AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s exactly what we fear will happen,” Ken says. “You remember what happened with Centrix, right?”
“Centrix? You mean the company that turned out to basically be a Ponzi scheme and their CEO was funding terrorism? That’s what you’re comparing me to?” I can’t hold back the laugh. “This is a fucking joke. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work. So unless you have an actual concern or proof of any of these accusations, I’ll be on my way.”
I stand, readjusting my coat just as Ken reaches into a folder, placing an enlarged black-and-white photo on the table and sliding it toward me. I look at it, then back up to the men in the room who are all staring at me.
“What the—” My words trail off as I reach out and pick up the photo, taking a closer look at it. It’s a picture of me and Presley kissing in an elevator… my private elevator.
How? Who could have gotten this?
“The evidence of your affair you demanded,” Rick spits at me.
“Stop calling it a fucking affair,” I grit the words out as I stare at the photo.
Nobody besides my security has access to the cameras in this elevator. Nobody would even think to look at them. Then again, money does talk and one thing I’ve learned is everyone has a price.
“Who’s the source?” I say, turning to look at Ken.
“I can’t say.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?” He looks at me, his palms raised upward as he shrugs. “Pathetic,” I mutter, tossing the photo back onto the table and spinning on my heel to march out of the office.
I don’t need a room full of overpriced assholes to tell me what I already know. I yank my car door open harder than necessary, sliding behind the wheel and pulling into traffic to head to Peter Frisk’s office.
“He in?” I ask his secretary, not stopping to give her time to warn him as I march toward his office.
“Mr. Gates. Sir, wait.” She scrambles up from her chair, attempting to chase me down, but it’s no use. I swing the large double doors of his office open.
“You’ve crossed the fucking line.” I point to Peter who’s sitting back at his desk, a smug smile on his ugly face like he was expecting me.
“Cyrus,” he says in that drawn-out nasal accent. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I know it was you. Did you really think I was just going to bend over and take it?”
He laughs. “Trust me, I would love to take the full credit here, but it wasn’t me who did the dirty work. I’m merely the messenger.”
I ball my hands into fists. I hate these fucking games. “Who was it? Who’s the source?”
He stares at me, enjoying having the upper hand. “Oh, what the hell. It was Nelson.” I almost take a step back in shock. Did I hear him correctly? “He came to me, said he knew you were going to lose this deal, and made me an offer. He said he could provide me what I would need to go to Meridian with a better offer.”
I knew my gut wasn’t lying to me, but I sure as shit wasn’t expecting this.
“So that’s it. He told them about Presley and me, and what, you guys think you’re going to snake this deal from me because of that and he’s going to sit at your right hand once you sign the deal with them?”
“Oh, come on now, Cyrus. You’re smarter than that. The photograph in the elevator was just the icing on the cake, a personal vendetta against you from Nelson. The real information was all the nitty-gritty details of your plan for Meridian once the ink was dry. He provided me access to information nobody else had, and it allowed me to craft the perfect offer to them with a fifteen percent higher price tag, better stock options for the board, and no plans to sell off divisions of their company.”
“There were never any plans to sell off any part of their company.”
“Well, Meridian doesn’t know that, but when your CFO comes to them and me and says otherwise, it doesn’t look good, Cyrus.”
“So what now? Nelson is your new CFO?”
He laughs even harder. “Not a chance in hell. I wouldn’t trust that rat with my ex-mother-in-law and that says something because that woman is the spawn of Satan himself. I got what I wanted from Nelson; he can rot for all I care.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “I’ve dealt with a lot of bottom of the barrel type people in my day, but this is a new low, even for you. It’s almost like none of you actually give a shit about NDAs or noncompetes or insider information laws, and yet I’m the piece of shit in this deal according to Meridian? I don’t care about my feelings; they’re not hurt. But you’re willing to throw away so much more than your reputation; you’re willing to have charges brought against you? Fuck this deal and fuck you, Peter.”
I turn to walk away, wanting nothing more than to run to Presley and tell her everything. She’s the only person who can give me any sort of relief right now, the only person who can make me feel better about the fact that I really did miss all of this happening right under my nose. That’s what I’m angry about here. Not because they’re trying to fuck me over, but because I ignored my gut and gave Nelson the benefit of the doubt when I knew there was something going on.
“I did you a favor, you know?”
