AN: This is still Madison's friend It's come to my attention that I probably upload a chapter that everyone has already read. I sincerely apologize. I'm trying to get better at this. can I request if you have any frustrations or negative comments to share in the reviews. Please address them to me. Because as I've stated before it is not Madison's fault I can't figure out what I'm doing. I truly thought I'd be able to help her and I think all I'm doing is adding more stress to her life. But we'll see how the update goes.
Chpt. 5: Ana's POV:
"Ms. Steele?" Stacy knocks on my door.
"Come in Stacy" I wave to an empty chair in front of my desk.
"Here's your cup of tea" she hands me a fresh cup of hot tea. "I thought we could review your schedule?"
"Of course…thank you" I say.
"I have a flight booked for you to Seattle tomorrow morning and hotel reservations at The Heathman which is only a few blocks from SIP. The reservations for three weeks but they are aware you may extend the reservation longer if you do not find a permanent residence. I have a realtor sending you several listings via email however I have asked her to hold off on scheduling any appointments until next week. You will arrive Wednesday mid afternoon in Seattle; there is nothing on your schedule when you arrive. Thursday morning you have a meeting with Mr. Roach at SIP" Stacy explains.
"Perfect, thank you Stacy" I say dismissing her.
"Oh Stacy?" I ask before she exits the office.
"Yes Ms. Steele" Stacy replies.
"Can you please ask Bob to pull information on a company called Seattle E books?" I ask.
"Yes Ms. Steele" Stacy answers closing the door behind her.
Over the weekend I was researching the downtown Seattle area and found a small company called Seattle E books which appears to focus exclusively on electronic books. This is the area that SIP is lacking in as they have yet to branch into the world of electronic publications which is where the industry is moving towards. It would make sense to try to bring Seattle E books under the umbrella of SIP which would allow both companies to continue successfully in the industry. The key will be seeing if Seattle E books is struggling financially so I can use that angle to purchase the company. If not I will need to find a different angle to approach the owners with. Bob, my head of finance, should be able to access their financial records relatively quickly and provide his opinion on the best approach to motivate the owners to sell.
I am excited to be returning to Seattle tomorrow; I really enjoyed my time in Portland when I was in college. I had always hoped to stay in Seattle but when I received a job offer in New York I couldn't refuse and picked up and moved across the country. Of course Kate was devastated as we had always assumed we would both move to Seattle after graduation. However we have stayed in touch over the years, talking at least weekly and have even been able to see each other when vacations allowed. Most of my key personnel have agreed to move to Seattle with the company however a few have decided to take positions elsewhere and I have provided them with a generous bonus with recommendations. All who have chosen not to relocate have found comparable positions already which I am pleased about. Stacy and Bob have both agreed to relocate; neither of which I could have done without. They will follow me in the next two months once we have everything at SIP established and the office here is closed.
The day passes by quickly as I prepare everything I need to bring to Seattle. Stacy will arrange for most of the office to be packed and ship over the next couple of weeks therefore I am only taking what I think I will need. If I forget something I will either purchase it in Seattle or have Stacy send it overnight to SIP. Picking up and moving across country this time is less nerve wracking than when I first moved to New York since I knew no one in this state let alone this very large city. However New York has since became my home and I am going to miss the hustle and bustle of the city when I return to Seattle.
"Ms. Steele?" Stacy interrupts my thoughts knocking on the door.
"Yes Stacy" I answer.
"Bob is here for you" She says.
"Please send him in" I reply.
Bob has been with me almost since day one and I have come to trust his financial guidance and insight. He absolutely refuses to allow anyone to call him Mr. Jones or even Robert, insisting everyone call him Bob.
"Are you ready for your trip Ms. Steele?" Bob asks sitting in the chair across from me.
"I believe so, how about you? Are the kids excited?" I ask.
"They can't wait!" Bob exclaims proudly. "They have already started packing even though we don't leave for several weeks yet! Thank you again for setting up the long term apartment rental for us; I think you were right that we will need some time in Washington before we decide where we want to buy a house."
"No problem" I reply. "Do you have the information on Seattle E books?"
We spend the next hour carefully reviewing the financial records of Seattle E books. Bob recommends that we make an offer to purchase using the financial distress angle as they will likely have to file for bankruptcy in the next year or two without additional support. They have done an outstanding job in marketing themselves with electronic publications but they are missing out purchases by those who still like a good hard covered book. Bob agrees that we should look to have them head up the electronic publication division of SIP if we were to successfully merge the two companies. This would allow SIP to take the industry by storm; having both key publication mechanisms under the same roof. I asked Stacy to arrange a meeting with the owners of Seattle E books for Friday or early Monday morning.
Seattle, Thursday Morning still Ana's POV:
"Good Morning Ms. Steele" Mr. Roach says as I enter his office.
"Morning Mr. Roach" I reply.
"We have a tour of the office scheduled for you this morning which we will end at your new office. Stacy has shipped several boxes here already which we have unpacked and filed in your office per her specifications. You have a meeting scheduled with HR to review all personnel files at 11am followed by a meeting with finance at 2pm" Mr. Roach explains.
