Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
6
JACKSON
“Checkmate.”
My queen is in direct alignment with his king blocking his every possible escape. If he moves to the left he’ll be captured by my knight. If he moves to the right, my rook will be there waiting. One move forward, he places himself in the sights of my bishop.
There was nowhere for him to run.
“Dammit Jackson. You didn’t give me a fighting chance. I don’t know why I bother playing you in the first place.” Gavin, the ivory king chess piece on its side in defeat.
I shrug. “Perhaps you’re a secret masochist who enjoys taking a beating. The real question is why I keep playing an opponent who has no chance of winning.”
Gavin chuckles. “That’s easy. Because you’re an asshole.”
“I won’t dispute that assertation. But the real reason is, I like to win and I’m not afraid to do it at all costs, even if it means playing a weak opponent.”
“What the fuck man? You’re calling me weak to my face?” His tone doesn’t exactly match his words. Gavin is one of those types who is slow to anger usually thinks things through before reaching. It’s why he’s my right hand man who often provide the voice of reason when I want to power forward.”
“In general, you’re not a weak person or else you wouldn’t hold your current position. You just suck at chess.”
“One of these days I may surprise you.”
“Perhaps you will but not in chess.”
“Asshole.”
I grin. “I won’t dispute that.”
Gavin Choi is one of the few people I can be myself around. He’s not only the Chief Operating Officer but my closest friend. Perhaps my first real friend. Ever since I was young, I’ve been surrounded by people wanting to be my friends. I’m sure in my primary days the friendships were more genuine.
But sometime around the fifth grade when kids and their parents became aware of who my family was, the relationships no longer felt organic.
I met Gavin in college. He didn’t give a damn about who I was and he’d never even heard Champion. He wasn’t afraid to disagree with me and always gave me his honest opinion. I respect the hell out of that and he hasn’t changed in all the years I’ve known him.
Gavin leans forward in his seat and rests his chin on one of his fists. He opens his mouth to speak but seems to reconsider it.
“It’s not like you to hold back,” I observe. “What’s on your mind?”
He frowns and scrunches his forehead as if he’s trying to choose his words carefully. “I’ve never questioned your decisions when someone receives a recommendation from you.”
I raise a brow. “But you are now.”
“I’m sure you had your reasons for bringing this guy on board, so I didn’t question it when he was hired. He didn’t fall under my direct chain of command, but I do have access to the financial reports.”
I immediately know who he’s referring to and my heart begins to pound. “Oh?” I brush away an imaginary speck of lint from my shirt. I force myself not to smirk. I made it a point to always be honest with him but in this matter, I push all guilt aside.
Gavin narrows his eyes briefly and I almost get the feeling that he can see right through my deception but doesn’t immediately call out on it. “Is that all you can say? I mention the finances and you don’t seem very concerned.
“I think if there were any major issues, Troy would have personally brought it to my attention.”
“Or maybe he’s been too distracted to catch the discrepancies because he’s taken paternity leave off.”
“Hmm, I thought you considered yourself progressive minded when it comes to issues like men helping out with the care of their newborns.”
“Are you being deliberately obtuse? You know that isn’t the issue. I’m just saying that I’ve been helping out in Troy’s absence and when I had a look over the latest financial reports, I came across various discrepancies. So I pulled the reports going back several months and noticed these variables didn’t start occurring until that Knight fella took over that division. I thought maybe I could be wrong so I did a little digging to find out more information on him.”
I lean back in seat and crossed my arms across my chest. “Is that so.”
“I went to HR to get his file, and his resume wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, at least not anything outstanding to put him in his current position. So, I saw the notation in his file that he was hired based on your recommendation. I then noticed that you two of you had something in common unless there are two Champion Virginias which I doubt. So is this guy an old friend of yours you never told me about?”
“Honestly, we never met until he started with this company. Let’s just say I saw his potential.”