Page 129 of Taming the CEO

I stepped inside the office, taking my tote bag off my shoulder and undoing my coat. It was hot in here.

"Babe, you’re scaring me. Tell me what's going on."

I licked my lips, folding my arms over my chest. "So, I was at the council today," I began, "to check on the permit for my business."

"They're giving you headaches with that? I can fix that for you. I'll put our lawyers on it, and you won't have to waste your time with those assholes."

God, his words felt like a warm hug.

"They're not giving me trouble. It's just not ready yet, but she promised she'll call me this week with everything. But Bill asked me to his office."

Maddox narrowed his eyes. "That fucker just won't leave you alone. I'll deal with him."

"He showed me the plans for the hotel expansion," I said, and my words caught in my throat.

Maddox jerked his head back. "What the hell? Why would he even do that in the first place?"

"I think he’s up to something. He showed me the original ones that I refused to even consider all those months ago."

He shook his head. "That's not possible."

"I saw them with my own eyes."

"I know what was submitted," he said.

"I know what I saw," I countered. "And I figured that there has to be an explanation.”

Maddox put his hands in his pockets. "The explanation is that it's just not possible. Maybe that moron tried to trick you somehow."

"That crossed my mind. But as I said, I've seen the original plans, and they were one and the same."

He took his hands out, looking at me intently. "So you think I'm lying to you?" His voice was suddenly cold. I'd never heard him sound like that.

"No, of course not.” Why would he think that? “I believe Bill is up to something. But he did get his hands on those plans somehow, and we need to find out how.”

"I’ll call Gabe and get the team involved."

Maddox called his brother, putting it on speakerphone. He motioned for me to sit down, but I shook my head. I couldn't. I was too unnerved.

"Hey," Gabe replied in a lazy voice.

"You’re on speaker. Cami is here too."

"Hi, Cami. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We have a situation with the documents we submitted to the Essex city council."

"What kind of situation?"

Maddox looked at me. "Cami, why don't you tell him what happened?"

I tried to do it as succinctly as possible while keeping the emotion out of my voice. But I was scared. What if it was too late to pull back the plans or something?

"That's fucked-up. I can assure you that we submitted the plans that were in the annex. How did they even get the old ones?” Gabe asked.

"Let's check with the person who actually submitted them," Maddox said. Nodding at me, he said in a lower voice, "Our legal team."

"Let me add Paul to the conversation, then," Gabe said.

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