To Save a Son by Brian Freemantle Read Free Book Online Page B

what you were doing!” insisted Franks. He was irritated at his own petulance.
    â€œI’ve explained that!” said Nicky with a trace of irritation of his own. “I was behaving in a proper and professional manner on behalf of contracted clients. I would not have been behaving professionally if I had told you.”
    Nicky had an acceptable answer for every accusation, Franks conceded. “In the future I want to know what’s happening. I don’t want to have to find it out myself,” he said hollowly.
    â€œSo there is going to be a future?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou’ve raised the money, sufficient for control?” said Nicky.
    The price at which it was being offered was still too high, but Franks refused to let the other man know he was bluffing. “Because of what they’re asking for the land, it’s difficult to know now just how much is needed.”
    â€œThe vendors will come down,” said Nicky confidently. “Let’s work on the original figures. Can you come in with the twenty-five million for you and Tina?”
    â€œYes,” said Franks, keeping his cards from being seen.
    â€œAnd do you want to go on, with Dukes and Pascara and Flamini?”
    Franks realized he didn’t have any choice. “I think there would be some purpose in a further meeting,” he said, still reluctant to make it look too easy for the other man.
    Nicky got up and came around the desk, not stopping this time. He extended his hand and said, “If I caused any misunderstanding, I apologize. I wasn’t trying to cheat you out of anything. I don’t want to sour what exists between us.”
    Momentarily Franks remained seated, looking at the offered hand. Then he stood and accepted the gesture. “Maybe I was too hasty,” he said in apology of his own.
    8
    The second thoughts were almost immediate, the awareness that he’d overcommitted himself and should, if he were sensible, back away. But he didn’t. It had become so important for him to be the consummate businessman in the eyes of Nicky and his father that those reflective second thoughts at once clashed with his refusal to appear unsure or hesitant to them, to risk even the suggestion of Enrico’s childhood accusation that he wasn’t the best. So he flew to Britain to get the necessary finance, although the price was high. He spread the loans through five institutions—four banks and a pension fund—and at varying rates, the lowest eleven and the highest fourteen.
    It was three weeks after the confrontation with his brother-in-law before Franks returned to New York. He traveled alone and took a hotel room in the city, at the Plaza, which was his favorite. He flew the Concorde, so there was no jet lag, but he gave himself an intervening day to revise and prepare himself for the encounter. He carried the preparations as far as timing his arrival so that they were assembled and waiting when he entered the conference room. They were seated exactly as they had been on the earlier occasion, Nicky as nominal chairman, Dukes to his right, Flamini to his left, and next to Flamini the blind Pascara and his obedient son.
    Nicky guided the meeting, going detail by detail through the professional survey and assessment before Franks spoke up, pointing out that the extra cost came from the landowners’ belief they had two prospective buyers. Nicky at once deflated the criticism, suggesting that if they agreed to a proper company formation, he proposed to write to everyone whom he’d approached, officially withdrawing his interest. Dukes improved on the suggestion, saying they should time their approach to coincide with the lawyer’s rejection, when the owners would be eager to conclude the original sale rather than risk losing any purchase at all. Franks had the impression of being an onlooker instead of a participant in the discussion.
    Pascara introduced the independent