I didn’t have a good feeling about this. Pierre asked me how much money I wanted. Since he was 1/3 owner, it would’ve been nice if he were to give me 1/3 of the losses – especially considering he was able to write that much off his income taxes and he had never put in his original seed money. So I started there, or maybe a little bit over that to leave room for negotiation. He actually suggested that I should keep 10% ownership in case the restaurant made money in the future. I was surprised, but it made sense that I might be able to recoup some of my money. He put me off, saying he was still checking into the contract extension, finding a partner, etc. I was dying inside. I needed for this to be over. I was out of money and my alternatives were even more painful, closing or suing a multi-billion dollar hockey franchise. He had me by the proverbial testicles.

This was a very simple business and Pierre’s restaurant expert had already delved into our physical, mental, and financial inventories. Negotiations shouldn’t take months, but Pierre was dragging his feet. Every time we talked, he offered me less money – he always had a different reason. I continued to bring up retaining 10% ownership. First he said ‘no’ as any partners he might find wouldn’t agree to something like that. Then he said ‘no’ as it wouldn’t work well that way. Then he just said ‘no’. I don’t know why, it was his idea in the first place and now he’s acting like I was asking for unreasonable things. Once again, I was just confused by what was going on.

Meanwhile, Kyle and Pierre were visiting various bars for ideas to improve the bar. Wait, what? Why didn’t they do this from the beginning? Was this Pierre’s plan all along? Pierre would do nothing – except have Todd and his Minions torture me – until I had used up all my money to get the business started so Pierre could swoop in and take over? Had I been conned by a figure skating coach? I was crushed, financially and now mentally.