Page 37 of Mad Rivals (The Bradley Legacy #1)

A Little Research

We’re at my place on Monday night after work the first week of June, both of us skirting around what we did at work today. I don’t want to tell her about the project I’ve been spending all my time on, and I’m guessing she feels the same way since we’re still competitors when it comes to business.

I don’t have OTAs this week, but mandatory minicamp is next week. It’s quite a bit more intense than the team activities, so I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym with the other receivers in a bid to get myself ready for practice next week.

As for Kennedy, she came home late today from the office, and so as we finish up dinner, I ask, “What have you been working on?”

“No work talk at the dinner table,” she chides, and I chuckle.

“Fine,” I say, holding up both hands. “I get it. I’ve been working on a project that’s not very well publicized, but it’s one I’m excited about.”

“Good. I am, too, actually, and I’m glad you’re starting to enjoy what you’re doing. ”

“I guess I spent so long pushing back against my father that I didn’t take the time to see that I actually sort of enjoy all this.

And with the tens of billions invested in Bradley Group, I guess I can think of a lot worse things to do after I retire from playing, you know? ” I ask, and her brows furrow.

She tilts her head as she studies me. “You know, you’ve mentioned that before. Billions. That’s a lot of money, Madden. I haven’t taken a close look at our books, but I’m fairly certain we’re not in the billions, let alone the tens of billions.”

I’ve never really given it much thought.

I haven’t studied our books, either. But my father started this business from the ground up, and from what I know, he didn’t come from a ton of money.

His dad was a construction worker, so he grew up around buildings, and his mother stayed home to care for him.

The business he built focuses on luxury and large-scale projects. Billions are feasible, aren’t they?

I think through our last few projects that I know of.

They were all million-dollar ventures. The SCS project is one of the biggest we’d ever bid on, and we were only awarded half the work. While my father’s company has beat out VBC and others like them on several occasions, he doesn’t own Chicago. There’s still a market of competition there.

It’s not something I’ve ever questioned, but suddenly I’m curious.

Curious enough that I want to do a little research. I have no idea what I’m looking for, so I wait.

She’s tired after a long day at work, and she heads to bed early. I take the opportunity to slip into my office.

My father gave me access to all of our client portfolios, and as I open the first few alphabetically, I don’t really know what I’m looking for. It all looks standard.

I sort in a different way instead, and I open one of the most recently updated files. It’s SCS, and everything in there looks fine .

I look through a few more files that were updated today, and I’m still not finding anything out of the ordinary. But even so…none of these companies would contribute to the billions Kennedy was questioning.

Is she right?

I’m not sure, and I don’t know where else to look.

I flip through a few more files, and then I decide to call it a night.

I guess I could just ask my father about it, but I don’t even know what I’d say. The girl I’m supposed to be getting info from for you but instead fell for is questioning how much we’re worth .

Yeah, probably not the best plan.

The next day after workouts, I spend a little time doing some more research. I have projects to attend to, but now that I’ve started, I can’t let this go.

When I look at what I consider some of our top clients, there simply isn’t enough cash flow to call this a billion-dollar company. And yet when I look at the bank statements…we are.

I decide to skirt around it with John just to see if he knows anything. I pop into his office a little before the end of the day.

“You ready for the bid on Newman?” he asks before I get the chance to move in with my question.

I nod. “Two more weeks. From what I’ve heard, they’re keeping it very quiet, and they’re only accepting three bids. I haven’t heard who the other companies are just yet. Have you?”

He shakes his head. “No, not a word. They’re keeping it all very hush-hush, which is probably to their advantage since if other developers knew about it, they’d have a million and one bids to sort through. They want to get moving quickly, and I hope that’s reflected in your plan.”

“I can send it to you if you’d like to look it over,” I say since he’s clearly indicating that he doesn’t think I have my shit together.

“I trust you. ”

Yeah, right. On that note, I ask, “Who would you consider to be Bradley Group’s biggest clients?”

His brows dip. “In California?”

I shrug. “Sure. Or overall.”

He names off a few that I already checked, and I nod.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just thinking out loud. If we snag Newman, maybe they’ll be our biggest.”

His brows dip. “Maybe, but I’d think the project out in Oak Park is bigger.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I say. I glance at my watch. “I’m going to call it a day, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I head home and find that Kennedy isn’t here quite yet, so I pull open the files and continue my search.

I keep hitting dead ends.

And that’s why, when Kennedy does get home and she walks into my office, I don’t immediately close down the file I’m looking at.

In fact, maybe she can even help me.

“Tell me I can trust you,” I demand without so much as a how was your day, dear?

Her brows dip. “Of course. Always. With anything.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “With Bradley Group’s books?”

Her eyes widen a little, but she nods. “Yes, Madden. I swear, if there’s something you need me to look at, it’s between us. Always.”

I have never put my trust into someone else like this, but even though it’s only been twenty-four hours, I’m frustrated as fuck. I’m on a tight timeline to figure out what the hell my father is hiding, and I need help.

Preferably from someone who’s familiar with this business the way Kennedy is.

I draw in a breath and plow forward before I lose my nerve.

“I’ve been searching for two days now to try to figure out where the money is coming from, and you’re right.

Our top clients aren’t generating billions for us.

But our bottom line shows billions.” I shrug.

“I’m at a loss, and I don’t know where else to look. ”

“Do you have access to the ledgers?” she asks.

I nod. “My father gave me full access this summer. I don’t think he assumed I’d be looking into it, but I needed access for some other projects I was working on.”

“See if you can search your income statements,” she suggests. “You should be able to get a snapshot of large sums of money coming or going.”

I open the file and click around, but spreadsheets and financials…they’re not really my forte. Yes, I have a business degree, but I really only took two accounting classes, and I may or may not have been getting naked with the class’s TA on the side to help me pass. “How?”

“How is your ledger organized? Can you search by transaction type?” she asks. She starts to move around my desk to take a look, but she freezes. “May I?”

I nod, and I slide my chair back so she can sit on my lap.

She takes control of my mouse, and that’s not a euphemism, as she starts to search the books.

“This is the same software we use, so I’m sort of familiar with it.

I’m not sure where to start, but I do know that typically these big companies don’t pay actual cash, so if there are any fishy cash transactions, that might be a good place to start digging.

” She clicks around a bit, and then she finds a search bar and types in cash .

She clicks a link to cash transactions, and then she sorts from largest to smallest.

And we both immediately see it.

Cash transactions labeled warehouse expenses and consulting in amounts well into the tens of millions of dollars populate the screen.

Every single one of them is attributed to one of the same three companies: Vivicorp Commercial Ventures, Peoria Property Group, and Geneva Holdings.

“That seems weird, doesn’t it?” I ask .

She nods, and she pulls out her phone and opens her calendar. “These last few were all deposited on Monday mornings. Isn’t that also a little strange?”

I reach around her to open a search on Vivicorp Commercial Ventures, the one that seems to come up the most. Nothing comes up on a simple search, so I head to a website where I can search businesses.

I drop the name in there, and I find the name of the director of the company.

Vivienne Bradley.

My mother.

My surprised eyes meet Kennedy’s.

What the fuck?