Risk and Reward

Know The Stakes

"There is NO WAY in hell this is legal! I want every single company lawyer IN MY OFFICE BY 12PM!"
"Ms. Josephson it's already 11–"
"I SAID 12! MY office or every single one of them, and YOU are fired"
I slammed the  phone back onto the desk and waved Jonah back over from his place beside the glass door frame typing away frantically the several immediate commands I had given to him upon storming out of the meeting
"Mya...."
"Don't even say anything Jonah. This...this could destroy everything I have worked for. I am not giving up MY company to some white boy from the gutter! Mr. Gheradi wanted this for me."  

"From the gutter aye...would my father have wanted you speaking about his only son that way"

My head shot up from my own desktop as I assessed the figure that had entered the room.
My lip curled. "Don't you ever say that. You don't know a thing about the Gheradi's. They had a son. He was a lot more than you will ever be." I looked him up and down in disgust.

I had seen a lot of bullshit working my job. But this topped the cake. There was no way the documents would check out. He was just another easy money chaser trying to scam us out of a dollar.

"Maybe..." he inches closer to my desk and I noticed he was twirling something between his thump and pointer finger. He seemed even taller now, as I sat at my desk and he towered above and in order to balance intimidation factor I stood up to my full height pushing my chair back.

Which usually worked. But today, even in heels I was 5'10-'5'11 and he must have been creating at around 6'5.
"But maybe I know more about my absentee father than you ever could" 
His honey brown gaze was nearly playful and I felt a buzz of anxiety. I'm whatever this situation was...I wasn't the one in control right now and that was the worst possible outcome for someone of my position.
Something like a flame flashed through me as I leaned over the desks pressing my palms into the mahogany as I looked up at him sharply
"You think you're going to walk in here and scam us out of a few million to keep a scandal quiet? Guess what? It's 2019. Everyone already knows the founders of companies as successful as mine were all philandering morally inept liars. It'll trend on twitter for what? Three days? and then the star of a CW network show will say a racial slur and that'll trend for a week . And then chick fil a will endorse another conversion therapy camp! And that'll do at least a week and a half of people pretending they will live up to their own moral standards. This kind of press doesn't stick to us. We have billions of dollars invested in media, in pull, in spin. By the end of it, you'll be penniless, irrelevant and wishing you'd had a better plan that to claim a dead father as your own."
It was silent for a moment. And then, slowly, the right side of his mouth turnt up in a half smile. Suddenly he was slow clapping, one, twice, a third time.
My eyes darted to Jonah wondering if he was getting this.
" you think I want money? If I wanted money I would have gone to the press first. Sold the story so I didn't have to care about what social media has to say about it anyway. You think I care about irrelevance? We aren't all so desperate for fame and fortune we'd sell our ethics to the devil. All I want is what is due to me as the child of the man who founded this company. And if you won't give it to me, I'll take this entire ship to court and I'll sue for it. What's the phrase you used? Oh yes, That's the kind of press that sticks, Ms. Josephson."

I opened my mouth but was, for the first time and a long time, lost for words. He was serious. He had a claim and was willing to go to court with a company as powerful as Gheradi Inc for it.

I had to get a handle on this situation, and fast.
I held his amber eye contact and studied his face.

I had been right before of course. He was extremely handsome, as all Gheradi's seemed to be.
His hair was a warm, sunny brown that seemed to perfectly complement his brown eyes. His jaw was sharp in an understated way, like the kind of guy who was handsome but never really tried to be.
He was clean shaven but something told me he wasn't usually. Everything about the black suit he wore looked to me as if he'd been dressed up. I had always been good at reading people and I just couldn't see him as a high society type. No, he had prepared or been prepared for this.

"My apologies. Mr...Gheradi." I said firmly but with caution
"Call me James."
I inhaled stiffly. "James. Of course I cannot make any promises now but our lawyers will be assessing your claim and if your documentation and DNA testing checks out, of course, you will have a legal right to the shares the late Mr. Gheradi left for an heir. As...you would be the only remaining son"

Again, we held each others gazes. My dark nearly black brown to his warm tones.

He smiled big once again. "It'll be a pleasure doing business with you"