Page 130 of Taming the CEO

A few seconds later, a third male voice joined us.

"Paul," Maddox said without further ado, "did you submit the documents for the hotel and distillery personally to the council?"

"What's this about?" Paul asked.

I bit the inside of my cheek, looking at Maddox.

"Yes or no?"

"I prepared all of them myself."

"But did you actually send them yourself?" Maddox asked.

"Of course not."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because that's not what a partner does, Maddox. That's what we have assistants for."

"Your assistant must have fucked up, which means it's your fuckup," Maddox said, "because the council has the wrong documents. Is your assistant there?"

"Yes. Let me get him."

This was frustrating. I put my arms around myself, clutching my sides tightly.

"All right, I've got him here," Paul said a few moments later.

"Hello, Mr. Whitley," the assistant greeted softly.

"There are two of us Whitleys here, and we're both pissed off."

"Listen," he said, and his voice was shaking. "I was in charge of actually sending everything to the council. I sent a batch of documents last week. Two days after that, I realized I'd sent the old plans"—a breath whooshed out of me—"and then I sent the right ones as well. I even called and talked to this guy named Bill and explained everything to him. He assured me that he'd gotten everything and understood what was going on."

I frowned. "Wait, what? You talked to Bill?"

"I'm sorry. Who is that?" he asked.

"She's with me," Maddox said simply. "She's the previous owner of the park."

"Right. Yes, that's what his name is. Bill," the assistant replied.

"When did you talk to him?" I asked.

"Last Thursday."

I narrowed my eyes. Maddox was frowning at me.

"Thank you," Gabe said.

"We'll smooth everything out. You can go," Paul said, presumably to the assistant.

"All right. So it was his fuckup," Paul noted.

"Paul, when will you learn to own up to the mistakes of people on your team? It's ultimately your responsibility," Gabe said.

There was a pause, and then Paul said, "I will fix it. I'll get to the bottom of this."

"The bottom of this is Bill," Maddox said.

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