Annihilate Me (22 page)

Once
again, she didn’t disappoint.

“How
are you feeling?”

“Excited.”

“To
be with Alex?
 
Or to do business?”

“Both.
 
But to be honest?
 
It’s more about being thrown into the
possibilities of what might happen tonight.
 
The idea of nailing down two deals if
we’re lucky, is exciting to me.”

“First
and foremost, it’s all about Henri.
 
If you’re given the chance, charm him.
 
He loves a beautiful woman, but he loves
a smart woman even more.
 
For some
unknown reason I can’t fathom, you happen to be both.
 
I think you could be the key Alex needs
to get his attention.
 
If Alex is
able to get Dufort on his own, just stand there and look pretty.
 
But if Dufort engages you, be engaging.”

“Noted.”

“And
I don’t mean only with your cleavage, Jennifer.
 
He’ll notice the twins, but what he’ll
really notice is your intelligence.
 
He is nothing if not focused on taking his empire to the next level.
 
That’s what matters to him most.
 
That’s what he wants to hear.
 
Wenn can offer that.
 
Alex has an idea for it.”

“So
do I.”

“Have
you shared that with Alex?”

“I
haven’t seen Alex since we landed.
 
So, no, I haven’t.”

“You
might want to.”

“Don’t
worry.
 
If and when I offer up my
own idea, I will have tested the waters first.”

“You’re
going to be the end of me.”

“But
I need you.”

“I
know you do.
 
It’s what keeps me
going, even if you did conceal from me that you obviously know French.
 
That was just cruel of you.”

“Cruel?”

“Yes,
cruel.
 
At your level, I know that
one day you’ll be called upon to speak French to one of Alex’s international
contacts, so naturally I was concerned that you’d fail.
 
But you wouldn’t, would you?
 
You led me down a dark road of despair
with your presumed lack of knowledge in the Romance languages, and then you
pulled that awful surprise that you knew French all along.
 
Terrible.”

“You
wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She
studied me for a moment, and then smiled.
 
“I suppose I wouldn’t.”

“Wish
me well tonight?”

“Of
course.
 
And just remember,
Jennifer.
 
Be kind to him.
 
Whatever is happening in his life right
now, he’s working it out on his own.
 
Don’t be slighted by such a minor detail.
 
Enjoy your time with him.
 
Enjoy the moments.
 
I’m here to tell you that they don’t
come often.
 
I once thought I had it
all with Charles.
 
Then...
divorce.
 
If you don’t tend to the
farm, it can all go wrong so quickly.
 
But if you’re good to one another, and if you respect each other’s
space, you can enjoy this time in your life, no matter how long it lasts, which
might just be forever.
 
Who knows?”

“I
think the Romance languages have gotten the best of you, Ms. Blackwell.”

She
raised her eyebrows at me as the elevator doors slid open.
 
Any trace of humor that had been there
before left her face.
 
She became
stone-cold serious.
 
“What you don’t
know about me, Jennifer, is that despite everything I’ve been through these
past few months, I’m still hopeful.
 
I’m not finished yet.
 
It’s
too soon now, but I’d like to find someone else again.
 
Even though, at my age, the cards are
against me.
 
But I’m not giving up
quite yet.
 
In fact, I’m not giving
up at all.
 
We all deserve love in
our lives.
 
Everyone uses that awful
cliché that love hurts, but that's not true.
 
Real love doesn’t hurt.
 
Real love is wonderful.
 
It’s loneliness that hurts.
 
And rejection.
 
And losing someone close to you
hurts.
 
Everyone confuses these
things with love, but in reality, love is the only thing in this world that
covers up all the pain and makes us feel wonderful again.”

I
stared nakedly at her, stunned by the depth of what she’d just said.

“Now,
shake off whatever happened between you and Alex, and go spend some time with
the man who might be the one for you.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The
elevator dropped to the forty-seventh floor, almost too quickly for me to
collect myself.
 
When the doors slid
open, Alex was there waiting for me, just as he always was.
 
But his hands weren’t in his pockets as
they usually were, and he wasn’t standing so disarmingly.
 
In fact, he looked tense to see me.

“I’m
glad that you came,” he said.

“It’s
my job.”

“I
hope it’s more than that.”

I
remembered all the things that Blackwell had said to me, and I softened.
 
I felt a deep affection for him, and I
knew it was wrong to hide it.
 
I
stepped out and kissed him on the cheek.
 
“Of course it is.”

“You
look lovely.”

“You
already know how I feel about you in a tux.
 
Tell me why you’re so interested in
Henri Dufort.
 
I have an idea, but
he’s into everything.
 
Let’s see if
we’re on the same page.”

“Why
don’t you begin?”

“All
right.
 
Dufort owns Streamed, which
essentially is Netflix for the global market.
 
They’re expanding as rapidly as they
can, but the global market is the global market, and there are dozens of closed
doors.
 
My research shows
that Dufort is having difficulty breaking into some of the countries where Wenn
Entertainment is already a known player
.
 
Sometimes Dufort gets lucky, but then
other obstacles arise, likely because he doesn’t have the relationships Wenn
has with these people.
 
In this
world, relationships are everything.
 
Dufort knows that.
 
Wenn
could partner with him in an effort to get beyond the bureaucratic
bullshit.
 
