Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Simon

M y heart continued to race for a long time after the other car left the highway and we drove on.

"He wasn't trying to kill us, was he?" I asked, clenching my body to try to stop myself from shaking. "Was he, Master?"

"It's okay," Victor said in exactly the sort of calm, commanding voice I needed right then. He even reached out to rest a hand on my leg for a moment, even though we weren't entirely through the curvy section of the highway and he needed both hands to drive. "I don't think whoever that was really knew what they were doing. My uncle was probably just trying to intimidate us."

I blew out through my tight lips and nodded. Victor was probably right. There was a world of difference between wanting your nephew to bow to your wishes and be the kind of alpha you wanted him to be and outright trying to kill him. Vincent Woodbury might have been in business with some shady people, but murder was a huge step to take.

I shook myself as best I could in a car and tried to breathe deeply to calm my nerves. It helped immensely that I could feel Victor's presence through the bond like he was hugging me. I didn't know whether he was doing it on purpose or not, but it felt so good.

To distract myself as we sped along in the dark, I focused on our bond. It was new and pulsing and vibrant. It had formed when we were physically joined through sex, and it still had the feel of sex to it in a way that I couldn't describe. It was that intimate, that pleasurable to feel. It stretched between us like a thick conduit of light and emotion and all good things.

I reached mentally along its length, feeling it like I could learn its shape and understand it better. It felt incredibly good to touch.

In response, Victor growled and sighed, like I had my mouth around his cock.

"You're giving me all sorts of ideas for ways I can have you service me through our bond as well as physically," he said, his voice rich with arousal. "But maybe now, while I'm driving on a highway in the middle of the night, is not the best time for that."

"Yes, Master," I giggled, giddy with the good feelings the bond gave me. "Sorry."

I eased up on my exploration of our bond, just observing it instead of touching.

"I've always heard about bonds," I spoke my thoughts aloud to stop them from being so intense, "but I don't think anyone can just tell you this is what they're like. My parents are bonded, and they've always been really vague, telling me I'll understand when I'm bonded myself. I guess they were right."

Victor frowned, and I felt sadness from him. "I don't think I've ever known anyone who was bonded," he said. "At least not among my close friends, and definitely not my family."

My heart ached for him. "That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard." Not knowing any couples with a bond meant he'd never been around people who really loved each other.

Except his parents. I had the impression they loved each other a lot. But they were betas, and betas didn't bond like alpha/omega couples did.

"This must feel really different to you, then," I said, smiling at Victor and touching the bond with a feather-light stroke.

His grim expression instantly turned to a small smile, like I'd pet a cat who stretched in appreciation.

He looked confused for a moment after his initial reaction, then said, "I like it." His smile grew. "I like it a lot. I love it."

Another wave of unsettled feelings came over him, and he drew in a deep breath before glancing to me quickly.

"I love you," he said, as if he didn't quite believe his own emotions.

"I love you, too, Victor," I said, deliberately using his name, then added, "I know it's soon and we still have so much to learn about each other, but I know that I love you, Master. We were meant to be together."

"I think we were," Victor said, smiling again.

It was exactly the sort of sweet interlude that the two of us needed in the eye of the hurricane. I was well aware that so much of what was going on right now, between us and with Victor's uncle and Victory Holdings, was because of these new, fresh, good feelings brewing between us. Victor had deliberately set out to turn over a new leaf before he met me, which was definitely part of everything. And I'd summoned up the courage to be myself after years of trying to be who people wanted me to be.

Our timing was perfect.

I just hoped luck stayed on our side.

We were quiet the rest of the way to Norwalk, especially after we made it through the mountains and drove through flatter country. I even snoozed for an hour or so before Victor's rising tension woke me.

When I opened my eyes and focused on the world outside the car, we were driving through the suburbs of Norwalk. I could see the lights of the executive airport ahead of us, though everything was quiet and calm. The clock on the dashboard said it was nearly three-thirty in the morning.

"Please, Master," I said blearily. "When this is all over, can we sleep for a long, long time?"

Victor huffed a tired laugh and said, "Absolutely. I might not let you out of bed for days. We'll sleep, then I'll fuck you into a puddle, then we'll sleep again."

I laughed softly. "I'd like that."

Those warm, fuzzy, sexy thoughts were put aside entirely as we made the turn into the airport. Like a lot of small, regional airports, it wasn't much to look at. There was a small parking lot, which currently had a limo parked off to one side, and a larger hanger. I could just make out a few private jets and smaller planes of the sort I imagined people took flying lessons in on the tarmac beyond.

Victor and I got out of the car and walked quickly to the door leading into the hanger's small, surprisingly well-appointed lounge. Victor took my hand after holding the door for me, and as soon as I saw what was inside the lounge, I was glad.

