Highest Bidder

My heart slammed in my chest. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t mean to offend you,” he continued smoothly, “and it’s none of my business, but I am quite certain that you wouldn’t be doing that if you knew what he has done to your family.”

I leaned back into the chair. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but maybe I just didn’t want to hear what he had to say because I knew it would hurt me. I hardened my heart, turned my gaze towards the window, and allowed him to continue.

“I’ll keep this brief. I’m sure you’re already aware that Brent remains close to the actress, Judi Mirren. They are not lovers, so the question is … why doesn’t he break off with her the way he does with all the other women he beds?”

My ears perked up at the mention of her name and the acknowledgment that they were not lovers. I knew that no matter what he said from here onwards, no matter how bad it sounded it was going to contain some element of truth that was going to severely affect me.

“Judi’s father, Rolland Mirren, was the owner of a venture capitalist firm. When he passed away five years ago, the company was of course, passed on to his only child, Judi. She has no interest in business affairs, so to the world it has seemed thus far as though she passed on its operations to the current CEO, Bradman Murray. This is not true. In the five years since her father has passed away, the company has jumped from being worth 150 million pounds to 450 million pounds. No mere CEO, especially one who has already been there since the company’s inception could pull this off. So, I looked into it and just as I had suspected, it has a silent chairman. Her father passed the company to her, but must have handed its operations over to the only person he could trust to run it, Brent.”

His tea arrived then and he leaned back into his chair, taking his time to leisurely sip from the glass teacup.

I turned a hard gaze to him. “Why the hell would he give his company to Brent? Is that because he is in a relationship with Judi?”

“He’s not in a relationship with Judi,” he corrected with a frown. “At least not that I know of. You know this, or else I doubt you'd be sleeping with him. Based on the premise of how you both reconnected, you don’t seem to be the promiscuous kind.”

My heart stopped. I glared at him, and he raised his hands up in the air, amused. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to mention that.”

Furious, and unable to take anymore, I rose to my feet.

“Don't leave,” he said. “I’m not done.”

“I am,” I replied, and rose to pick up my backpack.

“Brent killed your father,” he stated flatly.

My legs collapsed under me and I fell back heavily into the chair.

His voice quieted down as he went on. “I’m sure you know of the investment company that was the reason behind your father’s downfall. After the software malfunctioned and they lost their investment, they painted your father as the thief who stole someone else’s work. They stripped him of everything. Judi Mirren’s company is called Gray Stallion’s Capital, and they were the ones that created and fueled the entire case. And at the helm of it all was Brent.”

Silence.

I lowered my gaze and when I saw that my hands were trembling I hid them from sight. “Is this a joke?” I somehow found my voice.

“It is not,” he answered, “and I have all the proof you need.”

I shut my eyes as my vision clouded up with tears. “Why are you telling me this?”

He was straight to the point. “Because I owe you for saving me all those years ago.”

My head snapped to him then and I didn’t care that he saw the tears in my eyes. “What?”

“Freya, the technology’s original owner, David Styles, went missing. No traces of him have been found but I have been able to retrieve the backpack he had with him that day, and inside it was his phone. All the emails sent between him and your father prove that their relationship was a genuine one, and that he had no hand in getting rid of David is more than enough to clear his name and bring the truth to light. This way, you get to clear your father’s name.”

“So you’re saying that you’re doing this to help me?”

From the corner of my eyes, I saw him lean back into the chair and fold his arms across his chest. “You didn’t let me finish. And I get to see Brent squirm like the worm he is. You don’t know, but he tried to get David to sell to him directly, but the boy was loyal to your father and refused. Whether Brent truly went the other way and dealt with him, I am not certain, and this is one of the things that I want you to find out about.”

“You want me to help you find things out?”

“Yes. Brent is no ordinary person. For anyone else, the circumstantial proof I have would have been enough to send them to prison. Not Brent. We have to have concrete proof and the ability to shake him up even a little, otherwise we would all end up wasting our time. Please don't think that you will be able to fight him on your own, especially not with that measly amount that he gave to you. It will dry up before you know it and you will be dragged into even more debt. This is not a battle that you can win on your own.”

“And besides your deep gratitude to me for saving your life, you’re willing to so graciously assist me because …?”

I watched his lips stretch into a blindingly fake smile. “Because, in addition to your own inquiries, I have some of my own that I would like you to help me find out.”