Corporate Ties (Silken Ties Book 1) (10 page)

Brian looked down at Olivia's beautiful, satisfied and contented face, and reached for her. This was more than sex, and he hoped she felt the same way.

Olivia's phone blared the usual wake up alarm; 'I Got You Babe' and she reached across Brian and grabbed it, resisting the urge to throw it across the room. Once the music faded, she sagged back into her pillow. Brian twisted onto his side.

"Good morning."

Waking up with the same person two mornings in a row was new and different, and really nice, she decided. She ran her finger across his cheek.

"Yes, it is. It's also your fault we have nothing to eat."

"Really?"

"We don't have any food, I mean. We never did get to the market."

"Coffee's enough for me anyway."

"Okay, but I need a shower first."

Brian draped his arm over her. "In a few minutes."

She smiled. "You read my mind."

She exited the subway with extra spring in her step and a smile on her face, which made other New Yorkers nervous and suspicious. She flashed her work badge at the security desk and walked down the hallway leading to Paul's office.

Paul's secretary, Maddy looked up as she approached, her face pinched with worry. "Olivia, any news about Paul?"

"No, I'm sorry. I was hoping he'd come in."

She shook her head. "I haven't seen or heard a thing. I don't know what to do."

"I guess all we can do is wait. Maddy, has anyone else asked about Paul?"

"No, and nothing was ever delivered."

"I wish I could get into his email. Maybe there'd be some clue."

"I can get in," Maddy whispered.

"Without someone noticing?" Olivia asked softly.

Maddy’s lips pursed and she nodded. "I'll be going out to get lunch, have Linda call me with your order. It's not like I have much to do here anyway."

"Thanks, Maddy, I will."

Olivia knew what she meant, and headed back to the elevators."

"Good morning, Linda."

"Good morning. I'm hearing the Gala was a hit and is getting rave reviews from the attendees. Word is it was pretty amazing."

"Yes, a very interesting evening."

"Interesting? Not exactly the description I was expecting. Your messages are on the desk."

"Thanks, and Maddy said she'd go for lunch, today. Tell her I'll have..."

"A Greek salad."

"Actually, I'd like tuna salad on rye, and a diet Dr. Pepper."

"Well, I need to hear all about your weekend. It must have been a lot more than 'interesting' if you’re changing from a Greek salad to tuna."

Olivia just smiled. "Call Mister Grant's office. I need to see him sometime today."

She settled into her chair, set her briefcase down and turned on her computer. After fifteen minutes Linda came in with coffee.

"Mister Grant will see you any time you want. He doesn't have any meetings until two."

"Great, I might as well go up before I get into anything here."

Two floors up, Olivia skirted the cubicle gardens in the center of the room making for Mr. Grant’s office. The Executive offices lined the outside of this floor of the building and Tyson Grant occupied the corner office, the largest, which, of course, offered the best views of the city.

His secretary gave her a dismissive glance and picked up the phone announcing: "Miss Grayson to see you. Go right in."

"
Women just love me
," Olivia thought and then said, "Thank you." Before she could get to the door, Tyson came out to greet her.

"Olivia, good. I needed to speak with you too. Don't disturb us," he informed his secretary.

"Of course."

"Have a seat, Olivia."

"Thank you. Great view."

He smiled. "The way you're going, this could be your office before long."

"Oh, I doubt that. I..."

"First of all, here's the Gala report.” He handed her the nondescript file and took a seat behind his desk. Leaning back, he clasped his hands over his stomach as his elbows rested on the soft cordovan leather arms of his chair and watched for Olivia’s reaction to the information in the file.

Olivia flipped open the file and glanced at the figures.

"Over two million? That's incredible. A full third over our goal." She looked up to see him beaming a smile at her.

"You did a fantastic job, Olivia. I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you. Now, about Matasuki."

The smile quickly faded from Tyson's tanned face. A wisp of hair trailed over his forehead. His hand pushed it back in place as he sat forward.

"Did you really mean what you said? You'd quit if I took the account away?"

"Yes, but not for the reason you may think. You don't mind if I speak frankly, do you?"

"No, in fact I prefer it."

"Isamu Matasuki is dangerous for this company. He doesn't seek representation, he seeks a takeover."

Tyson's forehead furrowed. "A takeover? He came to us presumably because no one has been able provide the cohesive marketing plan to suit the needs of his diversified holdings."

"Jerrod or Stuart failed to give even our company-compiled files more than a surface pass. If they had, they may have discovered Matasuki’s real agenda. What my own research into their recent acquisitions uncovered was disturbing. Every acquisition in the last two years has been by an actual or threatened hostile takeover, accompanied by a sudden death of a corporate leader, and culminated in the acquisition being approved by the board or an inheriting family member.”

Tyson looked skeptically at her. “Tragic, but surely coincidental. What do these corporate takeovers have to do with us?”

“Matasuki doesn’t just takeover like corporations. Under the guise of needing talents like Dolby to represent them, he entertains proposals from the top companies, only to pick off the best, absorb their talent, sell off the assets and move on. Tyson, I think he’s after Dolby.”

She watched Tyson and then continued. “Studying Matasuki, and his twisted corporate culture, I know telling him we are no longer interested in his business would be tantamount to waving a red flag at a bull. Face or respect is important in his way of life and at Matasuki’s level of arrogance, if he thinks he's lost respect, he will only come after us more aggressively."

"Show me."

"The files are in my office."

