“Come, sit. I know it’s early, but I’ve already had a drink. Would you like one?”
“Scotch, please.”
George took the seat in front of the desk, and Benson fixed the drinks and took them both in his hands, giving one to George before he took his seat behind the desk. “George, I’ve heard you’re in trouble, and before we get into any negotiations, let me tell you, it doesn’t make me happy in the least. Competition is good for a company. It keeps us on our toes. No monopoly is good. I truly believe that. What can I do to help your company?”
George downed his scotch quickly and set the glass on the desk hard. “Who do you think I am? Do you think I believe you’re not sitting here with plans to break up my company?”
“I don’t. Believe me, don’t believe me, that I have no power over in the least. I know you have a lot of employees who are likely as stressed as you are right now, wondering about their futures. I know you proposed this merger hoping to save their jobs, even if it meant losing face.”
After sitting back in his chair and scrubbing over his face with his hands, he almost choked on the words, “Yes. All of that, yes.”
Benson took a sip of his scotch and then moved from his chair to sit on the corner of his desk near Regal. “What can I do tohelp? Maybe a merger would work, but maybe, just maybe, I can help you get back on your feet.”
Regal’s eyes met his, and they were pleading. “You cannot be like this.”
“Sorry that my assistant would disagree. She wants me to chop you up into bits. And I suppose, the smart thing would be to do just that. But I’m not always smart in business. I tend to think about little kids who have no gifts under the Christmas trees or food in their bellies as they go off to school. That was me. Oh, I’d have a few presents, socks and things I needed, and maybe a toy, if my mom could afford it.”
He got up and went back to his seat. “I have been recently reminded of the trauma that comes with living in poverty. Here, especially in the richest county, to wonder if dinner is coming, or if I’d have to recycle my school clothes one more year, though I’ve grown out of most of the articles. It makes a person untrusting, cautious, scared all the rest of their lives that they’ll continue to live in that poverty, or they’ll go back to it. We work harder, longer, giving up our lives just to make sure we have a meal for our families. I don’t want that for my employees, and I don’t want it for yours.”
George stared as if Benson had grown a second head. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
He didn’t flinch as he said it, because it was true. George’s eyes welled with tears that the stubborn man refused to shed. “I’ve heard things about you, ya know? I’ve heard you were this uber-nice guy who just happened to make his own fortune. I think that is the only way a person could be this rich and not out for themselves. I wish I could make my kids see that, but…thank you. If you’re being sincere, if you’re willing to work with me, I have seven thousand employees that will be as grateful as I am.”
Joyce showed up an hour after the meeting had begun, but she stayed quiet and listened to the negotiations.
George was a proud man, and wouldn’t hear of a handout, or any form of charity, so he handed all of his own shares of the company over to Benson as a gesture of goodwill.
Benson already knew what he’d do with them. They’d be spread over seven thousand employees.
When George left, Joyce sat in the chair he’d just abandoned and crossed her legs daintily, though she was anything but dainty. “So, you made out well and still kept all the employees.”
Benson was proud of himself as he said, “I did. Taking part of his company and bringing it into the merger while letting him keep the rest, upgrading and renovating it, well, seemed like a good way to go about it.”
“He can keep the original works, improve upon it, and you all come out ahead. I stand corrected, Benson, but…that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have made out much better my way.”
Benson knew she wouldn’t back down from that. “Maybe, but now, Christmas will be happy for the families of his employees, and I can sleep at night.”
“I sleep just fine, Benson.”
That is one thing that bothered him most about her. “I know, Joyce.”
She rose and started to exit the office before she turned back to ask, “Whoever this guy is, I hope he’s worth it.”
“He is. Believe me. He is.”
Chapter Ten
Hastilymadeplanswerenot his thing. Benson reveled in planning things to the T and then going over them a few times to assure himself that all would be good. But, desperate times, as they said…
He called in a few favors and soon he had a night that was going to be as perfect as he could make it.
After texting Luka when he’d pick him up, Benson called Rogan again, asking for yet another tip or ten on what he should wear. The man was a miracle worker and had a suit and two tuxedos sent to his apartment, as well as all the other accessories down to socks and cufflinks.
The tuxes were borrowed pieces from the best designers, and beautiful. He had them in the garment bags and the accessories in a small suitcase. All of it was brought down to the limo when it came for him, and he sat in the back, congratulating himself on a job well done.
At the door of Luka’s apartment, he knocked and didn’t wait long. Luka was there in a suit, looking so lovely, Benson couldhave lost his mind in that very moment. “Damn, you look amazing.”
