<div class="floatright">(http://www.thelistlove.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/251-1024x576.jpg)</div>Olivia listened intently, nodding her head at the points of the origin of Jaclyn's journey. Some sentences simply amused the ambitious syndicate leader. A billion. Unexpected. Unasked. So much of Olivia wanted to dig into that. To be sure, unexpected and unasked favors were quite decisively in her wheelhouse. There was something about getting control over someone. You didn't do it by taking everything away from them, or rendering them to an incredibly hopeless place. That's how you made someone desperate, not compliant. Olivia had made a habit of helping people without them asking, and then cashing in on favors when they were at a point where they couldn't really refuse her help. Paying off one's debts, covering up their affair, giving them an anonymous tip about an investigation being launched into them... all these things share a common trait. It took very little effort on her part, and it bought her people.<br/><br/>'You can't buy people.'<br/><br/>Bullshit.<br/><br/>Olivia did it all the time.<br/><br/>So hearing stories like Jaclyn's just intrigued Olivia all the more, causing her to politely turn and engage her in the conversation.<br/><br/>As Jaclyn continued, Olivia's predatory habits kicked in. Listening, gleaning information for personal use from what was available on the surface of her comments.<em>Wealthy, beautiful, a surplus of cash, well traveled...</em><br/><br/>It was hard not to let her eyes roam.<br/><br/>"...<span class="bbc_u">and I insist on being hands on</span>, so that is most definitely the limit."<br/><br/>Now that was just low hanging fruit.<br/><br/>Olivia was compelled to nod, smiling admiringly. The fact that she kept herself from chuckling flirtatiously or letting her eyes dart to the side blurring innuendo at the remark was something Olivia took pride in. Instead, the mere nod of her head and engaged expression on her face could easily be passed off as just paying attention and agreeing wholeheartedly. Her private analysis continuing.<br/><br/><em>Disciplined, aware, well spoken, impeccable body... and pride of ownership.</em><br/><br/>When Jaclyn paused to take a sip of her drink, Olivia took the queue to glance downward, inhaling audibly, subtly mouthing the word: "... wow."<br/><br/>She truly was impressive.<br/><br/>Then a second later, Olivia found herself being questioned about her own affairs. It was something she'd prepped herself to answer for years now. Her job was to convince people to do what she wanted, to seduce them, to win them over, and the prize of her conquests really varied depending on the stakes. What she enjoyed was the game, and with every game, knowing how to present her philosophy, how to sell herself to a partner, or the opposition, was crucial.<br/><br/>She didn't hesitate. It was a chance to offset her reputation for some of the ruthless reputation she had, that she was sure would be brought up if anyone scratched beneath the surface to look into her. If she were to play the saint, smile and feign naivete, that might get her somewhere with a certain type of investor, a certain type of individual... but these particular people... Olivia was embroiled in a deeper game. She had to assume that they would be looking into her if they hadn't already, and when they did, what they'd find would be anything but an naive saint. So her ground work had to begin now. Her first impression had to be believable and plausible.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">"Well... much like yourself, I'd like to think I have a reasonable sense of my limits."</span><br/><br/>She intermingled her fingers, twisting in her chair to face Jaclyn, mirroring, her motion. Then... her mouth opened, for a fraction of a second of silence, then a full second. Her eyes drifted to the side with a small squint, as if looking for the best to say what she wanted. Then, the words came forward in a rhythm that wasn't so much that of a rehearsed speech as it was a woman speaking off the cuff. Getting her thoughts in front of her.<br/><br/>"To answer your question, a bit of both? I'm far from a water expert. I'm not particularly great with the law, I'm decent at financing, I know absolutely nothing about manufacturing and don't even get me started on the specifics of the pharmaceutical industry. I'm... you could say my specialty is... people. I have a knack for reading people. I like to find hidden talent, and when I locate that, I like to foster it. My philosophy is that I like to back winners. I trust the people who work for me and I've found it incredibly profitable to support them."<br/><br/>The first part of the speech? Done. Establish a passion, but don't come off as cocky that she knows everything, because no one can know everything. So... yeah... get out ahead of that, and make that perception work for you. Then she continued.