And this would make Wenn
Entertainment a fortune if you struck a deal with Dufort that allowed him into
the countries he wants to dominate before it’s too late before other capitalize
on the idea.
 
Am I right?”

He
didn’t answer at once.
 
Instead, he
just stared at me.

“Well?”

“That’s
not what I had in mind at all.”

I
felt defeated.
 
“Oh.”
 
I wasn’t sure how to read him.
 
He wasn’t saying anything, but I was
sure that I had disappointed him.
 
My mind raced to the other options I’d considered before talking to him
tonight.
 
One was a good
possibility, so I readied myself for it.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
That seemed to
me to be the most logical choice.
 
I
have other ideas.”

“You
already have the best idea.
 
What I
had in mind was solid and potentially lucrative, but it pales next to what
you’re proposing.
 
Which countries
is Streamed being shut out of?”

“India.
 
China.
 
Brazil.
 
Mexico.
 
There are a host of others, some of
which Netflix—Streamed’s largest competitor—is just beginning to
build a presence.
 
Those markets are
the largest and most coveted, and Netflix is just starting to hit them hard.
 
But there’s still time.
 
Before it’s too late and Netflix gets a
stronghold, Streamed could compete if it joined forces with Wenn soon because
Wenn Entertainment already has relationships in those countries, and in many
other countries where Netflix isn’t yet a player.
 
I was thinking that with your contacts,
you could work out a partnership with Dufort that would ease his way in.
 
I’d imagine he’d appreciate that.
 
I’d imagine that he’d pay handsomely for
it by giving Wenn a significant stake in Streamed.”

“How
did you come up with this?”

I
shrugged.
 
“I spent the afternoon
doing research.
 
Dufort has much
larger holdings than Streamed, but streaming video is where the money is right
now, and where it’s really going to be going forward.
 
It’s eventually how much of the world
will view movies and television shows.
 
It’s like e-books—they’re taking over because that’s how most
people will read one day.
 
Same with
music.
 
When did you last buy a
CD?
 
You didn’t.
 
You downloaded it.
 
The stats don’t lie.
 
Streamed seemed like a natural choice to
me, whereas some of Dufort’s other holdings were too obvious.
 
Streamed needs and wants to
grow—worldwide, it has the potential to make billions.
 
But it’s having a difficult time doing
so, so that’s what I went with.”

“You
came up with a potential winner.”

“What
were you thinking?”

“Something
the board proposed.
 
Something more
obvious.
 
It doesn’t matter
now.
 
We go with this.”

“But
the board is expecting something else from you.”

“And
I’ll offer Henri both if I feel that it’s the right thing to do.
 
If I don’t, I won’t mention what I had
in mind and will press forward with your idea.
 
What you need to understand about the
board is that as sophisticated as it is, it’s not exactly on the cutting edge
when it comes to emerging technologies.
 
It’s comprised of an older group of men and women who don’t necessarily
understand the importance of digital.
 
They get it to a point, especially when it comes to music and maybe a
bit when it comes to the importance of e-books if only because of Wenn
Publishing.
 
But they’re not
entirely there yet, which is understandable.
 
Wenn Entertainment is just a small part
of Wenn—it’s not our most lucrative arm.
 
The board’s attention is elsewhere.
 
As a consultant, you were brought in to
give me your best advice, which you have.
 
It’s my choice as CEO to decide what happens tonight.
 
Netflix is a force in North America, but
it’s relatively new to the worldwide market.
 
Here, it’s silly to challenge it.
 
But globally?
 
It makes sense because Netflix itself is
just starting to make inroads abroad.
 
Their brand is known here, but not so much in other markets.
 
It’s still new enough for Dufort and us
to take it on and challenge it.”

“I
don’t want to piss off the board,” I said.

“Who
cares if you do?
 
You work for
me.
 
This is my decision.”

“We
should probably go.”

“Not
before I do this.”

He
came forward, put his hand low along my waist
,
and
kissed me lightly on the lips.
 
When
I responded, he became more passionate.
 
I closed my eyes and kissed him back to the point that I started to lose
myself in him.
 
He kissed me again,
but then I broke away and just held him tightly, my head on his shoulder.
 

“I
need you, Jennifer,” he said in my ear.

“I
owe you an apology,” I said.
 
“I’m
sorry I was distant today.
 
In
Maine, suddenly there were guards everywhere.
 
You kept talking to them during our
final night together.
 
I was so
worried for you, Alex, that it made me sick.
 
You wouldn’t talk to me about it.
 
When that happened, for whatever reason,
my instinct was to pull back.
 
I’m
sorry for the way I acted.”

“Don’t
be.
 
There are things that happen in
my life that can sound frightening, but only if you don’t know how routine they
are.
 
I decided to protect you from
that.”

“What
things?”

“It
doesn’t matter.”

“It
matters to me.”

“Let’s
just say that what happened over the past two days happens to me often.
 
Right now, everything is under
control.
 
I just need you to trust
me if I need to handle certain events on my own.
 
I’m not trying to keep you out.
 
I’m trying to keep you from worrying
about things that can and are being dealt with.
 
These are things you don’t need to
concern yourself with.”

“Will
you ever fully let me in?”

“Yes,
of course.
 
One day, I’ll have no
choice but to tell you everything.”

“When
is that?”

“When
I marry you,” he said.