Chapter 9
H ow the fuck did someone undercut them?
“I thought that bid was in the bag? We got it in on time and the feedback was good, right? How did someone undercut us?” Spencer asked.
It was early Friday morning and Quaid felt like he hadn’t slept in days.
At first, he’d been occupied with the hackers who’d attempted to get through their cyber security last weekend, which had been a nightmare.
And now this?
Their bid for this job had been submitted Wednesday night before the five p.m. cutoff. It was an excellent bid. Everything should have gone smoothly.
Only now they’d learned that someone else had won the bid.
Fuck. It was probably a good thing that Indie hadn’t turned up yesterday to stay with them. Although he wasn’t happy that she hadn’t answered any of the messages they’d sent her.
But he pushed that worry to one side for the moment.
“I’ve contacted someone I know who works there,” Slade said. “I’ll see what they say. ”
The four of them were in Slade’s home office.
“Rock gave them everything they wanted,” Spencer said, pacing up and down the room.
Slade’s phone buzzed. “What the fuck? Zodiac Construction won the bid with a last-minute submission.”
“Zodiac Construction, huh?” Quaid murmured. “They’re becoming a pain in the ass.”
This wasn’t the first time they’d come up against them. There work was far shoddier than their company, though.
“How did they undercut us?” Spencer asked. “I didn’t know they were even bidding.”
“What the fuck?” Slade snarled as he moved to his computer. “How the fuck did this happen?”
“What is it?” Quaid walked over with the others, blinking as he looked at a copy of some of the plans submitted by Zodiac Construction.
That were eerily similar to the plans Rock had drawn up.
“Is it my imagination or are they really similar to ours?” Spencer asked.
Rock took over the computer as Slade started to pace. Then he sent a message to their group chat.
Rock: They’re similar. Eerily similar. But there’re enough differences that we’d have trouble arguing that they copied ours. Not without proof.
“Whose were submitted first?” Quaid asked.
Slade stared at him, then tapped out a message on his phone. Whoever his contact was must have gotten back to him quickly as he let out a noise filled with anger before picking up a stapler from this desk and throwing it at the wall.
Fuck.
“Zodiac Construction got in first,” Slade said grimly. “Meaning we’re on the back foot. They’re similar but different enough that they don’t care. They’re taking the cheapest bid.”
Quaid watched Slade with a passiveness he didn’t feel. Inside, his emotions were rioting.
But he’d long since learned to keep his outer appearance under control. Any show of emotion would have brought hell down on his shoulders as a child and teenager.
So he locked everything down tight.
Dear old dad would be so proud if he saw him now. Although he wouldn’t approve of his friends . . . well, maybe Slade.
But Rock? Definitely not. A guy who didn’t talk and drove around in a beat-up truck and had been at their school on a scholarship?
Hell no.
Dear old dad wouldn’t like that.
And then there was Spencer. Who had the sort of family that they’d all dreamed about as kids. Parents who loved him. Siblings that adored him.
Yet the Duke would look down his nose at Spencer because his family didn’t have breeding. Yeah, they were richer than God.
But it was new money.
Didn’t matter that Spencer’s father was a fucking genius at the stock market and had earned that money.
Didn’t matter that Spencer’s mum gave millions every year to charities.
The fact that they didn’t flaunt their wealth with expensive cars and the right postcodes would be a mark against them in his father’s eyes.
Oh, and it also wouldn’t occur to him to be ashamed of the fact that he’d lost all of their family money. No, because they were still Ashworths. Some distant fucking relative to the royal family.
So Quaid watched Slade tear himself apart, raging at the fact that their bid had obviously been stolen and used to undercut them on The Paulsen deal.
“How did they undercut us?” Spencer asked, looking tired and disheveled, without his trademark stupid grin. “With very similar plans?”
“Someone stole our files, that’s what happened,” Quaid said grimly.
“Fuck,” Spencer groaned.
“The question is who,” Quaid murmured.
“Someone at the office, right?” Spencer said, looking between him and Slade.
Slade stood at the windows, looking out at Hyde park. Then he turned to them. “Billy.”
Hmm.
“Billy? What do you mean?” Spencer asked.
“He’s the only connection between us and Zodiac construction,” Quaid murmured.
“And he hates us,” Slade added.
“But how would he do it?” Spencer asked.
“He could have bribed someone that works for us,” Quaid said. “I’ll alert Shepherd. Get him to go through the video footage at the office.”
“I’m going to talk to Billy,” Slade said.
