The next day Peter had to go back to work. Chad was staying home, his friend Topher coming over to keep him company, and he’d promised to stay in the penthouse until Peter could arrange a security team to keep him safe in case he wanted to go out.
Peter had already called Aiden, his best friend, to ask him to take the job. It would mean hiring Topgrunder, but given his recent ownership stake in the company Peter didn’t mind.
“Mr. Tank, Mr. Merchant is waiting for you outside your office,” David, Peter’s assistant, greeted him at the elevator.
“Good.” Peter handed David his coat and speed-walked to his office, finding Merchant leaning against the wall next to his door. He didn’t straighten up when Peter approached, arms crossed over his chest, and Peter found himself smiling. Disrespect meant that Merchant wasn’t feeling apprehensive or nervous, and that meant that whatever news he had was good.
“What have you got?” Peter asked, walking into the office and gesturing for Merchant to follow. He sat down at his desk, Merchant taking the seat across from him. He could feel his blood thrumming with anticipation for the hunt.
“Has your father contacted you about the upcoming vote on Tank Industries’ merger proposal with Light Energy?” Merchant asked. Peter blinked, thrown by the question. shaking his head with a small furrowing of his brow.
“No, why? Does it have something to do with what happened with Chad?”
Merchant nodded.
“Yes. Apparently someone at Light Energy really doesn’t want this deal to go through. They were going to use Chad to pressure you into voting no when it came time for the board to vote.”
Peter was shocked. After all the shady jobs he’d taken—all the people he’d fucked over and hurt—it was TankIndustrythat ended up putting Chad in danger? He couldn’t believe it.
“Do you have a name?” Peter asked, furious and wanting to sink his teeth into someone and make them bleed.
Merchant shook his head. “No, that’s where it gets complicated. We know that someone on the executive floor of Light Energy ordered the job, but we haven’t figured out who. Everyone from the CEO to the head of human resources publicly supports the merger, and they all stand to make a shit ton of money if it goes through. Dawn is hacking into all their emails and social media to look for clues, but so far she hasn’t found anything.”
“But why me?”Peterasked. Surely there were better people on the board to blackmail into voting their way.
“No idea. It doesn’t make sense. There are far better targets on the board for this kind of thing. Our best guess is that they wanted to humiliate your father by having you vote against him.”
“So this is personal,” Peter said. If they were willing to cross him to get to his father, they were either stupid or blindly furious.
“Dawn is looking for anyone with connections to your family, but she hasn’t found anything yet…” Merchant trailed off, and Peter narrowed his eyes.
“What?” he asked.
“We contacted your dad to ask him if he could help us narrow it down, but he wouldn’t take our call.”
Peter suppressed a growl. This was not the time for his dad to get prissy about Tank Security.
“I’ll head over there and talk to him. You’ll come with me.”
Merchant nodded, and Peter rose from his desk. He might as well get this over with now.
***
Peter had never liked his father, and sitting across the desk from him he was reminded of why. His father embodied every negative alpha stereotype there was. Selfish, arrogant and aggressive, the man had a sense of entitlement that was matched only by the size of his ego. But that wasn’t why Peter didn’t like him. Peter didn’t like him because he was weak. Craven. He was the kind of alpha who would respond to a challenge from another alpha by hiring someone to fight for him.
Peter abhorred it.
“So what kind of trouble have you gotten into now?” his father asked when Peter sat down in front of his desk, Merchant standing behind him with his arms clasped behind his back.
Peter narrowed his eyes and his father swallowed nervously. Peter had only fought his father once—when he told him he was joining the military and his father had tried to forbid it—and there was no question about which of them was the most dominant.
“Something about Light Energy?” his father prompted, smoothing down his tie.
“Yes. Someone there is trying to get me to vote no on the merger. We think they’re targeting me to embarrass you. Have you pissed anyone off over there recently?”
“What? No, of course not,” his father said, his voice indignant. “And how do you know that someone is trying to get you to vote no. Have they contacted you?”
Peter shook his head, explaining what had happened with Chad.
