Page 20 of Untamed Billionaire
“Marco, I’ve come to welcome you to the family and introduce you to several of my friends.” He turned, lifting his arm as if to summon the others. “This is Bill Jennings, and I think the two of you have some business to discuss, although that will have to wait.” He chuckled as if making a hilarious joke. “This is Tom Meyers,” Charles continued. “Tom’s in banking, and is more than happy to handle all of your banking needs. He’ll give you excellent rates, now that you’re part of the family, son.” Marco shook Tom’s hand as well, then turned to the fourth member of the group. “And this is Bob Handleman. He can’t really help you right now, since he’s head of his own construction company, but I thought you might need him later once you and Chloe build your own place.” He chuckled, glancing at Marco with a wink. “After the wedding, of course!”
All four men laughed, but Marco wasn’t sure he understood the joke. “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” he said, gesturing to the sitting area. “Please, have a seat.” Marco tried not to glance at his watch and valiantly hid his irritation at this interruption. He had a meeting in ten minutes and had wanted to get a call in to his manager in Tokyo before heading into it. Mentally sighing, he accepted that the call would have to wait.
“Can I get you gentlemen some coffee? Or perhaps something cold?”
Charles laughed, slapping his hand on his knee. “Bring out the good stuff, son!” He elbowed Tom in the arm. “We’ll have to train the boy, won’t we?”
The four men laughed as if Charles had said something hilarious. But Marco merely stood up and took out a bottle of excellent scotch and five glasses. “If you insist,” he said to the gentlemen, surreptitiously glancing at his watch. Nine minutes, he thought. No way in hell he was going to miss the meeting simply because a group of alcoholics wanted to swindle him. Bill Jennings was nearly bankrupt, and Marco would be damned if he’d pay the storage rates the man was demanding. Tom’s bank was a local shop that wasn’t sophisticated enough to handle Marco’s business. Hell, the man’s bank wasn’t even large enough to handle his Charleston business! Plus, the guy made most of his profits off of sub-prime lending, which was legal but predatory and, in Marco’s mind, unethical. If the man couldn’t make it in business ethically, then he needed to get the hell out of the way so that others could offer their services.
Marco poured a finger of scotch for each of the men, but remained standing, stunned when the four of them slammed back the scotch in one swallow. This was fifty-year-old scotch, he thought with irritation. It was meant to be savored! These idiots had no appreciation for the vintage.
“Damn, that’s good!” Tom hissed as he held out his glass for another round.
Marco poured, only half listening as the men started joking about Lisbeth Montgomery, a financial analyst who worked down the hall they must have seen before coming to Marco’s office.
“She’s a fine bit of goods, isn’t she?” Bill joked. He turned to Marco, his eyes already glazed over, indicating that they must have started drinking even before their arrival here at ten o’clock. “Have you tapped that pretty thing already?”
Marco was disgusted. “I don’t sexually harass the female members of my staff,” he told the man succinctly. “Surely you respect the women that help your businesses flourish?”
The men gave him another stunned look, then all four of them burst out laughing. “Marco, seriously, you’ve got to unbend a bit! Relax! The ladies enjoy a bit of flirting during the workday!” Tom replied. “It helps pass the time during the tedious work hours.”
Marco shook his head. “No. The women in my employ are treated with respect.”
Charles chuckled, shaking his head. “We’re not talking about sexual harassment. It’s just flirting, son! The ladies love it! They don’t mind at all!”
“Have you asked the women on your staff if they mind your ‘flirting’, Charles?” he asked, his eyes flinty now. “I suspect that they might have a different opinion.”
“Eh, you’re too serious!” Bill replied, grabbing the bottle of scotch now and pouring himself a large portion before leaning back against the leather sofa again. “Where did you go to school?”
Marco glared at the man, trying hard to hide his revulsion. “Actually, I don’t have a degree.”
The four of them stopped laughing and stared at Marco. “You didn’t attend a college?”
Marco shrugged. “I didn’t even graduate from high school.” He wasn’t ashamed of his lack of a formal education. In fact, everyone’s disdain for his lack only made him want to crush anyone who thought they were smarter simply because he didn’t have a diploma from an expensive school on the wall.
Charles was silent for a moment, then he leaned forward, the empty glass dangling from his fingers between his knees. “You didn’t…?” then he stopped. A second later, he started laughing again. “He’s just kidding, guys!” Charles announced to his cronies. “Hudson probably went to Oxford or some other place with Laird MacGregor!” He shook his head and poured himself more scotch. “What a kidder!”
Marco didn’t bother to contradict the pompous drunk. Instead, he set his glass down on the low coffee table and stepped back. “Gentlemen,” he started, using the term loosely, “I have a meeting. Feel free to enjoy another drink in my absence.”
And with that, he walked out of his office while his mind worked on ways to put Jennings and Meyers out of business. He didn’t have to worry about crushing his future father-in-law. The man’s son was doing that for him already.
However, he pulled out his cell phone and left a message for his assistant. “Find out which man drove here and discover the license plate of their vehicle. Then call the police and warn them that the vehicle is being operated by a drunk driver.”
Marco wasn’t calling the police out of malicious intent. He was doing that because the men in his office were completely drunk and, he suspected that they would continue to drink until the bottle was empty. Their inebriation was putting innocent lives at risk and that wasn’t something he would allow.
Charles waved the glass of scotch back and forth, unconcerned if the pricey liquid spilled out onto the man’s carpet. His friends didn’t notice the look of abject hatred on Charles’ face. They were too busy guzzling down another round of the bastard’s alcohol. The idiots didn’t care that the man had just humiliated Charles! They were too busy getting wasted. He lifted the glass to his lips and slung back the scotch, wishing that it was bourbon. But he wasn’t particular at the moment. He was humiliated and needed to figure out a way to punish the man!
No formal education? What the hell? Charles could have endured the embarrassment of having a son-in-law that had attended a public university. But he couldn’t accept his daughter being married to a man without any university education! College gave a man connections. One joined a fraternity and those men became brothers for life! When one was in trouble, the men stood up for their brothers, no matter what the circumstances!
No connections! That was unheard of! It was…it was a humiliation!
He took another gulp of the scotch, accepting that the man had excellent taste in alcohol. But Charles just couldn’t accept that the man was going to be a member of his family! His illustrious family tree would be sullied by a nobody!
No, this just couldn’t happen.
However, the bastard did have money. A hell of a lot of it, if the rumors were true! More money than…Charles looked around at his friends and acknowledged that, if the rumors were true, his future son-in-law had more money than all of his cronies combined. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that the bastard had more money than the perceived net worth of all of his friends.
Perhaps he should wait until after the wedding to put his plans into motion. Yes, it would be better after Chloe had access to all of the man’s money!
