Back From The Brink Ch. 02

"I talked to Dad; he told me to come home," she informed me. I nodded. What else could I do?

"Show me the pictures," she requested. I was happy that she trusted me this tiny amount; torn by the reality that I would cause her pain. I walked over to my computer, flipped up the screen and pulled up the relevant file. Marcy came over and sat beside me so that when I showed her the pics I was able to feel her deep intake of breath.

I had poisoned her with the very notion of betrayal and now Trevor had stabbed that wound. Marcy started snuffling and I instinctively put an arm around her. Had she torn away from me I would have died a little inside but my daughter didn't. In all fairness she was in such pain that she didn't put together her comfort was from me, but I owed her a decade of protection from the cruelty of the world.

We were still there when Sebastian came in. As he approached Marcy turned and looked at him.

"Trevor," she muttered and he nodded. Without hesitation he came down and sat on the other side of Marcy and put an arm around her. Marcy transferred her attention to him and away from me but I no longer minded. Sebastian had this aura about him that eased tension and reduced pain.

"Marcy, call your dad back. If you want to go we can drop you off at the airport and you can tell him when to pick you up. If you want to stay I would be more than happy to have you," I added. Marcy took up her phone and went back to her room. She didn't come out for ten minutes but when she did she had definitely been crying. She didn't go to me, she went to Sebastian.

"Why do people hurt other people?" she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I don't know Marcy," he replied gently. "Sometimes things don't make sense and bad stuff happens to good people."

"It wasn't fucking fair; he told me he loved me and that we were going to get married."

"You have had more than your share of crap dumped on you Marcy, but I know that both your parents care about you. Your dad wants you to come home and your mother wants you to stay here so you have choices you should have had all your life. I'll back you with whatever decision you make," he promised Marcy.

"I told Dad I was staying," she informed us. "Right now I need to call Trevor." Marcy moved away from Sebastian and made the call. It wasn't pretty and Marcy was downright furious by the time she hung up.

"May I make a suggestion?" Sebastian asked. Marcy nodded.

He rattled off two phone numbers, one for Lisa and one for Carol.

"Tell them what Trevor has been up to and we can send them the pics to back up your claims," he suggested.

"Why?" she asked.

"Better you break the news to them than they wait for Trevor to screw them over," Sebastian explained. I had to admire his cool, calculating manner. It would have taken me a day or two before making those calls. Ten minutes later Trevor was truly screwed, Marcy was still crying, but I could see her refusing to succumb to the depression of the moment.

Marcy rejoined us on the sofa trying to get her emotions under control.

"Can I go to work tomorrow?" she asked Sebastian.

"Yes; I have some files I want you to go over Marcy. You can start at eight thirty," he told her. Marcy nodded and headed for her room.

"Marcy, we will come get you for dinner," he promised. After the door shut he looked over at me. "Now it is your turn; come here," and I did because all this mother-crap was emotionally exhausting.

(Saturday)

The last thing I expected to be doing on Saturday when my picked up my daughter on Thursday night was to be sitting around a table doing work on one of my new projects. Sure Sebastian and I didn't have to be doing the work; this was all preliminary stuff we could have left to our staffers, but Marcy needed something to focus her mind on so we indulged her.

The first time Marcy looked across the table and asked me for advice was prized by me. It was an impersonal gesture but it was something. By lunch time we were constantly talking things over and Marcy was in the swing of things, exhibiting the kind of confidence I recognized as my own.

"We are breaking for lunch," Sebastian declared. Marcy looked up at him disappointed.

"I need to ..." she started to say but Sebastian waved her to silence.

"If you don't feed the engine your work suffers," he reminded her. Marcy gave in and a vigorous discussion on what cuisine to partake. It was wonderful to see Marcy open up and participate.

As we were eating at a fashionable Korean place Marcy turned to me with a flash of inspiration.

"Mom, I think there is something up with that Purview Technologies. They have been beating market expectations for the past three years and that doesn't feel right," Marcy said casually.

"We can have Allen check it out," I responded.

