Page 5 of Believing in a Billionaire (Hearts and Holdings #7)

He grabbed his phone, reading the latest message from Julia. You’re tough! Hope everything is going okay at the office.

The words sent a mix of guilt and longing through him. He considered telling her the situation. She’d spent two years of her life fighting DG Industries, but he shook his head. He refused to drag her back into this situation. He’d handle it alone.

He typed a message back that was general enough not to give anything away before he shoved the phone into his pocket as Evie buzzed him. “Mr. Harrington, the finance team is ready and waiting for you.”

“Thanks,” he said as he leapt from his seat and made his way to the conference room.

He stormed into it, his nerves already taut. “Tell me something good, people. I want to hear solutions to stop this now.”

Silence met his demand. His eyes went wide as he slammed his hands onto the table, rattling the conference phone in the middle along with people’s coffee cups. “Are we not listening? I said I want answers. I want solutions. I want this over. Now.”

His final word came out as a growl.

His Vice President of Finance fiddled with his pen as he leaned forward. “Mr. Harrington, it’s not going to be as simple as–”

Grant shook his head. “Not what I want to hear. Try again.”

The man shifted in his seat, glancing across the table at a few of the others. “The problem is…”

Grant raised his eyebrows, and the man flicked his gaze to the table. “I don’t want to hear problems, Ben. I want to hear solutions. I was very clear about that. And if you can’t come up with any, then I’ll fire you and promote the person who can.”

At the end of the room, Mike Donovan’s lips tugged into a frown as he stood silently witnessing Grant’s temper.

The target of his ire mustered his courage and tried again. “At this point, we don’t have many options. And if this company continues to purchase shares at the rate they have today…”

His voice shook at the end of his statement before trailing off. He shifted his gaze to Grant. “We could reach critical level soon.”

“Critical level?” Grant questioned.

Ben swallowed hard, refusing to meet Grant’s eyes. “DG Industries could become a majority shareholder which means they can trigger a board vote to remove executives.”

Grant stood stunned for a moment before he shook his head. “They own less than ten percent.”

“They don’t need to own over fifty percent to reach a majority,” another man explained. “It can be triggered as low as twenty-five percent.”

“What?” Grant said, his fingers curling into fists.

He slammed them against the table again. “How the hell did this happen?”

Ben lifted his shoulders as he shook his head. “They began aggressively buying at the opening bell today. We alerted you as soon as it became obvious that this looked like a potential hostile takeover.”

“You’re damn right it is. It’s a power play. We have to stop it.”

“We have a few options we can consider.”

“Do any of them rip these shares away from DG Industries?”

Ben shook his head, his gaze falling to the table.

“Not good enough, then.”

“Mr. Harrington, it will be all we can do to prevent the hostile takeover. There’s no way we can get those shares back right now.”

The knot in Grant’s stomach tightened. He didn’t like this at all. “What are the options?”

“Negotiation,” a man down the table said as he adjusted his glasses. “If you know anyone at DG, we could try to negotiate a collaboration to avoid the takeover.”

“No,” Grant barked, “and anyone else who mentions anything even close to involving DG Industries in Harrington Global can pack their things and leave before the close of business.”

Chairs squeaked as people shifted in their seats after his threat.

“There is a crown jewel defense,” a dark-haired woman said with a flick of her pen.

“What does that involve?” Grant asked.

Ben jumped in to explain. “We sell off some of our assets and divisions to make the company less attractive for a takeover.”

“No.” This takeover was personally motivated. It wouldn’t matter what he sold off, DG wouldn’t stop until they owned Harrington Global and ousted him as CEO.

“Pac-man defense?”

Grant knitted his eyebrows as he stared at the man who made the suggestion.

His slight form slouched down under Grant’s scrutiny. “It’s when we turn around and try to buy DG.”

Grant snapped his gaze to Ben. “Is that possible?”

“DG isn’t publicly traded, so we’d need to make a private offer–”

“That won’t work then,” Grant said with a shake of his head.

