An Understated Dominance novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Eleven Phone Calls

Seven business days to find thirty million dollars.

I did not sleep that night, or the next.

By Monday morning, Bev had two whiteboards in my office and a pot of coffee that could dissolve a spoon.

"Refinancing is dead," she said. "I called nine banks. Every one of them took a phone call from Seattle first."

"Equity?"

"Same."

"Colter?"

I looked at her.

"He's offered," said Bev, "and I know the answer is no."

"The answer is no."

"Then we have one option."

She uncapped a marker and wrote ELEVEN on the board.

"Our eleven biggest buyers. If each prepays its spring orders in full, we make nineteen million dollars."

"That doesn't cover it."

"No. But it gets us to a place where we can negotiate on the rest. And it shows the bank we have customers."

"What do we say?"

"The truth," Bev said. "That you need them."

I made the first call at nine.

It was to a woman who ran buying for a chain of mountain shops across the Rockies, who had been a customer for nine years.

"Thea!" she said. "I saw the article. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I need a favor."

I told her.

I did not make it pretty.

When I had finished, she was quiet for a few seconds.

"How many weeks of inventory are you short?" she asked.

"I'm not short on inventory. I'm short on a banker."

"Send me the invoice," she said. "Prepay's easy. You've never let us down."

One down.

The second buyer, in Minneapolis, said no, kindly.

The third said he'd have to talk to his partner.

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