Passion Abroad: A BWWM Billionaire Holiday Romance (13 page)

“
Patrick
Reese,” Spencer said after a long silence. Daniel took a long
deep breath. Patrick was his uncle and his father’s younger
brother. When Daniel took the reins at QKM, he was one of the most
vocal people against the move. As far as he was concerned, he was
next in line and Daniel taking over as CEO only meant one thing: that
he had been robbed of his birth right.

“
What
the hell…he doesn’t have a say in this? Not in the very
least!” Daniel was annoyed. He was sure that this was a way for
his uncle to undermine his leadership. He had been doing it ever
since his father named him successor and even then, Daniel knew that
there would never be a time when his uncle’s idiocy got to him
but somehow, it did. He flashed down the contents of his glass and
closed his eyes tightly as he felt the whiskey burning its way down
his throat.

“
We
tried everything we could but…we had no idea how we were
supposed to approach any of this…there was too much at risk,”
Proctor was now talking.

“
What
do you mean? What kind of risk are you talking about?” he asked
confused. Proctor and Wells looked at each other again.

“
Did
you know that Zoe Willoughby bought him out of QKM?” Proctor
asked.

Daniel
raised an eyebrow.

“
What?”
he asked in surprise. “Zoe Willoughby as in my ex Zoe
Willoughby? That Zoe?” he asked. Proctor nodded. Daniel knew
what this meant.

“
Wait.
How….when did Zoe Willoughby get QKM stock? Why wasn’t I
in the loop?” Daniel asked more confused than ever. He knew one
thing for sure. If Zoe got her hands on his company’s stock
then she must have had an ulterior motive. She was never one to do
things just for the sake of doing them.

“
Honestly,
Mr. Reese, we didn’t think much of it until now,” Proctor
said.

“
Yeah
and we have never had reason to question the motive of any new stock
holder. To us it was just another investment,” Spencer said.

“
But
Uncle Patrick is still on the board,” he said matter of factly.
Normally, if a member or the board sold off his shares then he had to
give up his seat on the board. There was no logic to a board member
sitting in on meetings in a company he had no business with.

“
Yes
he is but if I could speak freely sir, I would say that Patrick Reese
is Miss Willoughby’s proxy,” Spencer said.

“
Proxy?
For what?” he asked as he looked at them. “And why the
hell hasn’t this ever come up?” Daniel asked. This had to
be the best kept secret next to Area 51.

“
When
no one questioned the change we thought it was some high level shit.
We were not about to step in something we were not welcomed in.
Excuse my French sir,” Proctor said.

“
But
there is no way my uncle would just hand over his shares without a
fight. There is something more to this than meets the eye,” he
said, a faraway look in his eye. Spencer looked at Proctor and
shrugged. “I mean he did fight tooth and nail to get his hands
on that stock after all,” Daniel added as he looked at the two
guys who he had once considered his A-team. There was something off
and he could feel it in his bones. He rubbed his brow with his index
finger and sighed. “Get me the company’s financials going
back two years. There is something more to this…stock handover
and I am going to get to the bottom of it,” he said as he
leaned back in his chair. Proctor and Wells looked at each other and
nodded before they got up. “Hey guys. I need that report ASAP,”
he said.

“
I’ll
have it back here in ten,” Proctor said before the two walked
out.

Daniel
took a long deep breath as he looked at his phone. He had half a mind
to call both his uncle and Zoe. He needed to know what the hell those
two were up to. He had a sick feeling about all this. There was no
way that his two least favorite people working together was a
coincidence. There was something more to it and he was going to find
out. He was not sure how long he had been staring at his phone when
Proctor finally came through.

“
Something’s
a little off boss,” he said when he placed the report on the
desk.

“
Why?”
Daniel asked as he grabbed the file off his desk. Proctor shook his
head.

“
The
accounts guy was a little reluctant. Matter of fact he only did it
because I dropped your name,” he said. Daniel looked at him and
raised an eyebrow before he flipped through the pages. This was going
to take a while. He looked at Proctor and smiled.

“
Thanks,
Proctor. I’ll take a look at this and get back to you,”
he said as he put the file back on the table.

“
Don’t
mention it boss,” Proctor said before he started walking
towards the door.

“
Proctor,
at the risk of sounding like a CIA agent, this is strictly need to
know. And I determine who needs to know,” Daniel said. Proctor
smiled and nodded. “Make sure Spencer knows that too,” he
added before Proctor walked out of his office. He looked at the
report and sighed before he picked up his phone. He dialed two and
pressed call. “Julian, how’re you doing?” he said
when his private forensic accountant picked up.

“
Good
but I’m guessing that is not the case for you,” Julian
said.

Daniel
smiled and nodded as if Julian could see him. “Saw right
through this call, didn’t you?”

“
Yes
I did. So, what’s going on?” Julian asked.

“
Well,
I need to see you. Can we meet somewhere? I don’t think I
should be discussing this over the phone,” Daniel said. “How
about we do coffee in ten?”

“
Sure.
Same place?” Julian asked.

“
Same
place,” Daniel said before hanging up. Something was up and he
was going to get to the bottom of whatever the hell Zoe and Patrick
were up to.

*****

After
his meeting with Julian, Daniel was more rattled than he had ever
been. He could not wait to look his uncle and Zoe in the eye when he
called them on their bluff. This was a new low even for them. His
heart was beating hard in his chest as he slowly walked into the
board room. His father looked up at him and smiled.

“
Daniel,
are you going to tell me why we are here?” he asked as Daniel
sat down.

