Page 60 of Cameron's Contract

My mouth went dry. “We had them.”

Dad brought his phone to his ear. “They just delivered the news.”

I stared at Henry, trying to read if I’d been too heavy handed, too arrogant to see I’d turned them off the deal. “What happened, Henry?”

“We don’t know.” He gestured to Dad’s phone. “Who is it?”

Dad strolled over to the window to take the call.

His conversation was brisk, his tone defeated.

Dad hung up and turned to us. “That was Doug Malt’s wife.”

“What did she say?” asked Henry.

“Doug’s wife discreetly mentioned—” Dad steadied himself on the back of a chair— “It’s the kind of blackmail they can’t fight.”

“Blackmail?” The word burned my throat. “They threatened to leak her husband’s condition to the press?”

“If that’s what they’ve got on her,” said Henry, “imagine what they have on the others.”

Dad turned to me, his expression worn.

I swallowed hard, but this lump in my throat was destined to remain.

“I’ll sign the contract this afternoon,” said Dad. “Get legal to complete it.”

Henry looked devastated.

“I’m sorry, boys.” Dad turned and faced the glass.

CHAPTER 18

DAD STARED DEAD ahead, his words flowing like acid poured onto my heart. “‘Aleader has the right to be beaten, but never the right to be surprised.’”

He’d quoted Napoleon Bonaparte.

That truth rang in my ears.

And Adrian Herron was on the fucking loose.

I should have followed Dad when he left the conference room, but my feet wouldn’t move.

Henry had already left.

The view of the city was vast and sweeping, and now I knew it had always been a threat in waiting, a warning I’d lied to myself that I had what it took to pull this off.

Swim backwards.

The words found me again in the loneliest place I’d ever stood. Our competitors had used the kind of tactics assembled in a dirty bomb—

Quick, ugly, and final.

Richard’s voice boomed from my phone. “Cameron? Are you there?”

I stared down at my cell, realizing I’d dialed his number.

“Cam?”