How to Win Friends and Influence People

It was warm outside, uncomfortably so, especially when one was standing in the open all morning playing 18 holes, but the condo was welcomingly air conditioned, cool and serene. It brought a breath of relief from man who had entered, setting his clubs beside the door, in the foray and immediately striding forth into his home. Unfortunately, there was no time to bathe in the coolness of the air. He had to shower and change and be back in town within a few hours for an urgent, emergency meeting.

Though as he made his way through the house, he got the distinct feeling that something was off. The hairs on the back of his neck were on edge, like watching a scary movie where a young woman was being followed home. Stalked. Yet, he remained calm. Turning off-course, he walked into a sitting room, one of three in the condo, and approached the mirror. Those electric blue eyes looked back, but they weren’t his own. They belonged to his brother, sitting, leaning back, in a chair behind him, only noticeable by the reflection of the mirror.

“Brother,” Daniel Ravers said, turning his whole body to look at his older sibling. “You couldn’t wait an hour?”

“No,” Robert confessed, rising and buttoning his jacket, maintaining his professional look. “And I’m afraid I don’t have time to fill you in on everything that’s going on. But I had to speak to you before the meeting.”

“To ensure my support,” Daniel concluded with a chuckle. “We’re family. And I’m always going to protect the family name. Which means…you’re going to do something that might jeopardise that…”

Robert shook his head, grimacing. “I already have. There’s a scandal that could break. I’m handling it, but I also need to insulate the company. So, I’m going to step down, as a public figure head of the company at least. Then my mistakes won’t become it’s mistakes.”

“You’re already being vague, so I suppose that means you won’t tell me what happened even if I asked.” Daniel folded his arms, cupping his chin with one hand. “Do you intend to appoint Heather? She’s still a bit young, don’t you-”

“No. This scandal, it could affect the whole Ravers name, which means I can’t appoint Heather, or even you,” Robert explained briefly, as he approached his brother. “It turns out I have a son however, a kid Heather’s age I had with a married woman who I was having an affair with a long time ago. I want to name him as my replacement, and I want to do it tonight at the Gala.”

“A son? A bastard? And letting him take over is less of a scandal than what actually happened?” Daniel snorted and ran a hand through his hair, longer and fuller than his brother’s but just as dark. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I’m asking as your brother, to trust me,” Robert said, extending his hand. “Do I have your support?”

“Brittni, cancel all of my appointments for the rest of the day.” A thin, grey haired man with a face like a Mastiff took his long finger off the intercom and grumbled to himself, “Who does Robert Ravers think he is, ordering the board to come in, as if we’re there to attend to his beck and call, heeding his every whim…”

The complaining continued but descended into a hoarse drone lacking diction and punctuation as the man shuffled around the room, fixing papers, logging into his computer, pacing back and forth across his office, looking for something to occupy his irritated mind but too annoyed to focus on any one matter. Luckily for him, he needn’t look for a distraction for long. The intercom buzzed, this time the voice of a woman speaking into the room.

“Robert Ravers is here to see you.”

“Good, send him in,” The man released the intercom and set upon another under breath tirade. “Showing up at my office now, probably going to try and sweet talk me into going along with this idea of his to scrap the Silver Lakes Project. Well, he’ll find me hard to woo, that he will…”

The door opened and the powerful figure of Robert Ravers strode confidently into the room as the older man took his seat behind the desk. Though there were two seats opposite, Robert Ravers did not sit, instead crossing to the window and looking out at the view.

“Robert,” the man greeted him by name the way a stern parent might call a child in trouble. “Perhaps you can tell me why you’ve called this meeting later, and I can advise you whether it is worthwhile. Best not waste the board’s time if the answer is a foregone conclusion.”

“I’m hoping it’s not a foregone conclusion, Mr. Besumer,” Robert insisted without looking away from the window. “Which is why I’ve come to guarantee your support.”

“Without telling me what I’m supporting? Impossible,” Old Mr. Besumer leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “And I’ll have you know that I can’t be bought.”

