46. Forty-six
Forty-six
Payton
“ W hat the actual fuck,” Hayes growls, his eyes snapping to the screen that just went active on the wall of the boardroom at the push of a button from my laptop.
“Jesus, fuck, Pay, where the hell are you and why are you playing Big Brother with us?” Zander quips from across the room, taking a napkin from his assistant to clean the coffee he spilled over his hand when I scared the shit out of him.
“Good morning, dear brothers. I’m working from home today but didn’t want to miss our morning meeting.”
“You’re…what?” Hayes asks, leaning onto the table toward the screen like he can intimidate me into materializing in the room.
“Working from home. There’s no need for me to be in the office all the time, and I wanted to give Ainsley extra support today, so here we are. Now, to get started with the status report—”
“You’re shitting me,” Zander cuts in. “You’ve never missed a day of work, always the first one into the office, and you’re changing it now because of your girlfriend? Dude, you’ve got it so fucking bad.”
“I don’t see a problem here,” I retort calmly. “This is exactly what your wife was trying to accomplish a few months ago but I managed to find on my own while avoiding her scheming. Ainsley’s my girlfriend now, the love of my fucking life, and I’ll eventually make her my wife if she’ll let me, so expect my priorities to shift accordingly, work included.” I pause for their reactions.
Their faces are priceless, both shocked into silence and staring at me like I’ve been abducted and this is my attempt to ask them for help. Blink twice if you need help kind of shit.
Hayes shakes his head slowly, an annoyed look replacing the shock.“It’s not ideal r ight now , but it’s about damn time.” He was the first of us to fall and he’s been deeply under the spell of his sweet debutante bride ever since. It doesn't surprise me that he’d be the most accepting of my decision to put Ainsley first.
“I can’t fault you. Good pussy and a woman who keeps you coming back for more are hard to argue with,” Zander says, predictably steering the conversation to a sexual avenue. “We can shift our priorities and the team’s focus to better adjust for us all having home lives that are more important than work, now.”
“Already done.” I share my screen so they can see the new restructuring plan I’ve laid out and the timeline for our ongoing projects with who’ll be running point, which SVPs will pick up the slack, and what teams will align as support. As COO, this is my job, so it was no problem to look at it as another puzzle to solve. “The only inconsistency with an unsure timeline is the sports complex and entertainment district the city put on hold due to the bad press we received with the implosion of the Atlanta Haute List.”
Ainsley chooses that moment to enter my office with a fresh cup of coffee. When she hears the name of her website, she pauses and her face goes beet red. She lifts her head and swallows, taking tentative steps toward me, and sets the cup on the edge of my desk, then turns to leave. Before she can flee, I grab her by the hips and pull her into my lap. She’s still in my MIT shirt and panties, but you can’t see below her waist on camera, and I keep her tucked into my chest with a reassuring arm banded around her. This is why I wanted to be here with her.
Zander snickers. “I see why you wanted to work from home. You start this shit and we’re all going to be calling in from the home with a woman in our lap.” He shakes his head before allowing me to return to business.
“The city stalled our plans for the arena project after green-lighting everything leading up to this point because we’ve offered a lucrative deal. They’re keeping us from starting the actual construction now, which will cause a huge delay and unnecessary backlog for the rest of our plans, and we’ll hemorrhage funds if we can’t get their approval to begin as expected. I’m working on a proposal that’ll entice them to reenter favorable negotiations that will end with us breaking ground and beginning the build phase this fall as planned.”
“They’re hesitant to restart negotiations, and rightly so. We have a track record of bad publicity, with this latest fake dating scandal being the cherry on top. I don’t see how we can come back from that and get them to move any faster,” Hayes says. “We’ll have to move the timeline back and take the financial hit.”
Fuck. If Hayes, our CFO, is willing to take a hit to the bottom line, he really can't see a way out. This doesn't look good.
