Chapter Twenty-Six
Liam sat, watching the board members reviewing the folders he’d set at each seat before anyone arrived. Barton wasn’t here yet. Liam glanced down at his phone to see a text from Viv. Are the fish taking the bait?
You could hear a pin drop in here right now. The rat bastard isn’t going to know what hit him.
Good.
They’d spent the previous two days laying the groundwork for today’s show. Given the time crunch, Sophia fast-tracked the case with her bosses. While she did her thing, Vivien did hers. She somehow wrangled a reporter from the local New York Times bureau to do an in-depth piece on not only her and Greer, but on him and Eli as well. Something about the future of tech companies in Texas. He’d been distracted by how hot Vivien looked in the sexy green dress she’d slid into for the accompanying photo shoot.
Barton came striding through the door, obviously feeling important. Liam fought the urge to punch the man. He was enjoying Vivien’s job way too much, and he thought he’d be getting his big reward today. Little did he know; the board members were holding the death warrant for his plans.
“Shall we call this meeting to order? I’d like to get done in time to meet the print deadline.” Barton took his seat, a smug smile on his usually implacable face. Of course, Barton would worry about the print deadline. Nobody in their industry gave a damn about print. The gaming news lived and died by the bloggers.
When no one objected, Barton barreled on. “As some of you might know, I called this meeting today to ask that we take a vote on an important proposal. In my former capacity, as chief financial officer, I’ve long advocated for Monroe Tech going public. It’s past time that we take our place on the stock market. I took the initiative to begin the steps of compiling all the necessary documents and taking the first steps to begin the process. All that is required now to cement this plan is for the board to take a vote and approve the IPO I’ve prepared.”
“Point of order,” Mr. Branagh, a thin young man, just shy of forty said. “But I believe that such a vote must be proposed by the chair, not the CEO.”
Barton’s eyes narrowed. “I’m sure my niece won’t mind us taking action on such an important matter. After all, she’s quite busy in New York.”
“Really?” Mr. Hubble challenged. “I take it you haven’t seen today’s issue of the New York Times then.”
“Forgive me, but I have a company to run. I don’t have time to read every newspaper.” Barton shifted in his chair, his arrogance deflating a little.
Mr. Bailey snorted. “Maybe you should. If you did, you’d know that your nieces have made some interesting assertions, particularly against taking the company public.”
Barton looked genuinely surprised for a moment, but he soon recovered himself. “I’m sure that was mere speculation on the reporter’s part. My niece is a good business woman. She recognizes the need to move the company forward. An IPO does just that.”
“Perhaps we should ask her,” Mr. Rabb suggested. “The article says she’s in town. Hale? From what I read, you two are particularly…close. Give the girl a call, let’s see what she has to say.”
He sent Viv a text he already had prepared. Now.
“As it happens, sir, she’s already in the building. She should be here momentarily.”
“Excellent,” Branagh said, pushing his thick glasses up his nose. “We can handle this business correctly within the company bylaws.”
A moment later, Vivien breezed through the door. To set the scene, she’d put her hair up in a sleek twist and wore one of her kick-ass suits, complete with impossibly high heels. She looked gorgeous, but he preferred the image of her this morning, wearing only his T-shirt as they’d sipped coffee together in his living room. That was the real Vivien, not the Ice Queen she liked to let everyone else see.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. So, nice to see y’all again.”
Barton stiffened, turning toward her. “Niece. You should have told me you’d returned. Here on a business trip, I take it?”
Vivien’s eyes looked ready to shred her uncle to pieces. “I didn’t realize I answered to you, uncle. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the other way around. I’ve decided to move back permanently. When I returned to New York, it became clear my place was here. I’d much rather take an active interest as the chairperson of the board than continue in my former job.”
Vivien took a seat in the open chair beside Liam, crossing her legs, the slit in her skirt riding up so that she flashed him a hint of the top of the lacy stockings he’d watched her put on that morning.
“We’re glad to have you back, Ms. Monroe,” Mr. Rabb said loyally. “It was a loss to the company when you left. Now, would someone like to explain to us what exactly we’re reading in these folders? I may not be as financially inclined as some, but it does not appear to be the details of an initial public offering.”
Mr. Bailey jumped in. “Are these the company financials? They look significantly different than the reports we’ve received for the last quarter. My understanding was the company was reporting a much larger profit.”