He swiveled his phone around to Olivia and she called Linda. "Would you bring the top three files in the box Stuart brought me to Mister Grant's office, please? Yes, right now, thank you, Linda."

Minutes later the phone rang. Tyson listened and then hung up the phone. "The files aren't there."

"What?"

Tyson pressed a few more buttons. “I need the security tapes from the cameras in the hall outside of Olivia Grayson’s office, from five on Friday until now. Yes, on my computer, and copies on my desk. Now."

"I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything. None of this is something you could have foreseen." He pushed back and stood, looking out the window. "Damn, Olivia. This isn't what I thought it would be. I thought we'd try to get a high profile client, one we could steal from Stein. I've spent my entire professional life competing with them."

"Do you know the Stein's? Personally, I mean?"

"Yes, I know them." He turned back and fixed his gaze on her and took a long steadying breath. "They're my brothers. I use my mother's maiden name. I've never trusted anyone with that information before. I hope I haven’t made a mistake entrusting it to you."

Shocked, Olivia tried to compose herself, but her heart was pounding, forcing the blood to race through her body and she knew she flushed. "Of course you can trust me."

"I can see you're shocked. Our being related has nothing to do with my work here and my brothers and I don't talk business. Actually, we hardly speak at all."

Olivia was listening, but her brain was having a hard time sorting out what she'd just heard. She'd not only slept with their competitor, but her boss’s, brother?" She rubbed her temple, and closed her eyes.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm feeling a little light headed, actually."

Tyson got up and got her a bottle of cold water from wet bar refrigerator.

"Here, try this."

She ran the cold bottle across her forehead and then took several sips. "That's better, thank you."

Tyson reseated himself and leaned forward in his chair when he noticed the security symbol flashing on his computer screen.

“Security has loaded the tapes.”

He clicked on the link and watched as his screen divided into two different feeds, one from each end of the hall outside Olivia’s office from five o’clock last night until about fifteen minutes ago

As he watched the footage stream by, Olivia observed him through the lens of his recent disclosures and she could see the resemblance now. While his coloring was different from Adam and Eric Stein, she now recognized the similar line of their jaws and their builds.

Her scrutiny was cut short when Tyson explained, "We don't have cameras in the management level offices for obvious reasons, but in the hallway. The only person shown on this security tape is maintenance."

The door opened and his secretary stepped in. "Sorry to disturb you, but Security sent up these tapes and said you wanted them right away."

"Yes, I do, thank you."

Olivia eyed the tapes. "Do you mind if I take them to an expert?" Olivia offered.

"An expert? What kind of expert?"

"Security. My expert is discrete and has the technological expertise to determine if these tapes were tampered with. Don't you want to know if you have a security breach, so you can plug it?

"All right. In the mean time, I better talk to this maintenance person."

Olivia stood and he handed her the digital security files. "How do you want to handle Matasuki? There's more to tell you, but I...," she said as she scanned the room.

Tyson frowned. What was she implying now? That his office was bugged?

"You'll understand why I'm so paranoid when you hear everything."

"Why don't we go talk to your 'expert'?"

"Okay, I'll text him." She was glad now Brian had added his information to her phone. She quickly typed in, "There are problems at work. Can my boss and I come to see you? We have security tapes and some other things for you and your team."

Brian answered right away. "Of course, but let me pick you up. I need an hour."

"He'll pick us up in an hour. Can I meet you downstairs? I do have work to do, and my boss is very demanding."

Tyson smiled. "I've heard that about him. Sure, see you in an hour."

As the elevator doors closed she shook her head and thought, "
Wow, this just gets crazier and crazier
."

"Linda, can you call Maddy and tell her I need lunch right away? I have to go out in an hour."

"Uh, sure. I'm sorry about those files."

"You didn't see anyone around this morning when you came in, did you?"

"No, no one."

It was all very strange, but she had to admit, she hadn't noticed anything missing this morning, either. Someone took a big risk for information that could easily have been re-compiled. Anyone at Dolby could have just call up the research department and had it delivered to their computer.  It was all stock information, easily gathered from the internet and business news outlets. Besides, she had the only files that counted: Paul’s FBI files, though no one else knew that except Brian.

Half an hour later, Maddy dropped off lunch. Inside the bag along with the wrapped sandwich was the computer thumb drive holding what she assumed was Paul's recent emails. She was getting pretty good at these covert operations.

She slipped the little drive into the front pocket of her slacks and headed out to meet Tyson.

"I don't know how long I'll be, Linda. What time are my meetings tomorrow with Matasuki?"

"Not until four. And he insisted they be in the Plaza meeting rooms."

"I'm not surprised. Is Jerrod coming?"

"Yes." Olivia started to walk away. “Oh, and did you know Stuart took a leave of absence?"

Olivia stopped in her tracks, her head snapped around to Linda. "No, I had no idea. Is he sick?"

Linda shrugged. "Family thing, I think."

She nodded and started to walk again. Tyson was already in the lobby when she got there.

"Let's go," she said.

Brian waited until they reached the curb before pulling around the corner. He'd spent a good part of the past hour making sure he wasn't being followed and watching to see who might be waiting outside Dolby. When he’d first agreed work for Olivia, he did so thinking he’d do a missing person investigation, and maybe a background check on Matasuki, convinced that by doing this favor he would ingratiate himself with this beautiful woman. What he'd thought was going to be a simple had turned out to be anything but.