Chapter Eighty-Three
The look on Kelley's face was one of controlled rage. Mason and Lee had noticed it immediately, although, to outsiders, he'd look like a man on a mission. The anger swirled in his eyes and every few seconds his fists clenched at his sides. His day of reckoning had arrived and there's nowhere else he'd rather be.
“You need to get laid.”
Kelley looked up from where he stood next to his Escalade and Lee’s eyes bore into him. “I’m not a cheater.”
“He meant with your wife.”
“That’s not likely to happen, Mase. We don’t have that kind of marriage.”
Mason put his phone back into his jacket pocket and looked at Kelley. “You need to get your head back in the game and then you can take care of Hanson Chadney.”
Kelley’s jaw clenched and he closed his eyes briefly, willing away the images of Hanson and Milana, his hand on her ass. He felt jealous because Milana didn’t even give him the time of day, spent as much time away from him as she possibly could and she let Hanson touch her.
“My head’s fine, let’s go take over a hotel.”
Charles had rebuffed every attempt to set up a meeting and finally, Lee lost it and filed a motion with the courts to force Charles and his lawyers into a meeting. Blaire and Blain were keeping a fine eye on the accounts of the hotels and Charles had just dug his own grave earlier in the week.
“Good morning, how can I help you?”
Mason gave the receptionist a charming smile and leaned slightly on the counter separating them. “We’ve got a meeting with Charles Alexander.”
The woman smiled back brightly, still openly staring at Mason. “Of course, they’re expecting you in the conference room on the top floor.”
Kelley didn’t have time to play nice. “I know the way.”
He was already walking towards the elevators and Mason shrugged, smiled at the woman again and then joined them just as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. They all filed inside and Mason turned towards Kelley when the doors closed.
“You know, just because you’re not getting any doesn’t mean you can rain on my parade.”
Kelley huffed out a laugh and Lee shook his head. “We’re here on business. You can get your rocks on later Mason.”
“How’s Marella, Lee?”
“Asshole.”
Mason laughed but steeled his features as the elevator came to a stop. They walked out as a unit and anybody looking at them would say they looked like predators zeroing in on their prey. Their auras were dangerous, dominating and the three men looked like sharks smelling blood.
“Morning, Mr Munroe.”
“Cut the crap, McTavish. You’ve had your fun with this little game.” Lee pulled out a chair and they all sat down as Charles sat at the head of the table looking like he could kill.
“My client wishes to remain as the CEO of the Alexander hotel chain since he built it up to what it is now. Given the fact that he’s been the CEO for nearly twenty years now, the courts will side with us and it will save us all time if your client will sign our proposal.”
Lee didn’t smile or even blink. “And what exactly is your proposal?”
“For everything to remain as they’ve been for the last six years. Your client will of course be the majority shareholder but will remain a silent partner, getting his cut of the shares every quarter with my client remaining as CEO.”
“We reject your offer.” Lee didn’t even look at Kelley to confirm and McTavish sighed. He’d known this wouldn’t be an easy deal.
“Is your client open to a shared position?”
Lee seemed to mull it over, cracked his knuckles and opened his briefcase slowly. “This is an addendum to a will stating my client’s inheritance. He has complied with every aspect of it. He got his degree and he recently got married. Charles will no longer be the CEO or have any say in what happens with the hotels. My client will take over with immediate effect and assign an acting CEO in his stead. We also expect your client to give back the thirty million he transferred to his private offshore account in Montoya.”
McTavish paled a little and turned his head towards Charles. Minutes passed as they whispered to each other. He cleared his throat and turned back to face Lee. “My client denies any involvement with a money transfer.”
“If your client prefers to go to jail for embezzlement I suggest he takes another look at this document.”
Lee slid a sheet of paper over and Charles’s expression changed to furious. “Where the hell did you get this?” The sheet outlined every account Charles had, the amount in it and the recent transfer from the hotel’s budget account to his in Montoya.
“It’s an easy choice, Charles, your absence or jail time,” Kelley smirked as he said those words and that just infuriated Charles more.
“You’ll regret this, Kelley.”
“McTavish, I’ll remind you that idle threats from your client will not go unnoticed.”
Three hours later Charles had packed up his office under Connor’s supervision and left the hotel. Security was put in place and the security system’s changed. Senior staff filed into the conference room and a quick meeting was held by Lee.
Kelley wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Charles wouldn’t retaliate. The hotels had been the one thing he nurtured and now Kelley had taken that away from him too. His payout was still a golden parachute but soon Charles wouldn’t have that to fall back on either.
Late that afternoon Kelley was finally satisfied that Charles had no access to any of the hotel's information and management teams had walked in across the nation and taken over at Kelley’s command.
It felt like a hostile take-over and for Kelley it was. Everything to do with Charles Alexander was hostile. He was going for the jugular and he knew that sooner rather than later, Charles would strike back.
