Counting the Days (Counting the Billions 1)

It pissed me off. It was part of why I had waited a couple days between uncovering all this information and actually scheduling a meeting with Gerrard to fire him. I didn’t want him to know just how much this had gotten under my skin.

Because hell, I couldn’t help but take all of this as a personal slight against me and the company. Gerrard would never have dared to do something like this when he was working for my father. But then again, my father wasn’t the kind of guy the media was concerned with, except for his financial influence and business acumen. Me, on the other hand, I was one of the “sexiest wealthy bachelors in Chicago,” according to a number of lists, and even though I’d calmed down and focused more on the company since taking it over, I still liked a good night out and a little fun.

So shoot me. I wasn’t as terrible as the media told everyone I was. It was just that I was always in the public eye, bound to do something stupid at some point; that was just the law of averages. Come to find out that the reason I was always in the public eye was thanks to Gerrard.

Gerrard raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know who told you I was leaking information to the media, but whoever it was, they’re lying,” he snapped, but I could see the faint sheen of sweat along his brow.

I shook my head. “Gerrard, don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be,” I warned him. “By leaking information, you’re violating the contract that you signed when you came on board with this company twenty-five years ago. I don’t want to take legal action against you. But I will, if it comes to that. If you sell any more information to the media, rest assured that we will not hesitate to take you down.” I glared at him, hoping he could see how serious I was.

Gerrard had always been a great advisor, but sometimes he thought that because I was over a decade his junior, he could get away with liberties that he never would have attempted with my father. I wanted to make sure he knew that this wasn’t something he could get away with.

I should probably have just taken him to court straightaway. I had more than enough evidence to prove that he had been leaking information. I had enough information to destroy him. I could blackball him in this industry—I just hoped I wouldn’t have to go that far. I had a weakness for Gerrard. He helped me so much, even from the time that my father was still running the company. I wouldn’t be half as business savvy as I was without his guidance over the years.

But that ended now. I would never be able to trust him again. Even in matters of the company, I would always suspect that he was just trying to make his own profits in his advice to me. I couldn’t have that shadow of doubt constantly overhead.

Gerrard was clearly angry with me, but he seemed to realize that he was in the wrong. He got carefully to his feet, and I waited for him to say something about how he had been with the company for years and how he didn’t deserve this. Anything would have made me feel more justified in firing him, to be honest. All his silence was doing was making me feel guilty.

This was what was best for the company I tried to remind myself. That was the thing with business. Sometimes doing the right thing felt like screwing over the guys you trusted the most. But Gerrard no longer deserved my trust. He hadn’t for years, apparently.

Gerrard stalked out of my office, without saying another word. He slammed the door behind him, and a couple of my father’s knick-knacks on the shelves rattled a little. I closed my eyes for a moment, pressing my fingertips to my temples and counting to five. Then, I got to my feet. I knew everyone else in the company was going to have questions, and I didn’t want them to hear whatever Gerrard had to say before I had a chance to say anything.

I didn’t want them to believe that I had fired him unfairly or rashly. No, this was something that I had thought through from every possible angle since I had found out he was two-timing me.

I went to the door and opened it, standing in the doorway and waited for everyone’s attention to shift from Gerrard, who was angrily packing his things, over to me. “Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for all your hard work this week. As you may have heard, Gerrard will no longer be employed with this company. It has recently come to light that he’s been leaking information about myself and about some of you to the media. Information that our competitors can use to their advantage in all of our business dealings.”

I paused, looking around at all of their faces. They had so much trust in me, so much respect. I still wondered how exactly I had earned all of that. But of course, I had worked my ass off over the years. They knew I wasn’t the kind of boss to sit back and let them do all the work. No, I was just as involved in this company as the next person. Often more involved, if I had my way. They also knew that I would do everything in my power to protect them. And that was why this thing with Gerrard weighed particularly heavy on my mind.

I shook my head. “I apologize for not catching what Gerrard was doing sooner. I know how hard you work, and I have a duty to you to make sure that all of your hard work isn’t done in vain. That we stay one step ahead of our competitors at all times and keep bringing in the money you need to send your kids to college and keep your partners happy.”

There were some grins around the office at the implied joke: most of the guys were at least a little older than me, a lot of them were guys who had come in while my father was still in charge of McGregor Enterprises. Even among the guys who were my age or even a little younger, most of them were more settled down than I was.

I didn’t really understand what the rush was, nor had I ever found someone that I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But more power to them, I suppose.

“To make it up to everyone, dinner’s on me tonight,” I told them all, and I saw some more smiles at that. It wouldn’t be the first time I had treated the office to dinner. I had made arrangements with the caterers the day before, and they would be here soon with good food and drinks for everyone who chose to stick around. It would be most of them, I knew from past experience. I was nothing if not a generous boss.

Of course, I would have preferred to take them out on the town with me, but like always, the press would have been hot on my tail if I had tried something like that. Better to have these low-key parties in the office, behind closed doors.

Especially since our rat would soon be gone, I thought, glancing over at where Gerrard was just finished packing his things.

For a moment, I thought about how it must feel, to have a twenty-five-year career end in just

a few minutes. I couldn’t imagine having to pack up all of your personal things into one medium-sized box and to leave this office and know that you were never coming back.

But I shook my head. That would never happen to me; I owned this place. And despite everything that made it into the press, despite all the gossip, everyone knew I could handle this job. Everyone knew that McGregor Enterprises was only getting stronger every quarter. They weren’t going to boot me out of here. I was like a superhero to them.

I retreated into my office even as the caterers entered and started setting up the food. Since taking over the company, I had tried to keep a little distance between myself and the guys who were working for me. It was only professional, I believed. They were more likely to do what I asked them to do if they didn’t get too chummy with the boss.

Gerrard had been the only exception to that rule. And now, he was out of there. For the first time, I felt loneliness well up inside of me as I considered the chasm that stretched between the rest of the office and myself. But that was stupid. I would find a new advisor. I had to. And then things would go on just the way that they had been. If I was lonely, I would just go out to that new place, Variance, tonight. It was Friday, after all. Time to have a little fun.

I smiled to myself as I sat down at my desk to finish up a few last-minute things before heading home.

Chapter 2

Abby

MATT HAD TOLD ME TIME and time again that I didn’t need to knock on the front door, that I could just come inside. But even though this had been my childhood home, it just didn’t feel the same anymore. Now that my parents were both gone and the house belonged to Matt, my brother, and his family, I did feel more like a guest than like someone who had once occupied the downstairs bedroom.

It wasn’t anything in particular that Matt did to make me feel that way. Nor his wife, Leanne. She had been my best friend since freshman year of high school, and even though it had been a little hard to wrap my head around the idea of her dating my brother while we were in college, nothing had really changed between us.