Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
Harmon
I should have taken the day off, but I had too many important meetings scheduled, including one with my lawyer about fixing this mess with Ferroix. I don’t want to put this off any longer, so I head to work after getting ninety minutes of sleep.
I’ve functioned on less. It hasn’t happened in quite some time, but I can manage. It’s one day. I’ll get plenty of sleep tonight to make up for it.
“Good morning, Mr. Stone,” Oliver says as I walk in, getting up from his seat.
“I need a coffee pot in my office ASAP,” I say.
“Sure thing.”
I make my way to my office to get settled. I’m taking my seat at the desk when Oliver comes in with a brand new coffee pot and sets it up on the small station that holds the bottle of liquor. I don’t drink often at work, but now and then, it’s needed.
“Did you want it brewing?”
I blink, then stare at him. “Yes, Oliver. I wasn’t looking for a new decoration.”
“Right,” he says with a small laugh. “Sorry. It’s—never mind. I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you!”
I’m being short and maybe a little rude, but that’s going to be my personality today.
I’ll consider it a win if I get through the day without making anyone quit.
It’s been a long time since I pissed anyone off that badly.
I wasn’t so kind in my younger years, acting more like my father than I’d like to admit, but I’ve worked hard at becoming my own person and refusing to be him.
Oliver returns with a small can of coffee and a mug with the Stone Timeworks logo on it. We have hundreds of them lying around the offices here. He gets it brewing as I start up my computer, a headache coming on.
“Can you bring me some aspirin?” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Long weekend?” he asks. I narrow my eyes, and he smiles, but then it turns into a frown. “Sorry. I’ll get it right away.”
I don’t know if it’s my headache and the lack of sleep, but he’s acting strange today. Lingering too much. Staring for too long. And speaking too much.
It’s not that I hide things from Oliver, but we do keep our relationship strictly business.
In all the years he’s worked for me, he’s never questioned my weekend plans.
Not once. And I’ve come in in worse shape than this.
Maybe he thinks because he’s been around so long that we can have these sorts of conversations, but I’d prefer not to.
He returns, handing me two pills.
“I appreciate your concern, Oliver, but let’s stick to work.”
“Of course. I’m sorry.”
“Get me a hard copy of my schedule.”
He nods, then hurries out of the room. I get myself a cup of coffee, black, which doesn’t taste nearly as good as the coffee I got with Chrissy, or the one Cassius brought me, but it’ll do its job.
I bet everyone in that apartment is still sleeping. I told Cassius to text me when he wakes up. He and Camarra were supposed to start work today, but of course I told them they wouldn’t be, considering the day they had yesterday. I don’t care if they take the entire week—or two. Whatever they need.
Eleven comes before I know it, and I hop on the call with my lawyer to go over the details for the situation with the watch.
“Tell me you have good news, Gerard,” I say with a huff.
He grins. “I do.”
“Well, what is it?”
“Best case scenario. Ferroix is standing firm on not knowing the patent was stolen; however, they have agreed to stop all marketing and production on the watches as long as they can pursue charges against David.”
“I thought we were pursuing charges against him? He’s our ex-employee.”
“Oh, we are, but they want a shot at him too.”
“Why do they need our permission for that?”
“It’s not so much permission as it is leaving them something to work with. Basically, they want to know that we’re going to allow them to do some damage as well. It really is the best situation. You get what you want, and they get what they want.”
“But the damage is already done. What about that?”
“Come on, Harmon. You know there is nothing we could do about that. It’ll pass. It always does.”
“And what about the designs? I can’t do anything with them now. It’s a crapshoot.”
“But at least they aren’t making money from your company’s designs. Have the team take it and change it, put it in a different color. No one will know the difference.”
I rub my chin.
“Yeah, sure. I guess.”
“It’s a shitty situation, this whole thing, but I promise, this is good for everyone. We can move on from it. People will forget. Maybe you could even sell the design to a small company for cheap, rather than my other suggestion. See, we have options.”
I sit back in my chair. “I’ll look into it. Is there anything else you need from me?”
“Maybe a signature or two, but I’ll let you know.”
“All right, then. Thank you.”
I end the call and spin in my chair to look out the windows. It’s cloudy today, chilly, and rainy. Not shocking for spring, but summer will be here soon and hopefully the warmth will be too.
There’s a soft knock on the door and it opens before I call them in. The only person who has ever done that is Cassius, so for a split second, I wonder if it’s him surprising me at work.
“I have something for you, Mr. Stone,” Oliver says.
I spin in my chair to face him, disappointed. I don’t expect Cassius to leave his sister today, but I was happy thinking I’d get to see him sooner rather than later.
Oliver is standing on the other side of my desk, looking… less than happy. Tired, almost. Maybe annoyed. I can’t quite tell.
He’s offering me a thin manilla folder. I take it, holding his gaze while I flip it open.
I bring my attention to the papers inside the folder and don’t understand what I’m looking at. It looks like screenshots of conversations. I didn’t ask for this, and I’m not sure why anyone in the office would need such a thing. I close it and offer it back.
“You have the wrong person.”
He doesn’t move, not even taking the folder from me.
“I don’t think I do,” he says carefully.
I raise a brow, staring him down and waiting for an explanation.
“Oliver, I am not in the mood for games today,” I say, jerking the folder toward him.
His hands go behind him, and he rocks back on his heels.
“Is Cassius coming by today? Isn’t he starting work?”
