Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Rowe pinched my waist, and I jumped back. “I’ll show you a toe-kick,” he threatened, eyes dancing as his fingers made grabby motions toward me. He chased me into my bathroom, where we spent long, gorgeous minutes teasing each other under the hot spray.
It was a long time later when we finally dressed, ordered our food—burgers, not burritos—and settled at the kitchen table with our laptops to return Kenji’s calls.
“Bash, made much headway on your research?” Kenji said over the speaker, his voice just a shade too innocent. “Since you didn’t return my call immediately, I can only assume you’ve found a crucial piece of information and you’ve been working tirelessly.”
Rowe blushed and bit his lip, looking a bit guilty, but I didn’t feel guilty in the slightest. Despite my very real concerns about Sterling Chase, with Rowe at my side, none of it felt as overwhelming or heavy as it might have even a few weeks ago. Only the knowledge that this mattered to Rowe, too, had kept me from dragging Rowe out onto the balcony so I could make love to him until the sun set.
“Stop teasing, or I’ll tell Landry you’re bored and need him to come keep you company,” I said blandly.
Kenji sobered quickly. “Our investigator already found some interesting information about Austin.” I could hear the familiar tap of his fingers on his tablet. “First of all, he’s exactly who he claims to be. All of his education and work experience from his resume are accurate. However… did you realize that Austin got his MBA from NYU’s business school five years ago?”
I frowned, though he couldn’t see me. “So?”
“So, that was the same year Justin Hardy got his MBA from the same school. Not something I would have put together,” he admitted, “but the investigator we’re using is the same one we used when we investigated Justin after he and Silas broke up, so it pinged for her right away. Turns out, Austin and Justin worked with the same professor as partners on a special research project for Troy Innovation Lab about boosting profitability of startups.”
“Huh.” It wasn’t a surprise that Austin knew Justin somehow, but discovering they’d worked closely together on a graduate studies project was. “Is there a way to find out if they’re still in regular contact?”
“There is, and they are. Both of them are registered mentor alumni at NYU Stern, and they’re still working with that same professor. And what’s even more interesting? Austin’s latest HR recommendation—Felicia Ullney—was recruited from that program. It also looks like several of the grad students have been recruited to work at Hardy Development.”
I couldn’t decide if that was suspicious or not. “They might just be loyal to their grad school. Why wouldn’t they recruit from its program?”
Kenji made a sound of agreement. “Exactly what I’d think, but get this… apparently, Austin and Justin have helped not one but three other sets of partners who worked on the Troy project. In every case, one person from the partnership got recruited by Sterling Chase, and the other went to Hardy Development. That makes three people at Sterling who are close to Hardy employees. Almost like Justin and Austin planned this out. Interesting, no?”
“Very,” Rowe agreed. “How did the investigator discover this so quickly? Finding out who was paired up for a school project doesn’t seem easy.”
“Ordinarily not, but this professor has published his students’ group projects on a departmental website, so it’s very easy to see who was paired up, as well as the title of their project.” He paused. “Wanna know the title of the project Austin and Justin co-authored?”
Rowe and I exchanged a glance. “I’m gonna hate this, aren’t I?” I sighed.
“Using Strategic Teaming, and Power and Professional Influencing to Facilitate Out-of-the-Box Acquisitions.”
Out-of-the-box acquisitions. My stomach dropped. “You…” I didn’t even know where to begin. “You’re shitting me. They wrote a paper on how to steal clients?”
“I’m trying to get my hands on that project or at least find more information on it. In the meantime, I’m pulling records from any of our employees who have any relation to NYU Stern, and the investigator is trying to find what she can on the ones at Hardy. That’s obviously more difficult.”
“What can I do from here?” I asked, reaching over to squeeze Rowe’s hand. “What can we do?”
“Other than getting all of Rowe’s material together, I’m not sure.” Kenji sighed. “Legal is opening up an investigation. They’ll be getting access to Austin’s files as early as tomorrow, and with any luck, there’ll be backup of one of the documents he ‘deleted’ that will be a smoking gun. But god, what wouldn’t I give to be able to get into his emails and see what the hell he and Justin Hardy have been talking about. If only it wasn’t, you know, illegal.”