“How is this my fault?”
“Because your focus has been off. Ever since you married that—”
“Choose your words with extreme care,” I threatened.
My father stopped short, his face reddening, but he wasn’t deterred for too long. “Your wife. Ever since you ran off and got married like some commoner, things have been falling apart. Your head’s not in the game.”
It’d been six months since Deb and I had flown to Vegas and gotten married. Obviously my father still wasn’t over it. And I didn’t give a shit, either.
“Like some commoner? Do you hear yourself? Speaking as if we’re royalty or something.”
“We might as well be!” He slammed his fist into his open palm.
I rolled my eyes away from his, shaking my head. My father always had an enormous inferiority complex that masqueraded as his need to feel and tell everyone how superior he was to them.
“The leaks are happening because you won’t let me get to the bottom of it. It’s effecting our stock prices, and I just got a call this morning from a partner of ours who is growing concerned with everything he keeps hearing in the papers.”
“Did you tell him what I told you to tell him?”
The scowl I wore whenever I was in the presence of my father deepened. “No one is buying that bullshit ‘we’re looking into the leaks and doing everything we can to stop them’line anymore. It’s been well over a year since the leaks began. Our investors are getting antsy. And you know what happens when investors get antsy.”
My father’s expression turned grim, and for a second it seemed like he was actually beginning to understand how deep this problem ran. But then he opened his mouth and said, “No, just stick to what I instructed you to tell everyone. This will eventually blow over.”
My shoulders sagged. I knew he didn’t have the fucking heart to make the right decision. To put his ego to the side and do what was right for the company. He needed to feel like he was in charge, when the truth of the matter was, it had been that way since his stroke.
I was done playing games. I didn’t say anything—I simply nodded and turned on my heels, to exit my father’s office. I strode down the hall to my office, shutting my door behind me before I picked up the phone on my desk.
“Hello?”
“Thiers.” I was relieved to hear his voice at the other end.
“Robert? Calling in the middle of the day? Must be serious.”
“It is. I’m tired of these fucking leaks and I need your help to get to the bottom of it all.”
****
“Is this like the last job?” the behemoth of a man standing in front of me questioned.
Even at my six-foot-three height, I had to look up to meet the gaze of the six-foot-seven former Vietnam vet, turned private investigator, who Thiers had connected me with months ago.
We were standing in the Buddy’s gym. This was the spot Thiers and I met when we needed to meet during the day.
Shaking my head, I folded my arms over my chest. “No, that was personal. This is business.”
His lifted a dark blond brow; his face looked as if it was set in stone. “There’s a difference?”
I pivoted, turning toward Thiers. He just shrugged and looked between the two of us.
“In this case, yes,” I responded.
“How’d you make out with that little filly, anyway?”
“Little what?” I questioned sternly, my top lip curling.
“The little filly you had me look into a few months back. She was a looker—”
“Hey, Rick, I’d calm all that down if I were you. This man’s married to her now,” Thiers interjected.