Ainsley’s fingers trace a pattern along my thigh that feels too good as her teeth work over her bottom lip. I cup her chin and pull her lip free, tapping it as a reminder of what that does to me. She sticks her tongue out at me before she grows serious again, looking between me and the screen where my brothers are contemplatively looking at the project timeline.
“Your project is going to gentrify a portion of the city that’s home to a ton of small, family-owned businesses that won’t be able to afford increased rents, or be able to renovate to attract the same crowds as the fancy new bars and restaurants your project will lure in,” Ainsley begins softly.
I nod, encouraging her to continue. If she has an idea, I want to hear it. She knows the area better than any of us. She spent two years reporting on those small local businesses, collecting stories from the people and area. She has a unique perspective as a journalist that we don’t have from a development lens.
“Why don’t you offer to retrofit the local businesses and utilities around the sports and entertainment complex so they’ll benefit, and the city won't have to do any work to ensure the surrounding areas are up to par when your new project is complete?”
“What would that do?” Zander asks.
She shrugs a bare shoulder that’s peeking out of my shirt and bats her lashes with an innocent smile that’s anything but. “You’d be helping smaller businesses like Mama P’s who would suffer from lost revenue. You’d get them on your side and have local support for the project before it starts, which is good for optics. By working with the local utilities to upgrade what comes into the area, you’ll make sure they can handle the new user load of the condos and businesses of the entertainment district and arena, which takes a huge onus off the city to do it and saves taxpayer funds so it makes you look like heroes.”
“That sounds expensive,” Hayes grumbles, but he doesn’t outright refuse, which is a positive.
“It’s going to cost us millions of dollars, but it’ll save our asses,” I reply. I look down at Ainsley, perched in my lap where she belongs, solving our problems like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “You incredible woman.”
She huffs a laugh and leans her head on my shoulder. “I’m always happy to find ways to spend Olympus’s money on bettering the community and making y’all give back instead of just getting richer.”
“I’ll be careful if we ever ask for your help again, but this is actually perfect. The city won’t be able to deny us if we make that kind of offer,” Zander says, stroking his jaw as he runs through the details.
“We don’t have other options if we want to keep our original timeline. We add a few mil to the budget for the upgrades and pitch it to the city. I’ll get a team to run an analysis and prepare a rough estimate for the scope of additional work and resources required before I draft the proposal and shoot it over later this morning. I bet we hear back by the end of the day. Hayes, do you approve increasing the budget as needed?”
Hayes growls, unhappy about the change, but finally relents. “Run the numbers by me before you send the proposal. As long as they’re reasonable I don’t see why we can’t adjust .”
“Good. Glad that’s settled, thanks to Ainsley’s genius ideas. What’s next?” I rub her thigh, loving this easy access to her skin while in a morning meeting. I can get used to this.
“We have an update on the cyber attack,” Hayes says from his place at the head of the conference room table where the Olympus side of the call is taking place.
I’ve been expecting this news. I released the video of Archer coding, and all of the information Ainsley provided, to our contacts and caseworkers at the FBI shortly after leaving New York yesterday.
“You don’t say?” I don't hide the irritation in my voice. I’m ready for this saga with Archer to be over.
“It was that punk ass kid, Archer Donovan, like Rex said,” Zander adds. “He was arrested this morning. He looked like a pulverized piece of meat as he was pulled out of his Manhattan penthouse. The piece of shit got what he deserved. Black eyes and a swollen face, his hands in casts, and he was limping as they shuffled him into a blacked-out SUV.”
“Looks like someone got to him before the feds did, but if you ask me, they held back. He wouldn’t have been walking if I’d gotten to the rat,” Hayes adds.
“It’s about fucking time. He deserves worse than what I did to him and what the justice system’s likely to do.”
Ainsley stiffens in my lap, her attention pinned on me. This is the first she’s heard of what I’ve done with the information she provided. I run my hand up and down her back soothingly.
“So you’re aware of this development and had a hand in how he looked?” Zander asks, leaning back and studying me.
