Chapter 1
Daniel
I drummed my fingers on the edge of my desk as I waited for the company’s—my company’s—financial advisor to come into my office. I couldn’t help but glance at the clock on the wall, frowning when I noticed how late it was. By this time on a Friday, I should be getting ready to go home. Of course, I’d have plenty more work to do there too. No rest for the wicked. Or the busy CEO apparently.
Not only that, but I’ll be glad to get this whole messy ordeal over with.
I looked around the office, thinking about how things had changed around the office over the last ten years since I had taken over my father’s company. Or even in the five years since I had hired Gerrard Kingsley on as my advisor. I’d always been involved in the family business, but I still pictured myself painfully unprepared when I’d taken over the company after my father’s death.
Not that I’d ever let anyone else realize I felt that way. No, I’d managed to make everyone think that I was confident, cocky, ready to run this company like a well-oiled machine. Our competitors would have eaten me alive if they had an inkling of how insecure I felt taking over the whole company at just twenty-two. It was why half of them thought that I was an arrogant prick. They wouldn’t say it to my face, but it was there in every news story the media spread about me, and in the looks they gave me around the office.
Well, I wasn’t in the business to make friends. I got the job done, I made their lives better, and that was what mattered. Right?
I’d made a lot of changes in the company since I’d taken it over, but this office remained mostly the same as it had been when it had belonged to my father. Oh, I might have painted the walls black, adding a sleek and modern touch to the place, but the shelves and the beautiful objects on each of them had been installed when my father still ran the place, and the floor-to-ceiling windows along the north wall were nothing new.
Maybe it was time for a change? I’d think about it. There was definitely a place for tradition in business, but at the same time, no one should remain stagnant for too long. Innovation was the name of the game. Perpetual growth.
There was a deferential knock on the office door, drawing me from my musings. “Come in,” I called.
Gerrard pushed open the door and entered. He shut the door behind him, as he always did. The things that he and I discussed in here, the things that he was meant to advise me on and the decisions that I made, were meant to be just between the two of us. These conversations weren’t supposed to go beyond those office doors, at least not until I said s
o.
That was exactly the trouble.
I nodded at Gerrard to have a seat, still mentally composing what I wanted to say to him. It was difficult, really. I didn’t want to let the other man go. He’d been working for this company for twenty-five years, and he’d been my advisor for the last five. He and I had worked so closely together over that time. But I had to let him go.
It was his own fault, and he would undoubtedly realize that. But I didn’t want to come across as too callous when I fired him, because I knew the whole town already thought I was some heartless asshole. That wasn’t the case here. Firing Gerrard hurt me almost as much as it would hurt him. I had trusted the man.
But he had abused that trust. There was nothing more to it than that. And I couldn’t cry over the relationship I’d had with him, not with so much at stake with the business. No, I would just have to move on and find a new advisor, someone else that I could trust.
For a brief moment, I had toyed with the idea of not having any sort of advisor at all. I knew this company inside and out, and I stayed on top of the latest business news. But I knew that wasn’t the whole point of having a financial advisor. No, Gerrard had been the closest to an equal I had in this company. He had been the one person willing to always stand up to me if he believed differently. And somehow, we had always managed to come to an agreement. Sometimes, his different views on a particular situation could really help us.
I wouldn’t be so foolish as to try to take that away from my company. No, I would need a new advisor. I just didn’t know anyone currently in the company who would fit into that role as seamlessly as Gerrard always had. But for right now, I had to focus on giving my previous advisor his walking papers.
“Gerrard, I know you’ve been with this company for a long time, and you’ve seen us through so many ups and downs. I’ve really appreciated all of your advice over the last five years,” I began.
Gerrard smiled crookedly at me. “Come on, man, did you call me in here just to stroke my ego?” he asked jokingly.
I didn’t return the grin, though, instead fixing him with a cool look. “It’s recently come to my attention you’ve been selling insider information on me to the media for the last couple years,” I continued, as though he hadn’t spoken.
Gerrard snorted, but I thought I could detect a hint of fear in his eyes. He knew what direction this meeting was heading in then. Good. “Daniel, you know they’re going to get information on you anyway,” he said. “Why not control the information we’re giving them? That was all I was trying to do, just give them breadcrumbs and keep them happy.”
I fought the urge to shout at him. My gaze turned icy. “Really?” I asked. “Because from everything I’ve heard, it sounds like all you’re concerned with is feeding them the juiciest information from this company to ensure they pay you the highest rates. And it’s not just information about my personal life that you’re spilling. That, I might have been more lenient about.” Not really, but he didn’t need to know that. “Instead, you’ve been giving up information that concerns some of my employees as well.”
That was the real issue here. It was bad enough that he was selling information about me, making it so that the media could follow me and keep one step ahead of my business dealings. But it wasn’t just about me. He had been selling information about other employees too, and those guys were under my protection. Yet my own right-hand man was throwing us all under the bus.