"Jesus Christ, Garrett, you don't think we're making real money?" Nick bellowed in disbelief.
"It's time to expand, Nick. Structural leverage, that's what it's all about. We can make a shit-fuck ton of cash."
The two men stared each other down while Courtney tried to get a grip. Dissension in the family was not a good thing.
At Nick's continued silence, Garrett began to state his case. "It'll be straightforward. We form an investment LLC. We fund it, open subsidiaries--"
Nick cut him off in a tone that dripped impatience. "I know how a holding company works, Garrett. But there's a problem you're not considering. Damian and I don't like debt of any kind and you know it."
When Garrett narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, Courtney glanced at Nick. As the silence continued to pulse between the two men, she took a deep breath and said what she was thinking, "Yeah, but the risk would be minimal. It's an amazing idea."
Nick turned to her with an expression she couldn't read, but she never floundered, continuing, "You ought to at least consider it, Nick. Like Garrett said, you could buy the investments through an array of LLCs. You'd actually only have to contribute a small, fixed percentage to each, and you'd draw up an operating agreement that would allow other investors to buy in." As the two brothers listened, their attention fixed on her, Courtney continued, "If the remainder of the debt for each investment was financed through secured, non-recourse loans, then your actual risk would be negligible."
As Courtney's words came to a halt, Nick appeared pole-axed while Garrett broke out into a huge grin and said to her, "Told you that MBA would be a good thing." Then he turned to Nick. "And I told you; she's mine."
When the last two words left Garrett's lips, Nick turned to his brother with fury in his eyes. "She's not yours and you best not ever say that again."
A long moment of heated silence filled the room as the two brothers stared at each other.
"What the fuck, Nick?" Garrett hissed.
"Was it your idea for her to stay the extra two years in Florida?" Nick asked hotly.
"No, I only supported her decision to get her master's degree," Garrett replied.
As Garrett watched his brother with a look of confusion on his face, Nick took a deep breath and stuck to the original conversation. "We have two issues here. One is the question of forming a holding company and if we're going to do it--"
Garret cut him off. "I'm doing it. The question is whether or not my brothers want in on it."
Nick glared and continued, "And the other issue is Courtney. She's not working for you, and that's final."
Courtney felt a hot jolt of anger at that decision being made for her. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked sarcastically.
"You're not working for him," Nick restated as he turned his glare on her.
Suddenly so mad that she could barely breathe, she snapped, "I don't think you get to make that decision."
Nick blasted her with a look and then glanced over at Garrett who'd suddenly gone still and was watching them once again with suspicion.
Nick turned back to her and Courtney could tell he was at least trying to control his impatience. "He travels all over the world, sweetheart. Personally, I think we make enough money within the U.S., but if he wants to chase after more, I can't stop him. Overseas travel is dangerous, and you're not doing it."
Courtney stared at Nick. Why she was surprised? This was exactly Nick's method of operation and why it should shock her now she didn't know. She had a couple of different thoughts clamoring for room in her brain. The first and foremost was the fact that Nick couldn't be allowed to get away with treating her as if she were his puppet to control, and the second was that, in this instance, it was going to be difficult to prove her independence because she didn't want to travel overseas on business. Within the U.S. would be okay, but she didn't want to live out of a suitcase for the foreseeable future and she wasn't a traveler by nature.
So what was she supposed to say? She decided to ignore his over-the-top behavior and turned to Garrett instead. "Thanks for having such faith in my abilities. Even though your brother is wrong when he thinks he can make decisions for me," she turned and gave Nick a glare for good measure before turning back to Garrett, "regardless of that, I don't want to travel all over the world."
Garrett answered back swiftly, "You both have it wrong. I don't need you overseas at all. I need somebody focused, somebody trustworthy and ambitious to run things here while I'm gone. You're the perfect person. You're smart, that can't be denied. You're family so there's no question of your loyalty. But I'm sorry if we made an assumption that you'd want to work with us. Erin has fit in perfectly and we just assumed after you came home that you'd want to come on board, too. If I was wrong, I apologize."