Chapter 17: Timing Matters

"Alexander."

Alex looked up from the Mercer proposal as Director Lim approached.

"For what it’s worth, I think you handled this correctly."

"The meeting?"

Lim paused.

"Everything."

Ah.

Alex gave him a polite smile. "I’d prefer we keep my personal life out of the minutes."

That earned a quiet laugh.

"Believe me, so would the rest of us." Lim’s expression sobered. "But after what happened at the Bureau, you had every reason to be angry. You still came in here prepared to deal with the consequences instead of asking the Board to clean them up for you. That matters."

Considering how the meeting had started, Alex suspected that distinction had only become apparent once the Mercer folders landed on the table.

Still, he’d take it.

"Thank you."

Another director joined them, a Mercer proposal tucked beneath his arm.

"If they’re genuinely interested, I want to see how far they’re willing to go."

"So do I."

"You think Mercer can replace Sebastian?"

"Not everywhere."

The director’s expression immediately eased.

"Good. I was hoping you’d say that."

Alex understood why.

There was no point escaping one dependency only to create another, particularly when his personal arrangement with Giovanni was already complicated enough.

Whatever happened between the two of them, Vance Holdings still needed to stand on its own.

"We’ll compare the proposals on merit," Alex said. "If Mercer gives us the better option, they get the business. If someone else does, they don’t."

"Even with Giovanni Mercer involved?"

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Especially with Giovanni Mercer involved."

That earned him an approving smile.

"Now I feel considerably better."

Apparently, the quickest way to reassure a Board that he hadn’t lost his mind over Giovanni Mercer was to promise he’d happily reject Giovanni Mercer.

Fair enough.

Near the conference room doors, several directors were taking considerably longer than necessary to leave.

"Mercer Group," one murmured. "I certainly didn’t have that on my list yesterday."

"I doubt Sebastian did either."

The older director flipped through the proposal in his hands.

"For logistics, I’d take Mercer over Sebastian without hesitation."

"For everything?"

"Absolutely not."

The man beside him nodded. "Still, getting Mercer to consider this level of cooperation seriously is no small thing. They’ve rejected proposals from us before."

"And now their CEO sends several over within hours of Vance asking."

The two men glanced toward Alex.

Neither needed to finish that thought.

One eventually sighed.

"Terrible way to discover you have better options."

His companion looked at him.

"Are we still talking about the companies?"

The older director considered that.

"I’m not entirely sure."

This time, they did laugh.

Alex pretended not to hear them.

What mattered was that nobody was discussing whether he’d destroyed Vance Holdings’ future anymore.

The directors were discussing terms.

They compared Mercer against Sebastian and wondered what else might become possible if one of their strongest competitors suddenly became willing to cooperate.

By the time the last director left, Dominic Sebastian’s name hadn’t been mentioned in several minutes.

That alone felt like progress.

Alex remained seated.

The conference room had gone quiet again, leaving him with several abandoned water glasses and the Mercer folders scattered across the polished table.

He picked up his phone.

The proposals arrived.

The reply came less than a minute later.

I know.

Alex almost smiled.

Of course he did.

You surprised the entire Board.

A few seconds passed.

Good.

That actually made him smile.

Typical Giovanni.

Thank you.

This time, the response took longer.

You’re my fiancé now.

Alex stopped.

His eyes remained on the message.

Fiancé.

Giovanni had typed it as though there were nothing remotely complicated about the word.

No arrangement. No explanation about family obligations or why neither of them should read too much into it.

Just his fiancé.

Something warm settled beneath Alex’s chest before he could stop it, made stranger by the faint ache accompanying it.

He’d spent years accepting Dominic’s explanations for why their relationship needed to be presented a certain way. Even their engagement had been dressed up publicly as an arrangement between families despite what they’d supposedly been to each other in private.

Giovanni, meanwhile, had apparently needed less than a day to decide that if Alex was his fiancé, then that was what he’d call him.

Before Alex could examine why that bothered and comforted him in almost equal measure, another message appeared.

You would’ve done the same.

Would he?

Probably.

That didn’t make him any less grateful.

Another message followed.

Study the proposals. Tell me what you think.

There.

Business.

Much easier.

Alex looked toward the folders.

The Board was about to ask what I planned to replace Sebastian with when those landed on the table.

Giovanni replied almost immediately.

Timing matters.

That was certainly one way of putting it.

How did you prepare all of this so quickly?

Trade secret.

Alex stared at the answer.

Served him right for asking.

Numbers first, he typed. If Vance and Mercer work together, both companies have to benefit.

Agreed.

A moment later:

Meeting. Talk later.

Alex set his phone down.

Well.

At least Giovanni hadn’t changed his mind overnight.

If anything, the man seemed to have approached their ridiculous agreement exactly as he approached business. He’d said yes, so apparently Alex was now his fiancé and Mercer Group was going to start finding ways to work with Vance Holdings.

No unnecessary drama.

No pretending the agreement meant something different depending on who was asking.

Alex wasn’t entirely sure why he found that so reassuring.

His calendar notification sounded before he could think too deeply about it.

Meeting in fifteen minutes.

Right.

His actual job.

Alex gathered the Mercer folders and placed them neatly on top of the stack. He’d study them properly later, preferably somewhere he could determine just how long Giovanni had been sitting on proposals detailed enough to materialize at precisely the moment Alex needed them.

Because trade secret was not an answer.

He stood and straightened his jacket.

His phone vibrated again before he reached the conference room door.

Alex glanced down, half expecting another message from Giovanni.

It wasn’t.

Legal Department.

Wonderful.

He opened it.

Sebastian Group has formally challenged the proposed withdrawal from two joint projects. Outside counsel has been retained.

Alex stopped.

He read the message again.

Of course.

For approximately five minutes, he’d been allowed to entertain the pleasant fiction that one problem might actually finish before the next one began.

Apparently not.

He slipped the phone into his pocket and picked up the Mercer folders.

Sebastian Group wanted to fight over what Vance was taking away.

Fine.

At least this time, Alex wouldn’t be walking into that fight wondering what he had left.

Giovanni had made certain of that.

Timing mattered indeed.