I nodded. “We’re down to fewer and fewer when it comes to shareholders. Currently, there is you” —I nodded toward Mr. McGrath— “maintaining Julia’s shares, the Butlers, roughly four or five other entities holding ten percent, and myself.” I sat back against the chair. “Tell me who is rattled, and I’ll be happy to take their shares off their hands.”

“Why would you do that?” Mrs. McGrath asked. “Wade Pharmaceutical is nothing with a portfolio like yours. You could easily ruin us and leave the company for dust, a write-off.”

“He won’t,” Julia said.

“Mr. Sherman?” Mr. McGrath asked. “Why should we trust you?”

“You don’t have to. Don’t trust me. Your shares will be mine once Julia and I are married.” Before he could protest, I waved him off. “Yes, of course there will be a prenuptial agreement. However, theoretically, they’ll be at my disposal. I’m working on the other ten percent. That will give Julia and me sixty-five to seventy-five percent.” I turned to the dickass by the window. “Sell me your shares, Mr. Butler. I’ll pay double what they’re currently worth.”

Skylar Butler turned my way.

I could read him like an old newspaper. He was seeing money signs and opportunity. Wade didn’t mean anything to him. He wasn’t attached, yet he couldn’t show that tonight, not here in front of Julia and her parents.

“No,” he finally said. “Wade has a sentimental value. I work there as does my father.”

“Sell to me and you can quit.”

It was Julia’s turn to stare in silence, her gaze going between me, her fiancé, and dickass, her ex-fiancé.

“The Butlers aren’t selling,” Mrs. McGrath said.

Her answer made me scoff. It was exactly as Julia had said; Mrs. McGrath spoke for whomever she wanted. Ignoring her interruption, I spoke to Butler. “Think about it, and if you decide to have an opinion of your own, call me. My people will draw up the paperwork.”

“I have an opinion,” he said meekly.

I could cut him up and have him for lunch. If he’d learned his skills from his father, either Marlin had been a horrible teacher or he wasn’t interested in teaching his son the finer art of business negotiation. There was also no way on earth I would pay double the value to the Butlers. This performance was simply for the enjoyment of watching Butler squirm and providing entertainment to the McGraths.

I turned back to Julia’s father. “Sir, as long as Julia wants Wade to succeed, it will. By buying up the available shares, my hope is to return Wade to the status it enjoyed prior to Herman Wade’s decision to sell shares. Wade would be more of a reckoning force if it were back to a privately held company without outside influence.”