Page 53 of Broken Brothers

“I’m great, now that I’m here,” I said with a smile.

“Oh, you are too kind, come on,” she said, quickly shifting from sweet to focused as she closed the door behind us. “Have a seat.”

I sat in a rather outdated and uncomfortable chair, which I suppose made sense. Claire had apparently had some seed money, but otherwise, she was looking to save as much money as she could. She would give chairs to her employees, but not to guests who wouldn’t be visiting for more than an hour or so.

“So, what’s your pitch?”

Boy, direct and to the point, huh.

“I guess you want to get right down to it, huh?” I said, cracking a smile.

Claire smiled, but only out of politeness. She was not a time waster—it was easy to see why she was going to be so successful.

“You know our last name is Hunt. We have the kinds of connections that can get you with anyone in a matter of days, if not hours. Our funds are practically limitless—Morgan and I are doing this because we want the ground floor experience, but as you grow, we can get you access to Hunt Industries.”

Left unsaid, of course, was that we were going to use Rising Sun’s growth to take the place of Hunt Industries. It probably wasn’t a closely guarded secret, but it was the plan nevertheless.

“You have two very smart people in Morgan and me who can help you with any strategy you want. We will, admittedly, take a hands-off role after the investing, but you can always turn to us if you’d like.”

That was not something Morgan and I had discussed, but I felt it was important to be honest in clear defiance of what Edwin Hunt liked to preach. I would not be spreading lies or telling bullshit that would make a deal happen, only to vanish at the first sign of anything that wouldn’t make me or Morgan money. We wanted to invest not just our finances into any business we invested in or acquired.

“I see,” Claire said. “It’s working in your favor that we are not just looking for one partner. If that were the case, then we would probably go for someone more experienced, but I have always liked Morgan and, by extension, you. Morgan is diligent, and I know you are much of the same, no matter what the rumors may say.”

“Rumors?”

I couldn’t help myself. Perhaps I should not have had this topic of conversation here, but I truly didn’t give a shit. If this was going to torpedo the deal but could give me invaluable information for future cases, better to fuck up now and learnmore as I went on than to be hamstrung continuously by guessing games in the future.

“Weren’t you just at Burnson Investments?” she said.

She must have done her homework too.

“I was,” I said. I couldn’t tell her the whole truth—that would have scared myself off, let alone a friend of Morgan’s. But I had to tell some truth. “But deception and arrogance were par for the course there. That, and I felt my talents were not being put to full use.”

Technically true. It’s not the full story, but it is true enough.

“I appreciate the lessons I learned, but when Morgan and I came up with this idea of starting our company, it was a no brainer. And he can’t just leave his father’s company, at least not for some time.”

“Understandable enough,” Claire said. “So you’re the messenger.”

Harsh. And… a little true but…

“I wouldn’t say that,” I said. “I’m more of a COO who is seeking to start operations.”

Claire seemed to stare me down for the longest time, and I have to say, for someone so young and not of amazing attraction, she left me feeling very unnerved—not necessarily in a bad way. She had to do her due diligence on us Hunts, and for her not to do this would have shown poor leadership on her part.

Still, the extent to which she did this made me realize what I’d gotten with the Taylors was, in a weird way, almost easy. Most people didn’t keel over like that.

But then again, maybe this was a sign I wouldn’t get trolled and made a fool as I had before.

“You know, I made a promise to Morgan that I’d let him invest in us if I ever needed it,” she said. “Fortunately, I also know you two aren’t full of it. You’re new and such, but I see enough.”

She stood up, as if announcing the meeting was over.

“Let Morgan know we have a handshake agreement in place. We’ll figure out the details, but we’ll go with what Morgan had said before when he spoke to me Saturday morning—$250,000 for ten percent.”

“Done,” I said, extending my hand.

“Have a great day, Chance,” she said, ushering me out so quickly it almost felt like I’d gotten rejected, not accepted.