“What are you talking about?” Barton asked. He tried to play it cool, but Liam saw the panic start to set in. “What folders? I didn’t ask that any folders be prepared for this meeting.”
“No, but I did.” Vivien held one up. “I have an extra. Would you like to take a look at it?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Viv,” Liam drawled, stepping in to play his part. “I’m fairly certain your uncle’s already seen these numbers. He probably doesn’t have time to look at numbers he’s already spent so much time with.”
The board members looked confused. “Mr. Barton? Would you care to explain the discrepancies?” Mr. Branagh asked. “I have the last financial report here on my tablet and the numbers are significantly different.”
“I don’t know what you two are up to. It is clear someone has doctored these reports.” Barton stiffened, going on the defensive. “What did you hope to gain by spreading such lies, Vivien?”
“They’re not lies,” Liam countered. “If you gentlemen will look toward the back of the folders, you’ll find an affidavit from a certified public accountant who specializes in forensic accounting. It has been duly witnessed and notarized, and states that these reports are in fact the ones that testify to the true financial conditions at MT.”
Vivien opened the folder, holding up another sheet of paper. “Additionally, you’ll find this summary of transfers from the MT accounts, as well as payments made to a shell company from at least two outside sources that are still under investigation, that were then transferred to a bank account opened by Mr. R. Barton.”
“Am I reading this correctly?” Mr. Hubble asked. “These documents show that a significant amount of money has been transferred to a Swiss bank account held by Mr. Barton.”
Mr. Nguyen sighed. “Why do I begin to think there’s more to this public offering than meets the eye? What is it, Barton? You have a big payout coming if it goes public? It can’t be solely from your stocks, so there’s obviously someone pulling your strings.”
“If you’ll notice,” Eli put in, “the timing of the outside deposits coincide with the start of the copycat games that I’ve detailed in previous reports.”
“That’s preposterous!” Barton surged to his feet, snatching the nearest folder. “This is all nonsense, drummed up by a young man who is jealous that I took over a job that was rightfully mine.”
Mr. Bailey glared at him. “Rightfully yours? Sir, if the job is rightfully anyone’s, it is this young lady’s. She at least understands the true worth of the company.”
“She left,” Barton snarled. “It’s my company now. I’m in charge, just as I always should have been. My idiot of a brother-in-law didn’t know the first thing about successfully managing a company. He would have gone bankrupt the first year if not for me.”
“She left because you were blackmailing her.” Liam leaned forward. “You’ve been spying on her for months, just so you could find dirt to use against her when the time came.”
Vivien laid a hand on Liam’s arm, needing the contact as much as he did probably. Temper coursed through him in time with the pounding in his ears. He wasn’t a normally violent guy, or even a man of action like Eli, but right now he really wished he were.
“You can try to spread all the rumors you want about me, Uncle Richard. Those pictures only worked when I had a career outside of MT. It doesn’t matter what my former bosses think of me. The people who matter already know that I am more than competent enough to run this company and do it well. And now, they also know that you’ve been taking a hefty payout to spy for other companies and help leak confidential information, simply to try to prove your own stubborn, ignorant point that we need to follow trends.”
“Enough of this.” Barton tugged on the bottom of his suit jacket. “You will all agree to my proposal now, and we will forget the ravings of this little slut and her boy toy. Surely you don’t believe them over someone you’ve known for decades.”
Mr. Rabb struggled to his feet, leaning his corpulent frame against the table. “Mr. Barton. I don’t know how you were raised, but in my family, uncles did not refer to their nieces as sluts. And any man worth his salt doesn’t steal money—or ideas—from a company he helped start.”
Barton didn’t seem to hear him. “And you, Hale. You’re done here. As soon as this meeting is over, I want you to pack up your things and go.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Liam saw Eli and Greer slip in the door. They stayed against the wall, watching the proceedings. Liam felt a measure of relief, and while the board seemed to be on their side, it would help to have Eli watching his back.
“Mr. Barton.” Mr. Hubble’s voice rang out ominously. “Do you plan to cut off your nose to spite your face? This company has been more successful since he was brought on then we have ever been. If he goes, MT will lose the edge that has defined us since the beginning.”
“Agreed,” Mr. Bailey said. “Madame Chairperson, I move we take an immediate vote of no confidence in Richard Barton.”
“Seconded.” Mr. Nguyen tapped his fist on the table.
