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“Ha,” Izabella barks. “They’d hate that.”
“Pre-plastic surgery photos,” I all but shout.
“Ohhhh,” all of the guys coo in chorus.
“Mom?” Izabella asks.
“And Dad,” I say evilly.
“Your dad’s had plastic surgery?” Hawthorn asks, the shock obvious in his tone.
“Yep, and if we can get into the house, I have pictures of them both,” I say excitedly.
“I think we should absolutely do all of that, but I’ve been thinking about this since we left you guys yesterday, and I think we should do something that’s a hell of a lot more impactful too,” Gulliver announces, his voice low.
“Like what?” my sister asks.
“I think we should take over the Rhodes Corporation,” he says with a dark grin.
For a moment, we all stay silent and just stare at him. Then suddenly everyone speaks at once, the sound becoming a cacophony of noise that drowns out any one person.
“Shut up!” Hawthorn shouts loud enough to be heard. “Gulliver, explain. You’ve obviously given this some thought, so exactly how would we go about taking over a company that’s been owned and run by the Rhodes family for decades?”
“What do you know about your great-grandfather’s business?” Gulliver asks me.
“Practically nothing. I wasn’t given any information about the business because the idea was that my husband would run the company,” I say, not bothering to hide the derision from my voice.
“Such an asshole, chauvinistic move,” Izabella mutters.
“Well, after you mentioned revenge yesterday, I did a little research. Rhodes Corp. actually went public in the early eighties. Your great-grandfather retained enough shares to make him the majority shareholder of the company. Those shares were part of your inheritance and will now pass to whoever inherits them in your place. But the rest of the business is owned by various individuals and companies. The company is actually run by a board of directors, which your dad and your grandfather both sit on, but neither of them actually own stock. Rhodes Corp. is a family-controlled business, so there’s an assumption that your great-grandfather’s stock would pass to his son, who would then in turn pass it to his son. Your great-grandfather might have been an asshole, but he was a great businessman, and he made sure that no one person ever owned enough shares to have a controlling interest. But he’s not here anymore, and I very much doubt that your granddad or your dad have enough wherewithal to be keeping an eye on the stock that’s being bought and sold. I’m sure if one of us started buying up as much Rhodes Corp. stock as we could, as quickly as possible, someone would notice, but if six of us quietly purchased smaller amounts of stock, I doubt it would sound any alarm bells. It might take six months, or even a year, but eventually we could collect all of the stock available and force your parents out,” he says calmly, like he’s not talking about taking over my family’s company.
A silence falls over the group as we all process what Gulliver just suggested. This is so much more than the petty, annoying revenge I’d imagined. I thought we’d piss them off, maybe embarrass and inconvenience them, but what Gulliver’s suggesting is a full-scale corporate takeover. It’s serious and real, and I have no idea if I should laugh or scream.
Part of me is horrified at the idea of forcing my dad out of his family’s business, but the rest of me is elated. It would be the ultimate fuck you, the absolute perfect revenge on him. So much of who he is is tied up with the Rhodes name, and for him to be fired from his job in the family business, he’d lose his mind.
“What do you think?” Izabella asks me.
Turning to look at her, I can see the uncertainty I’m feeling reflected back at me, and I’m glad that it’s not just me who’s not entirely sure about this plan.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I thought we’d just piss them off, but taking over the business?—”
“We wouldn’t be taking over the business, per se, the day-to-day running of the company would still be handled by the board and the people who work for Rhodes Corp. Whoever inherits your great-grandfather’s shares would still be the majority shareholder. But if we can buy enough shares, we can certainly cause some problems and sway the board’s votes in our favor,” Hawthorn says, rubbing reassuring circles on my thigh.
“Who inherits now?” Davis asks.
“I don’t know, I was never told,” I tell him.
“I’d guess probably our grandfather?” Izabella says.
“I doubt it. Great-grandfather’s letter to me said he didn’t think either Grandfather or Dad deserved it. If I had to guess, I bet it’ll go to some distant relative, someone he deemed as worthy,” I say derisively.
“What happens if someone finds out we’re trying to buy up all the shares?” Izabella asks Gulliver, twisting in his lap to face him.
“They won’t,” he assures her. “If we decide to do this, we’ll cover our tracks, we’ll set up multiple offshore, shell corporations and hire some old money, established law firms to act on our behalf. It won’t be traceable back to us unless we decide to reveal who we are.”
“And you know how to do that?” she asks him.
“This is what we’ve been groomed to do,” Kip says confidently. “Our families own multi-million-dollar companies, and we’ve all been preparing to take them over our entire lives. Gulliver, Davis, and Hawthorn are the oldest kids of old money dynasties, and I’m the only one of my siblings that’s even remotely interested in my family’s businesses. We’ve been talking about starting our own company for years, so if we do this, we’re just starting things a little earlier than we planned.”
