Chapter 63 Chapter 63
I signed up and explained in detail exactly what I wanted and why. It took me an hour; I would start tomorrow. The last stop was Texas Ranger Krav Maga. When I walked in, I paused; there were men all around. I sucked it up and walked over to a man with a clipboard.
"How can I help you out, ma'am?" he asked.
“Hi, I would like self-defense classes,” I said.
"Shoot, we can certainly fix you up with that. We run three classes a day, morning, noon, and night. Which one are you looking at?" he asked
“I’ll take the night classes.”
"Alright then, let's get you all squared away. You can go ahead and start tonight, but I'm not going to lie, this is no picnic. It's going to be mighty hard on your body," he said.
“That’s better,” I said.
"Mighty fine. Name's Colton," he said.
“Tessa,” I replied.
"A pleasure to meet you, Tessa. Welcome to Texas Ranger Krav Maga," he said with a smile.
I signed the membership papers and paid. I asked about attire, and he recommended what I should use. I thanked him and left, telling him I would see him later. By the time I got home it was almost three in the afternoon.
I headed straight home. The minute I walked in, I did a walk-through to make sure everything was as I had left it. After that, I grabbed a light lunch to eat. I needed information, and I knew exactly who the person was that would help me. I pulled the card out.
Kai
I was sitting at the head of the table while I listened to the pitch. I created Rhyland Global from scratch. The only company that had a hand in global private equity, strategic consulting, and technology infrastructure. I sat there quietly listening. The silence was the best part of any meeting, and Michael Voss, the CEO of AetherCom, was dissolving in it.
He had just wrapped up his pitch, rattling off the usual buzzwords, "synergy," "next-generation 6G," and "strategic deployment" just noise to me. It didn’t matter what fancy package they wrapped their debt in; I already knew the exact cost of every piece of copper and every line of code he owned. Rhyland Praxis figured it out last week.
Synergy. I hated that fucking word. What I really needed was Tessa’s synergy, which was basically her making some perfectly dry, sarcastic comment about how absurd this whole corporate theater was. I wondered if she’d actually be impressed by the view from the 80th floor, or if she'd just point out which skyscraper was blocking the sunset. Probably the second one. My eyes landed on the floor-to-ceiling glass, and the image of fucking her against that window flooded my mind. Shit, different thought.
Voss was fidgeting now, twisting his wedding ring. He thought he was pitching a partnership. He wasn't. He was pitching an open-casket funeral for his company, and I was holding the shovel.
My three analysts, Equity, Tech, and Strategy, were statues around the table. They knew the rules: I talk first, and they clean up the mess afterward. It’s boring, but it works. I looked down the table; I wondered how she would feel if I were to drag her ass in here, spread it out, and fuck her right here on this table. Shit, I needed to stop and focus. Since I came back from Texas, she has been on my mind. I shifted and sat straighter, forcing myself to focus on the meeting. I looked at Voss.
Voss gulped for air, and my attention drifted to his entourage. There was a young woman on his team, maybe the head of investor relations, who kept trying to catch my eye. She was doing the whole intense, focused-on-me thing, leaning slightly forward like she was hanging on every silent thought I had. Cute, sure, in a corporate, striving kind of way. Nice suit.
I gave her nothing. A complete blank stare that probably looked like I was just deep in contemplation about EBITDA margins.
Please. She had no idea what a true stare was like. I bet if I looked at her the way I look at Tessa, like I was about to either kiss her or throw her off a building, maybe both, she'd actually faint. My firecracker just gives it right back, usually with a smug smile that says, "Try me, Rhyland." That’s real power. This woman was just trying to signal competence to secure her next job after I inevitably shredded AetherCom.
Voss finally broke. "We're very open to the valuation Rhyland Capital proposes, of course, factoring in the future value of the infrastructure integration..." he said.
Future value? He was talking about debt service. I felt the familiar, cold shift in my stomach. Time to stop playing. I leaned forward just enough to put some weight on my elbows. It was maybe three inches of movement, but it always felt like a seismic event in the room.
"Mr. Voss," I said, keeping my voice low and easy, the way you talk to a house pet that's about to be put down. "Let's be real here. You keep talking about 'synergy' and 'future value,' but that's just a distraction. I already own half the fiber optic cable that connects your satellites to the ground stations, and my tech team has already built a better quantum cryptography stack than your entire R&D department. What I'm really looking at is the cost of your desperate hope, because that’s the only variable left in this equation."
I picked up the projection sheet he’d spent a month preparing and tossed it back onto the table. It made a soft thwack.
"So, tell me the real price for your patents and the names of the engineers who know how to maintain them. Everything else is just chatter."
I knew exactly what that price was. I just wanted to see if he was smart enough to admit it. And all I really wanted was for this to be over so I could go to my office and think about the damn woman I wanted but couldn't fucking have.
He was about to answer when the door opened and Jax walked in. No one disturbs my meetings for any reason, but Jax had orders. He came over and leaned down.
“She bought a gun; I had Rob check. Lessons, shooting range, Krav Maga. “She’s on the line; she needs my help,” he said quietly, and I looked at him. I stood up and looked at Voss.
“We’re done here.” I looked at my team. “Explain what this means.”
"Yes, Mr. Rhyland," one of my analysts replied.
I walked out and headed straight back to my office with Jax behind me. Once the door was locked, I nodded; he put the phone on speaker.
JAX: Okay, I’m away from the boss as you asked.
TESSA: I mean this, Jax, or I swear to god I will never trust you and never speak to you ever again, and I’ll probably kill your ass. DO NOT TELL RHYLAND.
JAX: I promise.