“
Give
it a minute dad,” Daniel said smiling at him. Ray looked at his
son and shrugged. He’d been out of the QKM mainstream business
for a while and board meetings were the only time he showed up at the
company and now, for this thing his son had called him in for. “Right
on time,” Daniel said under his breath as Zoe walked into the
board room followed by Patrick.

Ray
raised an eyebrow. “Pat? Zoe? What the hell is going on?”

Daniel
looked at the two and then at his father.

“
Always
good to see you Ray. Retirement suits you. You look really good”
she said with a smile. “Daniel,” Zoe added in a sarcastic
tone.

“
Thanks
Zoe. Good to see you too. What’s going on?” Ray asked as
he looked at the two of them. Daniel stood up and passed copies of
the report he had in his hand. “What’s this?” he
asked.

“
Those
are the company’s financials for the last year,” Daniel
said.

Ray
raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “What the hell? We are
losing thousands daily.”

Zoe
tossed the file on the table and shook her head.

“
Is
this why you called us in here? To tell us what we all know?”
she asked.

“
Hold
on there. I did not know we were incurring this much in losses,”
Ray said.

“
That
is not what I meant Ray. All I meant was that businesses make
losses,” she said matter of factly.

“
Yes,
Daniel that is why there are balance sheets. With profits
and
loss accounts,”
Patrick said. Daniel shook his head.

“
That’s
not the point. Look at page two of the report. It clearly states that
we have all the raw materials needed for the next six months yet
Uncle Patrick signed the release to procure more materials,”
Daniel said.

Ray
looked at his brother and shook his head. “Pat what the hell?”

“
Ray
I can explain…” Patrick started before Daniel held up a
finger.

“
And
Uncle Patrick sold off his shares to Zoe,” he said. He could
tell by the way Zoe’s eyes grew wide that he had taken her by
surprise. She looked at Patrick and then at Ray.

“
Now
Ray…” Zoe started before Patrick also spoke up.

“
I
can explain this, Ray,” he said.

“
Why
didn’t you tell me that you wanted to sell your shares? After
badgering me that much?” Ray asked as he looked at his brother.

Patrick
shrugged. “I needed money, Ray.”

“
You
are a shareholder at a Fortune 500. How much money could you possibly
have needed?” Ray asked.

“
Dad,
that’s not why I called us here. Our newest product has a
number of tweaks, just a way to give us an edge in the market,”
Daniel said as he switched on the projector. “This is our
model. And this,” he paused as he changed the slides. “That’s
our lead competitor’s newest model,” he added.

“
That’s
the same microwave we have in our line. Inside and out,” Ray
said. He looked at his son and shook his head. “Why on earth
does our lead competitor have the very same product we have? Doesn’t
our R&D department put enough into their work or what the hell is
going on?” he asked.

“
I
hired a forensic accountant to find out why we were having these
losses and apart from finding out what uncle Patrick was doing, he
also traced a money trail back to Zoe,” Daniel explained. From
the way Zoe’s nostrils were flaring rapidly, he could tell that
she was nervous. “A trail that led right up to Kitchen Depot.
Zoe has been leaking our R&D designs to our competitor,” he
added. Ray looked at Zoe and then at Patrick.

“
You
knew this was happening and you never said a word to me?” he
asked.

“
Ray
listen…” Patrick started.

“
According
to the company bylaws, any board member who defies the
confidentiality clause has to walk away from the table and his shares
are sold to the other shareholders at half price,” Daniel said.

“
Wait,
what?” Zoe asked in surprise.

“
Hey,
that’s not fair…” Patrick started but Ray was
already on his feet.

“
I
want you out of the building right now,” he said to Patrick
through gritted teeth.

“
Ray…you
have to give me a chance to explain everything,’ Patrick said
as he looked at his brother.

“
Do
I have to call security?” Ray asked.

“
Listen
Ray…” Zoe started.

“
You
too. And if you know what’s good for you, you will not contest
this otherwise I will take you for everything you have,” Ray
said, surprising everyone including himself. He had always had a soft
spot for Zoe but the way she was acting right now, he didn’t
have any heart left for her. Ray looked at Zoe and Patrick as they
walked out of the door before he sat back down. “We need to do
some major damage control,” he said looking at Daniel. “Get
everything under control and get the mole out of the R&D
department. We need to start over,” he said.

“
I’m
on it,” Daniel said as he picked up his laptop and walked out
of the board room leaving his father seated there wondering how his
bother could have double crossed him like that.

“
Good
move, Danny,” he heard Zoe’s voice when he walked out of
the board room. He turned to his side and saw her leaning against the
wall. She looked at him and flashed him a smile that would have once
melted his heart.

“
Why
the hell are you trying to run me down, Zoe? What were you thinking?”
he asked as he looked at her.

“
You
really don’t know?” she asked as she pushed a curl of her
red hair behind her ear.

“
No
I really don’t,” Daniel said as he looked at her.

“
You
fucking left me,” she hissed. “I don’t have the
time for this,” he said as he walked down the hall to his
office.

“
You
have to talk to me, Danny,” she said as she walked quickly
after him. She followed him right past his assistant and slammed the
door when they were both inside. “It’s been long enough,”
she said as she looked at him.

“
All
I need to know is why you are trying to ruin my father’s
legacy,” he said looking into her once warm eyes.

“
You
hurt me, Danny. You just left me without giving me a chance to
explain…” she started before he laughed cynically.

“
What
was there to explain? We were supposed to get married and you cheated
on me,” he said. “I deserve better,” he added as he
walked to his desk. “You don’t even care what made me do
what I did?” she asked.

Daniel
looked up at her in surprise.

“
What?
You actually have a reason for your infidelity?” it was more of
a statement than a question.