Jeremy’s scowl said he knew that’s what she’d meant, but he didn’t like the time limit or implied ultimatum that Madison would get up and leave if it wasn’t met.
“Pitchfork?” Black asked.
Viktor could have answered, but he didn’t. Giving Maxwell Black any kind of information wasn’t on his agenda for the day. Viktor had ignored the presence of the other candidates at the table as superfluous, and planned to continue to do so.
Madison wasn’t so reticent. “Jeremy never enters a fight he isn’t sure he can win. To that end, he stacks the deck. He’ll have three scenarios in the offing, none of which will I want to eventuate.”
“You call your father by his first name?” Black asked.
Madison flicked a meaning-laden glance in the tycoon’s direction. “As he pointed out, I’m the not the one in the family to wallow in sentimental fantasy.”
What she didn’t say was that until that morning, Madison had called Jeremy Archer Father and sometimes even Dad. That she would no longer do so could be taken from her words as a given.
No question that the company president had seriously messed up in his approach to his daughter.
Viktor might have suggested the current course to protect AIH’s interests and future, but he would not have blindsided Madison with it during a meeting with strangers.
He’d been angry when he realized Jeremy hadn’t even bothered to brief his daughter about the meeting’s agenda before her arrival. She might be flighty and prone to inauspicious, risky behavior, but she deserved more respect than that.
Viktor had no doubts that Jeremy would ultimately get what he wanted, not least of which because Viktor would make it happen.
However he had a nascent suspicion that the personal cost for that success might be higher for Jeremy than the president of Archer International Holdings anticipated.
Madison flicked a glance at the Cartier watch on her wrist. “Your time starts now, Jeremy.”
“Golden Chances Charter School.”
“What about it?” Madison asked with caution, the barest crack in her calm facade finally showing.
“Over the last three years, you have donated tens of thousands of dollars from your Madison Trust income to school improvements and projects.”
“I am aware.”
But Viktor hadn’t been. He began to wonder what else he didn’t know about Madison.
Jeremy’s eyes, the only feature truly like his daughter’s, reflected subtle triumph. “The school’s zoning is under scrutiny.”
“It wasn’t as of yesterday.”
“Things change.”
“I see.” Madison glanced pointedly down at her watch.
“Are you pretending that does not matter to you?”
“No. You have two more minutes.”
Viktor was impressed. Madison would have done a better job negotiating a recent deal with a Japanese conglomerate than the project manager they’d sent to Asia.
Jeremy frowned. “Ramona Grayson.”
“What about her?”
Viktor would be crossing his legs protectively if that tone and look had been directed at him.
“Her father is a drunk,” Jeremy pointed out with well-known derision toward a man Madison had made no bones about considering a second father.
“And mine is a conscienceless bastard. I guess we both lost in the masculine parent lottery, though given a choice I’d pick Harry Grayson. His emotions might be pickled with alcohol, but at least he has them.”
Viktor had seen Madison angry. He’d seen her hurt, embarrassed and even seriously disappointed. He had never seen her this coldly furious.
The Madison that Viktor had known for ten years was in no way reflected in the harshly dismissive woman in front of them.
Despite the implication of her words, she loved her father. In the past, she hadn’t been able to hide her need for his attention and approval. Her mistake had always been how she went about getting it.
She’d followed in her mother’s footsteps, not realizing Jeremy Archer had been too traumatized by the loss of his wife to want to see her audacious nature reflected in their only child.
“Do you think Ramona sees it that way?” Jeremy asked. “Or perhaps she would prefer a father not lost in a bottle.”
Madison shrugged. “It’s not something we discuss.”
“Nevertheless, the destruction of her father’s business, followed by him losing everything to bankruptcy, would hurt her a great deal. Don’t you think?”
Madison pulled her phone from her purse with an almost negligent move belied by the blue fire in her gaze. “You have exactly fifteen seconds to take that tactic for coercion off the table.”
“Or what?”
“Ten.”
And for the first time in Viktor’s memory, infallible businessman Jeremy Archer made a mistake in negotiating. He silently called his daughter’s bluff.
He believed that because she had no interest in business, Madison was not capable of the same level of ruthlessness as he was.
Viktor knew from personal experience that just because a parent and child lived very different lives, it did not mean that they shared no common personality traits.
Madison pressed her phone to her ear.
“Don’t,” Viktor said.
Madison just shook her head. “I’m sorry, Viktor.”
There would be only one reason for her to apologize to him. Whatever she had planned would have a detrimental effect on AIH and, by default, Viktor’s job and livelihood.
The possible implications were still firming in his brain as she made contact with the lawyer in charge of the Madison Trust. “Hello, Mr. Bellingham. I need you to draw some papers up for me. I’m texting you the instructions now.”
Seconds later the lawyer’s agitated tones came through her phone.
Madison listened for a moment in silence and then replied. “Yes, he knows. He’s sitting right here. In fact, he’s the one who put this in motion.”
The fact the unflappable Bellingham was still speaking loudly enough for Viktor to almost make out his words said something about the nature of Madison’s instructions.
“I am absolutely certain, and Mr. Bellingham? If your firm wishes to keep the Madison Trust as a client in sixty-five days when it falls under my control, I suggest you have those papers ready for me to sign when I stop by your office later this afternoon.”
Another spate of conversation, this time quieter.
“Thank you, Mr. Bellingham.”
Madison tucked her phone back into her purse and faced her father, her expression daring him to ask what she’d done.
Jeremy remained stubbornly silent, or maybe he was in too much shock to react. He had to realize the likely content of those papers, or maybe he didn’t.
Maybe Jeremy Archer was under the mistaken impression that Archer International Holdings was important enough to his daughter that she would not do what Viktor was almost positive she had done.
“What do the papers say?” Viktor asked, unwilling to make decisions based on assumptions.
“As you know, because of the financial deal Grandfather Madison made with Jeremy upon his marriage to my mother, the Madison Trust