gown, only to find her in your kitchen the next morning wearing an oversized man’s shirt from Walmart.”

  The women shared a chuckle.

  “I never said that, of course,” Georgina added.

  Kate held up her hands good-naturedly. “My lips are sealed.”

  Kate peered into the car interior. It was basic: no trim, no extras, just the essentials. The interior cabin had a criss-cross of metal bars to protect the driver in case of a crash. She couldn’t understand the appeal, but she hoped for Yannis’s sake that the rest of the world disagreed with her.

  Yannis had completed a quick lap in The Bolt before returning to the pits. He had monologued for a while about the speed and engine capacity of the vehicle before taking questions. It wasn’t long before Jonathan had eagerly accepted an offer to sit in the driver’s seat.

  “It’s an amazing piece of engineering,” Jonathan said. He looked around the dashboard of the car, his hand grazing the buttons in awe.

  “It’s unlike anything ever built before,” Yannis told him. “Would you like to drive it?”

  Jonathan looked up at him with a grin. “Can I?”

  Kate rolled her eyes and took a step back from the open passenger door that everyone was gathered around. She took out her smartphone and took some photos of the car. If Georgina needed them for inspiration, then so did she.

  Kate looked at the car and slowly shook her head. The whole project was stirring up bad memories. She pushed them to one side. Now was not the time to dwell on the past.

  Everyone was stepping away from the car, and Kate joined them. Jonathan had put on a crash helmet and was revving the engine. A member of the Atrom team was explaining the controls to him.

  “Yannis, is the name Bolt set in stone?” Kate asked.

  He looked at her with curiosity. “Yes, why?”

  Kate flicked her eyes to Georgina before returning to him. “It’s just that the word Bolt doesn’t give the best feeling when it comes to safety. It’s considered a hurried movement, something unexpected.”

  “But Bolt is quick, nimble. We want it to be compact and powerful. Bolt emphasises that,” Yannis said.

  “I understand that,” Kate soothed. “But I think we should explore other names. I just have a bad feeling about the name Bolt. We don’t want to set something in stone so early in the project, especially when it could have negative consequences down the line.”

  Yannis was becoming agitated with the talk. Kate had seen the signs before. He would sigh, huff and puff, shift his balance from one leg to the other. She’d had her fair share of disagreements with the man. Sometimes she won, sometimes he did. What was always clear was that Yannis had strong feelings about his brand and products.

  “Maybe we should focus on reclaiming the word?” Georgina offered. She placed her hand on Yannis’s arm softly. “We can focus on the positive aspects and ignore the negative. Maybe even make a play on th
em? The silver and red is an amazing choice of colours, but how would you feel about silver and blue? Then we would have a central theme and colour for our campaign. A bolt out of the blue.”

  Kate could feel her jaw dropping. Georgina had stabbed her in the back, stolen her idea, and humiliated her in one quick sentence.

  “Blue, I like it.” Yannis nodded with enthusiasm. “This is what we need. A theme that we can use at the core of the campaign. A bolt out of the blue. Blue. That’s perfect.”

  Kate could feel the anger swelling up inside her like a tsunami.

  “Hey, Marco!” Yannis called out. “We need to go over new paint samples.” He walked away from them to talk to his team.

  Kate spun around to face Georgina. “What the hell?”

  “He was clearly attached to the name,” Georgina said. “I was just ensuring some damage control.”

  Kate blinked. “Damage control? I thought—”

  A loud explosion crashed behind them. Kate crouched down and turned around. The Bolt was on fire. The mangled hood landed metres away from the flaming wreckage. People ran from the pit with fire extinguishers, and an alarm sounded loudly throughout the racetrack.

  Chapter 9

  Sophie stepped into the room quietly. She bit her lip as she looked at the occupant of the hospital bed.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Jonathan reassured her.

  She walked closer. “Are you sure? It looks pretty bad.”

  Jonathan’s left leg was covered in a plaster cast and raised by some apparatus hanging from the ceiling. His left arm was also covered in a plaster cast that joined with the cast around his shoulders.

  She swallowed. “They said you broke your neck.”

  “Hairline fracture,” Jonathan said. “Seriously, I’m on so much medication, I can’t feel a thing.”

  Sophie looked him over again. His skin was pale, and there was bruising to his face.

  When the engine exploded, she’d frozen. The shock of the blast and the fear had rendered her immobile. All she could do was watch as the pit crew pulled Jonathan out of the blazing wreckage.