Chapter 43 – Mason
Chapter
Forty-Three
MASON
King’s triumphant grin fills me with anticipation and a little trepidation. He asked me to invite Elijah in for this meeting, so he obviously has news.
“I’ve found your leak,” he declares.
Elijah edges forward in his seat. “Who?”
“Olivia Green,” King announces proudly.
I’m surprised but glad it’s not Hayden. That would make me a terrible judge of character, and despite his clinginess, he’s good at his job. “Wow. I honestly didn’t think she had the initiative to pull off something like this.”
Elijah nods in agreement.
“Well, she’s no mastermind. But she did meet Astyn Bartley around sixteen months ago at a yoga retreat in Virginia.
Afterward, they kept in touch via email.
None of the emails contain anything incriminating, but they’ve met a total of four times since then.
All of those occasions have coincided with Spartan launching some new tech that Jamestech was also developing.
And the last two meetings took place the week before your patent was hijacked. ”
“And you have evidence of this?” Elijah asks. I’m certain he trusts King’s research and his judgment, but I also know he’s envisioning the potential for some negative publicity in our future, if not a lawsuit for wrongful termination.
“Evidence of their meetings, yes,” King answers. “Security footage of them leaving a restaurant. Credit card receipts for parking, as well as the emails confirming their meetings, which aren’t admissible in court, but I assume you’re not looking to go down that route.”
“We’d rather not,” Elijah replies.
King nods his understanding. “While the emails don’t come signed from Astyn, I traced the IP to one of his company computers.”
“And all in less than three months,” I say with a smile, unable to hide my pride in him.
He winks at me. “Told you I was good.”
Elijah hums. “We should get HR in here and get Drake to look over her contract. We need to be fully satisfied that we handle this properly. No scandal and no grounds for her to accuse us of anything untoward.”
King smirks. “Or we could get her in here and make her crack,” he suggests.
Elijah leans forward, intrigued. “Crack?”
“My research on her suggests she’s only in this for the money. She’s weak. Lacks initiative.”
“Her personnel file confirms that,” I add.
“All you have to do is confront her with the evidence, and I would bet my Kawasaki Ninja that she’ll crack like an eggshell,” King says.
A range of emotions flicker over my brother’s face before he nods. “Then let’s get her in here.”
Olivia’s lower lip wobbles. Elijah confronted her with the evidence King found, and she denied it initially, which wasn’t unexpected. Then King detailed every meeting she had with Astyn Bartley—dates, times, locations. I provided the dates of the suspected leaks from Jamestech.
We’re all staring at her, waiting for her to crumble.
“I-I … It wasn’t— He said that … He was so insistent … My cat needed an operation, and I didn’t have the money.” She sobs loudly.
I feel a twinge of sympathy, but Elijah rolls back his shoulders. “Collect your things, Miss Green. Leave without a fuss, and we won’t prosecute you for industrial espionage.”
And that’s why he’s the CEO. My brother’s a good guy, so he’s definitely sympathetic to her situation. But she sold our company secrets, several times, and he isn’t going to risk the company our father built from the ground up on sentiment. She’s lucky she’s not going to jail.
She dabs at her eyes. “What will I tell people?”
Elijah’s eyes narrow. “Tell them you were fired for gross negligence, or tell them you left because you couldn’t handle the pace—I really don’t care.
But if I ever hear that one bad word left your mouth regarding this company and your treatment here, I will come after you with the full extent of the law. Do you understand me?”
She nods.
“Now, get the hell out of our building,” he says.
Olivia leaves in a mess of tears.
“You sure about not prosecuting?” King asks as soon as she’s out the door.
“It would be a long, drawn-out case,” Elijah answers.
“Spartan would have their own legal team, and there’s no way they’d readily admit to stealing our tech.
I’ll pass the information along to their board, and Bartley will be out by the end of the week.
Even with Olivia as a witness, prosecution would be messy and complicated, and I can think of a whole boatload of better things to do with my time. ”
“Same,” I add, thinking about the impromptu trip King and I took to Atlantic City. I could use a hell of a lot more of that in my life. “And I don’t need the extra work all the negative press would bring either.”
Elijah stands and shakes King’s hand. “But you did a great job, man. Thank you.”
King smiles, and that dimple pops. “You’re welcome.”
“I’ll recommend you to everyone I know. And if you’re ever short of work, we can always find you something here at Jamestech.” Elijah looks at me. “So long as that’s okay with you?”
I nod. “All good with me.”
Elijah smiles. “I’m going to call Amber and Dad and give them the good news. Can you let Nathan and Drake know?” He checks his watch. “And then how about drinks at O’Shaughnessy’s at six to celebrate?”
King and I had plans to spend the evening together, but he motions for me to agree. “Sounds good,” I tell my brother.
It’s a loud and joyous celebration at O’Shaughnessy’s, with all of my brothers and their wives in attendance, along with Dad.
At eight-thirty, Mel starts yawning, and Nathan declares he’s taking his wife home to bed.
She protests a little, but he wraps his arms around her and whispers something in her ear that makes her laugh and melt into his arms.
“We’d better go too,” Drake says.
I sneak a glance at Amber. She and Elijah can’t have kids, which is something she really struggled with for a long time.
Our difficult history aside, I love her and would hate for her to be hurting.
But she’s smiling at her sisters-in-law with nothing but love on her face.
Nathan gives her a hug goodbye, and it’s good to see them putting their differences behind them too.
My cheeks ache from all the smiling I’ve been doing tonight, and I can’t believe how good life is right now.
The party broken up, we all decide we have other places we’d like to be. Maddox agrees to go home with Dad while Elijah and Amber make plans for a late dinner.
“You still okay with staying at my place?” King asks me quietly. That was our original plan for tonight before we had our impromptu celebration.
“Are you still going to cook me a steak?”
He smiles. “I believe I promised you steak, sex, and The Sopranos.”
“You did.”
“And I’ll deliver. I always do.”
It’s at times like these I wish he were out so I could kiss him in the middle of the street, or hug him, or even just hold his hand. But I settle for a smile, content enough that I’ll get all of those things and more as soon as I get him alone.