Ray strolled in and claimed the last empty chair at the table. Elvin slipped into a narrow spot on the bench next to Mike, Jade Harbour’s legal counsel.
“Nice of you to grace us with your presence,” Mike whispered to him.
Elvin rolled his eyes. “Monday morning.”
“Now that we’re all here...” Joanna looked pointedly at Ray. “Let’s get started.”
She spoke from the front of the room, where she sat with her long legs crossed, hands steepled by her chin. She sat a little back from the conference table, where she’d placed a giant binder. It contained the most up-to-date information on all Jade Harbour investments and potential investments, everything from monthly financial statements, budget-to-actual reporting, key performance indicators, supply and demand analyses, down to the most recent hiring decisions at each portfolio company. Elvin had no doubt that she had every word on every page memorized. She was one of those people.
A couple junior investment professionals stood and opened a presentation on the TV that spanned nearly one entire wall. They launched into a progress report on a portfolio company that Elvin wasn’t familiar with. All he knew was that Ray wasn’t working on that company, which meant it wasn’t relevant to him.
As he zoned out, Elvin’s gaze wandered the room, taking in his coworkers. Some of them were listening intently. Others looked about as engaged as he was. Everyone was dressed immaculately in well-tailored suits or dresses, not one hair out of place. After years at the company, Elvin had mostly gotten used to this world where a single watch could cost twice as much as his parents’ car, where thousand-dollar handbags were never more than a season old. But there were times when he marveled at it all. So different from his working-class upbringing where hand-me-downs were considered new.
His gaze landed on Ray, the epitome of this world. Elvin wasn’t exactly sure how wealthy Ray’s family was. He’d looked it up at one point and the Chao family’s net worth had been so high that the number had meant nothing to Elvin. It was well known in the company that Ray didn’t need this job at Jade Harbour. His family had more money than he could realistically spend in one lifetime. But he still worked—and worked fairly hard—like it was some sort of pet project, something to occupy his time. This was usually spoken of with more than a hint of derision, but Elvin was quick to squelch it whenever he could. So what if Ray didn’t need to work? He was here and Jade Harbour was lucky to have him. Ray had saved Jade Harbour from unexpected losses, public humiliation, and generally cleaned up other people’s messes more times than Elvin could count. Rather than scolding him for being late, they should be thanking him for showing up at all.
“Ray?”
All heads turned to him and Elvin scrambled to figure out what they were talking about. On the TV screen was a chart labeled with the name of a portfolio company that Ray had helped out with a while ago.
“I’ve got it handled.” Ray sat low in his chair, leaning to one side with an elbow propped on the armrest like it was the only thing keeping him upright. “They’ve got more than enough dirty laundry that I’m sure they don’t want aired. A couple phone calls should be enough to get them on board with our plan.”
“Good.” Joanna turned to the young woman standing at the front of the room. “Anything else?”
“Nothing else.” The young woman took her seat.
“What’s next?”
“Caron Paper.” A young man took control of the TV screen and brought up the next set of slides. “As you can see from this graph here, we’re in a good place to take the company public. It is ahead of our original investment schedule, but with the current market conditions, an initial public offering would give us a generous return on investment.”
The young man clutched the remote control in his hands and stared wide-eyed at Joanna. Despite how full the room was, it was eerily silent. An occasional flutter of paper, or squeak of an office chair, but otherwise, the loudest sound was the hum of the building’s air-conditioning system.
Joanna studied the TV screen, her expression inscrutable. Listing a company on the stock market was a massive undertaking and usually took months and months of preparation. To make such a recommendation ahead of the anticipated schedule was ballsy. If they pulled it off, it could be the most profitable deal in Jade Harbour’s history. But if they didn’t, bankruptcy wouldn’t be out of the question.
Without turning, Joanna spoke. “Ray, I want a top to bottom audit. Leave no stone unturned. If there’s even one dust bunny in Caron’s closet, I want it dissected. If they get a clean bill from you, then we can talk about an IPO.”
“You got it,” Ray responded immediately before shooting a quick look at Elvin.
Elvin gave him a slight nod in response. They were on the job.
Chapter Two
“Ray, my man!” Ming stood in the middle of Ray’s office with his arms held out like he was presenting himself for Ray’s inspection.
From behind his desk, Ray sighed. “Hello, Ming.”
Ray liked to think he got along with everyone, or at least most people. But there was something about Ming that annoyed the hell out of him. He was too friendly, too familiar. Like he wanted to be best friends just a little too desperately.
“I finally managed to get on your calendar!” Ming grinned like he’d won the lottery as he helped himself to one of the guest chairs.
Ray gave him a tight smile and nodded. “Yep.”
“You’re a busy guy!”
Not nearly as busy as he should be, given Ming was in his office. “Yep.”
“Whew.” Ming shook his head like landing a meeting with Ray had taken a physical toll on him. “I really had to work that assistant of yours. He’s a tough cookie to get through.” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb in the direction of Elvin’s desk outside Ray’s office.
“You mean Elvin? He has a name.”
“Yeah, yeah, Elvin. I know his name.” Ming chuckled as if Ray’s comment was ridiculous. “Of course I know Elvin. He’s got good taste.”
Ray’s eyebrows shot up. What the hell did Ming know about Elvin’s tastes? “Excuse me?”
“You know, musical theater!” Ming wiggled his fingers in a poor imitation of jazz hands. “We’ve been chatting about the shows coming through Toronto this season!”
Musical theater. Right. It was one of Elvin’s rare hobbies, about the only thing he talked about aside from work and family. Ray hadn’t realized Ming was a fan as well. How often had they been chatting exactly and why hadn’t Elvin mentioned anything about it to him? Hrm.
Ming was still talking. Something about some show Ray had never heard of. He raised a hand to stop Ming. “What did you want to talk about?”