Mergers and Acquisitions

by A. E. Radley

  “These are just some vague ideas, this isn’t the finished presentation,” Sophie said. She activated the screen and launched the slide deck.

  Yannis looked at the screen and then at her expectantly.

  She jumped to her feet.

  “The Bolt,” she started. She felt stupid, standing up and presenting to a party of one, but she knew this was what she had to do. Yannis was here for a presentation, and she’d do just that. She pressed a button on her laptop to move to the next slide.

  Yannis sat forward. He stared at the logo on the screen, eagerly taking it in. He frowned, clearly wondering why a large red X covered the logo.

  “The Bolt is… the wrong name,” Sophie said. “Consumer research, which I carried out personally, has shown that the original name is considered to be unsafe, uncontrollable, and… childish.” She took a deep breath. “Financial predictions show that a lack of sales for The Bolt would be disastrous. And a connection between The Bolt and the Atrom brand could cause issues for Atrom itself. A feeling that The Bolt is not safe could translate to Atrom not being safe.”

  Sophie stepped forward and jabbed a button. “And so, I present to you… Levidi Twelve.” Sophie paused and allowed Yannis to take in what was on the screen. She took a breath and looked at the logo she had created herself. It was a little rough around the edges, a little pixelated in places. But the feeling of speed and security came across.

  “Levidi, I don’t have to tell you, is your mother’s hometown. Twelve, the year of your youngest daughter’s birth.” Sophie took another breath. She forced herself to look at Yannis, trying to see if he thought she’d overstepped. He was smiling. Hopefully a good sign.

  “Levidi Twelve is more than a car,” Sophie explained. “It’s a passion. It’s something that you are setting out to do, something that no one has set out to do before. Bolt may seem cool and fast, but Levidi Twelve is more than that, it’s family. It’s strength, it’s security. It’s an ideal that people can buy into. When people see the owner of Atrom Engineering in his Levidi Twelve, they are going to know that it was built to honour his family and his home. They are going to have a deep understanding of the personal meaning of the project.”

  “Show me more.” Yannis waved his hand towards the screen. “What else do you have?”

  She didn’t know if it was a good sign or a bad one. Was Yannis asking for other ideas or just asking to see more of this one?

  She moved to the next slide. She looked up and saw the billboard mock-ups she had created, instantly doubting herself. Her lips were dry, and she could feel herself shake as she walked towards the screen.

  She pointed at the mock-ups. “We propose using this sense of family, this sense of home, across the entire campaign. There are a lot of sports cars on the market, but none with an engine as impressive as Atrom’s,” she added.

  Yannis chuckled.

  “We need to be different,” she said. “We can’t be the fastest, or the most expensive, or the cheapest. The market has all these things. But we can be the most inclusive, we bring you into it. It’s your car, your project. I suggest we put you into the campaign.”

  Yannis nodded slowly. His eyes scanned the screen.

  It was fifteen minutes later that Sophie finished her presentation. She had gone through all her ideas for the campaign. From billboards and television to online advertising and digital strategy. She’d gone from concepts to specifics, detailing the reasoning behind her ideas and showing mock-ups where she could. She was terrified; Kate and Georgina would surely kill her. In the back of her mind she knew she would never work in marketing ever again. She wondered if the law firm would have her back.

  But it had felt invigorating to present to Yannis. It was like a dream come true. She may have never been brave enough to show her ideas to her colleagues, to marketing professionals with years more experience than her. But showing her plans to Yannis, it was easy. Like she was born to do it.

  Not that Yannis had given her a shred of indication of his feelings.

  She pressed the button to show the last slide in her presentation, the standard thank-you slide that asked for questions from the audience. She turned to Yannis. Her hands nervously twisted behind her back as she watched him furiously making notes on his notepad.

  He looked up.

  “I am very attached to the name The Bolt,” he told her carefully.

  She felt her stomach sink. She’d ignored rule one, listen to the client.

  “But you are right. And the information you shared on your consumer research was fascinating. I love the concept. Levidi Twelve is something I can take home to my mother, that will make her proud. It’s something I want to share with people. I love how you have just understood what I am trying to do here, what my ethos is, what my goals are. This is incredible. I love it all.”

  Sophie let out a sigh and laughed. “Oh, thank God. I was so worried,” she told him.

  He smiled. He stretched back in his chair, rubbing his hand over his head. “You don’t need to be worried. These ideas are spot on, I’m surprised at the difference between what I was seeing before and what you have shown me today. Are you with Georgina or with Kate?”

  Sophie paused. She opened her mouth and then closed it again. She had no idea what to say.

  “Neither,” a voice said. Sophie spun around as Kate walked into the room. Her eyes went wide in panic.

  “Apologies for my delay,” Kate continued, “but I see Sophie has presented her ideas?”

  Sophie opened her mouth to apologise, to resign, to something.