Quaid eyed Slade. That was probably a stupid idea. Just because Billy was Zodiac Construction’s lawyer didn’t mean he’d had anything to do with this.
But Quaid wanted him to be guilty.
He wanted that slimy bastard out of Indie’s life.
The timing had always been off with her and them. First, she’d been too young. Then they’d been building an empire.
And then she met Billy.
Fucking Billy.
He’d thought she’d eventually wake up and see him for what he was.
A complete and utter fuckwit.
But she’d lived with him now for five months and eighteen days. He didn’t know the hours or minutes. He wasn’t a complete psychopath .
They’d planned to make their move on her this weekend. To ensure that she never went back to him.
Quaid didn’t give a fuck about Billy’s feelings for Indie. Or whether she had any for him. The guy was going to lose and they were going to win.
And if he had to lock her up in their penthouse in order to achieve that?
He would.
Of course he hadn’t divulged that part of the plan to the others. He’d just told Slade to invite her to stay. That it was time to start making a move to separate her from that wanker.
They barely saw her anymore and it was eating at Quaid that he didn’t have the right to take care of her. To protect her.
To boss her around and have her under his control.
Quaid liked to be in control. And he wasn’t going to apologize for it.
“I’ll come with you.”
Slade rubbed his temple as he drove to Birmingham at a breakneck speed. His jaw was clenched tight.
“Slow down,” Quaid murmured.
Always so calm. Even when he wasn’t.
“I need to get there. To confront him.”
“I know. But we need to get there in one piece. And you need some painkillers.”
“I’m fine,” he snapped not wanting to be coddled.
“You should have let me drive.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Fuck. He was being an asshole. Quaid wasn’t the enemy.
Billy was.
“Here, take these or you’re going to be useless to me,” Quaid said in his normal cold, sharp tone as he held out some painkillers.
Quaid had trouble expressing how much he cared about others, but Slade knew that he would throw himself in front of a fucking bullet for the three of them.
The four of them.
Although Indie didn’t know yet that she was theirs.
He swallowed the painkillers with a few sips of warm water. Quaid was right. He needed his wits about him to deal with Billy.
Slade slammed the door open as he strode into Billy’s office. ignoring his assistant who was loudly protesting. Quaid walked silently behind him.
Quaid was the best choice to come with him. He was their fixer. Although how he could fix this when the bid had already been won by Zodiac Construction, Slade had no idea.
“Slade, how nice to see you,” Billy said warmly, standing up and giving him a smug look.
“How did you get them?” Slade smacked his hands down on the desk.
“Get what? It’s all right, Margaret. This is Indie’s brother. No need to call the police,” Billy called out.
Fucker.
“Stepbrother.” He needed to get her away from this asshole. Slade was certain that Bily was the reason they barely saw her anymore. That he’d moved her to Birmingham to put distance between them.
“Zodiac Construction undercut us on a bid with plans that were similar to ours,” Slade snarled. “How the hell did they get hold of them?”
“Are you saying that you think they somehow stole your bid and used it to undercut you? And that they used your plans? Now, those are some accusations. I hope you have proof,” Billy told him with fake concern.
Fucker.
“No?” Billy said. “So why would you come to me? ”
“You represent them,” Quaid said.
“Oh, I do more than that, now. I’m a business partner.”
Slade’s fury grew and he had to fight hard not to smack this asshole in the face. “What the fuck?”
Billy smiled. “It’s just business, boys.”
“Not if they stole from us,” Quaid said. “That’s theft.”
“And I ask you again, can you prove it?” Billy asked.
“We will,” Slade said. “We have cameras in our offices. We’ll figure out who you used to steal the plans.”
Who betrayed them.
“Oh, will you?” Billy said. “Not sure you’ll do anything with that information.”
“Why wouldn’t we?” Slade said. “I’m sure the cops will be interested in it.”
“So you’re not concerned about sending your own sister to jail?” Billy said to Slade.
It hit Slade like a punch to the guts.
No!
There would be no way she would do that.
“You’re lying,” Slade snarled. “Throwing Indie under the bus to save yourself.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Billy replied. “There’s no evidence that I stole anything from you.”
Meaning there was evidence that Indie had?
“There’s no reason she’d do that to us,” Quaid said quietly.
“Poor Indie.” Billy shook his head. “She had such a terrible childhood. Her mother would rip her out of one life and into another. They’d go months without money, with her fighting for scraps of food.
It’s no wonder that she’d do anything to secure herself in this economy.
And perhaps the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? ”
That was weak reasoning.
Indie was nothing like Sylvia.