Lured In (Dark Paradise, #1) Read Free Page A

got a fair deal when the two companies merged. I’d been hard at work since hearing of the merger when I had arrived at work at 8:30 a.m. during a quick morning briefing with my dad, stepdad, and other execs. The talk of this spontaneous merger had apparently started last night, without my knowledge, and for some reason, my dad and stepdad thought that merging would benefit us greatly. Needless to say, I had been given virtually no time to research Health Choice and its board members. I took what little information we had on the company from Ernie, my stepdad’s brother and the chief financial officer, and worked from that.
    Health Choice was successful and had all the resources to thrive on its own, which puzzled the hell out of me. Why would this well-established company want to merge with our small company that was relatively in its infancy? They’d been in business for twelve years, far longer than we had, and were ten percent owned by a group of five physicians and ninety percent owned by a silent partner, an angel investor who had become majority owner of the group practice seven years ago. Furthermore, it was this ninety-percent owner who had proposed the merger in the first place.
    I had no business degree—in fact, no degree at all—but I was shrewd and savvy enough to know how to manage the hell out of a $32.7-million-a-year business. I’d started working for my dad and stepdad about ten months ago. Back then the practice had not been in the best shape, financially and publicly. The practice saw a ton of patients daily, but despite this, cash flow had been a major issue.
    After a few weeks working there, I put together what little knowledge I had gathered from Georgetown and my God-given common sense to write a new business plan. The financial proposal required $10 million to restructure a “thriving” private practice. Without my dad’s and stepdad’s knowledge, I falsified the company’s financial and business information and presented the financial proposal to Right Choice Bank. After three weeks of back and forth, they granted me the funds, under a few conditions. With the $10 million in hand, I called my family for an unusual Wednesday dinner.

    We usually had family dinner on Sunday nights at a different family member’s home. I had cooked all of our favorite foods and bought our favorite wines and champagnes as usual. Of course, my family was very surprised by my sudden Wednesday dinner, but they went along with it. After we all ate and drank well, I assembled everyone on the third level of my penthouse. I poured everyone of age more bubbly and told them the reason for the midweek dinner.
    “I know every one of you is wondering why I called you here tonight, so I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. I asked you here to talk about the health of Capitol Health.”
    “Gosh, Abi. I knew you were up to something. Leave the health of Capitol Health to those of us that know what we’re doing—those of us who’ve been there since its establishment,” Lauren, my evil stepsister, harshly commented. She was tall with a medium build. She had blue eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, and a natural olive skin tone.
    I looked at her pointedly and said, “I’ve been working at Capitol Health long enough to know that business isn’t looking good, inside or out. Cash flow could be—”
    “Really, Abi? Do you always have to create a problem when there is none? Why do you even care about cash flow? Gabe makes sure you and Gabi are well taken care of,” Lauren commented again.
    I ignored her and continued. “I’m not talking about me, Lauren. I’m talking about the cash flow at the practice, which could be better than what it is now. Also, most of the staff is horrible. Only a handful of them take pride in the work they do, and the others lack work ethic, proper training, and are very insubordinate, which is evident by the negative public reviews. Needless to say, we need immediate