#54 (Dylan sounds the alarm…)
“Thank you for meeting me off-site, Dylan.” Meredith McCarthy, the CEO of Davenport Technology, sat on the edge of a sofa in Dylan’s sitting room. She surveyed the man for whom she technically worked for as she cleared her throat. “The board and I are concerned…”
Dylan Davenport nodded slowly. “I don’t think Nicholas will be a terrible board member. Despite what people think about him, he’s very smart. Don’t let the guileless demeanor fool you.”
“I haven’t come here to discuss Nicholas.” Meredith leaned into Dylan with grave concern. “My sources on Wall Street have told me that someone is buying up Davenport Technology’s debt.”
“Excuse me?”
“My friends in the bond market tell me that entities from Hong Kong, Sydney, and Geneva are making very attractive offers to buy our bonds from our existing bondholders.” Meredith took a deep breath before saying, “Who’s to say why they’re doing it and what for.”
Dylan listened to Meredith carefully. While he didn’t always agree with how she ran his family’s company, she hadn’t run it into the ground. She was beyond competent and furthermore, she wasn’t one to let a battle stand in the way of her vision. “Who have you talked to, Meredith?”
“I can’t reveal my sources…”
“Fair enough, but I don’t think now is the right time to employ diplomatic immunity. If shadowy entities are buying up our bonds, I want to know why.”
“I think we both know the reason why,” muttered Meredith.
“No,” Dylan said after a brief moment. “No. If someone wanted to take over the company, they could do it through our publicly traded stock.”
“Could they? Dylan, you and your family own the biggest share of stock.”
“I’m aware of that, Meredith!”
“Don’t snap at me! Dylan, look… Why on earth would someone want to buy our bonds? We’re a reliable player in the tech world, but we’re not setting the world on fire. Davenport Technology is solid and steady. Our bonds yield a nice return, but the stock is a better play.”
Dylan eyed Meredith carefully. In that instant, he could feel the wheels begin to spin and turn in his brain. Dylan knew that Meredith’s point was salient. Why buy up the bonds of a company like Davenport when the stock was a better play. “How many people know about this, Meredith?”
“So far, it’s just me and my sources. It’s only a matter of time before the financial papers find out. They’ll have a field day humiliating us in the business press.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“You’re not the CEO anymore,” corrected Meredith.
“I’m not your adversary, Meredith. I need you to trust me. One hundred percent.”
She eyed Dylan carefully. “Dylan, I don’t know…”
“I know. That’s exactly why you need to trust me. When you get home today contact your sources and get the names or any relevant information concerning the entities buying up our bonds.”
“What good will that do?”
“If the Panama Papers have taught us anything it’s that all roads usually lead back to one source…a single point of origin.”
“Dylan, I don’t understand…”
“You will,” he assured her. “However, I need you to trust me. We will keep this out of the press for as long as we can, but whatever you do, do not tell the board. Do not tell your husband. Do not discuss this on your business cell phone or while you’re in the office. Is that understood?”
Meredith eyed Dylan carefully before saying, “If you’re sure…”
“I am. No one buys corporate bonds just because. These entities are up to something. Give me some time and I’ll find out who’s behind it.”
“How can you be so self-assured that you’ll be able to figure it out?”
Dylan never answered Meredith’s question because he knew in his heart of hearts that something was amiss. And if it took him six years and ten million dollars, he would find out who or what was behind this assault on his company. Nothing ever happened in a vacuum. Sooner or later, the whole thing would blow wide open…
“Are you surprised?” Lisa Davenport bit into a club sandwich in the kitchen of her well-appointed mansion. “She’s always been that way.”
Nicholas Davenport took a sip of iced tea before saying, “I don’t like being accused of something that isn’t my fault, Lisa. You should have seen how smug and accusatory she was to me. She treated me like some interloper when I’m a denizen of this world as much as she is!”
Lisa surveyed Nicholas carefully. “Nicky, I’m going to ask you something and I don’t want you to get upset with me.”
“What?” he asked carefully.
“Could it be possible that you and Will have unfinished business and that’s what Alison picked up on the other day at the country club?”
“No! God, Lisa! What is it with people in this town? In all of the times I’ve come back to Kingsport, I haven’t seen Will. We were together from eighteen until I broke up with him when we were twenty-two. I moved to Los Angeles and he moved to Amsterdam. The end. No more. At this point, we’re barely even friends.”
Lisa studied her baby brother carefully. “If that’s true, then why are you so annoyed with Alison? She loves to rile people up which is why I don’t bother talking to her.”
“It was more than her trying to rile me up, Lisa. She…she accused me of being the reason behind Connor not showing up to their wedding. I told Will…”
Lisa sat up with a shot. “What did you tell Will?”
Nicholas averted his sister’s inquisitive gaze. He knew he’d said too much. “I told Monty…Will, sorry, that if he didn’t want to marry Connor, then he shouldn’t.”
“Nicky!”
“I also told him that I didn’t want to get sucked into his orbit again and here I am!” Nicholas pushed his plate away from him. “I know it was a mistake even thinking about coming back to Kingsport.”
“This isn’t a Kingsport problem, it’s a you and Will problem!”
“No, it isn’t, Lisa. I’m not the reason Connor ditched Will at the altar. Whatever happened to make Connor run off has nothing to do with me.”
Lisa deftly arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Are you sure about that, Nicky?”
“Lisa…”
“Hear me out: If Will expressed these feelings and urges to you, what’s to say he didn’t express them to Connor? Let’s say Connor realized that you and Will had been spending time together and, well, maybe their wedding being a bust is kind of your fault…by proxy.”
“No. I will not be held responsible for other people’s actions. Not again!” Nicholas rose from the kitchen table as he said, “I knew I should’ve stayed in Manhattan. The minute I step foot into this incestuous town, everything comes down on me like acid rain.”
Lisa tried to stop her brother as he began to storm out of her house. “Where are you going? Nicky!”
With that, her front door slammed shut. As Lisa tried to understand what had just happened, only one thing made sense for sure: Whether he wanted to admit it or not, her brother still had feelings for Will Montgomery…and that scared her more than anything else in the world…
In our next installment, Nicholas confronts Will as Alison’s suspicions are confirmed…
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