Page 28 of His Captor

I glanced over the open office with a frown. “I’m fine,” I said, uneasiness growing in me. “I took the morning off.”

Rachel walked with me back toward my and Colin’s corner offices. “I wish you’d texted me to let me know,” she said. “There’s a hell of a storm brewing around here, and I was seriously worried.”

I paused halfway to my office and looked at Rachel. “What storm?”

Rachel drew in a breath and glanced around at the expectant faces popping up from cube walls. “Something happened at the Victory Holdings party on Saturday. Mr. Gregory has been stomping around here all morning, acting like the company is about to either go under or be bought out.”

“Bought out?” My eyes widened as suspicion crept down my neck.

I didn’t want to do business with Victory Holdings. I’d asked Alex to look into ways to dissolve my and Colin’s partnership. But it hadn’t occurred to me that Colin might do the same thing so he could get his way. Take my tech and my research and get his way.

I started on toward the offices, walking faster. Rachel still kept up with me.

“I’ve had the whole IT team going through the cloud, setting up passwords and blocking access to sensitive information,” Rachel whispered.

I stopped again, wheeling back to her.

“You know we’re all loyal to you first and foremost,” she continued to whisper. “Mr. Gregory hasn’t discovered the extra measures in place yet, but he did go looking for some paper files earlier.”

“And?” I asked.

A clever spark came to her eyes. “Moved,” she said. “I’ve had the entire office shifting things around and packing up, just in case everything goes south in a hurry.”

I grinned. Rachel was fantastic. A good, fast-thinking office manager was worth their weight in gold.

“You deserve a promotion,” I told her as I walked on.

“I’d settle for having a job tomorrow, sir,” she said, staying where she was.

Rachel knew which way the wind was blowing. I did, too, if I were honest. I’d known well before Billy blasted into my life and filled me with a sense that there could be something better out there for me.

“Colin,” I spoke his name as if demanding an explanation as I stepped into his office.

Colin was shouting at someone on the phone, but he stopped mid-rant and said, “I’ll call you back.”

He ended his call and stood from his desk to glare at me.

“Where have you been?” he demanded. “Why haven’t you been answering your calls? Victory Holdings wants to buy us out, us and all our research and development. They’re offering an eight-figure buy-out deal.Eight figures, Mason!”

“I’m not selling out to Victory,” I said firmly, summoning my courage to do what I should have done along time ago. “There’s nothing to sell.”

“Of course there’s something to sell!” Colin shouted. “Everything we’ve been developing, everything we’ve?—”

“EverythingI’vebeen developing, you mean,” I cut him off before he could go too far. “You haven’t done shit for the last several years.”

“I’ve been out there busting my ass to position this business as one of the preeminent tech companies on the West Coast,” Colin argued.

I shook my head, surprisingly calm, despite Colin’s raging, now that I’d made the decision. “You’ve done nothing but try to sell my work and innovations to the mob.”

“The mob? What? Victory Holdings isn’t?—”

“I’m dissolving the company, Colin,” I went on. I was more confident than ever that Colin knew exactly who and what Victory Holdings was by the way he turned red and couldn’t meet my eyes.

His gaze snapped up to meet mine a second later, though. “You can’t dissolve the company,” he said a moment later, sweat starting to bead on his brow. “We have a legal agreement.”

“An agreement that my legal counsel is looking into right now,” I said.

I probably should have called Alex first to make certain he’d found me a way out. I trusted him, though. And I’d call him as soon as I packed up my office and sent the staff home.

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