couldn’t get back to sleep.
She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was still groggy from sleep, jet lag, and wine. Her eyes fell on the green leather chair in the corner, and a sense of loss washed over her. It had been there all the time, she knew. Since Uncle’s death she had been carrying around a tight knot in her belly. Now it felt as if the knot had come undone, and whatever it was holding together had been unleashed and was free to course through her body. She blinked as tears began to fall. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shuddered, filling the room with halting, gulping sobs.
At seven thirty the alarm sounded. She was still in bed. The tears had stopped and the ache in her belly had eased. She slid out of bed and went to the window, pulled open the curtains, and looked out onto the garden and the creek. The world was going about its business as it always did, and now she needed to look after hers.
Ava made coffee and sat at the desk, then turned on the computer and checked her emails. A love note from Maria made her smile. She pushed the chair back from the desk, retrieved her notebook from her bag, and opened it to a fresh page. Across the top she wrote Xu and in point form summarized the offer he was making. Then she wrote Pro on the left side of the page and Con on the right. When she was finished, the right side of the paper contained only one word: Triad. She picked up the room phone and dialled May’s extension.
“Yes,” May said.
“We should do the deal with Xu,” Ava said.
“Just like that?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“You told me it was my decision. Well, I’ve made it.”
“No doubts at all?”
“Why do you ask? Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not at all. It’s just that last night you seemed so tentative.”
“My head is clearer this morning. Xu wants to give us the money, so let’s take it, let’s use it.”
“I agree.”
“We can use it to fund Suki’s expansion.”
“Turning Suki loose could chew up a lot of Xu’s money.”
“As long as we have enough left for the Pos, I don’t mind.”
“Speaking of which, I just got off the phone with Amanda. Chi-Tze is arriving right about now. Amanda is already at the airport to meet her and will take her directly to the factory.”
“I’m glad Chi-Tze is here, but I don’t want her to complicate the Po deal. Unless there’s something that screams, ‘Don’t do it,’ I want to go into business with them.”
“You certainly are a risk-taker this morning.”
“I don’t think investing in Suki and the Pos is a risk. Do you?”
“No, actually, I don’t.”
“So please tell Chi-Tze to work as quickly as possible. Let’s get this done in the next few days.”
“I’ll talk to Amanda and I’ll give Suki a call as soon as I get off the phone with you. She’ll be ecstatic.”
“Our profit-sharing structure with her will have to change with this new insertion of capital. The additional money will dilute everyone’s percentage.”
“I’ll get the accountants to put together a spreadsheet so the share structure is completely transparent and traceable.”
“But no mention of Xu.”
“Of course not.”
“I’ll have to contact him,” Ava said. “Where do you want him to transfer the money?”
“We have two bank accounts for Three Sisters: one in Hong Kong, the other in Wuhan. We funded Suki and the Borneo business from Wuhan, so until we set up other banking arrangements I think we should move Xu’s money there. We’ll use the Hong Kong account for the Pos once we finalize the amount we’ll be investing in their business.”
“I’ll give Xu the information he needs to do the transfer.”
“When you do, mention the possibility of synergy. The clothing factories interest me, and if he doesn’t have his own warehousing and distribution network set up, maybe he can arrange to throw some additional business to Suki.”
“May, maybe we should wait
She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was still groggy from sleep, jet lag, and wine. Her eyes fell on the green leather chair in the corner, and a sense of loss washed over her. It had been there all the time, she knew. Since Uncle’s death she had been carrying around a tight knot in her belly. Now it felt as if the knot had come undone, and whatever it was holding together had been unleashed and was free to course through her body. She blinked as tears began to fall. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shuddered, filling the room with halting, gulping sobs.
At seven thirty the alarm sounded. She was still in bed. The tears had stopped and the ache in her belly had eased. She slid out of bed and went to the window, pulled open the curtains, and looked out onto the garden and the creek. The world was going about its business as it always did, and now she needed to look after hers.
Ava made coffee and sat at the desk, then turned on the computer and checked her emails. A love note from Maria made her smile. She pushed the chair back from the desk, retrieved her notebook from her bag, and opened it to a fresh page. Across the top she wrote Xu and in point form summarized the offer he was making. Then she wrote Pro on the left side of the page and Con on the right. When she was finished, the right side of the paper contained only one word: Triad. She picked up the room phone and dialled May’s extension.
“Yes,” May said.
“We should do the deal with Xu,” Ava said.
“Just like that?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“You told me it was my decision. Well, I’ve made it.”
“No doubts at all?”
“Why do you ask? Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not at all. It’s just that last night you seemed so tentative.”
“My head is clearer this morning. Xu wants to give us the money, so let’s take it, let’s use it.”
“I agree.”
“We can use it to fund Suki’s expansion.”
“Turning Suki loose could chew up a lot of Xu’s money.”
“As long as we have enough left for the Pos, I don’t mind.”
“Speaking of which, I just got off the phone with Amanda. Chi-Tze is arriving right about now. Amanda is already at the airport to meet her and will take her directly to the factory.”
“I’m glad Chi-Tze is here, but I don’t want her to complicate the Po deal. Unless there’s something that screams, ‘Don’t do it,’ I want to go into business with them.”
“You certainly are a risk-taker this morning.”
“I don’t think investing in Suki and the Pos is a risk. Do you?”
“No, actually, I don’t.”
“So please tell Chi-Tze to work as quickly as possible. Let’s get this done in the next few days.”
“I’ll talk to Amanda and I’ll give Suki a call as soon as I get off the phone with you. She’ll be ecstatic.”
“Our profit-sharing structure with her will have to change with this new insertion of capital. The additional money will dilute everyone’s percentage.”
“I’ll get the accountants to put together a spreadsheet so the share structure is completely transparent and traceable.”
“But no mention of Xu.”
“Of course not.”
“I’ll have to contact him,” Ava said. “Where do you want him to transfer the money?”
“We have two bank accounts for Three Sisters: one in Hong Kong, the other in Wuhan. We funded Suki and the Borneo business from Wuhan, so until we set up other banking arrangements I think we should move Xu’s money there. We’ll use the Hong Kong account for the Pos once we finalize the amount we’ll be investing in their business.”
“I’ll give Xu the information he needs to do the transfer.”
“When you do, mention the possibility of synergy. The clothing factories interest me, and if he doesn’t have his own warehousing and distribution network set up, maybe he can arrange to throw some additional business to Suki.”
“May, maybe we should wait
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