Ronnie Burkhart. Forty-eight, unemployed, former high school football star. All around deadbeat with a history of domestic abuse, even before he started seeing Emmaline’s mom. My personal investigator sent the info over last night via email. I called him as soon as I dropped Emmaline off.

The thought of Ronnie trying something with her makes me clench my fists and want to hit something. I don’t know what he’s after, whether he’s a pervert or he’s trying to extort money out of her. Whatever it is, it’s going to fucking end, fast. As soon as I find him, he’s going to get a real hard lesson.

For now, I have to wait. I hired two additional personal investigators to start a manhunt for him. They already checked the trailer and didn’t find him. He’s probably passed out drunk in a gutter somewhere, but they will find him. All I can do is move through my Friday as normally as possible. I already tried calling Emmaline to get her to spend the day in my office where I could keep an eye on her, but she refused. She had a meeting with a potential investor for her company, and I know how important that is to her at this stage in her business.

I hired an off-duty cop to tail her today and keep an eye out, so she should be safe, but I would rather be there myself. Just the thought of anything happening to her… Fuck. I don’t know what I would do. Whatever it was, it would probably end with me in prison for a very long time.

When I get to my floor, I’m greeted by Lacey, who’s flanked by Deara, my Chief Financial Officer. I frown at the two of them. “What’s going on?”

Lacey clears her throat nervously. “Deara wants me to show you this email. You were out of the office last night so I passed it on to her first. I hope that’s okay. It just seemed really… well... “

“You should see for yourself, Mr. Steel,” says Deara.

I don’t like how this sounds. Not a bit. I follow the two of them to Lacey’s computer. She clicks to her email and pulls a forwarded message from the tech guys. “I’m friends with Arnie from IT, and he said he was doing some routine stuff that required taking control of workstations throughout the building. He took over Dean’s computer and didn’t realize it was in use. He watched Dean write this email and even confirmed it was him by checking the security cameras. He dug it out of the archives and sent it to me so I could show you.”

I lean forward, reading the email.

Mr. Nakasuki,

He is being more resilient than we anticipated, but I am working tirelessly. I anticipate the company will slip from his grip within the month. At that point, I am still committed to following through with the plan as we discussed. I just need more time than I originally anticipated. I hope this will not impact your decision to retain me as CEO after Mr. Steel is removed.

-Dean Calloway

I realize I’m squeezing the shit out of the headrest on Lacey’s chair when I finish reading. I straighten. Both Lacey and Deara are eyeing me expectantly, waiting.

“Where is he?”

“That’s the other problem,” says Deara. “When the tech guy dug up the email, it alerted Dean somehow. He knows you have the email. His work laptop has gone off the network, but it’s possible that he has backed up all the sensitive information on the computer already.”

“Client’s payment information, addresses… shit,” I say. “If he leaked that, it could be the last straw. Our reputation would be shot, and I’d have no chance of getting any new investors, even small ones. He could force me to shoulder the financial load on my personal funds or file for bankruptcy and give up the business. Once I was out of the picture, his allies could funnel money back into the business and convince the public I was the problem.”

“What are you going to do, sir?” asks Lacey. I see genuine concern in her eyes and even while I’m fuming over Dean’s betrayal, I have to give her credit where it’s due. After I made it clear I wasn’t interested, she put her head down and started focusing on doing her job well.

“Whatever it takes,” I say, turning to leave the office.

I have nearly tapped the city’s quantity of private investigators by now, but I manage to get another PI to help me find Dean.

It’s only when I’m back in my car that the gravity of his betrayal finally hits me. One of the last fucking people I trusted. He was with me through all the bullshit of shifting from a publicly shared company to private, through all the lies and backstabbing that took place as everyone took their shot at unseating me and taking the helm of my company. He was there through it all and never showed any sign of greed to take what I had. I guess he was just playing me for a fool over the long term. He was waiting until I let my guard down and he thought he could make a clean sweep and get me out of the picture.

Fucking weasel.

I should have seen it coming. All the times he slipped out of meetings to take calls, or the way he started to act like he was more on my level lately, pushing the boundaries of professionalism. He was already counting me out. It explains all the minor changes in his behavior. I’ve been too preoccupied to notice or care about. If I had just had my head in the game like I used to, I would’ve spotted his bullshit from a mile away and shut it down before it got this far.

I don’t dwell on could have beens. The shit happened, and now all there is to do is fix it. I don’t know exactly what I’ll do yet, but first thing’s first. Dean is going to answer to me. To my fucking face.

I spend the rest of my Friday keeping an eye on the phone. I get a few texts every hour updating me on Emmaline and on the lack of progress in finding Dean or Ronnie. What a fucking shitstorm. With the information Dean has at his fingertips, he really could bring down my business. He could take everything I’ve built and strip it away from me. I just can’t decide if I’d rather watch it burn than give it to him.

Last I looked, I have over five thousand employees. Could I really sabotage all those jobs just for my own pride? Maybe… I never made any claims about being a good man. Not once. I’ve only ever been one thing and I’ve never apologized for it. I’m a winner. I succeed. I strive and struggle and ultimately get what I set my eyes on. This is different. I would be striving to destroy instead of create.

I’ll have to think on it, but I know I don’t have long. Maybe another idea will come to me, something that doesn’t involve destroying the whole company.

The truth is my mind only wants to stay focused on Emmaline. No matter how much my company and personal life is in peril, she keeps returning to the front of my thoughts. I want to make her better. I have an idea of a way I can start, but the shit with Ronnie and now Dean is making that more difficult. Fuck it though. I have the perfect idea, and I’m not going to wait any longer. My small army of private investigators can call me if they find something. Emmaline should be through with her meeting soon, and I’ve got the surprise of a lifetime for her.