Vivien and Liam exchanged looks with Greer and Eli. Vivien stood, her curvy body radiating confidence and the quiet power that made her the most successful woman Liam had ever met. “A motion has been put before this body. All of those in favor?”
Nineteen hands shot up.
“All opposed?”
No hands went up.
Liam watched Vivien take a steadying breath. He wanted to sweep her up in a hug and kiss her until the world spun around them, but that had to wait. The hardest part of this was yet to come.
“Let the record show that the board has voted to remove current Chief Executive Officer, Richard Barton, from his position, effective immediately. He will not be allowed to return to his former position, and his access to the company property will be revoked.”
Liam half expected Barton to spit. “You won’t get away with this. This is my company. I built it. The money that should have been mine built it. I’ll sue you.”
“That’ll be pretty difficult, Mr. Barton.” Eli straightened, arms crossed over his chest. “See, that information we shared with the board? We also took the liberty of sharing it with some contacts at the FBI. They were very interested in the evidence we’d compiled. Jed tipped them off that there might be a problem with the company’s finances shortly before his death. They’ve been doing research of their own since then. And they’re working with the DPD to reopen the investigation into the cause of the accident that killed Mr. Monroe and possible links to Mr. Barton’s activities and the crash.”
“They should be here,” Greer added, coming to stand beside Eli, “right about now.”
Sophia led in a small group of men in ill-fitting suits. “Richard Barton, you’re under arrest for embezzlement and corporate espionage.”
“I had nothing to do with any of this,” Barton barked. “You really think I’d have anything to do with killing my brother-in-law? I’m being framed.”
Ignoring the protests, Sophia recited Barton’s Miranda rights as they walked out of the boardroom. A low murmur went through the room as the men absorbed the latest turn.
Liam reached over and took Vivien’s hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. They hadn’t expected Eli’s contacts to move so quickly, but it made things easier. Now Vivien just needed to end this meeting so they could go home.
“While I’m glad to see this unpleasant business resolved,” Mr. Bailey said, “we now find ourselves without a CEO.”
“What are you talking about, Marcus? We have a CEO. Ms. Monroe.” Mr. Rabb turned to Vivien.
Mr. Hubble nodded in agreement. “You do intend to resume your place as CEO, don’t you?”
Liam held back a smile at the surprised look on Vivien’s face. She didn’t expect them to be so overwhelmingly on her side, much less want her as CEO.
“If that’s what the board wants, then I would be more than happy to hold the job as long as you’ll have me.”
Those words released the last little knot in Liam’s chest. She was really staying. With him. For good.
…
Vivien let herself into Liam’s house, feeling bone-tired and ridiculously satisfied. Liam left the office a good two hours before her, mostly because she needed to start undoing the mess her uncle made.
With her trusty assistant, Josh, she’d sent memo after memo, revising the ridiculous directives her uncle put into place. There were still some changes that needed to be made, but she wanted to get things back to normal as soon as possible—as close to normal as things could get. By tomorrow morning, MT would once again be full of nerds in T-shirts and jeans, dogs keeping their people company, and the canceled projects would be up and running again next week.
The smell of roasted meat had greeted her outside, and through the windows into the backyard, she saw smoke rising from Liam’s egg-shaped grill while he tossed a ball for Flynn, who happily chased after it. This is what she wanted, she realized. She wanted to come home every night to this wonderful man and his silly dog. As she set aside her purse, she saw a note on the bar, propped up against a glass of red wine.
Drink me while you change out of that stuffy suit…but leave the sexy stockings on if you want.
Sweet man, she thought taking a smiling sip of the wine, funny man.
Climbing the stairs, she mused that this place had begun to feel more like home than Haven ever had. They would, she mused as she stripped out of her suit and kicked off her heels, eventually have to decide what to do with the big house soon. Greer loved the place, but it seemed so big for one person.
She thought about leaving the stockings on, but it was too hot outside. Instead, she put on a pair of jean shorts she’d unearthed during the move and a T-shirt that dipped low enough that the lace edge of her bra peeped over the neckline if she moved just right. A little tease, but not too much.
Taking her wine, she made her way downstairs. Liam and Flynn had come inside, the smell of steaks wafting through the house. As she came around the island, she saw two baked potatoes with pretty grill marks on them sitting beside the steaks on their plates. She set her glass down as quietly as possible.
“Mmm,” she purred, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind, pressing a kiss behind his ear. “Careful, nerd boy. If you keep this up, I might get spoiled.”
