From Betrayal to Billions

CHAPTER 17

The Withman dining hall was like a stage, and every plate setting was like a prop. Stella, dressed in navy blue silk, played the gracious hostess, while Ethan, pale and tense, looked like a man waiting for his execution.

“Mila, darling, I am so glad you came,” Stella purred as she topped up Mila’s wine glass with a vintage bottle that cost more than a car. “We simply had to clear the air after that….unfortunate misunderstanding at the penthouse.”

Mila offered a thin, professional smile. “There’s nothing to clear, Stella. It was a Buisness dinner that ended abruptly. These things happen.”

Ethan cleared his throat and traced his fingers nervously on the stem of his glass. “I owe you an apology, Mila. My behavior was….ungentlemanly. The pressure of the merger, the postponement…” He let the sentence hang like a pathetic plea for sympathy.

“The pressure is understandable,” Mila said as she kept her tone neutral, without giving nothing away. She took a small, deliberate bite of her chocolate pudding. “The market can be unforgiving.”

“Unforgiving is an understatement,” Stella said sweetly, “It is a blood sport. Which is why we need our friends now more than ever.” She leaned forward and widened her eyes. “Especially friends who have the ear of the most powerful man in the city right now.”

Mila dropped her fork. “My role is administrative, Stella. I schedule meetings. I take notes. I am hardly among his court.”

“Oh, don’t be so modest!” Stella insisted and sharpened her smile. “A man like that relies on his right hand. He trusts you. He must. Why else would he keep you so close?”

Ethan saw his opening and entered. “This Parkinson….he is crippling us, Mila. The leaked data, the stock plunge….it is a targeted attack. We just…we need to understand why. What does he want from us? If we could just have five mint to explain, to negotiate…”

“Mr Reynolds handles all negotiation,” Mila replied smoothly, her shield impeccable.

“Reynolds is a attack dog!” Ethan snapped, his composure cracking. He caught himself and lowered his voice to a desperate whisper. “He is an obstacle. We need to go around him. We need to speak to the man himself.”

Stella placed a calming hand on Mila’s arm. “What Ethan is trying say, poorly, is that we need your help. You are the only one who can get us through the door. A whispered word. A well placed memo on his desk. Surely you can do that for your oldest friend?”

The emotional blackmail was thick and obvious.

Mila raised her eyes to meet Stella’s gaze, her own eyes cool and unreadable. “Even if I wanted to, I could not. The CEO’s schedule and contacts are…highly protected. It is a matter of security.”

The mask on Stella’s face finally cracked. The sweetness evaporated which was instantly replaced by a cold, hard fury. “Security? Or loyalty to your new master?”

“It is my job, Stella.”

“Your job?” Stella scoffed. “We offered you a job for years and you turned us down. Now you are a glorified secretary for a ghost and suddenly it is a sacred calling?”

Ethan jumped in, as he tried to salvage the sinking ship. “We are not asking you to betray him. Just to facilitate a conversation. A private meeting. No Reynolds. No lawyers. Just him and us. You could arrange it. You know you could.”

Mila looked from Ethan’s desperate face to Stella’s icy glare, She took a slow sip of wine, to buy a moment to think. “And what would I tell him is the purpose of this meeting? After your company signed a contract and then immediately became mixed up in a scandal that devalued his new asset?”

“To find a way out!” Ethan pleaded. “To make a new deal! He is wining, don’t you see? He can name his price. We just need to hear it from him.”

Mila finally shook her head. “It is not within my power. My advice is to work through the proper channels. With Mr Reynolds.”

The silence that followed was deafening and the pretense was over.

Stella leaned back in her chair, as all traces of friendship gone from her face. “Fine. If you won’t help us as a friend, perhaps you will help yourself.” Her voice was a low, striking whip. “Arrange a private meeting between Ethan and the CEO. Do that, and I will personally see to it that you never have to worry about money again. A million. In cash. Untraceable.”

Mila’s blood ran cold, but her expression didn’t change. “Are you bribing me, Stella?”

“I am persuading you,” she corrected. “Your loyalty is admirable, Mila. But is it worth your future? Is it worth being on the losing side when this whole house cards comes down?”

Ethan watched as his hope sparked up again. “Just a meeting, Mila. That is all. You set the time and place. We will do the rest.”

Mila placed her napkin neatly on the table and stood up. The dinner was over.

“The Parkinson Group is not a house of cards, Stella,” she said quietly. “It is a fortress. And you are not trying to get in. You are trying to keep it from crushing you.”

She looked at Ethan with pity in her eyes. “And you are not asking for a meeting. You are asking for a surrender. And that,” she said and turned to leave, “is far above my pay grade.”

She walked out, leaving the two of them in the ruins of their failed plot and the cold truth that they had just made a very powerful enemy.