Breanne Stone had proven to me that it wasn’t wise to piss her off, especially regarding personal matters.
The Nazari brothers put the ass in asshole, but Breanne put an abrupt end to their scheming smiles when she highlighted her value as a talented woman. The confidence I observed from her rose far above their petty deceit. So instead of us begging to keep them as clients, Breanne kept their lips firmly planted on her ass and with the healthy perk of paying her an additional ten million dollars to do so.
Impressive.
Once the Nazaris were tucked in for a four-day cruise—which they were lucky I allowed after the shit they pulled by trying to fire us and hire Danny—Breanne and I left them in the care of the yacht’s personnel.
After boarding the chopper, I studied Breanne as she gazed intently out her window. I handed Bree a flute of freshly poured champagne and sat down across from her.
From the moment we’d left the Nazaris and yacht staff, Breanne’s demeanor had changed entirely. The woman who’d worn a smile that was more fake than Daniel Kyle’s Rolex now sat rigidly with an intimidating expression.
Being one to never waver in the company of pissed-off individuals, I didn’t let her current disposition faze me.
“You handed everyone their balls on a platter today, and I’ll gladly drink to that. Nice work.” I raised my glass. “It’s just a shame that you didn’t make all those pricks sit through a history lesson about the Titanic to sell them on your designs.”
Breanne turned to me, and her jade eyes narrowed. “You mentioned that my finance department heads were all fired?”
“Yes. I figured that you and I would talk about that on Monday, but if we’re going to talk shop instead of celebrating,” I sipped my champagne, “then let’s talk.”
“Why were they fired?”
“They worked with your architects, engineers, and marketing groups to steal from your company.”
Breanne closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. As an individual who read body language like poetry, I knew this reaction was because Breanne had reached her mental limit with bullshit.
“Perhaps this is a conversation for Monday,” I advised.
“I need to know what you found while I spent the entire week with my head in the sand,” she said, bringing up my accusations from earlier. Her left eyebrow rose. “I want to know how you discovered my employees were stealing from me while I didn’t have a clue about it.”
“You didn’t have a clue because they worked the system and did a damn fine job of it.”
“But how?”
I could sense Breanne was feeling me out. She was too protective of her company and seemingly blinded by the idea that the only person who would fuck her over was Daniel Kyle.
“No.” She held a finger up. “Why don’t we start with who worked the system?”
“Your architect, financial, and marketing teams. And with smiles on their faces, I might add. They worked together with subcontractors who were giving them kickbacks to underbid the hell out of legitimate companies and ensure you never saw the losses.”
“But you did?”
I nodded, keenly aware that she was apprehensive to believe that I’d caught it, but she didn’t.
“It helps to have a sixth sense for sniffing out hyenas who like to steal from companies. If you must know, these dicks were sloppy and gave themselves away almost immediately.”
She smiled, and it was the fake-Rolex smile from earlier. “Thank God for you and your sixth sense. I’m sure that will hold up when lawyers are involved after I fire employees for you sniffing them out like a dog.”
“After I sniffed the bastards out like dogs,” I eyed her challenging gaze with a smirk, “I gained hard evidence about why your company was in the red with nearly all of your clients. With the right digging and prodding, one of the lower-level employees came clean and basically handed me the whole scheme. The documents that came to you and Theo had been manipulated to show profits instead of loss. Falsified documents, forged signatures…” I took another sip of my champagne. “It all appeared to be profitable when it crossed your desk, so you signed off on it, but in actuality, every contract that crossed your desk was costing you hundreds of thousands in kickbacks and sub-par bids.”
I watched her lethal expression die. “Who came forward?” she questioned meekly.
“Ryan Miller.”
“Wow. He was extremely loyal to my father and this company.” Her eyes were brimming with tears when she directed her gaze out of the chopper window. “You’re sure Mr. Miller’s statement is true?”
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt. The man showed me how they worked the process and offered up documented proof.”
“He will face the consequences for being involved,” she said, wiping a tear away as swiftly as it rolled down her cheek. “Why would he come forward? Why would he do this?”
“He came forward to save you and Theo from facing legal action with Mitchell and Associates. He wanted to ensure that you and your VP weren’t implicated in the embezzlement.”
Her bottom lip quivered. “Why would he even think to steal from my company?”
“Greed has a way of making people become the worst versions of themselves. Breanne,” I said, taking the champagne from her trembling hand, “I’m sorry this has happened. However, we can work together and get Stone Company financially topside again.”
“I’m just in shock that I never knew this was the reason I couldn’t get Stone’s numbers in the black. I had no idea that while I was working myself to the bone, sacrificing my paycheck, these grifters were eating steak and lobster.”
“And buying designer handbags.” I hoped the levity would let her know I had her back personally and professionally. “Sadly for them, they’ll be trading their tailored Tom Ford suits for a county jumpsuit. Those soft hands and toned asses should be a big hit on the convict catwalk.”
Her lips tightened, so I went on.
“To get you up to speed, legal action is being taken, and Mr. Mitchell already has investigative teams and lawyers involved. Daniel Kyle’s little ship-to-shore excursion will likely be the last of his adventures in crime.”
“Fucking unbelievable!” she hissed. “Do you know how hard I’ve worked to run this company only to look like a bag of dicks as a CEO?”
“Well, if you think employees using shady tactics to steal from you makes you look like a dick, then James Mitchell is the biggest mushroom tip of us all,” I teased. “This kind of thing can happen in big business. Take a breath. Now that you’re up to speed, what I need from you is to get over being pissed off so can we start working together to fix the last of the merge.”
