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Fortunately, I’d scored a couple of mentors through my family connections who’d given us solid guidance. Create a company to bring the software to market, they’d said. Don’t list your own names as owners; instead, create individual corporations.Hide, hide, hide.
At the time, it had seemed ridiculous, expensive, and overly complicated. I’d had to front the money to pay for the lawyers who set it all up since I’d been the one with family money.
But then we’d sold the software for 7.3 billion, and all hell had broken loose.
Even though we’d kept the source of our newfound wealth a secret, money-hungry relatives had still emerged the moment they’d noticed us enjoying the fruits of our labor. Unscrupulous business advisors had wanted a piece of the action. We’d been betrayed by friends, siblings, and romantic partners. And we’d realized that the best way to protect ourselves was to keep new friends in the dark as much as possible.
According to official records, Sterling Chase had created the ETC, and Sterling Chase had profited. The five of us were technically members of Sterling Chase’s board, but this wasn’t widely known because our company had no shareholders to report to, and we made sure our photos were never posted in articles or on the company website.
I hid my wealth behind inherited family money and kept my involvement in the company mostly behind the scenes. The others—Zane, Silas, Dev, and Landry—distanced themselves from Sterling Chase almost entirely, using their money to pursue their own interests.
And no one outside the five of us—plus Kenji—had a clue just how many zeroes were at the end of our bank balances.
Secret billionaire club indeed.
“Anyway,” Not-Sterling babbled on, “when you think about it, Sterling Chase is really only… mildly quirky. Quirk-lite. In fact, the quirkiest thing about him—me—is that I, uh…” He swallowed hard and lifted his chin a fraction higher, which made his curls bob. “I like my close associates to call me Rowe.”
“Rowe,” Silas repeated thoughtfully. “Well, that’s easy enough to remember, isn’t it?” He sent me a quick flick of a glance that said he’d be reporting this information to Kenji within minutes so he could pull images from the security tapes, begin a background check… and possibly schedule me some sort of intervention if I continued conversing with this impostor.
Logically, I knew he was absolutely right. Someone needed to investigate Rowe-Not-Sterling and learn his true motives… but it wouldn’t be me because, for the moment, I was thinking with my dick.
“Indeed!” Rowe agreed. “Very easy. One syllable, four little letters. Well!” He clapped his hands together once and attempted a friendly smile. “It’s been lovely chatting with you, good sirs,” Rowe managed to choke out. “I really must dash. I need to speak to someone about a time-sensitive issue.Adieu,” he said with a little flourish-bow and a curious British lilt.
He was outrageous. Silly.Criminal. Not at all sexy.
So why was I consumed with the desire to lick into his mouth and taste the lies on his lips?
“Perhaps we can help you locate the person you’re looking for,” I blurted. “Mr. Concannon here knows everyone.”
Silas shot me a distinctly unappreciative look.
“Er, yes…” Rowe hesitated. “I don’t suppose you know Justin Hardy?”
Hearing the name of Silas’s ex-boyfriend was like being doused with cold water. Beside me, Silas’s entire body went tense, and I struggled to keep my voice light. “Yes. I’m acquainted with him. One of your company’s biggest competitors, isn’t he?”
“Oh,that.” Rowe laughed weakly. “Much ado about nothing. Justin’s perfectly lovely. Very friendly. He built his business entirely on his own, you know. A self-made man.”
“Is he really?” Silas set his jaw. “Do you do much business with Justin?”
“Not often, no. But I do need to speak to him on a matter of business tonight. I have an idea that will suit Hardy Development perfectly,” Rowe said with an eagerness he couldn’t hide. “So… could you point me to him?”
Finally, a plausible explanation for why someone would want to masquerade as the head of my company.
Rowe was probably an app developer trying to sell Justin Hardy his revolutionary new game or convince Justin to invest in Rowe’s sinking ship of a tech company. Rowe had probably purchased a ticket in Sterling’s name or stolen one of the extra spots my company had purchased for our employees, thinking Sterling’s name would give him instant credibility.
It wasn’t unusual by any means. Just that night, I’d had people I barely knew approach me for investments and job opportunities simply because we happened to be in the same place at the same time. And I’d gotten so tired of being approached by entrepreneurs hoping I’d hear their pitches on behalf of Sterling Chase over the years I’d hired a CEO and a head of development just so I could throw my hands up and pretend I wasn’t a decision-maker in my own company.
It shouldn’t have been this disappointing to find that Rowe was a schemer like all the rest… but it was.
Stranger still, even knowing he was a liar and a schemer, the idea of him having anything to do with an asshole like Justin Hardy made red flash across my vision.
The silence stretched so long that Silas and Rowe both darted worried glances at me. Finally, Silas answered Rowe’s question himself. “I haven’t seen him. Bash, have you?”
Given how Justin Hardy had treated Silas, he was unlikely to show his treacherous face anywhere in my vicinity, let alone Silas’s.
I merely shook my head. “Not tonight.”
“Well.” My angelic liar blew out a disappointed breath and set his shoulders like he was off to fight a battle. “Thank you anyway, Bash.” He gave me a smile that was small and shy—not at all like his Sterling Chase persona, and all the more appealing for being genuine. “I’m certain we’ll be in touch. Toodaloo!”
