Chapter 33 Theo
Theo
Iran my hand over my jaw, the scruff longer than I normally wore it.
I hadn’t left the office for more than an hour since I’d arrived in London four days ago.
I was sleeping on the couch in my office, all of my calls were being forwarded to one of the other guys and I was solely focused on making sure Warren Kane wasn’t an issue anymore.
A knock pulled my attention away from my computer. I’m not sure who was brave enough to be knocking on my door right now. I’d made it very clear that I wasn’t to be bothered. I gave it another moment but they knocked again.
I let out a deep sigh, scrubbed a hand over my face and sat back. “What?” I barked out.
Yesterday when I’d made a rare appearance to get coffee in the break room, since I’d run out in my office, I heard two senior staff muttering about people being scared of me, more than usual. I didn’t give a shit.
The door was pushed open and Betty was standing there with her hands up.
“Don’t shoot the messenger.” She was the head of HR for Knight Enterprises and had been working with us for eight years now.
She was closer to Jane’s age than mine and I liked her enough, most of the time.
I didn’t like anyone right now, not even myself.
She didn’t move, even as I glowered at her.
“I’m not working, Betty.” I decided that maybe if I ignored her, she would go away, so I went back to my laptop.
“You’re about to get a meeting request. Noah told me that if you don’t log in within three minutes, they are all getting on a plane and showing up here instead.”
I’d been avoiding all the men. I was a fucking hollow mess without Quinn. I had no clue how I used to operate without her, how I thought living alone had been better. She’d brought a light into my life and I didn’t know how to move forward without it.
The sweater I was in when I saw her last was in a bag in the corner of my office.
Like a fucking creep, I sniffed it when I missed her since her jasmine and vanilla scent still clung to the fabric.
I wouldn’t risk wearing it because I didn’t want the smell to dissipate which meant I was going to that corner at least once every hour.
I’d ordered her perfume, but it didn’t smell the same without her.
“I’ll ground all our planes,” I muttered as Betty snorted. I paused and looked up at her smirk.
“Noah has already contacted the pilot, they are waiting for his word on the tarmac in Calgary, he said to tell you that you won’t be able to stop them.”
“Nosey bastards.” I tilted my head up at the ceiling and took a few deep breaths.
I actually needed their help. Will could be useful, and Jaxson would make ten times more progress on this than me. And the plan I was forming to take out my father was aggressive, and it would be easier with them behind me.
“You’ve got two minutes until they’ll be on the call, Mr. Knight.” Betty tapped the doorframe twice and then pulled my door closed.
I waited as long as possible before I opened my out-of-control inbox, I ignored everything other than the link from Noah.
As soon as I joined, send the video to the large TV behind me and turned to face the mounted camera, I was looking at the boardroom of our Calgary office.
All my friends were there, serious looks on their faces and a lot of crossed arms.
“You look rough,” Noah commented first.
“I think he forgot what a razor is,” Oli muttered to Will, but we could all hear him.
“Are you ready to talk or are you going to keep avoiding us?” Asher’s grumbly voice silenced everyone else.
Sighing, I leaned forward. “I fucked up and I don’t even know where to start.”
“Start from when you lost your mind and ended things with Quinn,” Noah replied with a frown on his face. The man wasn’t angry very often but I was getting it from him now. It was deserved.
“I met with Warren.” All the men leaned forward.
“What the fuck did he want?” Asher said, his frown got deeper, if that was even possible. Asher might have hated Warren more than me.
When my mum got pregnant, he’d thrown money at her to ‘deal with the problem.’ She hadn’t told me that of course, she’d worked hard to make sure I never felt unwanted, keeping the uglier side of my father from me.
But Jane had told Asher, Noah, and I one night when we’d been home for the holidays and she’d had one too many glasses of wine.
“He thought we were looking at opening an office in New York.”
Jaxson shook his head. “That location was on a list of fifteen cities that we were making inquires in.”
“And there is a rumor every week that we’re looking at expanding. What got his knickers in a twist this time?” Will asked.
“Did he see the Forbes article?” Oli smirked as he asked.
There had been a big Forbes article on all of us that was published a month back, it highlighted the opening of our North American office and basically boasted about our success.
Quinn had read it and snorted at the comments online about how our looks were just a cherry on top of our achievements and wouldn’t stop laughing at how uncomfortable Asher and I had looked.
The memory of that moment, her sitting at the island as I scrambled us some eggs, her in my sweater, hair piled on her head and an easy smile on her face, had my chest aching. I rubbed the spot to try and lessen my discomfort. “I don’t know, he didn’t mention it.”
I then told them all about our meeting. About how Warren had looked into Quinn and then into her dad. I told them what her father had done, how he’d been manipulating Quinn for years. I outlined the threats Warren had made against her, my own pulse picked up with my anger as I told them everything.