"…don't know what you expect me to do about it," a tall, dark-haired, severe-looking woman in designer jeans and a blazer snapped into her phone. She wore an astounding amount of jewelry and vicious, three-inch, bright red heels with her jeans. She also resembled Victor. There was no mistaking Vivien Woodbury.

"Vivien," Victor said quietly in greeting.

Vivien held up one manicured finger to silence Victor, then went on with her phone conversation. "The two of you have me seriously pissed off with this feud of yours," she said, clearly speaking to her father. "No, I don't care what he's done that you disapprove of. He's just trying to run Victory Holdings in a way that will create the most profit."

She paused as, I assumed, Vincent made some sort of argument. As she listened, she looked at us, raking me with a gaze that said she didn't think much of her cousin's new toy.

"There's more than one way to make a profit," she went on, possibly interrupting her father. If she had the balls to do that, I desperately hoped she was on our side. "He's not preventing the company from growing, he's just taking a different tack than you are."

There was another pause, during which I felt impatience from Victor.

"I don't believe that for a second," Vivien went on with a snort. "All I see is two alpha egos clashing. What you're doing is dangerous. What Victor is doing is stubborn. I don't see why the two of you can't just hug it out and work together."

Vivien pulled the phone away from her ear with a sour look, and I heard Vincent's incredulous voice shouting.

"Enough of this," Vivien said, ending her father's rant. "I just arrived in Norwalk, and the limo I hired is here." She paused, then said, "I told you, the flight was diverted due to weather or technical something-or-other, I don't know. Now I have to make the long drive back to Barrington so I can put out the fires you and Victor have created. No, I don't want to hear it. I'll see you later this morning. I love you, bye."

She ended the call with a huff as she lowered her phone. I had no idea what to think of anything I'd heard, and I still didn't know if she was on our side or her father's.

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Victor before saying, "You'd better have a great explanation for everything going on."

"Oh, I do," Victor said, stepping forward to greet her with a kiss to her cheek.

I was surprised when the two of them embraced and I felt genuine, if conflicted, feelings from Victor.

"Is this the omega you kidnapped?" Vivien asked, nodding to me, when she stepped back.

"I didn't kidnap him," Victor said, rolling his eyes, though the feeling I got from him didn't match his impatient expression. "He's my mate, my omega. We've bonded."

"Good for you," Vivien said. I couldn't tell if she was being facetious or genuine. Especially when she smirked at me and said, "Nice collar. Are you sure you don't need me to call the authorities?"

I figured there was nothing to lose in being completely honest with Victor's family, so I said, "The nature of my and Victor's relationship is none of your business. We're together, that's all you need to know."

"Ooh!" Vivien glanced to Victor again with a sparkle in her eyes. "He's feisty! I like that." She glanced back to me again. "Why are you here, other than the fact that bonded pairs are disgustingly sweet and joined at the hip."

Victor surprised me by saying, "Simon just happens to work for a law firm that deals in corporate law. He's been advising me on everything Uncle Vincent has been doing and ways we might counter it."

I thought his use of ‘we' was clever, even though I wasn't convinced Vivien was on our side, yet.

"Well, explain it all to me in the limo," she said, marching past us toward the door, her dangerous heels clacking.

"I've borrowed a friend's car," Victor said, taking my hand and following her. "We should drive that back. Especially since it was damaged a bit in a high-speed car chase in the mountains."

Vivien shook her head as soon as we were all outside and she saw Hayden and Mason's SUV. "We're taking the limo. You can send someone to fetch this car for your friends. Or if you're so concerned about a few scratches, buy them a new one."

Honestly, I was glad she insisted on the limo. I didn't want Hayden and Mason involved in whatever was going on as much as possible. Vincent already knew we'd borrowed their car. I felt safer piling into the limo. Besides, the limo was far more comfortable, and I could sit on the seat with Victor, pressed right against him. I was even tempted to lie down with my head in his lap, but I needed to play a part in the explanation of what was going on.

"So get me up to speed," Vivien said once she was seated and had a cup of coffee in her hands. I don't know how she managed to have the driver give her fresh, hot coffee, but she didn't offer one to Victor or me. "What the actual fuck is going on?"

"Your father has lost his mind, that's what's going on," Victor said, sliding an arm around my waist as the limo made its way back onto the highway we'd just driven across.

Vivien huffed a laugh as she drank her coffee, then said, "He's saying the same about you. He's got some story about you kidnapping omegas and having deviant sexual tastes."

Anger and a touch of embarrassment flared in Victor. "He's the one who sanctioned his former business partner's kidnapping of an omega out of pure spite. I still don't understand that."

"As far as I understand," I chimed in, "Colin Gregory was after revenge against Mason Canton, his former business partner, for dissolving the company they'd built together. Colin had also built backdoors into the software for the security systems their former company provided to a variety of businesses. Mason made sure those backdoors were patched or new systems were provided to replace the vulnerable ones, though."

