Swimming with Sharks Read Free Page B

guests for a moment of attention. He gave a brief speech, but she didn’t catch a single word of it. She noticed that Vitali’s unsettling gaze rested on her, and she was torn between an instinctive aversion and a strange fascination. He unnerved her, and she wasn’t sure whether she liked it. Nevertheless, he proved to be a very entertaining and attentive conversationalist.
    Vitali introduced her to his friend and lawyer, Nelson van Mieren, who was the exact opposite of him: short, chubby, and bald, with a friendly smile on his bulging lips. His quick, small eyes, hovering above his plump cheeks, belied harmlessness. After midnight, van Mieren said good-bye. Suddenly Alex found herself completely alone with Vitali on the terrace. She had drunk much more champagne than usual, and her initial wariness quickly turned into a thrilling curiosity. It was two thirty when she realized that she had talked only to Sergio Vitali for the entire evening. She thanked Zack for the invitation and politely but firmly refused Vitali’s offer to drive her home. Alex left the party with a tingly feeling, certain that she had left a lasting impression on one of the most influential men in the city.

     
    On this Friday afternoon in September, Mark Ashton sat at his desk on the LMI Building’s fourteenth floor. His boss sat behind office doors, while his desk was in a cubicle. But this didn’t bother him. He enjoyed his work because it provided a welcome diversion from his private life, which was less than thrilling. About twelve years ago, the Harvard graduate and lawyer wound up on Wall Street. After six years at one of New York’s law firms, he joined LMI. But he’d failed miserably on the trading floor because he wasn’t cut out for the hustle and stress; he wasn’t greedy and ruthless enough to be successful.
    Human resources had moved him to a position in syndication at his own request, and he’d been quite happy there for three years. Detailed calculations, financial statements, and financial analyses were more to his liking. When the new head of M&A was searching for someone good at mundane number-crunching, Mark applied on a whim and got the job. He didn’t regret it one bit. M&A was an exciting business.
    Mark paused for a second, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. Alex Sontheim was the smartest and most competent boss he’d ever had. She managed to motivate her team like no one else. She noticed every error and registered all weaknesses, but she never exposed anyone publicly. Ashton quickly realized that he shouldn’t enter her office unprepared. Praise from Alex was a rare event, and the team she’d formed from this mixed group soon felt a sense of devotion that was unparalleled in the egocentric world of Wall Street. The entire department worked late into the night and on weekends without complaint. Closed deals were celebrated after work at the St. John’s Inn, Luna Luna, or Reggie’s at Hanover Square.
    For the first time, Mark felt like an integral member of an efficient team, and he owed it all to Alex. If for no other reason than that, he decided to pledge loyalty to her. He especially wanted to find out whether she’d be interested in what he had uncovered about a potential client during his research. His findings seemed suspect, and Mark wasn’t sure what to make of it.
    The Wisconsin-based Hanson paper mill was one of the largest paper mills in the country, and they had shown interest in acquiring the prestigious, but almost bankrupt, American Road Map publishing company. Mark questioned the motivation behind this because he couldn’t identify any good reason for it. In order to find out more about the company, he researched the Hanson paper mill and discovered to his surprise that it was owned by a holding company called SeViCo from Panama. SeViCo was owned in turn by a company called Sunset Properties, which hadincorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 1985. No information was available