Page 47 of Catching a Con Man

Amanda scoffed. “I fucking hope not. You would have been moving out the day you got your first £10,000 payday. Let alone…what do you have now?”

I pulled out my phone and logged into my online banking, still not quite believing. I would be a thousand pounds in the red, just as I had been the day before. Still clawing my way out of poverty one day at a…nope. That was a whole lot of zeroes. I could buy a flat with that much money. I could buy the street. And that was my…monthly stipend?Jesus.

Ade was looking over my shoulder.

“Welcome to the club,” he smirked.

“Fuck.”

“Fuck indeed. Now let me show you how fast it’s possible to spend that kind of money.”

Ade

It had only been a couple of days since Tyler’s life had been upended so comprehensively by a billionaire who just a short time ago, wouldn’t have left his enclave for anything. And it had taken me a little while to realise why Tyler’s charm was so effective on everyone. Why him being in trouble had convinced a billionaire to make him his sole heir.

It was because Tyler was kind. Endlessly, tirelessly kind, and sincere. He had already given most of his stipend to a charity he’d been chasing up in his role at Electro. And other than buying himself a shiny new MacBook and a comfortable pair of jeans, he hadn’t uprooted his life in the last two days. Though he had stayed at my penthouse andinsistedon paying for a takeaway, and left a tip that probably had the delivery driver running home to his family and packing them up to go on holiday.

I knocked on his office door, which was ajar. Tyler looked up at me and gave me his thousand-watt smile.

“Nervous?” he asked.

“Not at all, when we’ve already lost.” I grimaced, but I was telling the truth. Cam had crunched the numbers. Without my father’s vote of approval, my amendment to our future profit-pursuit strategy with the Electro Family Car was likely to be voted down. And being so at odds with the board over the future direction of the company would likely erode my support overall. My days were numbered by what otherwise seemed like any other vote. And my father had removed that lifeline when I needed it most.

“If you pull a win out of somewhere, we can have sex in the office,” Tyler grinned.

“And when I lose?”

“We’ll still have sex. Just at home.”

“Deal.” I smiled back. It was weirdly hard to be melancholy over a lost vote when Tyler was a part of my life. He was so fucking wonderful, and I’d help him believe it until the end of his days. Maybe, once I was ousted, we could travel. Or start our own new organisation with our millions. Well, his millions. My billions.

“My mother still wants to take you to Spain tomorrow, by the way,” I said.

Tyler smiled, though more sadly this time. “Have you talked to your father?”

“I sent a message to his secretary yesterday regarding the vote, and got a personally signedfuck off,” I said. “And mum says he’s being stubborn with her, so she’s frozen him out for a few days. To see if she can make him see sense.”

“Look, if you want me to step out of the way…” Tyler said, tailing off.

“No. No way. We’re a package deal now, and my father needs to see that. Given you’re set to inherit more money than he has, I don’t think he can worry about you being after me for my money any more.”

Tyler shuddered. “No. Don’t like being reminded of that. That’s stupid money. Anyway, he’s only going to say it proves him right and I got exactly what I wanted.”

“True though. You only were after my billions,” I said.

“And I got someone else’s.” Tyler stood and crossed the office to straighten my lapel and my tie. My breath still hitched when his hands delicately brushed my throat. “Now, unless you get your shuffle on, you’ll be late. And that’s certainly not going to endear the board to you right now.”

“It’s a lost cause anyway,” I said.

“Well, turn on the charm and win,” said Tyler. Before I could turn away, he hooked one finger into my trouser pocket and then used his other hand to lift his shirt, just slightly. A band of elastic ran along his waist, and below that I could see bare flesh.

“Are you wearing a jockstrap to work?” I asked.

“Win over your own board of directors, then come back and find out.” Tyler winked, and pushed me gently out of the door.

I could do this. I was the CEO of a multi-billion pound company. I had built that same company from the ground up. And I could control my board of directors, even if they thought I was past my expiration date.

I walked into the conference room with confidence, fired up my slides and got to speaking immediately. It was weird looking at Xavier, who’d always been a faithful deputy, and knowing he thought I was wrong. Once, I might have wavered at that. But I knew I was right to pursue people over profit. Tyler had made sure that was where my thoughts were. And I would fight this board until the end if I couldn’t bring them round.

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