Shadow Empire by Bri Blackwood
Broderick
Ihad to hunt Malcolm down and I wasn’t amused about it. It had taken some digging, but what he should have known was that when I’m determined to do something, I will go to the ends of the Earth.
“You have some fucking nerve. You couldn’t come to my office and meet with me in person to discuss this piece of shit that you put together?”
The way his eyes lit up told me that I was correct in thinking that this had all been a part of his plan. He wanted to irritate me enough that I would come searching for him. But why? How does this benefit him?
He leaned forward and looked me straight in the eye and said, “You thought you were going to one-up me. The terms in this contract right here”—he gestured with his index finger to the papers that lay on his desk—“would give you so much power over my contacts and resources, which is how I do my business. You thought I was going to sign everything over to you for this price? You’re dumber than you look.”
I held back a retort to his degrading comment and leaned back in my chair. My goal was to maintain a cold facade that would give no hints about the thoughts I was having. I chuckled. “It’s interesting that you think you have a choice here.”
He looked taken aback by my response and I could see him slowly starting to turn a light pink. It was clear that there weren’t many people who talked to him like that. “Get the fuck out of my office.”
Something clicked in my head. It was the only reason I could think of why he would have tried to blindside me with these changes. “Who else are you partnering with that wants to oppose me?”
His expression changed slightly, and he probably wasn’t aware that it had. But I caught it. “What part of ‘get out’ didn’t you understand?”
I’d let the partnering question slide for a moment. “No. Because you’re going to sign this contract right here.”
The sneer on his face said that he had me cornered, but the joke was on him.
“I’m not going to do shit.”
I’d expected him to say something along those lines, but I paused to make him think that he’d won this battle. But I was about to win the war. I grabbed my briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers that I threw in front of him.
“You’re embezzling funds from deals that you’re supposed to be procuring for your clients outside of the money they’re already paying you and here’s the proof.” I watched as he scanned the documents, so I continued, “Don’t worry. You can keep those papers. I have plenty of copies.”
His jaw tightened. “Are you blackmailing me?”
I crossed my arms, not bothering to hide my emotions anymore. A smile played at the corner of my lips. “Nope. Just sharing that you’re not getting away with any of this even if you thought you were. Now all it takes is me getting this information into the right hands and…”
His glare filled me with glee. I watched as his eyes turned back to the papers on his desk. He snatched a pen off the surface and quickly scrawled his signature down on the sections required. When he shoved the papers toward me, I laughed before my expression turned serious.
“Now, who didn’t want you to sign those papers?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I stood up and leaned on his desk as if it were my own. “I’m going to give you a week to cough up the name of who you’re working with. If you don’t, I’ll kill you. If I find out before you, I’ll kill you.” I paused before I continued. “It was wonderful doing business with you.”
“Get out of my office.”
“With pleasure.”
* * *
“What got into your ass?”
“Nothing? I’m not doing anything.”
“That’s the point. You aren’t doing anything. You’re staring off into the distance like someone who lost their puppy.”
I raised an eyebrow at Damien before turning my head to look back over the balcony. I was at Elevate to relax and enjoy a drink out with my brother, not get pestered by him. “The next time I have the bright idea of inviting you here with me, remind me that it’s a bad idea.”
Damien grunted and took a sip of his whiskey on the rocks. He did nothing but stare after he finished drinking and I could see that he wanted me to continue. I leaned over and said, “I secured a new deal.”
“That’s great news. So why do you look upset about it? You should be celebrating.”
“Don’t feel like it.”
“Am I going to have to pry it out of you?”
That made me snort. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say pry.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I secured the deal by any means necessary like how Dad taught us, and I know it’s going to make me more billions in the long run. How it came about doesn’t make much sense to me. Malcolm tried to screw me over before he caved once I showed him the dirt that I dug up on him.”
Damien shrugged slightly. “That wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve had to do business that way.”
“I know, but this time… feels different.”
Silence passed between us once again and I refused to admit that he was right. There was something else on my mind. Someone else, and I didn’t want to address it with him: Grace.
I hadn’t tried to reach out to her since the evening of my brother’s engagement party. I thought it would be pointless. I was biding my time.
“Look, if you want to talk about Grace—”
“Why would I want to talk about her?”
“Anais—”
“Gentlemen.”
I turned and found Hunter McCartney standing to my right. I watched his face to see if he might have overheard Damien mention Grace’s name, but his smile told me he hadn’t.
“Welcome,” Damien said as he stood up. “Can we get you anything?”
“No, that’s okay. I just stopped by to see if you all were here.”
My eyes narrowed at him. I couldn’t imagine what he was waiting to tell me that he couldn’t have reached me by other means. “Why? Did something happen?”
A grin appeared on his face. “I did it. I made partner.”
I stood up and held my hand out to him. Hunter had been working diligently to get that offer and now here it was. "Congratulations, Hunt. Knew you'd do it." I grinned broadly as he shook my hand and brought it in for a pound hug.
"Thanks, man. It was a lot of hours to put in, but damn it is so worth it." His smile widened, his eyes bright, and it wasn’t hard to see how proud he was of himself. And he had every right to be. "Are you going downstairs?" he asked.
I paused, debating whether it made sense for me to venture downstairs. I knew Damien wasn’t, but there was nothing stopping me.
Except there was.
“Nah, man. Not tonight. You?”
Hunter looked at me before looking at Damien with a grin. “Hell yeah. I’m in celebration mode. Plus, I like this fancy key we have now. I’ll catch you both later.”
I could see Damien nod out of the corner of my eye as I said goodbye and we both watched Hunter leave the VIP lounge. I cut my eyes over to my brother and nearly growled. “I’m glad he didn’t hear you say her name.”
It was Damien’s turn to raise an eyebrow at me. “Are you scared of him or something?”
“Of course not. But I also don’t want him to know what happened between me and his baby sister either.” I was shocked that Grace hadn’t told him anything about what happened at the engagement party. Hell, I was shocked that we were able to keep our exchange quiet. Nothing had gotten back to me related to Grace.
“Good point,” Damien snickered.
Seeing the look on his face, I narrowed my eyes. "What do you know?"
"I know what happened at the party." Damien grinned. "Interfering in Grace's love life means that you're asking for trouble, aren't you?"
I swore and glared at him. “How the hell do you know about that? You were up on stage with Anais.”
Damien's grin widened. "Anais had a... she had to use the bathroom soon after everything wrapped up. She overheard you and Grace arguing in the hall."
"Damn it," I growled. I felt like I was in the middle of a game of telephone, trying to get actual information on what was said.
Damien soon took me out of my misery, but it all boiled down to the fact that Anais heard us talking. While I trusted them not to say anything, was there anyone else who had done the same? And if so, this could end up being a bigger headache than I bargained for.