“I told you, Ainsley saved our asses and had everything we needed to take him down. I gave that to the FBI. After I had a chat with Archer myself. Oh, and Rex may have helped. I think it’s time we finally give him that board of directors seat he’s been asking for. We can trust him.” I direct my attention to Hayes. “The man has an incredible right hook. I can’t believe you used to spar with him and never had your pretty nose broken.”
“You resorted to physical violence instead of hacking him back?” Hayes asks, his brows drawing together knowing he’s usually the brother we tap for that type of vengeance. “I’m impressed. Normally, you’d find a way to fuck with him virtually and not leave a trace, like he did.”
“Oh, I did that, too, but some situations call for a personal, hands-on approach.” I give Ainsley a quick glance, about to bring her into the family in a way that’ll have my brothers just as protective of her as I am. “Archer is Ainsley’s abusive ex. He’s been cyberstalking her. I couldn’t let that stand after he showed up in Atlanta and put his hands on her.”
My brothers posture up, faces drawn into scowls, their shoulders expanding in outrage on her behalf. They nod in understanding, grunting their approval and taking in the little blonde spitfire in my lap in a whole new light. With that one revelation, she’s now their family, too.
Ainsley turns to me, shock warring with fury for sharing her personal details that she holds so privately. It was worth it, seeing the instant change in Hayes and Zander toward her, accepting her as theirs to guard as part of our family, just like I knew they would. I know my brothers and what turns on their protective instincts. Sharing this small detail would do it faster than allowing Ainsley to slowly let them in and share herself on her own timeline. I’m pushing her on my terms, as usual, and she doesn’t like it.
“I told you he wasn't worth it. I can't believe you went after him. Is this why you were in New York yesterday? For some fucked up version of a billionaire bar brawl?”
I kiss her nose with an affectionate smile and hold her tightly when she tries to get up .
“I was teaching Archer a lesson called do unto others as you want done unto you ,” I explain. Ainsley rolls her eyes. I continue. “He’s a bully whose time had come. I’d given him a clear warning and he still came after you. He won’t be harassing or putting his hands on anyone for a very long time, and he certainly won’t be using his hacking skills. I have far too much dirt on him now. The FBI will take care of the rest, I presume. Ainsley’s evidence links him to the signature he’s used on countless cyber crimes, so he’ll finally pay for his misdeeds. I have a feeling Archer and his dear old dad will have plenty of bonding time in the big house for the long, foreseeable future.”
Zander laughs and rubs his hands together in pleasure. “I’m already working with legal on an injunction to stop Nephele Industries’s jet engine production since we know they used the original Pegasus plans that were stolen from the cyber breach. That should help with our launch.” He’s smug now that his bungled project is back on track.
“I’ll let Rex know he’s finally getting what he wants,” Hayes mutters, lacing his fingers on top of a stack of paper and staring down.
He has a history with Rex and they’ve been contentious ever since we bought out his family legacy, crushing the friendship the two had. Rex being beyond creepy and stalking Paige didn’t help the matter, but his assistance during a rough time for our company—several times—put us in debt to him and made for an unsettled situation ever since. Hopefully giving Rex what he wants—a spot on the Olympus board of directors—will mean we are back on even ground.
This feels good.
Things are finally coming together the way they should. Challenges are being met with clever solutions that my gorgeous girl had a hand in. Nuisances like Archer are being dealt with. Unfinished projects like our jet engine are finding closure. Debts are being paid. It’s good to see so much of our effort over the last few years finding a natural conclusion or being rewarded after so much sacrifice.
“I’ve got a proposal to write for the city and you both have projects and tasks to manage. I think we’re done with this meeting,” I say.
“Get that deal restarted. We have a hockey team to bring to Atlanta,” Zander says. “Ainsley, if you need anything I’m the brother to ask. Welcome to the family, blondie.”
“He’s an idiot who doesn’t know a hook from a cross. If you have an enemy you want buried so no one finds him again, you come to me,” Hayes adds.