  “Sophie,” Kate quickly interjected, “is a consultant. She doesn’t work for Georgina or myself, but she works with us both. The ideas you have seen here are hers and hers alone.”

  Kate turned to Sophie and offered her a knowing smile.

  Sophie felt herself start to sway. Confusion flooded her senses. She couldn’t tell if Kate was being genuine or trying to get rid of Yannis so she could murder her in peace.

  Georgina walked in and smiled at Sophie. “Sorry,” she said, “trains were delayed.”

  Sophie looked at Georgina and then at Kate. Suddenly, it snapped into place. She’d been set up. There was a knowing look on both their faces.

  “Sophie Young is a bright talent in the marketing world,” Kate told Yannis. “She’s up and coming and, with Georgina’s and my guidance, I can tell you now that she will be one of the best. Georgina and I think that it would be best for everyone if you work directly with Sophie on all creative matters for the Levidi Twelve.” Kate turned and smiled at Sophie.

  “So, she’s not with either of you?” Yannis clarified.

  “She’s independent,” Georgina replied. “Working with both of us.”

  “But for neither of us,” Kate clarified, looking at Sophie. She turned to look at Yannis. “I know you have another meeting after this. Let me walk you out and we can go over the details, as I see them working.”

  Yannis nodded and cleared his things up. “Sophie,” he said, “it’s been a pleasure.” He shook her hand. “I look forward to working with you on this project.”

  Sophie nodded, unable to speak. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Apparently, she was now working directly with Yannis.

  He grabbed his laptop bag and hurried from the room, Kate speaking to him as they left.

  Sophie fell into her seat and stared at the table blankly.

  “Congratulations, you just landed your first client,” Georgina said. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

  Sophie looked up at her. “Where were you? Both of you?”

  “Honestly? We were having breakfast in a delightful little cafe—”

  “You deliberately didn’t show?” Sophie stood. “You deliberately left me here on my own to deal with Yannis?”

  She couldn’t believe that they had been having breakfast somewhere while she was having the most frightening business experience of her life.

  “Yes. Exhilarating, wasn’t it?” Georgina
smiled. “Kate and I had dinner last night, we talked. This war between us for the Atrom account had to end. And it has ended.”

  Sophie blinked. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m going back to New York,” Georgina said. “After a short vacation in London. I want to show Jessica the sights.”

  “Jessica?” Sophie smiled. “You’re back together?”

  “We’re back together,” Georgina confirmed with a grin.

  The smile fell from Sophie’s face as she remembered the previous evening. She got to her feet. “You locked me in the elevator with Kate.”

  Georgina winced. “That was a mistake.”

  “Yeah, it was,” Sophie agreed. “What the hell were you thinking?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at Georgina.

  “I was thinking that you and Kate would have the same realisation that Jessica and I had. But now I know that was foolish. I could see you looking at each other in that way, and I didn’t want you to waste any more time.”

  “There’s nothing between us,” Sophie mumbled. She’d thought about it a lot the previous night. She’d known why Georgina had locked them together. She’d known what she had expected, had hoped to happen. As much as she had feelings for Kate, she knew Kate couldn’t feel the same way about her. Georgina was projecting her own feelings for Jessica onto Kate. Making wild assumptions that Kate would feel something for Sophie, simply because of the similarities in their situations.

  Kate. Suddenly, Sophie processed what her former boss had said. She snapped her head up. “Am I fired?”

  Georgina held up a calming hand. “Not exactly.”

  “Oh my God, I’m fired.” Sophie could feel panic racing through her veins. She grabbed her laptop and threw it into her bag along with her notepad and her pen.

  “Sophie, wait for Kate to come back, she’ll explain—”

  “Nope.” Sophie swung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her coat. “I get it, I messed up.”

  She hurried towards the door, stopping only centimetres before she would have crashed into Kate.

  Kate turned to Georgina. “Would you leave us alone, please?”

  Georgina nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

  Chapter 38

  Kate could clearly see the panic in Sophie’s eyes.

  “Am I fired?” the young woman asked.

  Kate blinked. “Well, that’s not the term I’d use, no.”

  “Can I leave, please?” Sophie indicated the door behind Kate.

  “Not until we talk.” Kate gestured towards a chair at the meeting table. She watched as Sophie swallowed. Her eyes darted around the room. “Please,” Kate insisted.

  Sophie lowered her bag to the floor and moved a chair out from under the table with her foot. She sat down, holding her coat to her chest protectively.

  “First of all, Yannis was very impressed with your ideas.” Kate took a seat beside Sophie. She ensured there was enough space between them that she wasn’t crowding her. “He says that your ideas were original and exciting, high praise indeed from someone like him.”

  “Thank you,” Sophie mumbled.

  Kate licked her lips. She knew this conversation wouldn’t be easy, but now it was here, she was feeling more nervous than ever. She knew she had to go through with her plan or she would regret it. Or else Georgina would lock them in an elevator again.

