Page 1 of The Bargain

1

BYRON GRAHAM

When I’d first begun workingas the executive assistant to Sebastian Courtland at Courtland Enterprises, I’d thought my boss was a god. Complete with a shining aura and inhuman good looks, full of benevolence and compassion.

After a few months, I’d discovered he was more like Loki—a being filled with chaos and mischief, out to make my life a nightmare.

Three years later, he was still Loki.

“Stick close to me.” Sebastian leaned in as we walked, his cologne dancing past my nose like a cool breeze. His warm, honey-brown eyes met mine, twinkling and bright with laughter, causing my heart to skip and my breath to catch. He whispered with an enormous grin, “My bodyguards are prepared to take us out of here by force. Just be ready to run the second I tell you to.”

And this was his response to the merger meeting we were marching into like a pair of avenging angels.

It wasn’t a joke. He was serious. Shit was about to hit the fan in a huge way, and the maniacal lunatic who signed my paychecks looked like a kid who’d been sent on a shopping spree in a toy store.

For the past year, Courtland Enterprises and Bluepoint Industries had been in merger negotiations. The companies were roughly the same size, but Courtland Enterprises would have a slight majority after all the paperwork was complete. The one thing that had been slowing everything up was the due diligence conducted by Courtland Enterprises’ massive team of forensic accountants, managers, and God only knew who else Sebastian had hired to dig through Bluepoint’s books, hoping to uncover all their dirty secrets. Sebastian’s father had started Courtland Enterprises, and there was no way in hell Sebastian was going to allow it to be dragged under by someone who had a past with shady dealings. Sebastian might act as though he were insane, but he knew when to be cautious.

We arrived at Bluepoint’s thirty-five-floor headquarters, and two members of the executive team met us. Their smiles stiffened a bit at the sight of the four enormous men in suits who accompanied us, but no one said anything. They might have if they’d realized that Sebastian had another two waiting in the underground garage with his two town cars.

After some excited chatter and glad-handing, they whisked us to the top floor, which offered a near panoramic view of downtown Cincinnati. It was a breathtaking symphony of glass, brushed nickel, and cold marble. As we walked, I caught peeks of Courtland Enterprises’ tower just five blocks away. Ours was a beautiful glass-and-steel marvel with forty floors, a shining crown for our city.

But this was nice too.

At the top floor, more executives greeted us. It wasn’t until we reached the massive boardroom that we faced Chairman Oliver Danvers, CEO Wallace Barnes, and the board of directors. It had been a while since I’d seen such a group of wrinkly, saggy-faced white men. There was only one woman on the board, and the way the others seemed to talk over her and ignore her mademe think she was nothing more than a token to trot out in the name of “diversity” while never acknowledging her intelligence and experience.

Now that Sebastian had reached his target, the light in his bright eyes appeared more manic and his grin even wider. The second he sat with a glass of iced water at the head of the table, I moved out of the firing zone to a set of seats placed along the far wall with two of his bodyguards. The other two were waiting at the elevators to protect our escape.

Danvers stood with a broad, fatherly look. “I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to have you here with us on this momentous day, Sebastian. I’ve known your father…”

Blah blah blah…

Danvers’s voice became a buzzing white noise under the grinding of my teeth.Pompous old egotistical asshole. I knew what was in the due-diligence report. I’d helped the various departments compile it. Listened as Sebastian had incredulously read parts of it out loud to me. Danvers wouldn’t be waxing poetic about the old days for much longer.

When the chairman of Bluepoint Industries was done, Barnes stood up and gave a similar speech about how this was going to create bigger and better opportunities for the combined company and how the employees were going to benefit. This was all overlooking the fact that the CEO’s proposal included laying off fifteen percent of his own workforce to “trim the fat.” Wouldn’t his newly unemployed workers love to know they were regarded as mere “fat”?

The entire time, I kept my head lowered as I typed on my phone. I sent messages to his bodyguards in the garage, keeping them updated on where we were in the meeting. There were also texts to Kaylan, who was technically my assistant, keeping him updated on what was happening. And, of course, there was the usual barrage of emails and reports that needed to be dealt with.Being away from my desk did not mean the chaos stopped for one second.

“Thank you so much for your warm and enthusiastic welcome,” Sebastian said, pulling my attention away from my phone. I finished up my last text and tucked my phone into the interior pocket of my suit jacket.

“When the idea of the Courtland Enterprises and Bluepoint Industries merger was first floated to me, I was skeptical. We’ve been in competition across several fields for a couple of decades. Sometimes, we came out on top. Sometimes, you did. But I saw the synergy that would result if we became one company. The efficiency we could achieve. The lowered costs that could be passed along to our loyal customers. It was all brilliant.”

I lifted my gaze to the boardroom table and watched as Sebastian smoothly pushed out of his seat to stand. Sebastian was a pacer, particularly as he talked. The man had to be moving constantly. It was his only way of burning off the endless amounts of energy he possessed. I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched him grow more animated about the merger while he threw out all the business buzzwords he hated.

He stopped behind the chairman’s seat, his hand resting on the back as he released an extravagant sigh. “But…we had to conduct our due diligence, for the safety of all our people.”

“Formality, formality,” Barnes said, waving a hand as if Sebastian shouldn’t worry about insulting him with such silly nonsense. “Both companies had to run their checks.”

“Yes, and I apologize for us taking so many months. It was my fault. I needed to be sure that all t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted.”

That was my cue.

I stood up, straightened my jacket, and walked to the box one bodyguard had carried into the building for me. Within it were two large stacks of two-hundred-page binders. I grabbed asmany as I could comfortably carry and began handing them out to the people seated around the table.

“My findings should not come as a shock to most of you. The surprise is likely that we found what your people tried so hard to hide.” Sebastian paused and flashed them a grin that would have befitted a great white shark. It was all I could do to maintain my stone-faced expression. A heady mix of fear and excitement was bubbling through my veins. He was going to drop the hammer.

Turn them into dust!

“In our six months of research, we found evidence of rampant embezzlement, fraud, trade violations, dangerous working conditions, and employee harassment. Your books are so cooked, they’re extra crispy. Not even the Colonel would touch your books. If Enron and Worldcom had a baby, Bluepoint would be that embezzle-baby.”

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