Page 13 of Bliss with a Billionaire

“Still gaining, currently just under twenty-four percent.”

Grant sucked in a breath, stretching his neck. “She’s going to hit the twenty-five percent threshold.”

“It’s more than likely,” Mike answered.

“Which means she’s going to trigger a vote on the executives. At least, that’s the most likely scenario.”

“It’s what’s going to happen. Lydia is out for blood.”

“Grant,” Mitchell said, “is there any chance she’d leave you in as CEO? Anything you can bargain with?”

He shook his head as he rubbed his jaw. “No. She literally tried to kill my wife twice and nearly succeeded in murdering my son. She’s not going to stop just shy of ripping this company from me.”

“Well, then we need to start making some calls and securing some votes,” his legal team lead said.

“Do we have the numbers? Or anywhere else?” Grant asked.

“That depends. We’ve got your nineteen percent–”

“And she’s got six percent more if she hits twenty-five.”

Mitchell bobbed his head. “Yes. She’s starting out stronger than we are. We’ll need to try to twist a few arms here. Anyone owe you any favors?”

“Not that many favors. What’s your count say?”

“Conservative estimate says that we’ll fall short by twelve percent.”

Grant huffed as he slid his eyes closed. “And the liberal estimates?”

“That we’ll fall short by two percent.”

“So, there’s no winning scenario?” Grant asked.

“Grant, the vote could go a dozen different ways. You could squeak by. Two percent is a pretty small margin. We could sway a few people. You could win by that same percentage.”

He leapt from his seat and paced the space behind his desk. “I don’t like leaving things up to chance.”

“We may have no other choice. I’d recommend making some calls to a few people, see if we can shift them over from the maybe column to the yes column.”

“Shouldn’t we be working on the nos?” Grant asked.

“I’d rather secure as many yeses as possible,” Mitchell answered. “That’ll be easier to do with the maybes than the nos.”

Grant collapsed into his chair again with a heavy sigh. “Give me the list.”

Mitchell tore a sheet from his legal pad and passed it over to him. Grant scanned it, his forehead creasing as he shook his head. “No, Veronica’s a definite no. And I think I can sway Harrison Blackwood.”

“From what I’ve heard, you can’t. Work on the others.”

Grant continued to scan the list, making mental notes on how to attack each request when Mike’s phone rang. “Donovan…I understand.”

He ended the call with a deep sigh. “DG Industries has amassed twenty-five percent of the stock.”

Grant’s jaw clenched at the words. “Looks like we’d better prepare for a board meeting.”

Mitchell’s phone chimed, and he tugged it from his pocket, his lips tugging into a frown. “Yes. We’ve just received official notification that a majority stakeholder has requested an emergency board meeting at seven tonight. She wasted no time.”

Grant twisted his fingers into fists. Until this point, there had been some hope that he’d avoid the tricky vote. That was no longer the case. “I didn’t think she would. I’ll make these calls.”