WHERE ENDS MEET

CHAPTERONE

The scene was one of chaos and Anna was at its epicenter. Four months of slaving at this office and nothing to show for it. From where she sat, it looked like a tornado had hit her office and nothing had been spared. It was late into the night, all her staff had gone home for the day, but she was still in, burning the proverbial midnight candle. She had stacks of papers scattered around her, the files from the several deals she had been pursuing were laid before her like banquets, undesirable to feast on. They were the reason for her current dilemma and there was no escaping them this night. She kept perusing every document to see if there was something she had left out, a clause she had overlooked, just a slither of silver lining.

Anna’s office was as minimalist as it was efficient, a rectangular box with four walls. Anna wasn’t one for finery, she believed in the practicality of an office and made sure to reflect that in her space. A single long office table with 2 leather chairs, a sofa which she sometimes used when she got tired of the rigidity of the table and chair. She wasn’t one for pictures and portraits and so, only had frames of her degrees and diplomas hanging on the wall and a single wall clock. The display case behind her showed every award and recognition the company had received in her years there displayed on the top shelves. The lower shelves had books and a few art pieces. They were all the interior decorator could convince her to add to give the space ‘soul’. She wasn’t playing around, and everyone should see it. Her table was usually devoid of items except for a single potted plant to her right and a pen holder to her left. The color patterns ran from beige to brown, the only exception being the plant’s green. She loved everything looking efficient and straight to business.

Looking at the clock, she realized it was almost midnight. The clock was one of the few items she allowed to remain of the office décor when she had first taken over. That was over seven years ago. It was a rich dark brown color with the numbers engraved in gold, she still felt it fit the office. Every other thing she had asked to be replaced; they reminded her of the person who occupied this office before she did and that was the last thing she needed hovering over her as she tried to get the company out of the pit it was in. As the years went on, it seems she had found herself right where he left off.

Anna got up and began pacing, several thoughts running through her mind, but none were what she wanted. The meeting with the accounting officer was one she had been avoiding for weeks but she couldn’t put it off any longer as she cornered her in her office this morning. Anna was faced with the reality of Dune Pharmaceuticals’ financials and there was no sugarcoating it, unless she had a miracle up her sleeves, they were bankrupt. The company’s financials were something that had been a concern for the last year and a half and Anna had pulled every trick from her hat to keep it at bay, but now she was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. She had to declare bankruptcy and let nature take its course or agree to the only big pharma company who was would be willing to help. None of these were what she wanted. The banks weren’t loaning any more, the drug trials were not as successful as they had thought they would and had bled them dry over the past three years and now the sharks were swarming in. Four of the five big pharma companies were all set to feast on the carcass of her company which they knew would be coming soon if nothing was done, Anna believed they had a hand in making sure nothing could be done. Silver Pharma gave a glimmer of hope and even then, there was a brick wall in her way.

No smaller pharmaceutical company was willing to risk merging, she knew this as she had meeting with over forty of them. The scattered files on her table were proof of her futile feat. Dune was too much of a liability to carry on and no smart businessperson would either. She had just one option left, she had to outsmart Silver Pharma, she had to outsmart Bart Kennedy. It was no news to anyone what Bart Kennedy felt towards women. He still saw them as some simple-minded pansies with no mind of their own and if they had to do business together, they had to have a husband by their side. His condescending look anytime he had to face a woman at any board meeting was no news to people within the industry. Anna had never had personal dealings with him but the stories of his comments towards Dune being headed by a woman was no news to her. She knew Bart referred to her as ‘that girl’ whenever she was brought up during industry discussions, a reflection of his misogyny and blatant disregard for her and her achievements. If she was to bring her company’s business to him, she had to come married.

Sell off her company for parts, wait for the hammer to drop and declare bankruptcy or get married and do business with Silver Pharma were all the options she was left with. For all her years running this business, she never foresaw herself running into this dilemma, more so having to contemplate marriage to save the company. A vowed spinster who had long given up on love or any illusions of it, and yet here she sat contemplating it. Whatever cruel gods cast her lot must have a field day making jokes at her expense.