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I’d be damned if I was going to put him on the board—or any of his goons. Letting the likes of him onto your board was akin to bringing a rattlesnake into your bed.
Syd cleared his throat. “No, Dennis, we don’t. We’re authorized for seven, and we’re at the max.”
Syd’s statement didn’t seem to faze Cartwright. “The three of us are quite experienced at corporate turnarounds.”
I knew it was more like they were experienced at corporate dismemberments, but I held my tongue in that regard.
“As Syd said, we don’t have any vacancies right now,” I offered.
His hatchet man, Lester, spoke up. “Things might go more smoothly if we were invited to the board. The alternative could be a messy proxy fight.”
I checked my watch. “If that’s all, Carson, I have to get to another meeting. Thank you for stopping by, and for showing such faith in our future by putting your money into the stock.”
He shook his head. “I think you’re making a mistake by not inviting us onto the board.”
Bullshit. He just wanted to avoid the expense of a proxy battle, which would cost him as much in legal fees as it would us leading up to the showdown of the shareholder vote.
I stood. “Thank you again for stopping in.” I turned for the door.
“One more thing you might want to consider,” the old man said.
I turned back to face him.
“We’ve been recommended by one of your current board members.”
I didn’t see that coming. “Is that so?”
Quickly cycling through the list of board members in my head, I didn’t find anyone stupid enough to want to deal with the likes of him.
A broad smile came over him. “Yes. Your wife, Melissa Benson.”
He knew damn well she was my ex-wife.
“She never did have good judgment.” I turned and left the room before he could say anything else.
* * *
Jennifer
Since Monday night,Dennis had made a point of avoiding me.
I was obviously still in my adult timeout. I was supposed to be off in the corner contemplating how I’d been a bad girl. The problem was, it was working.
When Cindy had come down to tell me I was expected in the conference room for a meeting with the Cartwright group at ten, I couldn’t have been more surprised.
I’d expected to be frozen out of anything important.
Dennis hadn’t spoken to me as he’d entered the meeting, but he hadn’t said anything to Larry either, and those two always had some banter going on.
Watching the interaction between him and Carson Cartwright had been a bit like watching two prizefighters circling each other in the ring—taking little jabs, searching out weaknesses.
Dennis had mentioned he’d never met Carson Cartwright, but when his son Adam was mentioned, I’d caught the tick of recognition in Dennis’s jaw. Some history I didn’t understand lay beneath those words.
The Cartwright Group had delivered one hell of a surprise this morning. Accumulating almost one quarter of the company stock put them in a very strong position to argue for seats on the board—maybe not three, but at least one.
And their zinger at the end about having Melissa on their side had been another blow. That had instantly put another five percent of the company’s voting power on their side and made them extremely dangerous.
I’d looked at Dennis multiple times during the meeting, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off the Cartwright team, except to ask Syd a question.
