Page 41 of Protecting Love

Short of talking to others who were let go and getting the side of a disgruntled employee, this conversation needed to be over.

“Whether or not you should have, I’m not here for that reason. Any contact with Westerly Consultants in the future on your end will only result in your life being even more miserable.”

“Are you threatening me?” Rick asked. “You think I’m going to talk about what I found out? Is that it?”

“And what did you find out?” He was pretty sure Rick was blowing smoke up his ass, but he’d dismiss nothing.

“Nothing,” Rick mumbled. “Heard loud and clear.”

“Remember that.”

He turned and walked away. It wasn’t as if the guy could or would do anything about it other than run his mouth.

He hadn’t given his name. He hadn’t said where he was coming from. Rick even guessed it might have been his old employers.

Which meant he needed to look into them a bit more than what was on the surface because something wasn’t adding up.

“How did it go?” Braylon asked him hours later when he returned to the Carlisle offices.

“I’m meeting with West in an hour to brief him.”

Braylon grinned. “And I’ve got to wait until then?”

“Last I checked, you might be his brother, but he’s both of our boss.”

“Fair point,” Braylon said. “I’ll be in on the meeting. Just didn’t know if I needed to be prepared for anything extra.”

“No. But there should be a new driver starting this week. I cleared someone, West approved, and they are meeting with HR tomorrow, I believe.”

“Good,” Braylon said. “Not that Lily is in the office with the baby coming soon. There is no reason for her to navigate the crowds, and being down a driver, she’s not walking as much.”

The driver they had now was being used by West more than anyone, but he’d noticed that Braylon, Nelson, his wife Kenzie, and Laken often were getting rides to meetings rather than a taxi or Uber.

“We’ll be back up to speed soon.”

“And I’ll wait until our meeting then. I’m going to assume nothing serious?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said.

Braylon left and Fletcher went back to digging into MHT Services. The company was struggling, but many did. So he turned his attention to the three owners and their lives.

It was probably nothing, but he didn’t work on “probably.”

When he walked into West’s office an hour later, he had his laptop with him and moved to the table off to the side to set it down.

West got up from the chair he was in to the side and joined him at the table.

“You must have something,” West said. “Braylon is on the way. He already told me he went to see you.”

“I didn’t tell him anything.”

“He whined about that,” West said.

There was some humor in the guy’s eyes, but not much. He’d seen touches of personality here and there, but more often than not, around employees, West was like a brick wall.

Unmovable unless he wanted to move, and difficult to read.

“I’m here,” Braylon said. “Shit, you’ve got your laptop. You do have something.”