“No. I was not.” Red sat back in his chair and put a hand on his chin, looking down, lost in thought.
“It’s criminal what that man has done to Aufrührerische Kreativit?t,” Helga told them. “He’s purposely trying to ruin us, going after our most important people and offering them ridiculous sums of money to move to his agency.”
“Why would he do that?” Lucas asked them, throwing up his hands. His veneer of happiness and friendliness was gone, and now he just seemed bewildered. “Why would he pay so much just to take our people?”
Red still hadn’t spoken. The room fell silent as everyone looked to him for an answer. Finally, he spoke.
“Kane Wright is trying to destroy me,” he said.
Nicole watched him. She thought that he looked already as if he’d lost some enormous battle.
“We will fight back,” Lucas told him. “We are going to work hard, hire new people, and we will regain ourselves. I promise you that, Mister Jameson.”
“Who’s Kane Wright?” Nicole asked, softly.
Everyone turned to her now. They looked at her like she’d just asked him who Barack Obama was.
Red smiled. “Kane Wright is the European version of me. Only a little bit older, a lot richer, and a hell of a lot more ruthless and lacking in ethics.”
“I promise you these maneuvers of his will come back to haunt him,” Lucas said, pounding the table with his fist. “He can’t be allowed to get away with this.”
Red sighed. “I appreciate that, I appreciate your loyalty also. Have the three of you also been approached by Mister Wright?”
The three Germans exchanged glances and then slowly nodded.
Red sighed. “Did any of you accept an offer yet? Tell me now. If I find out you’ve lied to me today, I will make it my life’s work to pay you back for this breach of trust.”
Alric, the sharply dressed young man with the brown hair, uneasily raised his hand. “I’m sorry. I did just recently accept an offer to work with Kane Wright.”
Helga and Lucas turned and gawked at the younger man.
“Alric, are you insane?” Lucas practically yelled. “You’re taking the blood money from that horrible leach?”
“I’m so sorry. I know I should have told you,” he said softly.
“And you come in our meeting to spy on us?” Helga said. “You have no shame, Alric.”
They began arguing in German.
Red stood up. “Lucas, please call security and make sure they come and escort this man out of the building immediately.”
Alric started to leave, his head hanging.
“Thank you for being honest with me,” Red told him as he left.
Alric nodded, but Lucas just kept yelling at him again in German and ushering him out of the conference room.
“Could you give us a moment of privacy?” Red asked Helga.
She stood up, sweating and apologetic. “Of course, of course. We will wait outside,” she said.
Soon the room was empty. Red walked to where Nicole was sitting and knelt before her. “I’m sorry I’ve let you down,” he said.
She put her hands on his face and smiled. “You could never let me down. I love you no matter what.”
He kissed her palm, took her hands in his own. “I screwed up,” he said. “I lost focus and I made crucial mistakes.”
“Everyone makes mistakes,” she said. “You can’t beat yourself up over it.”
“I think my CFO might have been secretly angling for a position with Kane Wright the entire time. This whole thing stinks to high heaven.”
He got up and went to the back table and poured himself a glass of water, continuing to speak. “It’s like a chess match. Kane Wright set me up, knowing that if I overleveraged myself in order to buy this company, then he would be in a position to destroy me.”
“How did he know?” Nicole said.
“That’s where my CFO came in. I trusted him and he convinced me to make the deal, even though we both knew there were substantial risks. I have a feeling he’ll turn up working for Kane Wright within the next few weeks or months.”
“Is there anything you can do about it?” she asked.
“I’m weak right now. Soon we’ll lose our big clients and then this multi-million dollar acquisition will instead be a time bomb waiting to explode and destroy Jameson International.”
“There has to be a way to stop him,” she said. “Can you rehire those employees he stole, offer them even more money to come back to work at here?”
Red shook his head. “No, I can’t compete with Kane Wright in a price war, especially not now. Our stock is falling, and the word on the street is that I’m bleeding. I’ve been told that the board of directors of Jameson International is meeting at the end of next week. There’s a very good chance I’ll be terminated from my position as CEO, and Kane Wright will try and force a hostile takeover of our company.”