Razor Edge: Razor Trilogy Three (Razor Thriller Romance Novella Book 3) Read Free Page A

at Razor Industries that had Tallulah in the
subject line. Marlene said to forward them to Carsten Pullman which I did. After Joel went missing, I found a file on his computer
named Tallulah.”
    “Did you look at it?”
    “Yes, but I didn’t understand it. Tallulah
is a cement company in Seattle. That much I figured out.” There was no way I
was going to tell him that Barry and Phil were my source for this information.
“Joel seemed interested in the mix the company used for their cement. Did this
have anything to do with the plans he was working on for the Razor office in
Seattle?”
    Daniel stood up. “Let’s talk in the living
room. I want to sit down on something softer than the edge of the tub.”
    We settled on the sofa. I tucked my legs
under me, hugging the corner as far away from him as possible. Daniel didn’t
seem to notice. He was very preoccupied.
    “Joel came across some anomalies when he
started designing the new offices. He was sourcing materials, doing his usual
research—Joel isn’t a normal guy—when he’s working on a project, he needs to
see every component. He started looking into Tallulah Cement. We were embroiled
in a takeover bid for the company on Carsten’s recommendation. The deal was set to be nailed down at the next board meeting
when Joel came to me with his findings. Tallulah had made its profit by selling
cement mix at an inferior ratio than industry standard. So far, there were no
reported incidences of the cement breaking down, but in ten to twenty years,
there would be. Joel and I kept this to ourselves but we were going to vote
down the takeover bid at the meeting.”
    I didn’t say anything. So far I was
following the conflict Joel had created for Razor Industries. Carsten Pullman was a pretty powerful force in the company.
If he initiated the takeover, he would not be happy to see it squashed.
    “ Carsten met with
me to confirm he could count on Joel’s and my support. Carsten is like an uncle to us so it wasn’t easy to tell him we had reservations. I
thought he would agree with me that we should back out of the deal. Instead, he
told me that what happened ten years from now would be the stockholders’
problem. He’d make sure he got our shares out in time before the collapse.”
    I’m really stupid when it comes to business
but I understood what Carsten was up to. “Razor
Industries would acquire Tallulah Cement in Seattle in an aggressive takeover
bid right before they announced construction of new offices in Seattle. A
public offering of Tallulah stock would be issued. The value would climb
because of the announced construction and then Carsten and the Razor brothers would sell their shares for a profit. Everyone else
would lose their shirts when Tallulah went belly up due to cheap cement killing
people.”
    “Joel wouldn’t go for it and I was going to
vote it down because even if I got rich off the deal, Razor Industries could be
in danger. The lawsuits could tank the company. Carsten said the two were separate corps and there was no way it could affect the rest
of our holdings. I said it would only take one judge looking at news footage of
a collapsed bridge to disagree and the company would be bankrupt. If it could
be proved that we had prior knowledge of the faulty cement we could be held
accountable and we had prior knowledge. Joel was our prior knowledge. He’s a
majority shareholder. He doesn’t have a seat on the board but his objection to
voting for the acquisition would carry a lot of weight.”
    “How did Carsten take the news?”
    “He wasn’t happy but he seemed to accept
our decision. The board meets at the end of this month.”
    “That’s what—Thursday? Two days from now. Do
you have enough to vote down the takeover bid without Joel’s proxy?”
    “Without Joel, I can’t prove his findings
to make my case. And without his proxy, I don’t have a large enough voting
block to defeat the bid.”
    I pounded the back of the sofa.