“Hi Gladys, how are you? It‘s good to hear from you.” “Nice to hear from you too, but that‘s not why I called.”
“I can guess why you did. Actually, I‘m driving right now and won‘t be able to speak for much longer. I just got off the phone with Edward and I‘m on my way to join them at the office. The call was brief; he said it was urgent and had to do with the insider trading of the company shares.”
“I was hoping you had more details. He was dragged off to the office by Benibo soon after we arrived and only called some minutes ago to say he‘ll still be there for some hours yet.”
“I‘ll get him to give you a proper call if possible. Anyway, I‘m glad you guys got back OK. Too bad about the situation with the company, I‘ll be there for Edward.”
“Thanks Kanayo, you‘re the best.” Gladys dropped the phone. This was certainly not how she expected them to spend their first night back; Edward in the office and she alone at home.
*********
Edward walked back into the boardroom and this time sat at the head of the highly polished mahogany table. He breathed in deeply and then let it out. Those who played with the tail of the tiger had only themselves to blame if they ended in its belly. There was no more playing with kid gloves. All bets were off.
He looked at Mrs. Olayomi as he spoke, “You had a meeting this afternoon. Did you decide on the next line of action? What about those behind this takeover?”
His secretary passed the minutes file to him and they waited while he flipped through it. He looked up then, “There‘s no bidder‘s statement, so maybe the takeover isn‘t hostile?” Mrs. Olayomi spoke, “It must be a business rival because they told us to expect the public announcement this week. We have sent out our own target‘s statement.”
“Still, we can‘t say for sure till we get their bid,” Edward said with a grim smile as he studied a file. “Thanks, this statement is good. How much of the stock is still out there?”
“Twenty-nine percent...” Ogbonna said consulting a sheet in front of him.
“How can that be?” Edward asked, puzzled. “What‘s going on?” Something told him that there was more bad news. Still he was surprised when Odili who‘d been silent all along spoke.