23. Gus
23
GUS
“You did what?!”
Brenna blinks, shaking her head, the pitch of her voice rising with her half question, half exclamation. Sitting straight up in the leather guest chair across from the desk, jaw still slack, disbelief and bewilderment taking over her features, she looks between me and Milo, who’s sitting in the chair next to her.
My brother reaches over, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze, the corner of his mouth quirking upward in that shit-eating smirk of his. There is no denying he’s a smitten kitten when it comes to this girl—woman, Brenna is an adult now—and he does not care who knows it. Watching the two of them, it’s hard to argue they aren’t perfect together. Even if looking at Brenna I do still see the little girl in pigtails who used to follow Milo and Brandt around everywhere, rather than the very grown-up woman sitting here discussing business plans with me.
I smile, choosing to take her reaction as one of gratitude rather than something else. “You knew the Hayes legal team was going to review the purchase contract?— ”
“Yes, to make sure that it was standard and that everything was on the up-and-up and I wasn’t somehow getting screwed.”
“That’s what we did. This was just an extra step.”
“Or six,” Milo mutters.
I shrug. Because yes, he’s right. It was more than a standard contract review. That said, we Hayes take care of our own, and Brenna is one of us. Even if she wasn’t romantically attached to Milo, she’s the sister of his business partner and the daughter of the head of payroll. She’s part of this family. We were not going to throw her to the sharks.
“Did you not want me to make sure that all the i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed?”
“Knowing you, we’ve got i’s dotted, t’s crossed, ducks in a row, poop in a group, and whatever other stupid cliché you can think of,” he quips.
Fucker…
I roll my eyes, knowing that deep down, he really is grateful. We may be on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to personality, but we’re still brothers. On top of that, Milo isn’t a bad businessman. Actually, he’s a damn good one. He’s built Southern Brothers from scratch, creating and maintaining a huge brand and business, on top of the extras they’ve taken on with the local establishments. He knows what’s important, and the concern has been in his eyes that Brenna is getting in over her head with this purchase. This is my way of easing the worry.
Picking up the thick folder from my desk, I hand it to Brenna, careful not to let anything fall out of it.
“Look, we all know Brenna is going to end up a Hayes,” I start, trying to get this conversation back on track.
Brenna whips her head up, the shock on her face impossible to hide. As is Milo’s. Although he’s a lot quicker to accept my statement, chuckling and smirking even more. Fair enough. I deserve that. These last few months have shown me a lot of new things. Margeaux has shown me. Including the discovery that sometimes age really is just a number.
“And when that happens, the drugstore will be marital property. So, the smart thing is to determine now the best way to handle this acquisition. The good news is that the contract that Hovland had drawn up is pretty standard—no weird language or requirements. So, from there, it’s just how you want to handle it.”
Leaning over, Milo flips through a couple of the pages on Brenna’s lap, his eyes going wide as he scans the documents.
“Also, we’ve verified that Hovland does also own the building itself, so we will need to make sure the contract is updated to include it in the sale of the business. It’s zoned for partial residential too, by the way. So the upstairs could be converted into an apartment if you wanted.”
Whipping his head up, Milo locks eyes with me, his mind going to exactly where I knew it would. I nod, confirming his silent question. Something I’ve been looking forward to since Percy mentioned residential zoning. Milo loved every second of designing the loft that he shared with Brandt for years in the Southern Brothers warehouse turned bar. And I can already see the wheels turning in his mind, designing a place for him and Brenna.
“Wow…this, this is a lot,” Brenna mutters. “I mean, I knew it was, and that this whole buying the store is crackerjacks, but…wow. And I never would have thought about the building…”
“That was all Margeaux, so thank her, not me.”
Pride swells inside me, loving that I can brag on my girl. She deserves all the credit and more for that brilliant move, and I wish I could shout it from the rooftops that it was her idea. There are a number of reasons I can’t, but I can at least share with these two. And soon enough, she and I won’t be a secret anymore.
“I will.” Brenna nods.
“As for the rest of it, it’s a lot, but again, it’s nothing weird or predatory. I won’t lie though, the taxes are messy either way you go. That said, it’s not something we can’t handle. It’s why we have Ernie after all. But it’s all broken down in there, including recommendations from Ernie and Percy on how they think the best way to approach it is.”
“Percy gave his opinion?” Milo asks.
“That’s why this took so long.”
That’s a lie. Sort of. It’s part of why it took so long. The fact that I didn’t have it in hand until the day he came back didn’t help anything, but it’s not like he was around to review it before then anyway. Nonetheless, it took him another three days to go over everything and then write up his thoughts to present to me. Hence why we’re sitting here on a Friday instead of having this for them earlier in the week.
To be fair to the man, he did come back after two months of personal leave after the death of his mother to a pile of work, plus another massive contract issue that spans multiple departments. My asking him to review a contract for something that is technically outside Hayes’s scope of business at the moment was calling in a huge favor. His completing it as fast as he did should probably be considered something just short of a miracle.
