My colleagues shot me curious looks but left the office without a second glance, caught up in the news that Fairchild was gone.

Once the door closed behind them, I was left in the room with Jackson and Ben.

“This is good news.” My smile wilted a little. “Right?”

Jackson grinned. “Even better for you. I wanted to make your contract permanent from the moment you inputted those changes to our model. However, I needed approval from Fairchild, who as the main investor made his investment contingent on being named CEO of Horus. All big decisions, including staff employment, had to go through him. Usually, he gave his approval, no questions asked. After he met Rhys, for reasons unknown to me, and we don’t need to get into it, he held off giving me the authority to make you a permanent member of staff.”

“That’s illegal, Jackson.”

“Which is why he’s no longer an issue. Between him being under investigation and Diana wanting to invest, the board were more than happy to shove him out. And that’s why you’ll be receiving a new permanent contract by the end of the day.”

Relief, excitement, joy flooded me, and I knew I was grinning like a big nerd. “Really?”

Ben and Jackson shared amused looks and my boss nodded. “Really. Welcome to the Horus family, Parker.”

* * *

I hurried up the steps and into Rhys’s gym, my heart pounding with my news. I’d waited all day and night to tell him about Fairchild, deciding I wanted to tell him face-to-face. His trainer, Jimmy, this gruff older man I liked despite his bluntness because he clearly cared about Rhys, had cock-blocked Rhys.

No sex before the big fight.

Apparently, those articles I’d read about athletes and sexual frustration and aggression were true. Or at least Jimmy was hoping so.

This meant I’d been banned from visiting the gym the night before because Jimmy said Rhys couldn’t keep his hands off me. No willpower.

I was definitely not complaining about that.

That time, however, had allowed me to think and remember that Fairchild’s removal from Horus didn’t mean we were out of the woods entirely. On that note, I realized even Fairchild wasn’t stupid enough to turn down an obviously lucrative buyout just to hold Rhys on a string.

Besides, he still had something on Rhys. Fairchild had also threatened Dean and he could follow through on that

Yet, this was a win for us and it couldn’t have come at a better time, right before the big fight.