With a low chuckle, Liam turned in her arms, looping his around her. “Maybe that’s part of my master plan. Spoil you so much, you could never think of leaving again.”
She knew he didn’t mean the words to hurt her, but they did sting a little.
“I missed you too much to leave again,” she said, tucking her head under his chin, her arms going around him tighter than before. “I know I’ve made a mess of a lot of things in my life, but I don’t want to add you to that list. I love you too much to lose you again.”
“Hey.” He tipped her head up to meet his gaze. “I love you, pretty girl. I’m in this thing, one hundred percent, and after today, I think you are, too.”
Without her shoes on, she had to lift onto the tips of her toes to be able to kiss him. They stayed that way, enjoying the lazy, thorough kiss that you shared with someone you knew you had all the time in the world with.
That was another shift she’d noticed since she’d come back. Their passion hadn’t diminished in the slightest, but it had changed, matured maybe. They took their time now, enjoying the nuances of sex between two people in love. She didn’t doubt that they could still have the hot, dirty kind of release they’d shared their first time together, but she also liked this quieter passion, too.
Before they could go too far, Flynn’s impatient bark interrupted them. Laughing, she moved away from Liam, and leaned down to scratch the dog’s ears. “I’m sorry, Flynn. Have I been neglecting you? I’m so sorry.”
“He’s just trying to butter you up because he thinks it’ll get him some of this steak,” Liam said, transferring some salad onto the plates. They ate dinner together, chairs pushed as close to each other as they could comfortably manage. She was almost done with her meal when Liam set his fork down and stared at her.
“What?” she asked, a nervous smile on her lips.
He surprised her by taking her hand in his and kissing each knuckle. “What’s on your mind, pretty girl? You’ve got that little furrow between your brows that you get when you’re trying to figure something out.”
Vivien felt her cheeks warm a little. Even in such a short amount of time, he’d learned to read her so well. She sighed. “Sophia called on my way over. She had some news.”
“About your uncle?” Liam asked, sipping his wine.
“Yes.” Vivien stretched her legs in front of her. “Well, she had two pieces of news, I guess. The first is that Uncle Richard’s private computers have info indicating that he was blackmailed into helping whoever’s behind the copycat games. They’re still working on a trace, but even if he doesn’t give up his ‘investors’ or know who they are, the Feds have got enough to charge Richard.”
“Good riddance.” Liam threw Flynn’s ball, sending the dog running. “Still, we’re no closer to knowing who Richard helped get the game ideas or what else he did to the company’s finances.”
“No. With him gone, the leaks will hopefully stop,” Vivien said. “But there was more. About Jed’s accident.”
The thought of what Sophia told her put a hard knot of sadness in Vivien’s chest. She’d wished it had been something to do with her uncle.
“What about it? Did they find who ran him off the road?” Liam asked.
Vivien shook her head, reaching out to stroke his arm. “They reopened the investigation because they’ve found enough evidence to believe that it wasn’t accidental. Something about cut brake lines and paint transfer on the bike’s tailpipe.”
Liam’s expression hardened. She hated to ruin their little bubble with this news, but she didn’t want to keep anything from him. “I know. I think deep down I always knew that it wasn’t an accident.”
“Sophia’s got a team on it. They’re kicking into high gear now.” Vivien tried to give him a reassuring smile. “No official word yet on who sent the text or the email, but they’ve found a money trail that will likely lead back to Richard, too.”
Liam returned her smile, the tension in his lanky body easing a little. “We’ll make it through, pretty girl. All that matters right now is that you’re here and we got to watch your uncle being led away in handcuffs.”
Worries plucked at her. “But how are we going to make this work?”
“This?”
“Us,” she clarified.
Lacing their fingers together, he laughed a little. “Just the same way it did before, I guess.”
“But we’re not the same as we were before.” Before, he was temporary. She could justify the status quo because she’d fooled herself into thinking that emotions weren’t involved. “We’re so much more.”
“Good to know we’re on the same page with that,” he teased.
“But I’m still technically your boss,” she pointed out. “How is that part of the relationship going to work? I don’t want you to feel like we’re not equal partners in this.”
His eyes softened. “Even when you were the Ice Queen, you’ve always been fair and treated me as an equal. If it will make you feel better, we can rearrange things, have my position report directly to the board. Chief Creative Officer or something. That might work best, especially if we’re going to start up the division specifically dedicated to app development. Whatever we do, we’ll make it work.”
