I glanced at Larry. “We’re good?”
“Yes.”
I slid my hands into my pockets. “You’ll hear from me as soon as I know anything.” I nodded toward the elevator. “Please don’t wait for me. I need to make a stop before I go downstairs.”
The brothers thanked me, and as they went to the elevator, I turned in the hallway and entered the ladies’ room. I didn’t go into one of the stalls. I walked over to a sink instead, gripping the porcelain on both sides while I gazed at myself in the mirror.
I hadn’t lost my breath, but I took several deep inhales to calm myself down. There was nothing more enthralling than going up against a team of men. I’d been in this business long enough to know that what they expected and what they got from me were far different beasts.
I commanded attention. I dominated conversations. I earned respect.
But when it came to my personal life, I wanted the control to be taken away, to relish in submission, to unravel what I normally had to keep so tightly wound.
Colson knew just what I wanted and needed. He was an expert at giving it to me.
And it was a real shame that he was a Weston because I’d love nothing more than to meet him at Lush tonight.
THREE
COLSON
Istared at the conference room door that Larry Gordon had just closed behind him and looked at Troy and Jenner. The shock rippled through me so fast that I couldn’t stop rocking my chair. “What the hell just happened?”
Jenner let out a loud whistle. “Sophie Rivers is a fucking shark. That’s what happened.”
“I told you.” Troy’s head dropped.
“You certainly didn’t tell me,” I sneered.
He glanced at me, and I could tell he didn’t want to. “I mentioned to Jenner before you came in that she does not play lightly. She didn’t as a kid, and she definitely doesn’t as an adult.”
Oh, she fucking plays. But she plays with every part of her beautiful body.
I finally pulled at my tie, loosening it several inches from my neck. “What’s your plan? You need to fix this. Make it go away—whatever you have to do—but neither optionshe presented is going to work for my family.” I slipped my fingers under the collar of my shirt after I unbuttoned the top. “Twenty million? For a fucking chicken dish? Come on.”
The attorneys looked at one another.
“Here’s the problem, Colson.” Troy moved his chair away from the table and faced me. “If Sophie has a witness who will testify that the reason your family purchased Horned was because of the menu and that same person—or someone else she’s found—can prove that the Gordons cocreated each recipe on Horned’s menu, she will win the case.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sophie was a shark, but Troy and Jenner were the fucking dream team. “What do you mean …she’ll win?”
Jenner fisted both hands on the table. “As you pointed out, the recipes weren’t copyrighted. They also weren’t included in the bill of sale. That’s their loophole.”
My chair stilled. “I don’t understand.”
“If you remember, the seller wouldn’t include the recipes or the menu in the purchase agreement,” Troy stated. “She wanted to retain the right to reopen another restaurant after her noncompete expired and to use those recipes in the future.”
My brows rose so fucking high that my forehead burned. “So, you’re saying the owner had no right to sell us the business?”
“She had every right to sell it,” Troy explained, his voice slowing as though he were about to throw a real digger. “In the agreement, it states you’re allowed to use the recipes even if she’s no longer employed at the restaurant, which is the case now. What was never factored in was that she hadn’t created the recipes herself. Someone else—the Gordons—helped her.”
“Shouldn’t that have been disclosed?” I wiped my hands on my suit pants before I locked them behind my neck. “Can’t we sue her for this?”
“You weren’t buying the recipes, so she technically didn’t have to disclose it,” Troy said. “You were buying the right tousethe recipes. As for suing her, we already viewed her financials when we purchased the business. She has no assets, no credit. That’s why she originally brought in the Gordons—she didn’t have the funds to start her own business. She has nothing to take, Colson.”
My teeth ground together. “What are you saying to me, Troy?”
“You have two options.”
