Grumpy Boss

“Imagine it this way,” Rees said, “SPACs are basically blank checks, companies with no purpose other than to raise money. Once enough money is raised, whoever runs the SPAC goes in search of another company to buy. If that acquisition is successful, the SPAC merges with that purchased property, and everyone that invested gets a ton of money in return. If not, well.” He made a gesture, rubbing his hands together, then spreading them apart like casting dirt into the wind.

“So people just give you money?” I asked, trying to imagine the type of person that would trust Rees Court with some unspecified amount of cash to do with whatever he wanted, and actually didn’t find it all too hard to picture. He was a wunderkind, after all, and rich people loved that kind of thing, and tended to have spare money to throw at a project like this.

“More or less,” Rees said, glancing at Jack.

“We have to raise the money,” Jack specified. “Go out and find investors. We’ll go public, have a big IPO, sell stock to raise even more. Then once we have a big pot of money, we’ll go buy a company, and hopefully get rich.”

“Sounds crazy,” I said. “People actually do this?”

“Absolutely,” Rees said. “Now, we need to gather new investors. Rich people with a lot of spare dollars lying around in foreign bank accounts that don’t mind risk, and are willing to trust me. But because of this Italian pop star situation, many of my original investors have been pulling out.”

He watched me carefully as I sat back in my chair and chewed on my cheek. I could see where this was going, and I didn’t like it, not even a little bit. He had an image problem, and he wanted to hire a young, pretty, female assistant. And now he was tying those two things together in a very subtle way, and I really hoped he wasn’t going where I thought he was going.

“I’m hoping that this position you’re looking to fill doesn’t have anything to do with rehabilitating your imagine,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at Jack. “She’s quick,” Rees said.

“Too quick,” Jack said, and leaned forward on his elbows like he’d just run a marathon and gotten his ass kicked.

“I’m not sure what you think this is supposed to be, but I don’t think I’m interested,” I said, pushing the chair back from the table. It was one thing, working as an assistant for this rich asshole—and an entirely different thing getting involved in some crazy plan to help fix his image so he could raise millions of dollars for some wild and overly complicated financial scheme. I didn’t know how he wanted to use me exactly, but I could guess it involved lying to people and pretending to be something I wasn’t.

“Before you walk of out here, listen to my offer,” Rees said. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

I opened my mouth to tell him, no, I didn’t think I’d regret getting away from his crazy ass, but I shut it again.

I didn’t have an easy life. My parents died when I was four, and I was raised by my grandmother. But she was old, and she struggled to take care of the both of us. I was on my own a lot, and we didn’t have much. She made barely enough to survive, and I had to put myself through college, and through law school. I was up to my ears in debt, and although grandmom was still alive, she hadn’t been doing well health-wise for some time. I knew the day would come when I’d have to take care of her financially.

Things hadn’t been easy for me, and so I’d learned some hard truths. The most important was this: when rich ass people wanted to give you something, it was sometimes best to shut up and listen.

“I’m listening,” I said.

“We’re going public in one month,” he said. “Because of Giana, several of my key investors pulled out, and now I’m left scrambling. I need some big money before we go public. Otherwise, the stock price will be cheap, and other investors might think twice about getting involved. I need to court new money, and I need to do it fast. That’s where you come in.”

“I should leave for this,” Jack said, interrupting. He stood and gave me a long look, clearly torn about something. “Millie, I’m sorry about whatever he’s going to say, and please don’t think it reflects the rest of this company. And please, please don’t sue us.” He walked out, shoulders slumped forward, and I almost felt sorry for him. He must’ve spent the majority of his life cleaning up after Rees’s messes, and based on this short meeting, there were probably a lot.

I sank back into my chair and crossed my arms, lips pursed, suddenly very aware that I was alone with Rees in this conference room, with the door shut the blinds drawn.