Read Online Crash - Part Four by Miranda Dawson - Free Book Online
Authors: Miranda Dawson
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crowd.
“That’s called a ‘backdoor slider,’ ” I said after a Giants’ pitcher threw a ball that curved into the strike zone.
“It’s called a what?” Carter replied with a smirk.
“A backdoor slider. Why are you laughing?”
“Just sounds like a euphemism for something else, that’s all. Do you like backdoor sliders?”
I had a feeling I knew what he was referring to, but had no idea whether I liked it or not. “Stop being rude.”
Carter wouldn’t admit it, but he had changed a lot since opening up about working with Kerry against PharmaTech. All those secrets he had been keeping from me must have weighed him down, and now he was finally able to be himself around me. The real Carter was fun and a lot less moody than the one that kept secrets. He no longer carried that air of mystery around with him—in some ways, mystery was exciting, but after a while I craved this kind of openness and honesty from him. That was what long-term relationships were made of.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ready to hear another settlement offer?” John asked.
“After the insultingly low offer they came up with last time, I’m tempted to just ignore it,” I answered.
PharmaTech’s lawyers had contacted ours soon after the case was filed and offered us $300,000 to settle. Our lawyers were obliged to ask us whether we wanted to accept it, but it didn’t take long for John and I to make up our minds on that. We hadn’t come up with a number that would be acceptable yet. To be honest, the money was far from our only priority at this stage. In addition, we also wanted to see the people involved get punished, issue a public apology, and institute a withdrawal of the faulty drug from the market. Our problems with PharmaTech went way beyond what they did to our business, and any settlement offer would need to reflect that.
“I certainly don’t think we need to go down to Bethany’s office this time. I am not going all that way again just to leave five minutes later. Let’s just give her a call.”
John called Bethany and put her on speaker.
“Hi, John,” she said as she answered the phone. “Thanks for calling. I assume Emily is there with you?”
“Hi, Bethany,” I said. “I’m here.”
“Good. I’m glad you both called—I think you’re going to like what I have to say. As you know, PharmaTech has come up with another offer. I was expecting them to try to lowball us again, but in the last couple of weeks, they have conducted an independent and internal investigation into some of the facts we alleged in our complaint. I’m guessing they found some interesting stuff, because this offer is many multiples of the last one.”
John and I shared a look. Was this going to be the big moment? Bethany, Scott, and Carter had all been telling us that our lives may change soon, but John and I never took that too seriously. It was like how when you bought lottery tickets you knew you could win, but you never really expected to. Now I felt like we had all six of the main numbers and we were just waiting to hear the Powerball number. We still hadn’t won, but our chances were a lot better than usual.
“First of all,” Bethany continued, “the money is a heck of a lot bigger. PharmaTech has offered to pay the company twenty million for this case to go away.”
Simultaneously, John and I both looked at each other. That was more than enough money to keep the company going for the foreseeable future. Even in our wildest dreams, I don’t think we could have imagined spending that kind of money. We could even get into manufacturing our own products, something that had seemed impossible before.
“The only real catch on that is that you would have to maintain a degree of confidentiality about the whole thing. You could tell people you settled the case, but wouldn’t be able to mention the money involved. Other than that, your business can continue and spend the money however it chooses.”
Shit. I knew it couldn’t be
“That’s called a ‘backdoor slider,’ ” I said after a Giants’ pitcher threw a ball that curved into the strike zone.
“It’s called a what?” Carter replied with a smirk.
“A backdoor slider. Why are you laughing?”
“Just sounds like a euphemism for something else, that’s all. Do you like backdoor sliders?”
I had a feeling I knew what he was referring to, but had no idea whether I liked it or not. “Stop being rude.”
Carter wouldn’t admit it, but he had changed a lot since opening up about working with Kerry against PharmaTech. All those secrets he had been keeping from me must have weighed him down, and now he was finally able to be himself around me. The real Carter was fun and a lot less moody than the one that kept secrets. He no longer carried that air of mystery around with him—in some ways, mystery was exciting, but after a while I craved this kind of openness and honesty from him. That was what long-term relationships were made of.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ready to hear another settlement offer?” John asked.
“After the insultingly low offer they came up with last time, I’m tempted to just ignore it,” I answered.
PharmaTech’s lawyers had contacted ours soon after the case was filed and offered us $300,000 to settle. Our lawyers were obliged to ask us whether we wanted to accept it, but it didn’t take long for John and I to make up our minds on that. We hadn’t come up with a number that would be acceptable yet. To be honest, the money was far from our only priority at this stage. In addition, we also wanted to see the people involved get punished, issue a public apology, and institute a withdrawal of the faulty drug from the market. Our problems with PharmaTech went way beyond what they did to our business, and any settlement offer would need to reflect that.
“I certainly don’t think we need to go down to Bethany’s office this time. I am not going all that way again just to leave five minutes later. Let’s just give her a call.”
John called Bethany and put her on speaker.
“Hi, John,” she said as she answered the phone. “Thanks for calling. I assume Emily is there with you?”
“Hi, Bethany,” I said. “I’m here.”
“Good. I’m glad you both called—I think you’re going to like what I have to say. As you know, PharmaTech has come up with another offer. I was expecting them to try to lowball us again, but in the last couple of weeks, they have conducted an independent and internal investigation into some of the facts we alleged in our complaint. I’m guessing they found some interesting stuff, because this offer is many multiples of the last one.”
John and I shared a look. Was this going to be the big moment? Bethany, Scott, and Carter had all been telling us that our lives may change soon, but John and I never took that too seriously. It was like how when you bought lottery tickets you knew you could win, but you never really expected to. Now I felt like we had all six of the main numbers and we were just waiting to hear the Powerball number. We still hadn’t won, but our chances were a lot better than usual.
“First of all,” Bethany continued, “the money is a heck of a lot bigger. PharmaTech has offered to pay the company twenty million for this case to go away.”
Simultaneously, John and I both looked at each other. That was more than enough money to keep the company going for the foreseeable future. Even in our wildest dreams, I don’t think we could have imagined spending that kind of money. We could even get into manufacturing our own products, something that had seemed impossible before.
“The only real catch on that is that you would have to maintain a degree of confidentiality about the whole thing. You could tell people you settled the case, but wouldn’t be able to mention the money involved. Other than that, your business can continue and spend the money however it chooses.”
Shit. I knew it couldn’t be
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