Richest Man: It All Started With My Rebate System

The due diligence report arrived shortly early afternoon. And after Steven had gone through it, he immediately put a call through to Adrian.

The call was picked immediately.

"Mr. Craig," Adrian said. "Good afternoon. How can I help?"

"The due diligence report on Caldwell’s has come in," Steven said. "I’m ready to move to the offer stage. I need the attorney introduction you mentioned during onboarding."

"Of course," Adrian said. "I’ll have the concierge reach out to the firm within the hour. They’ll contact you directly to schedule a call. Do you have a preferred window today?"

"Any time this afternoon works," Steven said.

"Understood. I’ll note that." A brief pause. "Is there anything specific you’d like the firm briefed on before they contact you? It saves time on the initial call if they have context going in."

Steven thought about it for a moment.

"Cash acquisition," he said. "Single location restaurant in Montrose. Offer is three million, significantly above market value. Due diligence package is ready and will be attached to the offer letter as an exhibit. I want the letter drafted cleanly including offer amount, terms, and a summary of the findings presented together in a single document."

"Got all of that," Adrian said. "I’ll make sure it’s passed along in full. The firm we work with handles transactions of this kind regularly. They’ll know exactly what you need."

"Good," Steven said.

"Is there anything else?"

"That’s everything for now," Steven said. "Thank you, Adrian."

"Of course, Mr. Craig. You’ll hear from them shortly."

The call ended.

Steven set the phone on the coffee table, leaned back into the sofa cushions and continued what he was doing.

His phone rang forty minutes later. He checked it and he was that it was an unknown number.

He answered the call without hesitation, as he already guessed who the person could be.

"Good afternoon. Is this Mr. Steven Craig?" A composed female voice, professional and direct.

"Speaking," Steven said.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Craig. My name is Rachel Bennet. I’m a senior associate at Pemberton and Associates. We were referred to you this afternoon through Chase Private Banking. I understand you’re looking to move on an acquisition and need an offer letter drafted."

"That’s right," Steven said. "How quickly can you have something ready?"

"If we can go through the key terms now, I can have a first draft to you by tomorrow morning," she said. "Would that work?"

"It works," Steven said. "Let’s go through it."

"Let’s start with the basics," Rachel said. "Full legal name of the acquiring party."

"Steven Craig," he said.

"And the target business. Full name and registered address."

"Caldwell’s Restaurant. The registered address is in the due diligence report. I’ll forward it to you after this call."

"That works," she said. "Offer amount?"

"Three million dollars in cash, with no financing contingency," Steven said.

There was a brief pause as she noted it down. "And the seller. Do you have the legal name of the owner of record?"

"Gerald Holt," Steven said.

"Good. I’ll confirm the full registered ownership details against public records before the letter goes out." She continued without slowing. "Settlement timeline. Is there a preferred closing window?"

"As fast as reasonably possible," Steven said. "I’m not interested in a prolonged process. If the seller is willing, I want this closed within two to three weeks of acceptance."

"I can draft the letter with a response window of seven days and a proposed closing timeline of twenty one days from acceptance," she said. "That’s a tight but achievable structure on a cash deal with no financing dependencies."

"That’s exactly what I want," Steven said.

"The due diligence package," she said. "You mentioned it would be attached as an exhibit."

"Correct," Steven said. "The report documents inventory irregularities across fourteen months and cash flow discrepancies in the end-of-night reconciliation. Both are systematic. The findings will be presented as a courtesy to the seller — informing them of issues their own oversight missed, not as a negotiating condition."

"Understood," she said. "I want to be precise about how that’s framed in the letter. We’ll present it as supporting documentation provided in the interest of full transparency, with no contingency language tied to it. The offer stands independently of the findings."

"That’s the right framing," Steven said.

"One more thing," she said. "Do you want your name on the offer letter directly, or would you prefer to have it go out under an entity? Some buyers prefer to acquire through a holding company rather than in their personal name. It’s worth considering before the letter goes out."

Steven hadn’t thought about this. But the moment she raised it, he immediately understood the logic.

"A holding company," he said. "I don’t have one set up yet. Is that something Pemberton can help with, or do I need to sort that separately?"

"We can handle the incorporation alongside the letter," she said. "A Texas LLC is straightforward. I’d need a name from you, or we can use a placeholder and finalise it before anything goes out."

Steven thought for a moment.

"Craig Holdings," he said. "Keep it simple."

"Craig Holdings LLC," she said. "I’ll incorporate that today and have the letter drafted under the entity by tomorrow morning. You’ll receive both the incorporation documents and the offer letter for your review before anything is sent."

"Good," Steven said.

"Is there anything else you want included or any specific conditions you want the letter to address?"

"Nothing beyond what we’ve covered," Steven said. "Clean offer, tight timeline, due diligence package attached. That’s everything."

"Understood," she said. "I’ll have everything with you by nine tomorrow morning. If anything needs adjusting after your review, I can turn the revision around the same day."

"I appreciate the speed," Steven said.

"Of course, Mr. Craig. We’ll be in touch tomorrow morning."

The call ended.

Steven set the phone down and looked at the ceiling for a moment.

Craig Holdings LLC.

He hadn’t planned set up a holding company. It . It had been brought up by Racheal and he decided to go with it, because it was the best idea.

He thought about what that meant. Not just for the restaurant, but going forward. Any future acquisition, any investment, any asset he chose to put into a structure rather than hold personally.

He picked up his phone and sent Rachel the due diligence report along with the registered address details she had asked for.

The letter would be ready tomorrow morning. Everything after that would move quickly.

He was looking forward to seeing how quickly.