<br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.gifer.com/5IiF.gif)</div><br/>"I'm normally very good at identifying a loser. Something doesn't add up, someone is under-performing, I have to choices to work with. I can look to fix the problem, this normally takes shoveling some money into it. It's messy. I'll admit. You make enemies when you try to change things. Fixing something often includes cutting out the cancer that's killing it from the inside, and that's uncomfortable for people. They kick up a fuss, they don't like their perfect little lives with their ideal little scams being looked at too closely. People get complacent, mediocrity sets in. People get comfortable and in the end, the enemy of 'good' is not 'bad'. The enemy of good is ... 'good enough'. So... yes, I can undertake what sometimes feels like a war, dragging a company, kicking and screaming into the light. Or I can turn the page on it, and never give it a second thought. Life is too short to take on headaches for things you don't care about."<br/><br/>Was Olivia just admitting to Jaclyn that she might have thought this water company was a loser? Was Olivia raising red flags? Well... maybe. But more likely than not... she was very methodically crafting her answer to portray an image of herself and her vision for the idea. Olivia knew that the most blatantly obvious question for any discerning investor would be: "What business does this woman have running this particular venture? What makes her the person to do it?" and the truth was, the answer wasn't flattering. Nothing. Olivia was certainly no specialist in this area. So Olivia's selling point was that she could put a team together that would help this thing be useful. She would find the people that would make it work, and she would initiate the logistics to ensure that when the company was what it should be, it was ready to go into action.<br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">"I care about this project."</span><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://78.media.tumblr.com/87624d7bcd0316cc13aa56bc7e5c577a/tumblr_inline_mrmf0u9vgP1qz4rgp.gif)</div>Oh-!<br/><br/>Yes-! There it was.<br/><br/>The perfect delivery. And it was true. She did care about the project. But it was also deviously misleading, as she wouldn't explain 'why'.<br/><br/>Now... to bring it in for a landing. She let her eyes drop to the table first... before glancing over to Peter, nodding her head, as if he might understand where she was coming from on this, but then turning her gaze back to the woman who'd asked her the question in the first place.<br/><br/>"I could lie and say that I'll be overseeing every step of the process. But you'd find out quickly that wasn't true. What I can tell you is that I have people in place who will eat, sleep, and breathe this project. And I will be behind them, every step of the way, making sure they have what they need to be successful."<br/><br/>Another bit of trickery. Half-truths and a level of honesty that was fully based on gamesmanship. See... Olivia enjoyed being able to confront her enemies later, and being able to tell them that she didn't lie, but that they simply didn't pick up on everything was deeply satisfying. In this case... she had every intention of making this shell of a company successful. Why? Because the CGDA didn't own it yet! That thing was ready to collapse, it was ripe to fall... but Olivia intended for it to hold out until it was fully in the hands of the CGDA. For now... that meant exactly what she said. Making it successful. Putting people in place that knew exactly how to run this company, so that the poisonous lackluster crooks who'd been running it until now didn't sink it before Olivia could get one final bit of use out of it.<br/><br/>"If I ran one company... I could tell you, or anyone really... who'd ask... that I could devote 100% of my time to any given project. But being a serial investor... I have to be upfront and honest with you. I do have my irons in so many fires. I do find myself taking on more projects than I sometimes should. I'm a bit of a creative spirit that way. Father always said my ambition would make my life harder than it needed to be. I've started to see what he meant by that.<br/><br/><em>But you know what...?</em>"<br/><br/>She paused... dimming her eyelids a bit... nibbling on her lower lip, finally failing to keep her eyes from roaming up and down, giving Jaclyn that once-over she'd held off on all this time.<br/><br/><em><strong>"I wouldn't change it for the world. I love it. All of it."</strong></em><br/><br/>She finally leaned back in her chair a bit... realizing she had to stop talking. She almost finished her train of thought. That being... she loved the game between people. She loved the constant games of chess in motion in her life. The thrill of winning was amazing. The anxiety of losing was motivation as well to do better next time.<br/><br/><em>Of course... to know this much about her, Jaclyn... and indeed Peter... were going to have to wait until she'd checkmated them both.</em>