“You’ll be happy to know, everyone was invited last minute.”
“You’re kidding. How’d they pull it off?”The corner of her mouth turned up.
I let my eyes wander from Isabel for the first time. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”
She arched a brow.
“If you ever need event planners, Starr-Bright Events are your people, by the way,” I threw in.
“What about you?” she asked almost instantly.
“I’m in short-term investments.”
“Stocks?”
“Businesses.”
She watched me, waiting for more.So I went into a very high-level description of my work and my investments. I didn’t bore her with details. “They let me in cheap to save themselves. As soon as they manage to make it on their own, I pull out with my original investment plus a percentage of current assets.”
“That’s brilliant.”
I smiled. Her compliment seemed so genuine. My smile faltered when I then remembered our deal of keepingherbusiness private so instead of asking, I waved down the waiter to give him our order and turned back to find Isabel studying me intently.
I tilted my head when I could tell that she’d finally reached a question she seemed hesitant to ask. As though searching for the right words.
It wasn’t a talent; it was more of a curse. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a conversation without reading someone’s undertone and expression, even the ones they tried to hide. It was part of the reason I rarely dated for too long. The women in my life either thought too much or not enough.
“What was the inspiration of your first save?”
“My first save?”
“Every superhero has an origin story. What’s yours?”
I raised a charmed brow to her analogy. It was one that I’d never considered.In fact, I thought the opposite. Often my involvement resulted in layoffs or smaller spaces, taking a few steps back in order to come back stronger. And most of the time, they did. Once in top shape, those firms worked on expanding. But only the stronger ones who learned where they went wrong in the first place would end up flourishing toward the end.
“That sounds like a second date response.” I winked again.
Isabel eyed me and twisted her lips. “Hmm…do I really need to know that badly?” she mumbled.
I laughed, nearly choking on my water. “I worked for a firm whose sole mission was to dissolve smaller companies that were in the way of larger ones from growing. In other words, these mom and pops were keeping the rich from getting richer.”
“And your job was to aid in the growth of monopolies.”
I frowned at her harsh description of what I used to be a part of and unfortunately, couldn’t disagree. “I watched my firm aid in hostile takeovers, negotiating buyouts with downright threats, and... well, I didn’t like it.” I arched my back slightly to allow a young man to place our food out in front of us.
“I was sent on a mission to get a CEO to sign fifty-one percent of the company to another, with the advice that their future didn’t look good. And the guy—knowing his company’s undeniable fate—refused. Said his father wouldn’t want it sold. He’d figure out a way to get business moving again, and if not, he’d go down trying.” I focused on my water glass, turning it in place as I remembered the Blake Brothers accounting firm. Truth was, back then, I couldn’t stop thinking about Richard Blake and his small but loyal staff. Real people. They were a family and would have been demolished by selling out.
I glanced up at Isabel’s waiting, genuine eyes and shrugged. “I wanted to help. I looked into their finances and business plans and figured out a way. My boss, a certain Donovan Hayes we both know well, refused to listen so I invested my own money.”
She swallowed but seemed to recover quickly at something I’d said. “Didn’t that cost Hayes Enterprises an account?”
“Itdid, but Donovan was more interested in the turn out. I knew it was a risk, but I saw what they were doing wrong. Anyway, they thrived over the next fiscal year, and I pulled out less than two years later with enough profits to make it on my own, saving small businesses without ruining lives.”
Well, without ruining too many lives.
“What about you and Donovan?”
I chuckled. “I’m one of his favorite people. He acts like I still work for him.Occasionally he’ll tip me off to a company that has potential, or just not worth his time. I prefer to think the former.”
