Silver Tears(11)

“We know that much, but we need details.”

Faye heard how sharp her voice sounded, but stress and impatience were merging into one. She was a woman of action—she wanted to act. Until she was in possession of all the relevant facts, she was powerless. If she was to strike back, she needed to know how and against whom.



“My impression from the new share purchases made yesterday is that the buyer no longer cares about concealing that a takeover is in progress. They’re now operating on the assumption that alarm bells have gone off.”

Faye muttered and Kerstin placed a placatory hand on her arm. No one was going to come and take what was hers. No one was going to come and take what she had risked and sacrificed so much to build.

And she wasn’t the only one who’d made sacrifices. When Chris died, she’d left Faye the hair-care empire she’d built up from scratch—her life’s work. That company had been merged with Revenge, so if the buyout succeeded it would destroy Chris’s legacy. If she let that happen, Chris would probably rise from the grave to strangle her with her bare hands. Faye would have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of her days.

“Find out who’s behind this. And give us a printout of everything you pull together. We’ll take it from there.”

Faye got up and ?rjan looked disappointed. He looked at Kerstin, who also stood up, took her bag, and smoothed her skirt.

“I realize you may have a lot to do just now, but we all have to eat nonetheless, so I was going to ask whether…”

He looked once again at a panic-stricken Kerstin, who nudged Faye with her elbow.

Faye cleared her throat.

“We don’t have time to eat right now, but you have my number. Call me as soon as you know something.”

“Of course. But I think it may be tricky for you girls to straighten this out. Maybe you want to bring in a team from McKinsey? They’ve got some good guys over there.”

“No thanks.”

Faye slammed the door behind them.



“I’m going to replace ?rjan,” she said, once they were in the taxi. “We’ll have to find someone new.”

Kerstin nodded.

“I realized it the moment he called us girls.”

The taxi pulled up outside the gilded revolving door of the Grand and they got out.

“Lunch?” Faye picked up her handbag and coat, glancing at Kerstin.

“I’ve got a couple of things I want to check up on right away. Do you mind eating lunch alone?”

“No, I’ll manage. I have some things I need to attend to as well. But let’s meet at two o’clock, shall we? In my room? Then we can roll up our sleeves.”

“Yes, two’s fine.”

Kerstin went through the revolving door and Faye made to follow her, throwing her coat over one arm so that she could pull the key out of her bag. She came to an abrupt halt when someone tugged at the coat from behind. She turned around and saw that the coat had gotten caught in the doors.

“For fuck’s sake!”

She tugged at the coat, but it was completely jammed. The clerk behind the lectern in the lobby hurried over to help her, but he had no luck either. He made an apologetic expression and rushed upstairs for help while Faye continued to pull at her coat.

Someone tapped on the glass. It was David, the man from the bar the day before.

“If you take a step back, I’ll push the door from my side. You won’t be able to open the door by pulling the coat.”

“No, I’d got that,” Faye said dryly.

She took a step back. Carefully, David pushed the door and it created a bigger crack, allowing her to release the coat. The clerk who was coming back down the stairs with the concierge looked relieved.

David smiled at her.

“Good thing that worked.”



“Off for some lunchtime paddle tennis?” Faye said petulantly.

She knew she ought to be grateful, but he looked so insufferably pleased to have been able to play the knight in shining armor.

“No, I thought I’d have a solo lunch somewhere nearby. Have you eaten?”

“No,” she replied before immediately biting her tongue.

“Are you going to eat?”

“Yes. Well, no. I really need to do some work and thought I’d get—”

“Well, then. Let’s eat lunch together. Do you want to eat here or shall we go somewhere else?”

“Eat here.”

Faye bit her tongue again. What the hell was wrong with her? She didn’t even want to have lunch with this man. But she supposed she would struggle to focus on work after the meeting with the accountants, so she might as well have something proper to eat.

“The bistro. Lunch is on you,” she said.

He flashed that smile again.

“Naturally.”

“I warn you, I’m expensive to run. I eat like a lumberjack and drink champagne like a trophy wife whose husband has just left her for the secretary.”

“Don’t sweat it. I can afford it.”

He began to climb the carpeted stairs and turned around to look at her quizzically. She sighed and followed him.

“Actually, no. No fucking way you’re buying. Lunch is on me.”

David shrugged.

“You’re the boss. But I warn you, I’m expensive to run too.”