Page 52 of His Captor

I laughed, despite my unease over the way Hayden was talking so openly, and stepped ahead to hit the button to call the elevator. “Okay, fine. How about Melvin.”

Hayden’s smile widened. “Now you’re talking.”

A minute later, we strode back into the office, and the easy affection between us closed up into polite indifference. I could tell from Hayden’s expression that he didn’t like it. Knowing him, he would reach a point where he couldn’t take it anymore and he’d blurt out the truth to everyone in the office.

I owed him more than that. I liked Hayden. A lot. It was pointless to deny that those feelings were swiftly growing into something much deeper and bigger. I could practically feel thebond growing between us with every passing day. In fact, we’d gotten a few looks from Chaz, one of my IT guys, who was in his early fifties and had been blissfully married for over twenty-five years. Older, long-term happily married alphas and omegas could see the bonds uniting other couples, if only in the corners of their vision. I was certain Hayden and I had other tells, too.

I had just about made up my mind to reveal all as I reached my office, but then Rachel stepped out of her office with a dire look in her eyes.

My smile had dropped even before she said, “We just lost the Harvey contract.”

“What?” I stopped abruptly, jerking to face her.

Several heads popped up from their cubes, including Hayden’s.

Rachel sent the office an apologetic smile, then focused on me. “About ten minutes after you left, I got an email from Joseph Harvey saying they’d decided not to proceed with the partnership.”

My stomach sank as I gestured for Rachel to join me in my office. I shut the door behind us, but most of my staff continued to watch us through the glass.

“I called Mr. Harvey immediately on your behalf,” Rachel went on, “even though it might have been an overstep.”

“Not at all.” I shook my head. Rachel might have been hired as the COO, but we both had plans for her to become so much more for the company.

Rachel sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I didn’t really get anywhere with him,” she said. “He wouldn’t say much, just that Canton Enterprises wasn’t the sort of company he wanted to do business with. He made it sound like we’re, well, like we’re Colin, to be honest.”

I huffed out a breath and shrugged out of my suit jacket, throwing it over the arm of one of the chairs in front of my desk.Then I headed around to sit behind my desk, wiggling the mouse to wake up my computer.

“I would be willing to bet anything Colin is behind this,” I said.

“Oh, I know he is,” Rachel agreed. “And I hope you can beat his skinny, cowardly ass.”

I smiled up at Rachel, more glad than ever that I’d brought her with me from Port Lucia.

“I’ll call Joseph Harvey to see if I can sort things out,” I said. “In the meantime, we can?—”

I stopped when I saw Lincoln hurrying toward the office, a middle-aged woman in a suit following him. His expression was alarmed enough that I was already standing before he knocked on my office door, then opened it.

“I’m so sorry to disturb you, Mr. Canton,” Lincoln said, his voice shaky, “but?—”

“Mason Canton?” the woman in the suit asked, holding out a large envelope as she stepped toward me.

“Yes?” I already knew what was happening before she served me with the papers.

“You’re being sued by Victory Holdings for breech of contract and unpaid profits,” she said, then smiled weakly as I took the envelope. “Sorry. Have a nice day.”

Without adding anything else, she turned and left the office, Lincoln following her.

I sighed and sat again, tossing the envelope onto my desk without opening it. I needed a minute before dealing with the new horror.

“Yikes,” Rachel said, her expression far more serious than usual. “Colin really is playing hardball.”

“I should have known,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead in an attempt to clear the headache that was forming. “And it doesn’t help matters that Victory Holdings is involved.”

“Colin works for them now, doesn’t he?” Rachel asked.

“Yep.”

It was the worst possible situation. Colin was pissed, and now he had a gang of friends with incredibly shady connections standing behind him. It didn’t matter that I’d won the lawsuit to separate from him and strike out on my own. He probably had an army of lawyers with Victory Holdings standing behind him ready and waiting to swoop in and destroy everything I was making in my new life.

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