Milo and Brenna don’t need to know any of that though. All that matters now is that they have the report and they can proceed to make whatever choice they want.
Brenna sighs, her eyes softening, glazing over as she gives me a bright smile. “Gus, thank you.”
Her voice cracks as she speaks, her emotions taking over. My heart squeezes. This was the least I could do. And not because it’s my job .
“That’s what family does, Bren.”
Milo starts to respond, no doubt with some smart-ass comment, but is cut off by my phone. I glance over, surprised by Percy’s name on the screen.
“Percy,” I answer, signaling to Milo and Brenna that I’ll only be a second.
“I found that vendor contract you asked about,” he responds, skipping a formal greeting. “I still don’t recognize the name, but my signature is on it, so I signed off on setting them up.”
My body goes rigid, a chill settling over me. Something about that doesn’t sit right. Percy’s mind is a steel trap. If he signed off on this, he’d at least remember the name. Maybe not all the details, but the company name. I’m sure of it.
“You sure?”
“I’m staring at my signature right here, son. I’m retiring, not senile.”
Haha, fair.
Still, something’s not right.
“I still have some questions. Can you grab whoever wrote up the contract? I’ll be down in like five minutes.”
“Sure thing.”
We hang up, and I turn back to my brother and his girlfriend, both of whom are watching me intently.
“The plot thickens,” Brenna mutters, snickering.
“I’m hoping the plot is about to thinnen and that I’m about to get some answers,” I retort, pushing up from my desk. “Sorry to cut this short.”
Excuses made and goodbyes said, I bolt from my office, leaving the two of them to find their own way out. They know where they’re going. I have bigger fish to fry. Like finding the piece of the puzzle that might finally help us unlock this whole mystery.
I don’t know why, but there is still a nagging little voice in the back of my mind that tells me that I’m missing something. Something big. Something I hope is in this contract. Because right now, it simply doesn’t add up. Literally and figuratively.
Walking into the legal department, I glance over at Margeaux’s desk, my heart squeezing. She’s not there—no doubt off to lunch with my sister, hopefully for the last time—and I can’t wait for the day that I can walk in here and I don’t have to pretend that I don’t notice her. That I can walk in here for her. To say hello. Or bring her coffee. Leave love notes on her keyboard.
Soon.
Knocking on Percy’s open door, I step inside then stop short. Sitting in the guest chair closest to the door is not the last member of his team that I expected to see, but close.
Teresa Parrish.
I slip into the other guest chair, keeping my poker face in place. If my brain was whirring before, it’s in hyper drive now. Teresa is not the associate I would have thought would have drawn up a new vendor contract. At least not solo. Her specialty is taxes. I also would have expected one of the senior associates to have their name on it.
Then again, maybe this had been Percy’s way of giving her more experience. Of letting her try something different. He did tell me she’s sharp and that she has an eye for detail, even if she is a kiss-ass. It was on his recommendation that I asked her to look over the drugstore contract.
Keep an open mind…
Percy hands me a folder, and I nod, taking it from him. I take a moment to glance through it, scanning over the contract from Sapphire Sands. At first glance, it looks just like all the others, and sure enough, Percy’s signature is at the bottom .
“Teresa, how are you?” I ask, trying to keep things light, tucking the folder next to me.
“I’m great. Yourself?” she answers, sitting up straight, her eyes wide and bright, like she’s putting on a show.
I nod. “Can’t complain.” Will be a whole lot better next week when I can tell the world about my girl. “How you feelin’ about this guy leavin’?”
Percy chuffs, as if he can’t believe I brought up the topic. I shake my head, knowing that he secretly loves all the attention he’s getting over it and that he’s going to miss us more than he lets on.
“I won’t lie; I’m sad about it. I’ve really enjoyed working with Percy all these years and I’ve learned so much. I’m really going to miss his expertise. But at the same time, I do have to say that I am excited about the opportunity for growth within this department this may present.”
I sneak a look at Percy out of the corner of my eye, noticing the side of his mouth twitching into a smile. Teresa couldn’t have kissed his ass any more right there if she had actually puckered up and asked him to bend over.
“I love working for Hayes, and I do hope to have a very long career here,” she continues.
Oh good, she got me in there too.
“We’re happy to hear that,” I say.
She might think she has that perfect answer locked and loaded, but I can’t help but wonder if she knows that we see right through her. Or at least that I do. I make a mental note to find out what her colleagues think of her. I know Margeaux’s take—as well as Willa’s—but there are more than a dozen others in this department. There’s a good chance they all find her just as unbearable.
“I know your specialty is in taxes, but that you’ve worked on a number of different contract types, correct? ”
Teresa nods. “Yes, most recently I reviewed a contract for the potential acquisition of Hickory Hills Drugs.”