"Someone may have been fluffing them up for a quick sale," Sebastian pointed out. "You see some of that from time to time."

"Marcy, we have to make sure the purchasers don't get ripped off either when they buy the businesses we are selling off," I explained.

"Oh ... I guess that is important then," she sounded surprised then a slow self-satisfied smile crossed her face.

"That saved us as much as $300K Marcy plus lost business down the line," Sebastian smiled at her. Now Marcy blushed but she was proving to be more and more my daughter.

We worked the rest of the afternoon though Sebastian took some of the afternoon working out some more to clear his mind. I was going over some of the properties that caught my eye when I noticed Marcy looking at me.

"Yes?" I questioned. Marcy was clearly conflicted about what she felt like saying.

"This is fun Mom. Back home I could spend a whole year making less of a difference than I have done here in half a day. I don't forgive you but I can understand what it must have been like to be surrounded by this kind of work all the time with this much money passing through your fingers," Marcy told me.

"Do you still think you are getting charity?" I asked. Marcy studied me but then shook her head. "Do you ever think you could find a way to work with me on a more permanent basis? I'd like that."

"Would I have to be around you a lot?" Marcy inquired.

"No," I sighed.

"I could do this then," she admitted. "I like Grace; she seems to be a nice woman to work with."

"That's good because you would be contracted under her," I pointed out.

"Are you a contractor or a partner?" Marcy wondered.

"Sebastian brought me in as a partner, but remember I had years of experience," I said.

"Yes, experience at all kinds of things," Marcy got her dig in. I sighed.

"Yes, all kinds of things that make me an integral part of the team Marcy," I countered. Marcy and I locked glares but she looked away this time.

"Thank you for the job Mom," she stunned me, "and for Trevor." Marcy was going through a ton of emotional conflict. I had done a number on her and still she was grudgingly giving me a chance. She took a second in silence before hitting me upside my head with,

"Do you think Sebastian could like me?"

"I think he likes you," I hazarded to say.

"No, I mean 'like me', like me. Since you two aren't an item and all," she explained.

"You only broke up with Trevor yesterday," I pointed out.

"Precisely and if I'm going to move on, what about starting right now," she answered.

"Oh, I guess I could ask him if he likes you," I had to say.

"Does that bother you?" she asked.

"Marcy I want you to be happy," I responded hoping that my own worry wouldn't come through. My daughter was a firmer, younger version of me after all.

I took a few minutes later in the afternoon to corner Sebastian in his office.

"Can I talk to you about something?" I started off.

"Of course," he replied. He leaned back in his chair and turned to give me his undivided attention.

"I think Marcy likes you," I stated.

"Oh, okay, what do you think we should do about that?" he asked.

"Well ... um, do you like her and I mean in that way?"

"You mean do I prefer her to you?" he studied me. "No. I know you and like you while I barely know you daughter. She's nice, but I know plenty of nice, hot girls her age."

I felt like grinning like a fool, but I had learned to mask my emotions once more.

"So you like hot older women?" I taunted him. His response was to stand and take my face in his hands and kiss me. His look told me all I needed to know. "What do I tell Marcy?"

"Tell her the three of us can go out," Sebastian suggested.

"What happens if she comes on to you?" I had to ask.

"What do you want to happen? If she wants companionship, I'm okay but if she's looking for more I'm not going to do that," he told me.

I was very happy we had weeks of work to do. I had enough of the emotional jungle gym for a while.

(Three weeks later)

I sat across from the mediator from Midland Industries. Sebastian and Marcy were backing me up in the other room but this was my job. We had a subsidiary of Conway (our client) named Glasswise we were marketing to Midland and they had been offered the first bid. My most significant problem was not that Glasswise was a decent prospect but that the chief mediator for Midland was an old adversary of mine.

I had stolen a deal out from under William Lincoln by sleeping with his client and from the looks of it he hadn't forgiven or forgotten. I had been sweating it since I had found out I'd be facing him.

"Hello William," I greeted him.