"Mason?" Vivien asked, one eyebrow arched.

"Mr. Canton married my brother, Hayden," I said.

Vivien nearly choked on her coffee. "So you're the brother of the omega that was kidnapped?"

It sounded like she knew more than she'd let on.

"I am," I nodded. "But that's irrelevant to the current situation."

"I don't think it is," Vivien said. "Dad has been going on about losing access to valuable information and doors closing on him." She narrowed her eyes in thought, then stared at Victor. "You haven't been helping close all those sneaky little systems backdoors, have you?"

Victor's eyes widened, and I felt a thrill through the bond. "Not directly, but I have charged several members of one of the tech companies Victory Holdings owns to work with Canton Enterprises to fix the gaps in the systems that Colin Gregory left."

Vivien spread her arms and gestured with her free hand. "There you have it. Dad is mad at you for taking away his access to insider information. That's what he's so pissed about."

I was shocked. Was that what this was really all about? Vincent Woodbury was angry with Victor for blocking his path to information? Information was power, after all.

I shook my head a little. "I don't think that's the whole story, but I agree it's probably part of it. But based on the bylaws of Victory Holdings and the contingencies for what would happen if any one of the three of you is removed as an officer of the company, even if you remain part owners?—"

"The whole company falls apart," Vivien interrupted me, the same way she'd interrupted her father on the phone. She glanced to Victor and said, "He's bluffing, you know. He doesn't want Victory Holdings to fall apart, he just wants you to fall in line."

"Did he say that?" Victor asked.

"Not in as many words, but I know my dad," she said, her voice flat and her eyes narrowed. "You're the son he always wanted. It burns him that you've decided not to be his little alpha protégé. He'll do whatever it takes to bring you back in line."

"I'm not going back in his line," Victor said, his voice surprisingly calm. Then again, there was enough bitterness and resentment in Vivien's voice and expression, and enough sad sympathy coming through the bond, that I was sure he felt sorry for Vivien being second-best with her own father.

"Good," Vivien said. "No one should bow to someone else like that." She glanced to me with a smirk, then added, "Unless that's their kink."

I didn't know whether to feel ashamed or proud. I opted to push both emotions aside and focus on the matter at hand.

"Whatever his intentions, what your father is doing isn't good for your business," I said, laying things out as simply as I could. "At the same time, it looks like Victory Holdings has reached a crossroads. Two of the three owners want to go in entirely different directions. Either someone is going to have to cave, or you might have to resign yourself to the company dissolving and reforming as something new."

"Is that what you think would happen, feisty omega?" Vivien asked me, grinning sharply.

I felt a wave of protectiveness from Victor, but I wasn't sure it was necessary. I liked Vivien as much as she professed to like me. It didn't make sense, but I didn't think she was the same as her father. Maybe that had something to do with Vincent liking Victor more than her, which I was sure was the case.

I shrugged. "Corporate bylaws aren't the be all and end all," I said. "They can be changed. If you want to save Victory Holdings in the form it is now, you could have the board of directors vote on a change to the bylaws that would preserve the company, should one of the owning officers be ousted from their active role in the company."

Both Vivien and Victor registered surprise at that statement.

"It never occurred to me to change the bylaws," Victor said.

"You'd have to get the board to agree to it," Vivien said, tilting her head to one side. "But if there is a way to remove Dad without destroying the company, I'd be all for it."

I nearly gusted out a breath in victory. Vivien was on our side after all. That might just be the difference between saving Victory Holdings as it was or forcing everyone in the Woodbury family, and everyone employed by them, to start from square one.

"And if we're able to change the bylaws?" Victor asked, staring hard at Vivien. "You'd be alright with forcing your father to retire?"

Vivien shrugged one shoulder, but her frown contradicted that casual gesture. "Dad should have retired a long time ago, if you ask me." She paused, staring at a spot on the seat beside Victor, then said, "And it's well past time that I was allowed a more active role in Victory Holdings, too."

I felt Victor's surprise before he said, "You actually want to be involved?"

Vivien snapped her gaze away from the random spot to stare hard at Victor. "I've always wanted to be involved. Dad never wanted me to be more than a rubber stamp. He said female betas have no place in business and that I should enjoy the fruits of his labor."

"That needs to change," Victor said seriously. "A lot of things need to change."

"Starting with the bylaws?" Vivien asked, her smile downright wicked.

"Starting with the bylaws," Victor agreed, grinning right back at her. "In fact, as soon as we get back to Barrington, I'll draw up changes immediately. If the board approves them, this whole thing could be over by lunchtime."

Vivien took out her cell phone and started tapping. "I'll call for a mandatory board meeting later this morning," she said. "Let's see if Dad can wiggle his way out of this."

I smiled at the buzz that filled the limo. It felt like Victory Holdings had just turned a major corner and like I should strap in for the final ride of the roller coaster we were all on.