Page 65 of Ruin Me

The tension in the room skyrocketed to another stratosphere. Shock came over Mal and Omar’s faces.

“Kent, I know Ife isn’t happy with you right now, but she’s your daughter.” Mal leaned away, his tone one of a person handling a psych ward patient on the verge of a psychotic break.

“She is my daughter, which means she understands leverage. I won’t allow her to use the company I built to interfere with my personal relationship.”

Omar slowly raised his eyes to watch me. “Are you… declaring war?”

I stood and rounded my desk until I was inches away from a glass wall, contemplating the busy workers on the office floor. Mal and Omar’s wary eyes pressed on me, and I hated it.

“Once the rift between me and Ife becomes public knowledge, someone will approach my daughter.” I placed my hands in my pocket, hiding the rage shaking my fingers fromsight and modulating my voice for Mal’s and Omar’s benefits. “I have to preempt their attempts. If Ife never learns of the opportunity, I’ll have a chance at salvaging our relationship.”

“We don’t have much time.” Mal returned his attention to his laptop. “Hal knows about your fight, and if he knows, he’s probably told whoever put him up to?—”

“You understand my urgency.” I tightened my hidden hands into fists.

“Are you certain Hal knows the reason behind your problems with Ife?” Omar met my gaze in wall’s reflection. “Maybe?—”

“He knows. Worse, although he hasn’t come into the office, he still has access to company files.” I rubbed the tautness in my nape.

“If you suspect him, why haven’t you made a move before now? We need IT to limit his access and spy on his work.” Mal joined me by the wall, anger radiating from him. “Do you understand the shit he could be stealing under our noses at this very second?”

I glared at my CFO from the corner of my eye. “Hal hasn’t benefited from his position since Madison saved him from a worse ass kicking than I wanted to give him. However, he hasn’t incriminated himself yet, so now we need to root out his backers.”

“You think there’s more than one?” Omar asked.

“I’m being cautious.”

“What about calling an emergency board meeting to replace him?”

“Mal, you know the waves that will cause internally and externally. We can’t just hire anyone to be our counsel. I’ll need a candidate ready to replace Hal, and no one inside the company is qualified enough to offer as an interim or permanent solution.”

“But you have feelers out?”

I side-eyed Mal for pushing this point. “I have headhunters sending me candidates as we speak.”

Omar snapped his fingers. “No wonder why I’ve been forwarding so many calls from Bishop Works lately.”

Mal raised his brows, impressed at the name of the elite hiring company I contracted to find our next head lawyer. “Alright, with that in the works, I’ll concentrate on the shareholders and work with Omar. One thing.”

“Spit it out.”

“I’d like to get an analyst to help. Their ability to code and statistically analyze large data could narrow down our options to something more manageable.”

I peeked at Mal. He was correct. Someone with the technological know-how could reduce how long it took us to find the person out for me. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be easy. To pinpoint the person involved might involve looking at months or even years worth of shareholder activity. Mal could do it, but he had other more important tasks as the CFO.

I nodded at Mal. “Choose someone trustworthy. Tell them you’ll reward them for their discretion.”

The sooner we identified the culprit, the sooner I’d breathe easier.

While I hadn’t taken my eyes off the employees diligently working to make my vision of Luxe Locations into reality, I silently plotted what I would do if I found Hal’s involvement in ousting me wasn’t as a mere puppet but mastermind.

No one took from me and walked away.

CHAPTER 28

Madison

The enameled glass and wood door from my past loomed like a giant before me. The quiet stillness of the suburban neighborhood did nothing to dispel my dread or the roiling ball of acid and anxiety in my gut. Although this was a safe space for many years of my life, today it reminded me of another time I exposed my vulnerability to a member of the Luxe family that nearly destroyed me.

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