A Convenient Arrangement(19)

“Just the one,” Gwen said, trailing Milan to the front door. A quick wave and Milan fled without another word. Gwen would have to remember to give Mr. Mouse a treat. One thing was certain, he had gotten rid of Milan.



*



Leo’s call to Gwen went straight to voicemail on the second ring. His brow creased. Women didn’t decline his calls. Women jumped through hoops to answer his calls and meet him and see him and…well, the ladies were something Leo never had to put forth much effort to acquire. He couldn’t believe it had been twelve days since he’d spoken to Gwen, and he hadn’t heard from her yet.

The voice mailbox beep threw him. He didn’t leave messages on women’s voicemail because…well…he never had to. He could call morning, noon, and night and be pretty sure that the woman he was ringing, no matter the time or the day, would pick up.

“Uhhhh…” he stumbled. “This is…this is Leo.” He paused, unsure what to say. What did he want to say? Why was he calling…“Leo Travati,” he added, then smacked his palm to his forehead. He sounded like a thirteen-year-old boy with a crush. “So, I wanted to—” The phone beeped again and cut him off. A warm female voice told him if he was happy with his message, press 1. Happy? No, he was absolutely not happy with his message. He had hardly even left a message. He pressed the second option, to rerecord it. Again the beep. “Uhhhh.” Same great start. “This is Leo. Leo Travati.” He was a billionaire who successfully negotiated international deals, so why the hell couldn’t he leave Gwen Fleming a message? “I just wondered if you’d given any more thought to…uh…to what we’d talked about the other day, to my idea about…” Again with the beep. He was not leaving another message, not at all. He pressed the off button on his phone.

“Having trouble with voicemail?” Justin, his oldest brother, stood just inside the door to Leo’s office, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Who knows,” Leo grumbled. He turned back to his computer. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to check in with you on the Convenient Arrangement app. Launch is in a little over eight weeks. You’ve been steering the deal, working with Todd and Ilko. Is everything is on track?” Justin sat in the chair opposite Leo’s desk.

“Same as the run down at the meeting earlier this week. We’ve tested, we’ve finalized, we’re working on the promo and marketing for the launch.” Leo scrutinized Justin’s impassive expression. Something was off. His brother wasn’t here just about the app; he had something else on his mind.

“Great, great.” Justin leaned forward and steepled his fingertips. “I just got feelers for a couple of businesses looking for a buyer.”

“Where?”

Justin raised an eyebrow. “Russia.”

Leo leaned back in his chair. “Coincidence?”

Devon, their youngest brother, was preparing to turn state’s witness against a deadly Russian mobster who was the youngest brother to one of the biggest billionaires on the planet. Physical and business safety for Devon and possibly the entire Travati family was at risk. Now, with women and children and extended family to look out for, the Travatis were more vulnerable than they’d ever been.

“The businesses are almost too perfect, exactly what we’re looking to get into. One is durable goods and the other has contracts in China already on the books. It’s almost as if someone put companies on the market that perfectly matched our needs.”

“Then somebody did,” Leo said. “Things that seem too good to be true, usually are.”

“My thoughts exactly, but we need to do our due diligence. We have to suss them out, see if they’re real or just a Trojan horse to take us down.”

Business was suddenly getting personal. Much more personal than Leo wanted. Business was meant to be business, but with Devon about to put his life on the line so that he could walk away without being indicted and these two new businesses… “You usually go to Anthony with research.”

“Anthony’s got something new he’s dealing with.”

“New? What the hell? We haven’t had an acquisition since second quarter last year.”

“Not in business, dumbass, at home. His head won’t be in the game for at least a month or so. I need someone completely focused, not a newly engaged man who just had the love of his life move into his place.”

“So you admit that you two dumbasses lost your ever-loving minds when you fell in love?”

“I admit, now, with some time and perspective, that last summer I wasn’t in my best form where business was concerned, but I also know that me at 85 percent is better than 90 percent of our competition at 110 percent.”