They all rise to their feet and shuffle out of the meeting room with their eyes hanging low. None of them want to look at me because they know they’re not acting like I want them to. Maybe I am fiery when it comes to my company, but that’s passion. This is my baby, it’s all I have. It’s also the closest thing that my mom will get to a grandchild, so she probably should give it a bit more respect than she does.
“Fucking hell,” I bang my fists down again. “What the fuck am I going to do?”
I won’t let R. Owens step on me, any more than I have done. I’ve let it slide until now because I treated him like a fly that just needed swatting, but now I’m going to trample him hard.
I grab out my cell phone to call the only person I can trust to sort me out when times are hard. He’s the only one who can get me out of the trickiest of situations. I wouldn’t be where I am without him.
“Lee,” I call out gleefully to my private investigator. “How are you, mate?”
“Good, good. What’s going on?”
At first, his brisk tone used to put me off. I thought that he hated me, but now I just understand that he doesn’t do small talk. He’s all business, and actually, I appreciate that a lot. It makes things so much easier.
“I need some help. I have some competition that I want to take down. But I don’t know how.”
“What’s the name of the person?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “The owner of R. Owens Parts. A smaller outfit that’s becoming a pain.”
“Right. I’m on it. I’ll speak to you soon.”
He hangs up the phone then without saying goodbye, like he always does, leaving me with only time stretched ahead of me to wait. The waiting game is a real pain in the ass, but it isn’t long. Lee is efficient. He does things as quickly as he possibly can. I can just distract myself. I have paper work to do anyway…
An hour later, just as I’m really losing myself in what I need to do, my phone rings again. It’s Lee.
“Hello, Lee, that was really quick. I have to say that I’m impressed…”
“R. Owens is a powerful enemy of yours. More than I think you realize,” he tells me in a clipped tone. “However, there is something that you can do about it, and I would strongly advise that you do.”
“Well, your advice has never steered me wrong before, so let’s hear it.”
“R. Owens wants to expand, but right now, they are just too small. They have a tiny infrastructure that will hold them back. The owner wants to get bigger though, and has sights set on massive things.”
“That will be his down fall then, right? He’ll try to get too big too soon.”
“Oh no, that’s not what I’m trying to tell you at all. I actually think that R. Owens will find a lot of success.”
“So, what do you think that I should do then?”
“I think you should propose a deal. Create a partnership. I know that you won’t want to hear it, but I truly believe that you should offer to work with them. Bring them into your infrastructure. You have the ability to grow, they have a lot of ideas and knowledge that you don’t. The parts they produce are cheaper and good quality. There is a lot that you can do with that.” He sighs loudly. “Of course, that’s just my opinion.”
“Thanks, Lee, I appreciate it a lot. I will certainly have a think about it.”
And then he’s gone, leaving me with thoughts racing around my brain at the speed of light. This certainly isn’t the sort of thing that I would normally do, but I am very interested in R. Owens and what he does. He has secrets in production that I haven’t yet managed to crack and I would love to know. I wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone else, but I’m actually a little bit in awe of him. He must seriously kick ass.
A partnership deal is crazy, it’s a huge risk, but sometimes that pays off. Am I willing to give it a go?
I grab out a piece of paper and scribble everything down relating to this deal that I would like to get out of it. Once this is done, I can speak to my legal team about it and get it all drafted up. If R. Owens is half the man that I think he is, then he will be pretty ruthless too, and he’ll want a lot out of the deal as well. But I can give that to him and make sure that I get what I need as well. I have to make sure of that over everything else.
“A meeting?” My eyes light up with excitement. “R. Owens wants to set up a meeting.”
“The deal is pretty much done,” my lawyer, Harley, tells me. “This is just to sign the paper work.”
“Should it be this easy?” I muse, wondering if I have missed something?
Harley shrugs. “You proposed a good deal. I would have accepted it myself.”
Lee told me that R. Owens wanted to expand, but I guess I still didn’t expect this to all go as smoothly as it has. I don’t know why, after all I’m a legend in this industry. He is just smart, and he knows what’s best for him I suppose, I just need to accept that and keep pushing forward. I shouldn’t be negative when I’m getting what I want. This is a good thing! I should be happy; the deal is almost done.