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The other man seemed to shrink away when Finnan’s eyes locked on his face. “That’s confidential,bhuachaill.”
The junior Doyle’s face puckered at the use of the Gaelic word for ‘boy.’ Finnan, though, had done it on purpose to let Doyle know that we were well aware of what he was attempting to do.
Finnan rose from his chair, buttoning up his suit jacket as he did. “Someone will be in touch in the next day or two.”
“Why bother coming down here at all if there’s no negotiation?” Byrne asked, seemingly recovered from his little outburst.
“Why?” Finnan asked. “Because when I make a deal with someone, I want to look in their eyes and see that they’re worthy.” He held out his arm to the door. “Now, if you don’t mind, the other interested party will be here shortly.”
Doyle and Byrne rose from their chairs, their heads together while they discussed how fucked they were.
“Doyle,” Ahmed Hassan said from the doorway, making Sean Doyle’s head jerk up like it was attached to a string. Hassan’s arms were folded as he wore a smug look on his face. “Trying to undercut me again? Didn’t you learn from the last time you tried?”
“Hassan?” Doyle sputtered. He turned to Finnan. “This is the other interested party?”
Finnan remained quiet, letting the fireworks go off around him.
“Going to withdraw your offer now, are you, Doyle?” There was no shadow of a foreign accent from Hassan, even though he’d been born in Egypt.
Doyle didn’t dignify that with an answer. He brushed past the other man, his lawyer following close behind. Cian Doyle was the last through the door, but I noticed he lingered as he passed Hassan, and from my angle, I saw the brush of their fingers.
Into Finnan’s ear, I whispered, “Cian Doyle and Ahmed Hassan are fucking each other.”
Finnan nodded to tell me he’d heard.
“Mr. Hassan, please sit,” Finnan said, gesturing to the seat Doyle had vacated.
Ahmed came into the room without a lawyer or entourage. Dressed in a well-cut designer suit, he took a seat effortlessly, resting one ankle on the opposite knee. His arrogant expression faltered a little when he saw the Glock still sitting naked on the desktop.
Without prompting, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope, then slid it over to me. I already liked this guy better than that old fuck, Doyle.
My boss looked inside the envelope, and I caught sight of the figure written on a piece of card. Seven-hundred and fifty thousand Euros.
Finnan folded back the envelope and placed it on the table. “Generous offer.”
“I can see what Doyle can’t,” Hassan replied in a confident tone, never taking his eyes from Finnan’s face. Even though I was the bigger threat, he knew who was top dog here.
“And what’s that?”
“Potential. Growth. A scale of which is impossible anywhere else. And I want to be a part of it.”
“It’s a good offer.”
Hassan tipped his head back and laughed. “It’s an exceptional offer. Your business has a net worth of two point eight million euros. Twenty percent of that is five-hundred and sixty thousand.”
“So why offer me more than it’s worth?”
The other man sat forward in his seat, resting his forearms on his knees and clasping his hands. “Because I can see the value that Doyle can’t. I want the share. I want it so much that I’ll pay over the twenty percent it’s worth because you are a businessman, Mr. Quinn, and you know you cannot walk away from this.”
The men stared at each other for a long while before Finnan said, “How much do you want to fuck up this deal with Doyle?”
Ahmed’s smile wilted a little, but he quickly covered the reaction with an elegant shrug. “It would bring me great pleasure.”
Finnan actually laughed at that. “All right, Mr. Hassan, I’ll call you in the next twenty-four hours with my answer.”
The other man nodded and left the office.
Then Finnan turned to me. “The winning bid is clear. Hassan is a straight shooter. He doesn’t bring lawyers in to try and intimidate. He’s got brass balls to offer three-quarters of a million for a fraction of a share in our business. If Doyle managed to up his bid to be the slightest bit competitive, we’d have to deal with him and his pencil-dick lawyer.”
