“No. I wouldn’t do that, Andrea.”
Silence settles, and I’m tempted to take two steps forward to get rid of that distance she set between us. “Is it all clear to you?” I ask. She nods again. “Good.” I’m about to head off when I’m abruptly reminded of something. “Don’t speak of this.”
“Yeah, no, for sure,” she promises.
After one last hesitant glance toward her, I disappear into the hallway. Kevin won’t like this, but I don’t really care.
Andrea deserves to be rewarded for her incredible work. And unlike what my business partner would think, it has nothing to do with the fact that helping her means that maybe she’ll dislike me a little less.
Istay there for a couple of minutes after Lex’s departure, processing the information. Four hundred thousand dollars is so much money. Almost half a million in my bank account.
Someone knocks on the door, startling me. When I open, I find Kate’s petulant self. “There you are! They just told me they’re ready to start if we are.” Then she notices I’m a little shaken. “Are youalright?”
“Yes, sorry. I was just thinking.” I join her in the hallway, closing the door behind me. We silently walk to the meeting room until I feel compelled to warn her. “Kate?”
“Hmm?”
“I can’t really explain why, but you have to trust me for the negotiations, ok?”
She nods, intrigued, but doesn’t argue.
I could explain. I could tell her Lex is looking out for me. But I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I don’t want her to read into things. It isn’t like that. He isn’t doing it for me in particular but because of his personal code of conduct.
When we enter the conference room, Alexander and Kevin are already there with two old-ish men. Their suits and serious demeanor make it all dawn on me. This is a real, important transaction. I’ve never done anything like that, but I need to nail it.
We all take our seats and start right away. They pull out a bunch of documents, explain how the afternoon will unfold, and the fastidious talking starts. After barely ten minutes, I thank the gods Kate is here. It’s my first time seeing her practicing, and I’m impressed by her seriousness and professionalism. This side of her is a novelty to me.
Then, when the time comes to talk about numbers, nearly an hour after we sat, I feel much better than I expected. I know exactly what to do. The oldest-looking attorney clears his throat. “Miss Walker, after considering your offer, my clients are willing to propose seventy-five thousand dollars for the sole ownership of your work.”
A small smile stretches my lips, but I bite it down. “This app is the fruit of hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work. All in all, I’d say it’s worth… five hundred thousand dollars,” I state with audacity. Kate turns to me with round eyes, and the lawyer flinches a little.
“Miss Walker, the application you’ve developed certainly is convenient for my clients, but the price you’re asking for is very high. We’d be willing to consider increasing our original offer by twenty-five thousand dollars, to one hundred thousand dollars.”
“There are companies out there willing to pay what it’s worth,” I say truthfully. “Google, Meta, or Avoss will certainly have better offers for me, given their immense capital. I love Kelex’s values, so I would rather sell here. But I won’t settle for less than I deserve either.”
I feel like I’m inThe Wolf Of Wall Street. Thanks to Lex, this is unexpectedly fun.
The lawyers speak among themselves, and then one bends toward Kevin. My eyes meet Lex’s on the other side of the table, and I can swear there’s an amused sparkle in his eyes. The man is done speaking to Kev, who nods and turns back to me.
“My client will agree to an extra fifty thousand dollars. If I were you, Miss Walker, I would take the offer now and leave this room one hundred and fifty thousand dollars richer before my client removes himself from the equation.”
“Four hundred and fifty, or I walk,” I say gravely. Okay, now it’s definitely a smile slightly stretching Lex’s lips.
Once more, the other side of the table breaks into intense whispers, trying to get the last word. Kate pulls my arm before getting closer to my ear. “What are you doing?!” she mutters.
“Trust me, blondie. They’ll go for four hundred.” After a quick scan of my eyes, she warily nods and releases me.
They are still actively talking in front of us, and I decide to voice an idea that’s been growing in my mind for the past hour. “I will also accept three hundred now and one hundred in Kelex stock. Also, regardless of the price we agree on, I want ten percent royalties on the revenues my app will generate.”
I have no idea where I found the guts to ask for that, but I’m glad I did. Given Lex’s plans for my app, ten percent will turn into much more than four hundred thousand dollars. My app is currently focused on American Sign Language, but the coding only needs small adjustments to work with sign languages from around the world. My app is a gold mine, and I’ll be damned if I let them profit off of it without me.
As for the stocks, I hope I’m making the right decision here. Kelex has been steadily climbing since going public two years ago. The stock is now worth over twelve times what it was then. If the company keeps performing like this, I’ll be set for the rest of my life between the stock, the royalties, and the payment.
“Ninety percent of the profit is better than a hundred percent of nothing,” I hear Lex say to Kevin. “I think we should take it before someone else swoops in and beats us to it.”
It takes a while, and they almost make me believe I won’t succeed. But eventually, they accept my demands and offer me two hundred and seventy-five thousand fucking dollars, and one hundred thousand in stock, and ten percent in royalties. To my right, Kate is hyperventilating, and the lawyers before me seem displeased by the turn of events.
I got the last word and won. Lex nods humbly when I give him a discrete smile, and the slight grin on his lips makes something flutter low in my stomach.
