Page 56 of The Bourbon Bargain

“That would likely get me killed, sweet Paige, and I value my life a little too highly to play that game.”

“Doesn’t being anywhere near us, and telling us this information now put you at the same risk?” Hayes asks, understanding something I don’t yet see.

“Yes and no,” Octavius says tilting his head back and forth. “Because of our former friendship, I was tasked with keeping an eye on you and letting my partners know if you were following the breadcrumbs they left or if you were getting too close to the actual source. That gossip site has been quite helpful in supporting my reports that you are far too caught up in your own lives to have any inkling of what’s really going on, despite what I’ve told you already.”

“So, you’re a double agent in some weird corporate espionage scenario? What is this, a B-list movie plot you’ve come up with?” Zander asks. Despite the mocking tone and the derisive smile, he appears far from jovial.

Octavius glowers at Zander. “You’ve made a lot of enemies in the years since you took over Olympus. I’m not the only one you fucked out of a legacy or ruined with your quest to diversify and take over everything you can. Who do you think I partnered with over the last few years to raise Rex Omnia from the ashes of my father’s company? There are plenty of powerful people wanting a chance to take you down.”

“That’s a fair assessment, and our own data supports his claims,” Payton agrees. “We’ve made enemies in our quest for industry domination, so who is it that has their hand in this particular revenge plot?”

“I need your assurance that the information I give you will never lead back to me. I’m putting myself at considerable risk to save your asses, and I expect to get this favor repaid in kind as soon as the dust settles.”

The silence that stretches out after his request grows heavy. The brothers look at one another, communicating silently. I’ve never seen them this serious, and this in sync.

Hayes turns to Octavius, his green eyes so dark they look black. “There will be many conditions on any sort of repayment you ask for. Nothing is set in stone, but you have our word we won’t let you risk everything for nothing.”

Octavius glowers back but nods. “Fine. Do Donner Investments, Kilowen Industries, and Gage Geological ring any bells?”

“Venture capital, industrial production, and precious metals mining,” Payton says without missing a beat. “We bought them out, what, three or four years ago?”

“What’s special about those companies?” Zander muses. “We’ve operated in that exact capacity on many more investments than those three.”

“We obliterated them,” Hayes replies. “We didn’t keep much from the sale. Maybe the technology or the infrastructure, but pretty much everything was melted down for scrap once we got what we wanted.”

“Bingo. And they were all family companies. You fucked them over and they aren’t as forgiving as your lovely wife seems to be,” Octavius says, nodding at me.

“Don’t talk about my wife in any capacity, Rex,” Hayes growls. I risk a quick glance up at his face and catch the steely look he levels at Octavius.

“Fine, fine. Touchy subject, much?”

“Careful, Hayes doesn’t need much incentive to throttle you when you bring up his wife. I know that for a fact.” Zander rubs his neck. I look at Hayes again and the grim set of his mouth confirms that he likely did as Zander says. He really is that protective of me.

“Get to the point of all this drama, Rex. You said it was time-sensitive and dire that we deal with this tonight. You’re drawing this out and I’m starting to think you’re just wasting our time when we have better things to do.” Hayes leans back against the couch and drapes an arm over my shoulder, drawing me against him. “We’re supposed to have a wedding tomorrow and the last thing I want is to spend the night before in this office talking about business.”

“They want to act tomorrow, so they can pin another accident on you when it will be common knowledge that everyone was focused on the wedding and not on the safety and security of another mine.” Octavius leans forward, his words coming out in a rush. “It would be more bad press and put you under a microscope more so than you have been.”

“And what is this big plan of theirs?” Zander asks, toying with the mask he’s pulled out of his pocket.

“They’ve targeted your mines here in Georgia.”

Everything stops all at once. Hands still, backs go straight, and breath is held as we collectively realize the scope of what this shadowy plan could mean.

“This isn’t a new mine we’ve acquired across the world without the due diligence needed. He’s talking about the mining operations that Olympus was founded on, right here in our home state. The industry our father built for himself and nurtured until we took over. These are federally regulated mines, with highly paid American workers operating them at the top of the standard for anything we do. An accident would look very bad indeed. If they’re able to make this look like an accident, and plant evidence of our negligence, we could go down for good,” Hayes says, his arm heavy across my shoulders.

My eyes bounce between the brothers and Octavius. This sounds incredibly bad.

“That’s not possible,” Payton says slowly, his brows furrowed as his mind races through all of the data. “We have every inspection documented since the beginning. We don’t cut corners. There’s no way this could happen right here.”

“They’ve been infiltrating the operation for months. Plenty of people who run your mines are on two payrolls, and they’ve made all the documentation necessary to make you look like punk ass bitches.”

“Fuck you, Tavi,” Hayes says, the nickname slipping out as easily as the curse, it seems.

Octavius looks up at Hayes then, and I see a moment pass between them that hints at their former friendship before Hayes chose to ruin things.

“How do we stop whatever this is from happening?” Zander asks, looking between them.

“You said you had everything we needed to prevent this and hold them accountable. How do you expect us to root out every rat that’s been funneled into place over several months in the span of one night?” Hayes asks.

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