“What about Sapphire Sands?” Percy asks.
“Sapphire Sands?” Teresa repeats, her voice going up an octave. Shifting in her seat, she crosses her arms, her bright and shiny demeanor starting to fade.
“You wrote up the vendor establishment contract for them last fall,” Percy tells her, picking up another copy off his desk and handing it to her. “Gus and the team have run into some…discrepancies…surrounding some of the billing?—”
“I don’t see what that has to do with me,” Teresa retorts, cutting off her boss in a saccharine, singsongy voice.
“We’re just trying to figure out why, that’s all,” Percy explains. “I don’t remember the contract. Sapphire Sands doesn’t ring a single bell, so I told Gus that maybe you would remember some of the details about them so that he could get to the bottom of all this.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Her sharp tone catches both of us off guard, and both Percy and I flinch. The air around us shifts, swirling like a storm is brewing around us. Goose bumps prickle my skin, a shiver running down my neck, and not in a good way. A switch just flipped.
“I thought this was to discuss my future at Hayes. About my potentially becoming a senior associate,” she continues, trying to return to her sugary fa?ade. Her words are still clipped and the acid is still there though, not giving it quite the effect she’s hoping for.
I keep quiet, leaving this one to Percy. I don’t feel the need to interject myself into their department politics. Being witness to it is bad enough. Although, from a human resource perspective, it’s probably a good thing Percy has a witness to this. Had it even remotely occurred to me that this could have gone this way, I would have called Carl to join us .
Then again, I would have bet good money that it was going to be Henry Nedens or Micky Sliger’s name on that contract and that this meeting was going to last all of five minutes with one of them being like “yeah, wrote it up, because so-and-so in this other department asked us to” and I was going to be on my merry way to go find out who actually requisitioned this vendor.
Instead, I’m here.
“That’s a discussion for a later date,” Percy sidesteps. “Right now our focus is this contract and?—”
“Seriously?!” Teresa snaps. Her voice is shrill, ear piercing, to the point that it’s a good thing that the office is empty for lunch or we might have some workers’ comp claims on our hands. “You’re focusing on this piddly little insignificant contract! Why? So you can try to use it against me?”
“I don’t follow,” Percy says.
Teresa turns to me, features tightening. “Just what are you accusing me of, Gus?”
Excuse me?!
“We’re not accusing you of anything, Teresa,” I tell her, trying to keep my voice as level as possible. My pulse kicks up a notch, my fight-or-flight responses on high alert, ready for whatever she pulls.
Turning back to Percy, Teresa leaps to her feet. My insides hurdle forward with her, anxious tension rising in my chest.
“He’s fucking an employee, did you know that?” she exclaims. “Ever since you left. He and Margeaux Finnegan.”
The whole room stops.
My heart plummets. No…no…
The walls close in on me. Everything around me starts to spin, my lungs burning making it harder to breathe. Fuck…
How the fuck does she even know?
“That’s a very serious allegation, Teresa,” Percy replies .
How he’s maintaining any kind of composure, I have no idea. It’s taking everything I have in me not to scream. And frankly, that’s mostly because I can’t move. I can barely think past the not screaming.
No. No. This isn’t happening. She doesn’t actually know that. She’s not making these claims.
She making this up. It’s all part of whatever it is that she has against Margeaux. Trying to rope me into it. She doesn’t know anything. There’s no way.
“This entire conversation is a conflict of interest. He’s been fucking Margeaux behind everyone’s backs, and as the interim head of the department, she was a direct report, and that’s a breach of Hayes policy.”
A wave of nausea takes over, and I fight back the urge to throw up. An urge that is growing stronger by the second.
“If what you say is true, then HR will have to investigate,” Percy states, voice still level and calm.
Fuck, how is he doing that? Guess that’s his lawyer training hard at work. Never show any weakness. Even as he picks up the phone to dial who I assume is Carl.
I close my eyes, thinking that might stop the room from spinning. It doesn’t.
If anything, it just makes things worse. Because behind my eyelids is a slideshow of all the moments Margeaux and I have shared. All the happy, love-filled moments. From the first meeting at JFK, to her snuggled in my arms last night on the couch as we joked with my brothers over what to watch after dinner. So much happiness in such a short amount of time. Most of it in secret.
Our public outings have been few and far between. And always in a group setting. We’ve always been surrounded by other people. We’ve never been alone in public.
And there is no way she was around that night in the office. None. No one was here. Not even the janitorial staff .
This doesn’t make sense.
“Gus.”
Percy calls my name and it takes a moment to register. Looking over to him, he’s holding out the phone receiver, a solemn, almost downtrodden expression cemented in place.
“Hello?”
Carl’s voice is stern, no-nonsense, and cold. I know the second I hear his words that I’m in deep, deep shit.
“Your father’s office. Now.”