When I was done, I looked at all the men, their anger matching my own as they let everything sink in.
“I’d made myself a promise,” I ground out after the heavy silence, “to make sure nothing ever upset her. I was in a corner with no good choice and I got tunnel vision. Anything I chose would upset her, but I went with what I thought was best, because her safety needed to come first and that was all I could think about.”
“Still doesn’t explain why you broke up with Quinn,” Noah said after a beat.
I let out a frustrated growl and narrowed my eyes on him. “Did you not listen to anything I said? He’ll turn his information over to the fucking Mafia. I. Will. Not. Risk. Her.”
“We have more money and more influence than he does, between all of us, we could handle this. Might take some time, but we can,” Jaxson fired back.
“He’s tried fucking with you before,” Noah pointed out.
“Yeah, remember when he was pressuring Guzman to break their contract with us and allow the Kane Group to invest instead,” Oli said.
“It didn’t work then, Knight, we had that shit dealt with in less than a day. Guzman never even got around to calling his own lawyer to discuss options.” Will had a dangerous smile on his face as he shook his head.
They were right, Warren had tried to backdoor us in business deals before but it never worked. I’m fairly certain most of his attempts hadn’t even made their way up to me because our teams handled shit like that all the time. When you were the best, people tried to come for you.
Asher leaned on the table, pinning me with his knowing gaze through the screen. “Why did you cave to him, Knight?”
I sagged in my chair, shoulders dropping, my hands curled into fists and my nails dug into my palms. They were pushing me, I’d been trying to sort through my own feelings and I hated that they were making me say them out loud. “Maybe this is for the best.”
“Explain,” Will demanded.
“I’m not fucking good at this.” I threw my hands up in frustration.
“You all say I’m grumpy and have called me an asshole more times than I can count.
I shouldn’t taint Quinn’s life with that, because eventually she’ll see that I’m not good enough for her.
I also got a taste of what it was like having someone in your life the way Quinn was and if I let it go any further and she left or something happened to her,” I let out a breath and shook my head, “what the hell would I do then?”
“Do you know why we all let her in our group?” I frowned at Noah’s change in topic.
“Because you needed a female perspective on things.” That comment got me a few dirty looks and some eye rolls.
“Sure, she was nice and funny and not at all impressed by any of our money. But it was because of you, because of how you were so intrigued by her,” Oli pipped up.
“I’d never seen you that interested in a person, so we paid a little more attention. You frowned less, even on that first night with her. It’s like she calmed you, grounded you. It’s hard to describe,” Noah said as he ran a hand through his blond hair.
“We don’t trust people easily,” Asher spoke next. “I definitely don’t. But she had this light and fire, that for some reason, matched with you perfectly. The way you cared, asked for help to plan your first date, you started opening up after years of closing yourself off. And that was all Quinn.”
“You centered yourself around her, orbiting her like she was your sun. It happened so fast we discussed the possibility of you being kidnapped and replaced with a Knight look alike.” Jaxson smirked.
“We’re her friends now because she’s a great person, but we first let her in because you settled around her and we all noticed it.
It was like the weight of the world wasn’t so heavy on your shoulders with her there.
” Noah lifted any eyebrow. “You may be a grumpy asshole sometimes man, but you were a really great boyfriend, and I think you’re running because you’re afraid, not because of these threats Warren is throwing out. ”
“It’s done, Noah.” My tone sharp. I really didn’t want to talk about my feelings anymore, especially because Noah was hitting dangerously close to the truth.
I also didn’t need to hear any more about how great she was. I was well aware.
“So you won’t just say fuck it, and go to Quinn,” Jaxson summarized after a pause.
I shook my head. “Not now. I need to know being with me won’t put her in danger.”
“Why not just talk to her about it?” Oli threw out.
“She doesn’t understand the lengths my father would go to.
He hates the success I have, but this isn’t about business, not really.
This is about me, he wants me to suffer and he wants me under his thumb, which means he’ll make good on his threats if I push him.
She would tell me it’s fine and it’s her risk to take but I disagree.
So I took the decision out of her hands. ”
“And if it’s too late when you resolve all of this and beg her to take you back?” Noah asked with a raised eyebrow.
I ground my teeth and rung my hands together. “I need to focus on dealing with the threats, Noah, then I’ll sort the rest out. I’ve dug into her dad’s crimes but it’s more complicated than I expected.”
“Then thank fuck you finally talked to us,” Will said as he sat up straight with a sly smile on his face. This was the version of him that I needed. He was ruthless bastard that didn’t let anyone fuck with his family.
“Even if it was forced,” Noah muttered. “And I want it on the record that I may be helping but I’m still pissed off.”
Jaxson grabbed his laptop before looking up at me, ignoring Noah. “What do you need from us?”