"You look good as ever," he replied. His clients were in a third room waiting for us to hash out some ground rules and set a base for the pricing.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"For a whore you've held up surprisingly well," he grinned back. So, it was going to be this way. "Don't you owe me something like a blowjob?"

"Would that make you feel better?" I offered. He sneered at me.

"Not likely; I just wanted to see you on your knees once more. I loved that little video of you and those guys from Tucker. You know; the ones on the DVD your husband got," he glared. "I've show it to everyone on my side. We can say they are happy to know the type of person they are going up against. I'm sure one or two got a little too excited by your show."

"Is it possible for us to do any business?" I groaned.

"Two point five," he stated. William was advising his clients to pay $2.5million for a business worth at least $3.2million. It was insulting.

"Come on now William, that's unreasonable," I stated.

"We could wait until Conway goes under then pick it up in fire sale. This is the best offer you are going to get," he countered.

"For Vandemeyer or for me?" I asked.

"They are the morons who hired you," he smiled.

"This is insane; come on now. There has to be some give on this," I suggested.

"Not for you Sylvia," he taunted me. By the normal rules of the game he was right. Holding the first bid, he could keep us tied up in negotiation until our contract was over. I had to nod; it wasn't a bad plan. I pulled out my phone and made a call.

"Halle, this is Sylvia Westermann. Have you reviewed that prospect I sent your way?" I said as a greeting to the woman from Brookes, another interested concern.

"Sylvia, of course are you still in negotiations with Midland?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so, but they are offering two point five for Glasswise. We aren't going to approve that so in three weeks we would like you to put you at the top of Conway's list of buyers we give to them. What can you offer them?" I proposed. Halle's laughter came over the phone.

"I can give you a firm offer for three-even Sylvia if you put us on the top of that list. Pleasure doing business with you," she chuckled. I wished her well, hung up and looked at William.

"You cost me around twelve thousand, but you cost your client a $3.2 million dollar expansion," I smiled sweetly as I stood up. "I'll make sure they know it too."

"Bitch," he stood and snarled. "You aren't going to get away with this. We had first bid rights."

"You had them and blew them William. Vandemeyer won't handle those negotiations so our deal is null and void. The client will get the deal and isn't protecting the client what this is all about. My client is going to be pleased. How is yours going to feel?"

"You can't screw me like this," he snapped. I looked at him and smiled triumphantly. "Fine, we can make a deal."

"No," I explained. "Maybe if you hadn't belittled me in the eyes of your clients I would consider it, but you had to make this personal. Have fun beating your meat to one of my greatest hits."

"I'll take this to your boss," he threatened. I shrugged and pointed toward the door where my daughter and Sebastian waited. He was dumb enough to storm in there.

"Your bitch of a co-worker just torpedoed a three million dollar deal," he thundered. My two people stood and looked from him to me.

"He showed a porno of me to his clients, offered $2.5 for Glasswise, and wouldn't negotiate with me," I said calmly. "I have Halle over at Brookes willing to give Conway a deal the moment we are out of the picture."

"$2.5 million," Marcy gasped. "That's insane."

"Do you conclude that these negotiations are over?" Sebastian asked me. I nodded. "We are done here," he smiled to William. "I'll make sure to file a complaint with your boss and your client. Have a nice life." William sputtered as Sebastian ushered my daughter and I out of the room. I had nothing against William, but if he wanted to play this way I was more than willing to squash him like a bug.

On the way to the car Marcy turned to me and asked,

"Mom, this was because of what you did right?"

"No," Sebastian interjected. "If we let anyone treat us this way we will lose both clients and money in the future. We made an example today and it cost us, but Sylvia will make us money in the long run. We knew this would happen eventually. We accepted the financial risk and Sylvia's ability to deal with the situation."

"So we go onto the next meeting?" Marcy inquired.

"Of course," I answered. "I still have to earn my keep and our next deal should allow us to recoup some of what I lost today."

"Well, Segar-works looks like a good ..." Marcy began and my daughter and I got back to work.