Little White Lies by Lesley Lokko

Author:Lesley Lokko [Lokko, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Fiction, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9781409142492
Google: sU1G-gIjwLgC
Amazon: B00BU1DGZE
Goodreads: 17848687
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

61

TASH

London

Tash put down the phone and stared at her hands. They were trembling. Her heart was pounding. She ought to lie down. For a bit. Just to let it all sink in. She got up and walked over to her sofa. She sat down. Her hands were still shaking. She locked her fingers together and shoved them between her knees. Two million pounds. Two million pounds! That was how much Julian and his colleagues were willing to invest. ‘We’ve looked at it from a number of angles,’ he said. ‘Charles thinks you’re mad. It’s only been a few years since the bubble burst on the dotcoms and online businesses haven’t picked up as quickly as everyone hoped. If you’d come to me five years ago I could’ve raised triple that . . . but, still, two million’s a start.’

A start? It was almost twice as much as she’d dared hope. She stared at the phone. Whom should she call first? Rebecca, of course. She pressed her fingers together even more tightly. Her mother. What would she tell Lyudmila? How would she tell her? I’ve just been given two million pounds. Well, it wasn’t quite true. She’d been given two million pounds of someone else’s money in the hope that she would make it back. And more, of course. She unlaced her fingers and ran a hand through her hair, pulling it back ever more tightly. She rubbed her eyes. Then she got up, walked to the refrigerator and quickly poured herself a glass of cold white wine. She looked around uncertainly. ‘Well,’ she said out loud after a moment. ‘Here’s to you, Tash Bryce-Brudenell.’ She raised her glass to herself. ‘Here’s to your idea.’ She laughed self-consciously and brought the glass to her lips. She’d just been given two million pounds. She raised the glass again and polished it off. She looked at her watch. It was nearly four o’clock. It was time to get down to business. Her own.

There were four of them around the beautifully laid table at the Orrery. Herself, Edith, James and Colin, one of James’s closest friends from university and an authority on all things internet. All three were staring at Tash.

‘Just like that?’ James’s eyes widened to the point of bursting. ‘He gave you two million quid . . . just like that?’

‘Why not?’ Edith asked mildly. She was nearly sixty; she’d been in the business long enough to have seen investments of this scale, including her own. ‘It’s a good idea. A bloody good idea.’

Tash smiled. It wasn’t like Edith to swear. She raised her glass. ‘Well, it wasn’t quite “just like that”, but yes, we’ve got two million quid of other people’s money to play with, starting now. So, here’s to [email protected]. We’ve got four months to get it up and running.’

‘You say “we”,’ James said cautiously. ‘What exactly d’you have in mind? Where do we come in?’

Tash nodded slowly. ‘Okay. So here it is. Here’s what I’m thinking.’

It took her thirty minutes to outline her vision for the new company.

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