I hadn’t told him about this. It wasn’t any of his business, or anyone else’s on this floor, since he won’t be working up here. There’s no reason Oliver should have this information unless someone in the office is gossiping. I don’t fucking like gossip. And how did this start, anyway?
“Is there something you need, Oliver?” I ask firmly, keeping my face as neutral as possible, but bringing up Cassius rubs me the wrong way. Something about it feels off, and I’m already in a bad mood.
He stands up straighter. “Yes, actually. There is,” he says flatly. “Open the folder.”
“No,” I say. “Tell me what this is about.”
“If you’d open the folder, you’d see.”
“Whatever is in this folder has nothing to do with me.”
“That’s where you’re mistaken.”
I grit my teeth, leaning forward and feeling murderous.
“Tell me what is going on, right this second, or find yourself a new goddamn job,” I grit out.
He smiles, slow and sharp.
“That won’t be happening. In fact, I think I’ll walk out of here today with a promotion.”
I huff a laugh. I can’t help it. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Actually, my mind is sharp. Very clear.”
“I’ve had enough.” I pick up the desk phone, but before I can press a button, Oliver speaks.
“Put the phone down, or they lose everything.”
I pause, staring at the phone, knowing it’s a simple button to press to get security up here.
It doesn’t look like he’s hiding any weapons, and he’s a small guy, so if I had to defend myself, I could.
But something in my gut tells me to hang up.
It’s not just the threat, I know a lot of them are empty.
I’ve already deduced he’s about to blackmail me, and I’ve been blackmailed enough to know how to handle it.
Most of what he says is going to be bullshit—scare tactics.
But I put the phone down anyway. Just in case.
“Since you won’t open the folder, I’ll have to tell you what’s in it.
Better yet, I’ll give you some hints. You can put two and two together.
” I hold his gaze. “You met him at a private and discreet club. There was a contract involved. You paid him for services. Very specific requests, I believe. And then, the best part yet, you hired him here, at this company.”
My chest gets tight and my vision starts to blur. He continues, not giving me a second to think.
“You moved the company here from Texas to escape your past, but it seems you brought a lot of it with you.”
My hands ball into fists so tight my fingers ache. My insides swirl with rage, wanting to leap out of my chair and strangle him—while also being unable to move. I can barely think.
Oliver sighs, looking almost bored. “I didn’t meet the man, but I am sure your father would have been much more careful about keepings secrets… well, secret. I mean, I’m sure he was since I couldn’t dig anything up on him and there’s no way he was an angel.”
“Don’t speak about my father,” I growl.
“I’m only saying… issues tend to run in the family, but this one… this is new.”
“What is your point,” I ground out.
“My point is… I know all your secrets, Harmon. Every last one of them. And what do you think would happen if the public found out that the CEO of Stone Timeworks likes to pay men to be his slave? The outrage… Not only the taboo aspect of it, but you liking men?” He looks distressed, putting his hand on his chest. “You’d lose a lot of customers, Harmon.
Probably investors too. I mean—” He lets out a sad laugh.
“I can already see the headlines.” He moves his hand in front of him as he says, “Luxury CEO Pays for Control” Smiling, he sighs wistfully. “It would be beautiful, you know.”
This is a nightmare. My worst case scenario. Actually, the worst thing that could ever happen to me. It’s what I’ve been afraid of.
I brought Cassius here to go over the contract to make it look like he was a potential employee on an interview.
It’s how I’ve always done it. The only way Oliver would have known it was anything more was if he got into my computer, or…
was he listening? Hiding outside the room and listening to the conversation?
He steps forward, placing his hands on the desk and leaning forward.
“So this is how it’s going to go, Harmon.” He bites his lip, looking me up and down. “You’re going to give me a promotion and double my pay—all for my silence.”
“You don’t know that what you have will ruin me,” I say, trying to make it believable but even I don’t believe it.
“You’re smarter than that. Pretending to be stupid won’t help you.”
The problem is he’s right. My father was terrified of my sexuality and made me terrified of it, too.
It’s why I hid it for long, even from myself.
It took me a long time to figure out how to move forward.
The contracts. The payments. The club. It wasn’t ideal, and I had been warned by my lawyer—and that’s without him knowing the entire extent of it.
If this gets out, especially now with everything still going around about Ferroix, I’ll be ruined completely.
“You’re going to ruin this company, Harmon. You’re the one risking all of it, and that’s why I’m doing this. I’m doing it for you, for this company. For every single employee here. I don’t want to see Stone Timeworks flounder—I truly don’t. So, this is my solution.”
“This is your solution?” I growl. “What kind of solution is this? What do you think will happen here, Oliver? You think I’ll just keep quiet about this for the rest of my life?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Yeah, actually, I do.” He leans in. “Want to know why?” I hold his stare, letting out a rumbling breath. “Because you’re weak.”
I’ve never wanted to punch someone as badly as I want to punch him right this very second. The confidence on his face is what’s throwing me the most. He’s so certain. He’s been planning this for a long time. Maybe even before Cassius. Maybe he knew about someone else, too…
My hands are tied.
“Fine,” I say. His eyes brighten with excitement. “But I have a stipulation.”
His brows raise. “You think you’re calling the shots here?”
“Oliver, I will murder you right the fuck now,” I seethe.
“Okay, okay,” he says, holding his hands up.
“Cassius and Camarra keep their jobs here, and I’ll give you the promotion and even triple your pay, but you say nothing.”
Narrowing his eyes, he takes a moment before he holds out his hand and says, “Deal.”
I don’t shake it. I may rip it off if I do.