Unbreak Me (rewritten)

Chapter Twenty-three

"Sir..." Clara walked with a frown on her face and tense shoulders.

"What is it?"

"Well... Wilson & Co have pulled out. They've changed to a different company. I've tried to find out who or why, but they refuse to say. They won't even answer my phone calls anymore."

"What the fuck?" Oliver spoke under his breath. They were their most valued clients. They invested in their software and partnered in various projects. There was so much invested in each other. He couldn't fathom why they would do this. They were going to receive massive losses including paying for a breach in contract. "And they wouldn't say who they moved to?" He gritted his teeth.

"No, Sir."

Clara was dismissed and he picked up his phone to call his father.

"Olly! How are you, Son?" Maxwell chirped.

"Wilsons have pulled out from their contract which includes their investments and deals."

"... What?" he breathed out. "Why?"

"I don't know. They refuse to take our calls and wouldn't say who they moved on to," he stated, his rage growing.

"Okay, calm down." Maxwell frowned. "I'll call Walter."

"Get back to me when you have an answer." Oliver hung up and dialed Sam.

"He-"

"How close are you in finding out about my clients?"

"Hello to you too." Sam chuckled. "I'm getting there."

"Look into what happened to Wilson & Co."

"I thought they were your best clients!"

"They were. They've cancelled their contracts."

"Jesus! Are you fucking kidding me?" He was as shocked as everyone else. Sam wasn't a stranger to Black Tech; he knew all the ins and outs.

"I wish. Get back to me with something by tonight."

"I'll make it my top priority." Sam hung up and quickly got to work.

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to think, but his brain stopped processing information. He tried to get as much done as possible and do some damage control with some very confused employees.

By ten pm he had enough. His hair was a mess from pulling at it and running his hands through it, his tie was loosened and overall, he looked exhausted. The moment he got home he poured himself a glass of whisky and threw his jacket on the sofa.

His phone buzzed in his pocket just after he took a gulp of the liquor.

"Sam?"

"Okay, you're not going to like any of this."

"What is it Sam?" Oliver couldn't be any more impatient.

"Mr Denner has been having many meetings over the past few weeks. According to some employees of Wilson & Co they always ended in a heated argument. That is, until last week. Apparently, Mr Denner left looking satisfied and Mr Wilson like a defeated man."

"Denner? They're only in communications. Why would they go to him?" He took a large sip before realization hit him. "Don't tell me..."

"Yeah..." Sam drawled. "Mr Denner has also been meeting with Adley in and out of the office. I also found evidence of a large amount of money being invested in Adley Corporations."

"Fucking hell." His grip on his glass tightened, his teeth clenched together.

"Oliver, I have no evidence that Wilson & Co signed a contract with Adley. But Avery would know about it if i-"

The lift doors opened and out stepped an exhausted Avery. She stopped in her tracks when she saw his death grip on the glass, his phone against his ear and the tense expression on his face.

"Did you know?" His voice was low, restrained and angry.

The look on her face gave him his answer.

"Fuck!" he hissed through his teeth. "You knew and didn't even think to give me a heads up?"

Avery flinched and looked at the floor, her hands gripped her bag strap. She was ashamed and afraid. Not only was she afraid of Jeremiah but now Oliver.

"All those deals and acquisitions too?"

All she could manage was a meek nod.

"Oliver! Wait, I have more information. You'll want to hear this before yo-" Sam's voice was cut off by the phone hurtling into the wall.

Avery watched the phone shatter and reminded herself that she brought it upon herself. She should have known that no matter what she did, she was always going to lose.

"I'm sorry..." her voice was barley heard.

"Get out of my sight." He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. His chest hurt, his head pounded, he was more upset than angry, but he couldn't sort out his own feelings.

Oliver knew things with Avery was complicated, her situation wasn't great and he was working at gaining her trust, but at the same time, he at least hoped she cared enough about him to be able to tell him when something like this came up. Something that not only breached the contractual agreement; but affected him and his family.

They've lost millions, potentially more.

He just wanted to be alone for the moment and Avery didn't waste any time to leave to her room.

Oliver drank the rest of his drink and poured more.

He passed out on the sofa with the bottle of whisky as a companion. When he awoke it was seven am and had a throw blanket draped over him. A glass of water sat on the coffee table alongside some tablets to ease his roaring headache. He didn't waste time to take the tablets and scull the water.

As soon as he realized he needed to get to work, he was up, showered and dressed. He went straight to the office, had a new phone delivered and got straight to work. It was going to take a long time to fix the damage. For the entire day he was wearing a scowl.

"Oliver." Maxwell's voice pulled him away from the copious amounts of paperwork he was juggling on top of the doubled number of meetings.

"Dad." Oliver leaned back and looked at his father.

"You look... horrible." He sat down as he assessed his son.

"Thank you." Oliver spoke in a flat tone. "Did you speak to Mr Wilson?"

"I did." Maxwell sighed. "He wouldn't tell me anything. He apologized and that was all I could get. He sounded unhappy and tired."

"That's unlike him."

"That it is." He nodded. "If he thought it was a good business move, he would do it, no matter what, and be happy about it. But he's not that at all. There's something going on here, Oliver."

"I have Sam working on it. He said he's gone to Denner."

Maxwell looked like he was just slapped.

"He thinks Denner and Adley have been working closely together, but he won't be able to prove that until he digs a little more." Oliver ran a hand over his jaw. "And Avery knew all about it."