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“Why doesn’t her brother pay it off?”
“Because he’s just a kid.”
“I’m not even going to ask you why a kid owes you money, Roman.”
I put the papers I’m holding onto my desk and sigh. “What can I help you with, Dad? I don’t recall you having an appointment.”
He takes a seat in front of my desk, crossing his arms over his chest. His regard for me is apparent in his grimacing stare. “I don’t need to make an appointment to see my own son.”
“I’m busy, what do you want?”
Uncrossing his arms, he places them on the armrests and looks around my office. “It’s Liam.”
“What about him?” I can tell whatever it is he has to say is hard for him because he can’t look me in the eyes.
Swallowing back whatever is stuck in his throat, he shifts in his seat. “He’s gotten himself in trouble.”
I sit up straight in my chair. Now, he has my full interest. Liam and trouble never get used in the same sentence. I’m the one usually on the hit list, not my brother. I’m intrigued but don’t want my father to see my enthusiasm.
“What sort of trouble?”
“He’s been having relations with the chief of police’s daughter.”
“Eleanor Price?” I raise my brows in surprise. “She’s what, nineteen? What the hell was he thinking?”
“Clearly, he wasn’t.” My father clears his throat. “It gets worse. Eleanor has a video of the two of them. She’s threatening to give it to her father if Liam doesn’t leave his wife for her, like he apparently promised her.”
I scrunch up my face at the thought of what that video most likely contains. This is not good! Liam has stupidly put our whole firm at risk with his poor decision. Fuck him! Seriously, all these years he’s been giving me a hard time about, and I quote, ‘not being able to keep my dick in my pants,’ yet his, apparently, is now all over a video that could ruin our whole business and reputation.
Rubbing my hands across my face, I rest my elbows on my desk and grunt with frustration. “This is the dipshit you've been threatening me with to take over the company! Does he have any idea what he has done?”
“Now is not the time to discuss who gets the company, Roman. If we don’t fix this, there will be no company to take over!”
I can hear the fear in his tone, and the only other time I have heard that from him was when he told us he had heart disease. He is actually scared and with good reason. Liam has fucked up royally, and it’s not going to be easy to make this go away. Eleanor wants him to leave his wife. She believes that she loves that son of a bitch. When love is involved, it’s a hell of a lot harder to come to an agreeable solution.
“I was hoping you could sort it out. If this gets back to her father, we’re in serious trouble.”
“Why the fuck should I be cleaning up Liam’s mess. He should be fixing this himself.”
“We both know Liam is not capable of fixing this.” And with those words, the prodigal son has been knocked off his pedestal.
I type a message to Indie.
Eleanor Price. The chief of Boston Police’s daughter.
Get her to my office immediately!
I HAD TO CANCEL MY entire afternoon’s schedule for this bullshit. Indie pulled it off, though. I don’t know how, and right now, I don’t care as I stare at the bloodshot eyes of Eleanor Price sitting across the table from me.
I pass her another tissue. It’s been three hours of her blubbering on about how much she loves my brother and that he betrayed her.
I agree. He’s an ass, and he genuinely hurt this young girl, but I don’t feel sorry for her. The evil little minx is blackmailing him. She is not innocent in all of this. Her behavior has me doubting her mental state. Normal people would cut their losses and walk away. Sure, they’d have a bruised ego and broken heart, but that’s where it would end. Not Eleanor! No, she purposely set up a hidden camera to film herself having sex with my brother. She already had doubts about his intentions and was gathering evidence.
A soft knock at my door brings both of our attention to Indie walking in holding a folder in her sweet little hands. Perfect timing! She hands me the file, giving me a glare that lets me know she is not happy about it. I ignore it as I can only deal with one issue at a time; I have to sort out the sobbing teenager in my office first.
Indie looks at Eleanor and then back at me, biting her bottom lip. I can see her hesitation, almost hear her unspoken words, and definitely feel her animosity toward me. But she learned what happened the last time she challenged me, so she eventually loses her inner battle and begins to walk away. I watch her hips sway as she tries to walk properly in her heels and leaves my office.
My attention turns back to Eleanor. She’s wiping away more tears, and I honestly can't believe she has some left. I’ve been stalling her, trying to reason with her for the last three hours, waiting on this file. So, now that I have it, I won’t wait a second longer to shut this bitch down.