“Forgive me, but I can’t just get over shit like this,” she seethed. “Oh my God. Everything I’ve busted my ass to do to keep my dad’s company going after he died, and now—”
“And now you have greedy employees taking advantage of that and trying to bury you and your dad’s company with him.”
“Precisely,” she answered. “I need to know if this is the reason Theo is leaving.”
“No, it’s not the reason he’s leaving. I would let you in on his situation, but I promised to take a back seat and let him fill you in.”
“This helicopter can’t land fast enough.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry if I’m not one for conversation at the moment; not only did Daniel Kyle succeed in destroying my day, but it seems I can’t trust any of my employees anymore either.”
“Let’s summarize. Your workers are thieves, your clients believe their lines of bullshit, and your company is under investigation for embezzlement. Though,” I held up my hand to keep her from losing her shit, “if you’re up for it, we can fix these matters with our legal teams and keep Stone and Brooks out of the media.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“You up for playing the devil’s mistress?” I smirked.
She smiled in return. “Roleplaying?”
“Why not? We did it so well to ward off your douche of an ex, didn’t we?”
For the first time since boarding the chopper, Breanne’s posture relaxed. “If only this situation were as serious as that,” she mocked.
“I don’t think you and I will ever be involved in matters more serious than getting rid of a bastard of an ex while you’re buzzed at the bar.”
She chuckled as her cheeks turned a healthy shade of red. “How mortifying.” Her eyes widened, and the most charming, dimpled smile appeared on her face. “Do you realize that since first meeting you, I’ve encountered nothing but humiliating situations?”
“Now that you bring that up, I’m totally fucked.”
“Exactly.” She was finally lightening up. “How are you ever supposed to find me undeniably attractive?” she asked coyly.
“Sucks for me. After all this, and I’m still stuck with you as my life-long partner.”
“Dreadful.” She smiled and rolled her eyes. “Now, back to dodging the press. What’s your plan?”
The fun and games were over, but at least she didn’t collapse into a puddle of tears after finding out her employees had completely screwed her over. She was ready to take action on the thieves, and that’s where I needed my new business partner.
“Now that I’ve got you in the game, this is how we’ll do it,” I said. “It’s rather simple. The company is restructuring, right? Your architects, engineers, and marketing team already know I’m hot on their asses, so we’re going to move into the Brooks Firm building on Monday.”
“No wonder they were all uptight when I walked in today.” She exhaled. “So, move our entire business? As in…”
“As in, Stone Company will have its front doors locked, building vacated, and a bunch of confused employees will be left to wonder what happened to the company they tried to bury. They’ll soon learn they didn’t get the exclusive invite to the new business address. I’ll have my VP send out the memo for the employees who are moving with us as soon as we land, and they’ll have offices ready for them on their respective floors at Brooks on Monday. For the others, they’ll get an exclusive invite to meet with our legal teams at Mitchell and Associates.”
“You honestly think we can move everything over to Brooks by Monday? That’s three days from now, and tomorrow is Saturday.”
“That superyacht isn’t the only perk of having Mitchell and Associates as our parent company. I’ll hire a moving company to bring everything over, and I’ll even give you a lovely office with a corner view…” I paused. “A corner view of the alleys, of course.”
“God, I was such a bitch to you. I’m sorry for that.”
“I’ve dealt with worse,” I teased. “Though it was obvious you weren’t thrilled about the family business merging with another firm.”
“I wasn’t. I had my reasons. I’d like to say they were all valid, but with you doing some investigative work, it looks like I have to accept that this was the best thing for my company.”
“Personal question before the chopper lands, and we part ways until Monday.”
“No, I will not date you.”
I smiled; she was back. She took the news better than I’d imagined, and I saw determination dominating her expression. She’d been fucked over by the people she trusted, and it was apparent she wasn’t going to allow them to have the last laugh.
What started as an interrogation from her was ending with her flirtatious grin. “You won’t date me?” I laughed. “But you’re thinking about it. I can see it in your smile.” Her cheeks tinted red again, and I crossed an ankle over my knee. “Back to my personal question. I’m curious if you enjoyed being the one to fill your father’s seat after he passed?” Her expression darkened after I brought up her late father. “Breanne, I need to know. Do you enjoy this part of the job—dealing with the bullshit?”
“I hate it more than anything. I went to college to become an architect, not to major in business management.”
I grinned. “We need to restructure the company during this merger accordingly then. I’ll handle the dirty side of the business, and you can return to doing what you enjoyed before your father left his company to you.”
“Trying to steal my company, Mr. Grayson?”
“Perhaps I’m trying to steal its owner, Ms. Stone.” I arched an eyebrow and watched her eyes widen at my response.
In the end, it was good to know that a bomb like this being dropped in Breanne’s lap did little more than draw a misty-eyed rant and a few four-letter words. She was tougher than she realized, and it was fucking impressive.
The helicopter landed, and I knew Breanne and I would have a lot of shitty details to tackle in a short period. Monday couldn’t come fast enough, but for now, I would fill in Jim on everything from randomly naming his yacht to saving Sphere and getting Breanne ready to face the thieves in her company head-on. Being the CEO of our parent company and my best friend, Jim would undoubtedly be interested in this day’s events—events which nearly cost him ten million in a bidding war sparked by Breanne to check-mate the Nazaris.