Silence stretched in the room again until Ben swallowed hard and spoke again. “We could attempt a share buyback. Try to acquire enough to prevent them from acquiring a majority stake. It’ll also drive up the share price, making it more expensive for them to play.”

“Yes,” Grant said, poking a finger at him. “ That I like. Let’s do that.”

“The problem with that is,” the man in the glasses said, “it’s expensive for us, too.”

“So, what are you saying?”

Ben traced his fingers along the edge of the table. “We would…need to take on substantial debt to initiate a share buyback. It can make us less attractive to the company gunning for us. But…it also puts us in a more precarious position.”

Grant slid his eyes closed as he tightened his jaw to the point that he felt pain. “So, you’re saying we need to take on significant debt to attempt to stop this.”

“Yes,” Ben said with a nod.

“Are there any other options?”

Silence met his question.

“Then start buying back. I don’t care what the terms are for the debt, just stop the stock bleed.”

Ben rose from his chair, his notebook in hand. “Yes, sir. Uh…”

“What?” Grant snapped as he shot a glare at Ben.

“We will need your signature on several things and possibly your assurances for any loans or bonds we float to achieve this. It could be a lengthy process…”

“So, what you’re saying is…don’t make any plans tonight?”

Ben shifted his weight from one foot to the other with a nervous chuckle. “Right, sir.”

Grant shook his head as the man left the room. He desperately didn’t want to cancel the dinner he promised Julia, but he also didn’t want to leave her sitting for hours in an empty restaurant waiting for him.

Maybe they’d finish sooner than he expected. He returned to his office and sank into his chair, drumming his fingers against the polished wood. As the shadows grew deeper across the floor from the setting sun, he grabbed his phone. They’d never finish in time for him to make their dinner.

He pressed the call icon next to Julia’s name and waited as the line trilled. “Hi,” she answered after two rings.

“Hey,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady despite his upset. He pressed his trembling hand against the desk.

“How are things going?”

“Not great. I mean, it’s fine,” he added quickly. He didn’t want her worried about this. “It’s just…taking longer than I hoped.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “Anything I can do?”

“You can forgive me,” he answered.

She chuckled. “What? You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Well, I have to cancel our plans tonight.”

His chest tightened as he waited for her response. Any of his first four wives would have given him an earful and made him promise that he’d make it up to them. His mind already vetted jewelry pieces that could serve as his apology.

“Are you sure everything’s okay?”

The concern in her voice melted his heart. He considered confessing everything to her, but he decided against it. It was a selfish thing to do. He didn’t want to upset her just because he was upset. “Yes, it’s fine. Just…time-consuming.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I understand. These things are going to happen when you’re running a company as large as Harrington Global. It’s okay.”

Was it? He’d never had a spouse be this understanding. And on the few occasions Julia’s predecessors had been okay with him spending long hours at the office, they’d been cheating. He shook his head. Julia wasn’t cheating, she was just that understanding.

“Really, Grant, it’s okay,” she repeated when he didn’t answer.

“It’s not. I promised I’d prove to you how happy I could make you, and I’m already letting you down.”

“You are not letting me down. You can prove it another time when this crisis has passed.” The warmth and humor in her voice made him feel slightly better.

“Right. And I will. I promise.” He choked out the last words, wondering if he could keep his promise or if he’d end up ruining another relationship.

“Well, I hope you get everything sorted out soon. On the other hand, Sierra and Kyle will be thrilled to see me at dinner.”

“Well, at least they’ll get to enjoy your company.” A pang of sorrow crept into his heart at missing out on her presence.

“Want me to wait up for you?”

“No, no,” he said, heartache filling him as he said the words, “it’s okay. I don’t know how late I’ll be. I’ll…see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” she said. “Don’t work too hard.”

“Julia…thanks.” He wanted to tell her more. But saying I love you sounded so hollow without anything to back it up.

“You’re welcome,” she answered. “And I’m just a text away if you need anything.”

“Thanks.”

He smiled at the words as they said their goodbyes, and he ended the call. His smile quickly faded, though, as his mind went over the precarious situation Harrington Global found itself in. And he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d lose both his company and his wife over it.