  “You’re not fired. If you want to keep your job here, you are more than welcome to do so,” Kate said. “But I have a proposal for you that, hopefully, you will find interesting.”

  Sophie looked at her and frowned.

  “I would like you to consider setting up your own company, as a consultant. If you agree, then you would work directly with Yannis on this project. You would be a liaison between him and Red Door. We would do the work, under your guidance. You’d be under no obligation to use Red Door. If you felt our work was shoddy or our prices too high, you could go elsewhere. You would have that freedom.”

  “Why, though?” Sophie asked.

  “Two reasons,” Kate explained. “Firstly, I’ve been watching you and I know you are talented. Although, you’re not very good at sneaking around, which is why I’d seen your presentations. Saving your ideas on the shared drive in a folder called Sophie wasn’t the brightest idea.”

  Sophie blushed. She stared down at the floor.

  “But, despite your saving process, your ideas are good. Excellent, in fact. I’ve been watching you develop and learn. I’ve been sending you to meetings to help you learn more, to see how that would affect your ideas. And I’ve watched you grow. You’re very talented, Sophie. But there isn’t an exact position for you to fill here. You’re more than a project manager, more than a designer, more than a conceptual editor. You’re the whole package. And I don’t want to lose that.”

  Kate stood and walked over to the sideboard. She picked up two glasses and poured water into them. “Sometimes, the best way to keep hold of someone is to let them go. I want to give you the freedom to develop more. In the hope that you will want to remain here, working with us when you choose to. I see a bright future for you. I’d like to help you build that.”

  She placed a glass of water in front of Sophie and sat down again.

  Sophie eagerly took the glass and took a drink. “H-how would this work?” she asked.

  “However you’d like it to work. I see a reciprocal agreement. We would keep you on board, on a retainer, and you would be our consultant on certain projects. Georgina has also expressed interest in a similar agreement. Yannis would be another client. You’d be free to source more, I would be happy to help you find further clients. You can work from home, or from here. We can arrange office space for you, if you wish?”

  “What’s the other reason?”

  Kate let out a nervous breath. She took a sip of water.

  “You said there were two reasons,” Sophie pressed. “What was the other?”

  Kate stood up again. This time she walked over to the window, wanting to put some distance between them.

  “The second reason is important,” Kate said. “But it has absolutely no bearing on what we’ve discussed. I don’t want you to feel that your response will change what has just been said. Does that make sense?”

  She looked at Sophie, who looked baffled.

  “Not really, no,” Sophie admitted.

  Kate chuckled. “I’m not explaining this very well. I… Sophie, the truth is that I could never possibly consider dating someone who worked for me. The conflict of interest is too great.”

  Sophie’s eyes started to widen. Kate knew she had to keep talking or she would start to backtrack. She’d come too far to go back now.

  She crossed back to her seat, moving it to sit herself directly in front of Sophie.

  “I think there is something between us,” Kate said. “I think we’ve both ignored it for a while now, I think we’ve both done all we can to pretend it isn’t there. But it is. At least, I think it is.”

  Sophie looked like she might pass out. She took a deep breath. “You… want…”

  “Sophie, will you join me for dinner tonight?” Kate hoped that she was maintaining a neutral expression on her face. Her heart was hammering hard in her chest.

  “D-dinner?”

  “Yes, a date. Feel free to say no. As I say, your response to this has no bearing on—”

  “Yes,” Sophie breathed. “I mean… yes, yes. I…” She trailed off before quickly nodding.

  Kate smiled. She’d done it. She’d taken the step and hadn’t been rejected like she had in her nightmares.

  Sophie had said yes. A very definite yes.

  Suddenly, Sophie was launching herself at her. Impossibly soft lips pressed against hers. She let out a gasp, and Sophie quickly pulled back.

  “I’m sorry,” Sophie whispered. “I shouldn’t have—”

  Kate grabbed the front of Sophie’s cardigan in her fist. She pulled her back and crushed their lips together
. She quickly deepened the kiss, trying to express her strong emotions with the action. She pulled back, but only for air.

  Sophie’s eyes had closed during the kiss, and she seemed to be in a state of bliss. Her lips were stained with Kate’s lipstick, a blush on her cheeks, her breathing rapid and uneven.

  Kate smirked to herself. “Better than Georgina?” she asked smugly.

  Sophie opened her eyes and grinned mischievously. “I don’t know, I’ll need to try again to be sure.”

  About the Author

  A.E. Radley is an entrepreneur and best-selling author living and working in England.

  She describes herself as a Wife. Traveller. Tea Drinker. Biscuit Eater. Animal Lover. Master Pragmatist. Annoying Procrastinator. Theme Park Fan. Movie Buff.

  When not writing or working, Radley indulges in her third passion of buying unnecessary cat accessories on a popular online store for her two ungrateful strays whom she has threatened to return for the last seven years.

  Connect with A.E. Radley

  www.writingradleys.com

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