Page 55 of Convenient Rivals

“Gregory.”

“Yes, Gregory. How can you be friends with that woman after what she did to her own son, and what she still continues to do?”

“It’s not that simple, Oscar.”

“Nothing ever is with you, mother. I just need to focus on this right now, and make sure we come out the other side with my reputation still intact. Can we talk at the weekend?”

“Of course,” she said, getting up.

“I don’t want Lavinia to know about the investigation; we’ve been specifically asked not to share anything with Barty. Can you keep this to yourself? I don’t even want father knowing. I don’t need his judgement right now.”

“You have my word. I won’t say anything.”

She looked almost tearful. Oscar couldn’t remember his mother ever crying, and the look on her face gave him the comfort he needed to believe her. He got up and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then she smiled at him and left without another word. What the fuck was he going to do? He needed some advice, someone neutral who knew their stuff. Before he thought too much about it, he made the call.

Daniel Harper strode into his office, looking sharp as fuck in his suit. If Oscar wasn’t so hung up on Gregory, he would have gone there, despite his mother being the one to set them up. He doubted they’d work in the long-term, though, as Daniel gave off major control-freak vibes, which didn’t do it for Oscar outside the bedroom. Daniel was also so far from geekdom, which was an absolute must in any future life partner for Oscar, especially a certain type of buttoned-up geek who had a thick cock and a filthy mouth.

“Tell me everything,” said Daniel, getting Oscar’s attention back on task. “Give me the full unfiltered truth, so I know what I’m dealing with.”

Gone was the flirty banter from the Daniel he’d met on New Year’s Eve. This was the seven-figure-earning lawyer who’d built his own practice from scratch. Daniel specialising in corporate law was a bonus, but he was a senior partner, and the price tag of this meeting alone would be eye-watering.

Oscar arranged for some coffees to be made and took Daniel through the whole saga. He left nothing out, even who Barty owned money to. If he wanted Daniel’s help, he had to know everything so he could best advise on how to proceed.

“Do you want my long-winded lawyer-type summation of the situation, or the no-nonsense straight to the point version?”

“The latter.”

“You’re fucked!”

Oscar couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, the longer answer then, but sugarcoat nothing.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. If Barty had been put through a proper process, he never would have been hired. The fact he has gambling debts, whether you knew about them or not, will go against you. The regulators are fuckers with this stuff, and their argument will be that, as his employer, you should have known. Throw in the family connection and you’ve got the definition of privileged white people doing favours for each other. The people who work for the regulator are glorified civil servants and they hate the upper classes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used you as an example. You’ll be one of those case studies that gets used in that god awful mandatory training we have to do every year.”

Oscar wanted to bang his head on the table. He’d already suspected that would be the outcome, but to hear it put it so bluntly was sobering, even if it was what he’d asked for.

“Is this the part where you tell me you can get me off for an astronomical fee?” asked Oscar, trying to inject some humour.

“Even I’m not that good. Look, I think what we need to do here is let them do their investigation into everyone else. I assume everyone else is thoroughly vetted?”

Oscar nodded.

“Just come clean. You did a favour for a family friend, but be honest and say you had no idea he had financial difficulties. We’ll play on the third-class degree, and say you wanted to give him a start in the city given no grad programmes would look twice at him. Explain that once you found out, you sacked him straight away, and only discovered the gambling debts after he left.”

“That’s the truth.”

“Always helps. I think you’re looking at a fine, probably seven figures rather than eight, and an improvement notice. Your vetting process could be watertight, but they’ll find something, just to prove a point. You implement that straight away. Hire an HR person – and I mean a good one, not someone who does it alongside being an office manager. You need someone who’s dealt with this shit before and can train people, hire responsibly, and overhaul your policies and processes.”

Oscar’s head was spinning with everything he was expected to do, and all because of Barty Balfour. That man just left destruction in his wake, and his parents thought he hung the moon.

“Can you help me?”

“Of course I can. One of my team will draft a response to the regulator. I also know the right company to do the investigation and they are on the approved list. I can come with you to any meetings as well if you need me to.”

“Yes please. I don’t care what it costs.”

“I’ll remind you that you said that.”

Oscar laughed. “I guess my mother got something right in introducing us.”

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