“Really? Because I think you can be bought. In fact, you already have.” Robert still didn’t look at him. “Not by me, of course, but before your retirement, as a Damage Assessment Inspector, your firm routinely took pay outs to ignore structural faults, or blame destruction on acts of nature.”

“L-lies,” Mr. Besumer cried out, his voice high as his throat tightened. “Besides, what proof do you have?”

“Not much. Just financial accounts that don’t add up, climate reports that dispute the story you told and the testimony of some of the people you paid off,” Robert revealed with a shrug. “It’s amazing what people will admit to a private investigator if he tells them he’s a cop.”

“Forged and ****, I’m certain.” Mr. Besumer seethed. “You son of a bitch. This is ****!”

Finally, Robert turned to look at the treasurer of the board, the old man looking decades older than when he’d entered not long ago. His face was a pale white, his eyes gaunt and haunted, like a man on his **** bed.

“You’re free to call my bluff, if you have no fear of reprisal…” Robert let the offer hang in the air, but the silence was damning. “Then I have your support.”

“Damn you to hell,” Mr. Besumer growled, his fists clenched on the table. “You’ll have your vote!”

“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll figure something out.” The youngest board member at 37 leaned over his desk, head in his hand as the other held the phone to his ear. “Besides it’s only the waiting list…”

On the other end of the line, his wife spoke fast and panicked, her husband’s words doing little to soothe her worried, maternal instincts.

“It wasn’t his **** and he wasn’t driving. The toxicology report was clean,” he continued, though this wasn’t the first time they’d had this exact same conversation and he was beginning to tire of saying the words that even he wasn’t sure he believed. “I’m sure they’ll take that into consideration.”

His wife kept speaking but a soft knock at the door drew the man’s attention. He looked up and saw the head of Robert Ravers, short, dark hair and piercing, ice cold blue eyes staring back at him. He looked sheepish, almost embarrassed, an expression the young board member, and business manager in his own right, had never seen on the formidable CEO.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr. Schneider. Your secretary wasn’t at her desk,” Robert explained, as his eyes set upon the phone in the man’s hand. “I wanted to get your support for the upcoming vote, but I can see you’re busy…”

“No, no, just a minute,” He said, his hand over the receiver to keep his wife from hearing the conversation. Truly, though it made him feel guilty and selfish, he welcomed the distraction. “Honey, Mr. Ravers is here. I have to…I…I have to go.”

“I don’t want you to feel like a charity case.” Robert crossed the room with long, hurried steps, as if he were ashamed to even be standing. “But I couldn’t respect myself either if I didn’t ask if there was anything I could help with.”

“It’s nothing life or ****,” he admitted as he motioned for Robert to take a seat. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I have a son. My wife and I had him when we were only kids ourselves. He was due to go to college in the fall.”

“Oh, so he’s the same age as my daughter,” Robert noted, frowning. “You said he was due?”

“A few weeks ago, he was in the car with a friend and there was an accident. They collided with another car, and the other driver was killed. Worse they found amphetamines in the car when it was later searched. My son was only a passenger and tests confirmed he hadn’t taken anything but when word got out his university put him on the waiting list,” Mr. Schneider rubbed his forehead, just repeating the facts causing his head to throb. “The official reasoning was a reassessment of student intake but the timing…”

His voice dwindled away, unable to even accuse the university. Maybe it was just a reassessment and he was just looking for someone to blame.

“Didn’t he apply to other colleges?” Robert asked, leaning forward.

“He did, but this was his first choice, and it is a good school.” He looked a picture of his family that sat on his desk. “My son has always been the biggest motivator in my life. I didn’t do great at school, and when we had him, my wife and I both forewent college so that we could provide. We stayed with her folks to begin, but I wanted to be able to give my wife and my son everything they wanted. So, I worked hard, I went to night classes, I built my business and I thought I was at a point where I really could give my son the opportunity to go to the best school. And then life throws a curveball like this.”