“How are you always so sure of yourself? Of us?” His confidence, as nerdy as he was, always called to her. Quiet and steady, he knew his place in life. He even seemed to know hers, before she could ever imagine it.
“Because I love you. Life has thrown a lot of shit at us, and it will probably keep throwing it at us.” He drew her into his lap, arms securely around her. “Loving each other, trusting each other, and showing up is what’s going to matter most. It’s going to keep us together for ten, twenty, hell, fifty years if we let it. Even if we lose everything and have to live in tiny rathole apartments like the ones I grew up in, we’re going to have each other to lean on.”
Thinking for a minute, she moved so that she was straddling his lap, their faces even with each other. She reached up to cup his cheek. His five-o’clock shadow tickled the palm of her hand, the skin so warm and vital. “So you’ll still love me when I’m old and wrinkled and saggy, and can’t wear sexy stockings and heels anymore?”
““Pretty girl, I will love you”—he paused to kiss her forehead, her eyelids—“even if you’re old and wrinkled”—his lips moved down to her neck, his tongue flicking out to taste her skin—“and look like one of those gross zombie things from that game Greer was working on yesterday.”
She gasped out a laugh as his mouth found the top of her breasts. “So romantic, nerd boy.”
“I aim to please,” he murmured, tugging on the hem of her shirt to reveal the black lace bra underneath.
Vivien sighed with pleasure as his lips curled around her nipple through the lace barrier. There was more she wanted to say, but the waves of pleasure he sent through her stole whatever brain power she had left. The only thing she could get out was a hoarse order. “Take me to bed.”
He slid one arm to cradle her butt and got to his feet. “Stay, Flynn,” he ordered absently, going back to kissing her.
Being carried through his house reminded her of their first night together, but tonight wasn’t just about acting on passion. In the bedroom, the door closed behind them, they worked together to shed their clothes. At one point, she was fairly certain he’d managed to tear her panties rather than wasting time sliding them off.
Rather than sitting back and enjoying the ride this time, she met Liam, touch for touch, stroke for stroke. When his fingers found their way between her legs, she answered their dancing motions by wrapping her hand around him, sliding her hands up and down the rock-hard length of him. “Jesus, Viv. You’re going to kill me one of these days.”
“Ditto. But we’ll both die happy,” she panted, nipping his bottom lip.
Impatient, he walked her toward the bed, never stopping his gentle torture, not even when the back of her knees hit the bed and she fell onto the fluffy comforter. By the time he slid the condom on and slipped into her body, she was seconds from breaking into a thousand little pieces. They moved together, their bodies now familiar with exactly how to move to drive each other to new heights. He sensed when to go a little deeper; she knew when to grind her pelvis against him a little harder. Fingers dug into soft flesh, both of them clinging to each other to weather the storm. By the time she’d climaxed a third time, she didn’t think she could see, let alone move. He joined her, letting out a shout of pleasure, moving once, twice more before collapsing on her.
They lay together for what felt like forever, the only sounds in the room the pounding of their hearts and their gradually slowing breath. Vivien let out a small whimper when he rolled off her, but he pulled her into his side, his arms still locked around her.
As her sanity began to return, she slowly began to run their conversation in the kitchen through her head again. When his words finally registered, she sat bolt upright, clutching the sheet he must have thrown over them at some point to her chest. “Wait. Did you say you want to be with me for fifty years?”
“Hmm?” She turned to see Liam reluctantly prying his eyes open, his body still limp from their lovemaking.
Rolling her eyes, Vivien repeated her question. Liam slowly sat up, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah, I guess I did. But you already knew that.”
“That wasn’t meant to be a proposal was it?”
Damn him, but he sat there without responding, an enigmatic smile on his face. Just when she was ready to smack him, he shook his head.
“If I thought you would accept right now, I’d say yes. But you’re not ready for that yet. And trust me, pretty girl, when I really propose to you, you’ll know it.”
He leaned in for a long kiss. When he pulled back, the smile had turned into a grin. “Besides, I know better than to propose to a girl like you without a pretty diamond from Tiffany’s.”
“Nice to know you can be trained, nerd boy.” She stole a quick kiss. “While I wouldn’t say no to a diamond, when I say yes to your proposal, all I’ll need to have there is you.”
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