Ruin Me (Savage Bosses)

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

K ent

“Omar, call Mal and tell him to bring his laptop. Then join us in the office when he arrives.”

“Will do.”

I disconnected my call with Omar and stared at my blank screen. I’d allowed a situation to sit for too long, but now had to make a move.

“What’s going on?” Mal entered my office with Omar trailing behind him.

I nodded toward the chairs in front of my desk. “I need a list of all our shareholders.”

Mal and Omar shared a glance.

“Is this about Hal?” Mal asked.

“Indirectly.” I rocked my chair back and forth. “The excuse he had for going after my relationship with Madison was someone on the board is scheming behind my back.”

Mal frowned. “This is news to me.”

“Which is very concerning. When I asked Hal, he played off my question, claiming he didn’t know who was behind the move.”

His deflection from the day I tore into him still fueled my rage. Although he was never close enough for me to consider him a friend, he’d worked with the company for decades with a compensation package that rivaled bigger corporations. I would never understand a man willing to throw so much of his life’s work away. What did he aim to get from his betrayal? As if I didn’t have enough on my hands with running and growing Luxe Locations while handling a ruinous public relations nightmare?

Thank God for Madison. Her tactics had gained traction. Then her attack happened. I wished I could embrace the pivot from the media and police, but Madison almost died to clear my name, and I didn’t take the risk of losing her lightly. However, with the heat off me, I could focus on the snake in my midst.

“How’s that possible?” Omar crossed his leg over his knee and frowned. “Isn’t there a master list of shareholders?”

“There are, but not all the names on the list belong to individuals.” Mal opened his laptop and rested it on my desk. “We have about two thousand shareholders with varying ownership levels.” He clicked some keys before falling into silence.

“How many of them are trusts or LLCs? We need to focus on them to find the culprit.” I tapped my forefinger on my armrest.

“I sent you and Omar our updated list from last quarter’s board of directors’ meeting. It will take some time to go through everyone to differentiate the anonymous LLCs from the others.”

Omar opened his laptop on his lap. “Why does it matter if the LLC is anonymous?”

“As the name implies, the person behind doesn’t have to identify themselves. They can use an agent to represent them and their interests, making it difficult for me to find whoever wants to oust me from Luxe Locations.” I accessed my email to find the list Mal sent.

“Am I correct in assuming your request isn’t just for the list? You want an investigation?”

I allowed the tense silence to grow before nodding. “A very discreet investigation. With two thousand shareholders, I have to assume we begin with the largest entities, then figure out what combination of holdings could give someone the idea they could sway others into siding against me.”

“But don’t you own the majority shares in the company? Can anyone truly pose a threat to you?” Omar hadn’t looked up from his screen since accessing Mal’s email. His intense scrutiny was one reason I’ve stuck with Omar since taking the chance on a kid with a past that could have ended his life early if not for his determination to improve his circumstances.

“My shares, combined with the shares Ife inherited when her mother passed does make me untouchable.”

The tension in the room skyrocketed to another stratosphere. Shock came over Mal and Omar’s faces.

“Kent, I know Ife isn’t happy with you right now, but she’s your daughter.” Mal leaned away, his tone one of a person handling a psych ward patient on the verge of a psychotic break.

“She is my daughter, which means she understands leverage. I won’t allow her to use the company I built to interfere with my personal relationship.”

Omar slowly raised his eyes to watch me. “Are you… declaring war?”

I stood and rounded my desk until I was inches away from a glass wall, contemplating the busy workers on the office floor. Mal and Omar’s wary eyes pressed on me, and I hated it.

“Once the rift between me and Ife becomes public knowledge, someone will approach my daughter.” I placed my hands in my pocket, hiding the rage shaking my fingers from sight and modulating my voice for Mal’s and Omar’s benefits. “I have to preempt their attempts. If Ife never learns of the opportunity, I’ll have a chance at salvaging our relationship.”

“We don’t have much time.” Mal returned his attention to his laptop. “Hal knows about your fight, and if he knows, he’s probably told whoever put him up to?—”

“You understand my urgency.” I tightened my hidden hands into fists.

“Are you certain Hal knows the reason behind your problems with Ife?” Omar met my gaze in wall’s reflection. “Maybe?—”

“He knows. Worse, although he hasn’t come into the office, he still has access to company files.” I rubbed the tautness in my nape.

“If you suspect him, why haven’t you made a move before now? We need IT to limit his access and spy on his work.” Mal joined me by the wall, anger radiating from him. “Do you understand the shit he could be stealing under our noses at this very second?”

I glared at my CFO from the corner of my eye. “Hal hasn’t benefited from his position since Madison saved him from a worse ass kicking than I wanted to give him. However, he hasn’t incriminated himself yet, so now we need to root out his backers.”

“You think there’s more than one?” Omar asked.

“I’m being cautious.”

“What about calling an emergency board meeting to replace him?”

“Mal, you know the waves that will cause internally and externally. We can’t just hire anyone to be our counsel. I’ll need a candidate ready to replace Hal, and no one inside the company is qualified enough to offer as an interim or permanent solution.”

“But you have feelers out?”

I side-eyed Mal for pushing this point. “I have headhunters sending me candidates as we speak.”

Omar snapped his fingers. “No wonder why I’ve been forwarding so many calls from Bishop Works lately.”

Mal raised his brows, impressed at the name of the elite hiring company I contracted to find our next head lawyer. “Alright, with that in the works, I’ll concentrate on the shareholders and work with Omar. One thing.”

“Spit it out.”

“I’d like to get an analyst to help. Their ability to code and statistically analyze large data could narrow down our options to something more manageable.”

I peeked at Mal. He was correct. Someone with the technological know-how could reduce how long it took us to find the person out for me. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be easy. To pinpoint the person involved might involve looking at months or even years worth of shareholder activity. Mal could do it, but he had other more important tasks as the CFO.

I nodded at Mal. “Choose someone trustworthy. Tell them you’ll reward them for their discretion.”

The sooner we identified the culprit, the sooner I’d breathe easier.

While I hadn’t taken my eyes off the employees diligently working to make my vision of Luxe Locations into reality, I silently plotted what I would do if I found Hal’s involvement in ousting me wasn’t as a mere puppet but mastermind.

No one took from me and walked away.