“You know, I’m friends with some people in the education sector, especially higher level. I’ve done some work at a few campuses and I provide several scholarships across the country. If it wouldn’t be too much of a shot to your pride, I could reach out?” Robert suggested tentatively. “Just think of it as getting to the point where your success allows you to curry favours with those who know people.”

“Curry favour…” Mr. Schneider swallowed audibly. “And I suppose you want me to vote with you in this afternoon’s meeting to return the favour?”

“I would never be so presumptuous. I would do this anyway, one parent to another,” Robert told him sincerely as he stood, drawing his phone from his pocket. “And if this puts me in your good graces, all the better.”

“Mrs. Laumann, yes, I know, I’ll see you at the meeting later. I just wanted to remind you of those gambling debts your husband had. Yes, and do you remember what I said when I paid them off? Well, this is that favour. The time has come to repay the debt you owe me.”

Robert leaned against the wall of the boutique, the phone held to his face. Mrs. Laumann had some choice words for the CEO of Ravers Enterprises but in the end, just like all the others, she agreed. While he had still been speaking though, a woman passed him by, through the doors of the boutique, on to the street, several shopping bags in both arms. Her long, dark hair danced in the wind, like some savage beauty, and that well-toned ass made him wonder sometimes if he’d made a mistake divorcing her.

“This must be a very important meeting if you’re calling in favors from everyone,” Brooke chuckled, looking over her shoulder as the business man rose from the wall and followed her. “What are you going to use as leverage on me?”

“Nothing,” Robert confessed with a shrug. “I’ll just tell you plainly. You always did have a good head on your shoulders.”

“You’re just saying that because it was usually between your legs,” Brooke smirked, her blue eyes dazzling, and suddenly Robert remembered where Heather had gotten it from. “Well, then, what’s so urgent?”

“I want to retire,” Robert stopped walking, and Brooke paused too, looking again over her shoulder to see if he was being serious. “At least from being the public face of the company.”

“What? So you can devote more time to your sex parties?” Brooke asked, joking but not laughing. “Do you expect Heather to take your place?”

“It just feels like it’s time, but…I’ve been thinking that you’re right about Heather. She’s gotten too ambitious…too impatient. Who’s to say in a year that she won’t drop out of college and come home to run the business because she’s too proud to learn anything from a bunch of old professors who have never had a successful venture in their lives,” Robert answered, surprising his ex-wife.

“So, your plan is to humble her by naming someone else in your place?” Brooke raised an eyebrow. “That’s harsh, especially coming from you. And who would you trust in her place? Daniel?”

“This might be hard to hear, but while we were still married, I had an affair with a married woman. She called it off, but just recently I learned that the reason for that is that she was pregnant,” Robert explained, bracing for the coming explosion. “I want to name my son as my successor.”

“Y-your son? You want me to go along with a plan that pushes out my own daughter in favour of some kid you had with one of your sluts?” Brooke physically recoiled. “And how can you even trust this woman at her word? This could just be some scheme to cheat you of some money.”

“I trust her. She has more to lose than I do, and she hasn’t asked for a dime. But we are doing a paternity test,” Robert looked at his watch. “Unfortunately, this is time sensitive. So, I need it to go through today.”

“Time sensitive?” Brooke frowned, pressing Robert when he didn’t volunteer the answer. “What’s really going on here?”

“I…I can’t say.” The idea of telling his ex-wife that there was a video out there of him getting sucked off by their daughter seemed like suicide. “I know I’m asking a lot, but the only thing you really need to ask yourself is: do you trust me?”

“Of course, he managed to convince the board,” Heather insisted, looking proudly up at her father, who simply nodded to confirm that she was indeed correct.

“I guess I mean, how?” Zack asked, eager just to keep asking questions rather than watch them kiss. It wasn’t that it seemed gross or anything reasonable. The sad, ugly truth was that it reminded him of his own feelings towards his own mother. That and he felt like a third wheel.

“Zack, I’m going to give you the best business advice that you’ll ever hear, something that my grandfather told me,” Robert said, beaming. “God may forgive and forget, but a businessman should always remember.”