"Thank you" I say.
The day is spent touring the building, introducing myself to various staff members and meeting with key personnel. I quickly miss Stacy and how smoothly she had my office run as I find myself disorganized and confused as to where everything has been placed. It's going to be a long couple of weeks until Stacy is able to move out here as she needs to tie up loose ends at the other office however she will continue to assist me from a distance when possible. After meeting with HR, I realize we have a few personnel issues that will need to be addressed relatively quickly. I have requested all new background checks be completed on all employees seeing as though many have been with SIP for several years without new background checks run. There are a few who have questionable criminal records which I need to look into further and a couple others who should have been terminated for poor job performance some time ago. Overall though there were no major surprises from when we reviewed everything before the purchase was finalized.
I have a meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Snyder, the owners of Seattle E books tomorrow morning which I'm excited about. They are a husband and wife team who started the company almost five years ago; she has published several electronic novels while he seems to be the one who runs the business itself. I spend the night learning as much as I can about the couple and the business from the information that Bob provided me.
"Good Morning, I have an appointment with Mr. and Mrs. Snyder" I say after being greeted by the administrative assistant.
"Please have a seat and I will let them know you are here" a young woman dressed casually says.
"Ms. Steele, please follow me" the young woman says a short time later.
I am shown into a small conference room where a middle aged couple sits at the table talking quietly. One look at them and you can tell they are happily married; they rarely take their eyes off of one another and smile casually at each other. I quickly make a small tweak to my approach, given they seem to be the type to be less motivated about the money and more motivated by the business itself. I know that if I am going to be successful I need to appeal to the both of them which means talking about the finances but also focusing on her passion for writing and books.
"Good Morning Ms. Steele" Mr. Snyder says shaking my hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you" I say shaking both of their hands. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me."
"We were hesitant at first but your assistant can be very persuading" Mrs. Snyder says.
"That she can" I say laughing; Stacy is very good at what she does.
"Before we begin, I want to be honest with you and let you know that we had a meeting yesterday with another company who is interested in purchasing our company as well" Mr. Snyder says.
This surprises me, however I try to hide any signs of it from my face. Nothing came up in Bob's review of the company so it must be a very new interest. This puts a little more pressure on me but I am confident that I can appeal to both the owners.
"I appreciate your honesty," I begin. "However, I want to make it clear that I am not interested in purchasing your company in the typical sense."
"I'm sorry?" Mr. Snyder says obviously confused.
"Let me explain" I provide them both with the written proposal. "As you may know, I have recently purchased Seattle Independent Publishing which is located just a couple of blocks away. I am proposing that rather than purchasing your company and operating two separate companies that we merge the two companies. You would still maintain the hold you currently have the electronic publishing portion of the industry while SIP would maintain the printed publication section. You both are struggling because you are missing the other consumers; this proposal brings you both together. Mrs. Snyder, can you imagine the electronic novels you have published in written format? Think about the broader audience you could attract."
"I have felt like we are missing people who don't have e readers" Mrs. Snyder says quietly.
"How would this work?" Mr. Snyder says sitting up straighter, now taking interest.
"Well, from what I can tell you seem to have a very strong team working for you as you have managed to publish several high selling electronic publications. Unless you disagree, I would recommend you maintain all your key personnel so you don't lose the foot you have in this industry" I explain. "By partnering with SIP, you would begin electronically publishing their material as well as your own. This would likely mean you would need additional staff, however there might be staff at SIP who could assist or we could seek outside assistance. SIP in turn would publish your higher selling electronic material that we believe would result in high consumer purchasing. We will have weekly staff meetings involving the heads of both companies where we would decide what material are published, when and how."
"I see…."Mr. Snyder says taking it all in.
"We would share resources between the two companies including HR, financial, payroll, accounting, etc… however we would look to maintain staff from both companies where possible. This would be the only place I would anticipate seeing staffing concerns however rest assured that any staff who were not retained would be offered a significant compensation plan for their troubles along with letters of references" I explain further.
"This is a lot to take in" Mrs. Snyder sighs.
"Of course, trust me I understand this decision is not an easy one for you to make" I smile at both of them. "However, I think it's only important for your two to remain involved and in control over the company that you built together. This is your baby, it's not going to be easy to let someone else influence it. However, I think we need to provide it with some encouragement and opportunity if it is going to grow."
"Thank you for your time, we will contact you in the next day or two" Mr. Snyder says walking me out.
The next couple of days pass by and I am on more on edge than ever. With everything up in the air with Seattle E Books, the changes with SIP and the move I find myself spinning out of control. I am more in need than ever of someone else taking control. A couple times I have been tempted to find a BDSM club in Seattle but I'm hesitant since I don't know the city and I'm in the middle of a major deal. What if someone in the industry saw me? What if the club wasn't as secure as I thought? What if another company can buy the member information?
Christian's POV:
"Andrea! Get me Ros!" I bellow.
"Yes Mr. Grey" Andrea responds quickly closing the door behind her.
"Why Hello Christian" Ros says entering my office. "So nice of you to ask to seem me."
