page8 (1/2)

“I’-outstanding debt”

“Oh, really?” Her head tilted slightly as she contemplated him “Do tell”

“You knohat I’ht never have existed You oals, particularly not to this degree Don’t you think turnabout is fair play?”

“Her to her cheek “Turnabout Like I owe you for what you’ve done That’s an interesting concept It’s kind of like karma, in a way”

“Kind of”

But he didn’t like the comparison, not the way she said it Karma was rarely a word used in the context of reward More like you were getting what you deserved

“What I’,” he interjected smoothly before this conversation went in a direction he didn’t like “Is that I want to buy your formula My role in your success should be a factor in your decision- process In all fairness, you do owe ive me the formula for old times’ sake One hundred million dollars is a lot of tit for tat”

He watched her as she filtered through his arguly blank

“Here’s the thing, Gage” She leaned in, wafting a whole lot of worateful But you ht corporate structure, so I’ll clue you in Again I’ three-quarters of the decisionI’ll take your offer for the formula to the board and we’ll consider it Period That’s how business works”

Her e to kiss her But they were just getting into the meat of this and he needed to hone his focus Not lose it entirely

So he grinned instead and waved off her protest “Not in the real world, honey You need to get out more if that’s your best line of defense Deals are done and undone across the globe based on exactly that Companies don’t make decisions People do and rarely are they united”

“Fyra is,” she insisted “We’re a team”