Page 10 of “Not” Engaged to the Grumpy Billionaire

I let out a long breath, feeling the weight of the day pressing down on me again.

“That deal I’ve been working on for months? It fell through.”

“Wait, what? The Northgate deal?” Bryan’s voice sharpens, the teasing gone.

“That’s the one you’ve been grinding over for weeks, right?”

“Yeah. Kirk undercut me at the last minute,” I say, frustration flaring again.

“He knew exactly what I was offering, Bryan.”

“Kirk, the same guy that got the previous two deals you were working on?” Bryan practically growls the name.

"Yes, the same one,"

“That slimy cheat. How on earth did he get his hands on your offer again?”

“That’s the thing. Someone in my company leaked the deal just like the two previous ones. There is no other explanation,” I reply, my jaw tight.

“I called Clayton. He’s a great investigator and I have him looking into it. But you know I can't just sit and wait.”

Bryan lets out a low whistle.

“Damn, Nate. That’s a whole new level of messed up. You’re right, though. Someone is playing dirty from the inside. You have a mole.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. “It’s not only losing the deal. It’s the betrayal that’s screwing with me.”

“Hold up, let’s bring Liam in on this. You know he’s going to want to hear about this, too,” Bryan says. I hear him tapping on his phone, adding Liam to the call. Liam West is the third in our trio of best friends, from grade school on. A few seconds later, the familiar deep voice of Liam comes through.

“Nate, Bryan—what’s up, guys?” Liam’s tone is steady as ever, but I can tell he’s curious. He wouldn’t be on this call if something wasn’t going down.

“Nate’s had another deal snatched right out from under him again,” Bryan jumps in before I can even speak.

“Kirk undercut him. We’re pretty darn sure someone inside his company leaked the details.”

“Kirk?” Liam repeats, his voice dropping lower. “That guy’s a snake. So, you think someone in your office tipped him off?”

“Not think, Liam. I know it,” I reply, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “There’s no way Kirk could’ve known about all these deals unless someone told him.”

There’s a long pause on Liam’s end before he speaks again.

“Alright. This is serious. You need backup?”

Bryan jumps in before I can respond.

“Of course he does. That's why I’ll handle the financial side. I can run a private audit on your employees’ accounts. If there’s any strange transactions or big sums of money moving around, we’ll find it. Whoever did this didn’t do it for free. They got paid.”

Liam adds: “I’ll get my best IT guy on it. We'll comb through everything: emails, files, and any comms that could be intercepted. We’ll figure out if someone sent something they shouldn’t have.”

The tension in my chest eases a little. These guys have always had my back, no matter what.

“Thanks, guys. I’ll send you all the details as soon as I get back to the office. I don’t care what it takes—we’re going to find the rat.”

Bryan’s voice comes through, confident and reassuring. “We’ve got this, Nate. I’ll start looking through things tonight. Once we dig into the data, we’ll find whoever did this.”

Liam agrees.

“Yeah, we’ll flush out the mole in no time. Whoever it is, they won’t stay hidden for long.”

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