"What is going on with the Seattle E Books deal? Weren't we supposed to have a decision by now?" I ask, ignoring her tone.
"They were supposed to provide us with a decision yesterday however they called and requested a two day extension. It turns out someone else has approached them and they want time to consider each proposal" she explains.
"What? Who is the other company?" I demand; when we met with them earlier in the week there was no one else expressing interest.
"From what we can tell it's SIP" Ros answers.
"What? I thought they were in financial trouble as well" I'm confused now. I briefly looked into SIP however decided I wanted to follow technology which led me to Seattle E Books.
"SIP was recently purchased and it seems the new owners have met with Seattle E Books" Ros explains.
"Who is the new owner of SIP?" I ask.
"Anastasia Steele of New York" Ros answers.
"Who the fuck is she? What is she doing purchasing SIP if she is in New York?" I scream.
"It seems she owned a relatively small publishing company in New York that had several bestselling authors' sign with it. Her company actually did very well considering the size" Ros explains without flinching at my outburst. "The sale of SIP was finalized a couple of weeks ago however since you had said you weren't interested in SIP any longer we stopped monitoring their actions and turned our attention to Seattle E Books. When Mr. Snyder requested an extension I dug a little further into Ms. Steele and learned that she is in the process of merging her publishing company in New York with SIP. It appears her intention is for SIP to remain in Seattle."
"Damn it!" I thrown my phone against the wall watching it break into pieces scattered all over the floor. "Call Mr. Snyder back and increase the buyout price to 2.5 million."
"No problem Christian" Ros says leaving my office. "I will tell Andrea you need another one. What is that your fifth or sixth this month? You need to go back to Taiwan."
"What?" I ask confused.
"You obviously got laid or something in Taiwan and the weeks after you got back you were much calmer. But since then you are back to your crazy self. Just saying…maybe you need to hire-" she begins.
"Shut up Ros" I say as she walks out the door.
As much as I hate to admit it, I know Ros is right. When I came back from Taiwan, I was much more in control of my temper and had few outbursts at work. However that quickly wore off and even the occasional session with a sub at the BDSM club didn't help. I continue to visit the club once every few months but still cannot manage to have actual intercourse or an orgasm with any of the subs. Most of the time I observe and learn more about the lifestyle, other times I have session with a sub just to try out different techniques that I saw or read about online. I cannot stop thinking about Rose; every time I am with another sub all I can think about is that they are not Rose. I have absolutely no way to find Rose, yet cannot manage to give up the notion that someday I am going to find her. A few months ago I had a private contractor install a BDSM playroom in my penthouse exactly like the playroom I was in with Rose in Taiwan. I've upgraded the quality of several of the items in the room such as the bed and linens but the colors and set up of the room are almost the exact replica of the room in Taiwan. I had hoped that I would find a sub at the club that I felt would be a good match for me and then we could meet at the penthouse for more private time. I have yet to find anyone that I would want in my personal space or to see a second time even so the room remains locked and untouched. Taylor has not asked any questions about it but I can only imagine what is going through his head.
"Christian?" Ros knocks on my door a couple hours later.
"Come in" I say without looking up from my computer screen.
"Here's another new phone" she says placing another blackberry on my desk.
"I know that's not why you came in here…"I reply.
"Seattle E Books has decided to merge with SIP" Ros says cautiously.
"WHAT? You have got to fucking be kidding me! Did you offer the 2.5?" I yell.
"Yes, Mr. Snyder said it wasn't about the money" Ros answers.
"Then what the fuck did he base his decision on? If it's not about the money, what the fuck else is there? Everything is based on money!" I say angrily.
"All he said was they received a better offer which allowed them to retain more control of the business and the proposal was more in line with their business plan" Ros says.
"That's bullshit!" I sigh.
I hate losing a deal! It's not about the company itself as I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to go in the direction of electronic publishing in the first place; it's the fact that this no name person picked up the company from right under me! I've lost deals in the past but for some reason this one is hitting harder. It's just one more example of the few things in my life I have complete control over right now. I really need to find a sub but I don't know how to stop comparing everyone to Rose. I had an appointment scheduled with my therapist, Dr. Flynn, yesterday evening but he wasn't helpful. He keeps trying to tell me I need to find another way to let out steam that BDSM isn't the answer. He says my fixation on Rose is my way of failing to recognize that BDSM is not helping me; basically saying she is just an excuse.
"Andrea! I'm going out" I say walking out of the office leaving a stunned Andrea behind.
I rarely leave the office during the day unless it's for a meeting which Andrea would obviously know in advance about. I find myself walking several blocks in no particular direction before I find a coffee shop where I decide to sit down and have a bite to eat. As I sit next to the window eating a muffin, I swear I see Rose walk by across the street. I am so convinced it's her I immediately go outside to yell to her, however standing up I knock my coffee over spilling it's hot contents all over the floor. By the time I get outside, she is gone. It couldn't be her, could it? The woman I saw was petite, dressed in a black skirt with matching suit jacket with brown hair down to the middle of her back. Even from a distance she looked exactly like Rose. Is it possible she is in Seattle? Or I am losing my mind?