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I release him with a small shove. “Then delete it now. In front of me. I’m not taking any chances of you making copies later.”
Jackson waves a conceding gesture upward. “Fair enough. But remember I still have some leverage over you.”
I watch Jackson carefully, ensuring all visible copies are off his phone. I have no real way of knowing, I remind myself. I’m taking his word at all of this, just to protect Aly for as long as I can.
“Are we finished here?” I ask.
“No.”
Of course not.
“You’re going to present my proposal as the superior candidate for the apprenticeship,” Jackson says.
I grind my teeth.
The growl in the pit of my throat rumbles upward as I speak. “Is that all?”
Jackson smiles. I want nothing more than to wipe that satisfied grin off his face. “For now.”
He shoves his phone back into his pocket and makes his way toward the exit. “I’ll forward you my account information in the morning.”
A hitman. It would almost be worth the extra money. I cringe at the thought of paying that man anything.
I’ve seen too many of these deals go south quickly. Growing up with millionaires and billionaires all your life, you pick up a few things about the ins and outs of blackmail. Like how the blackmailer always makes copies. He’s never satisfied. And the best thing to do in any situation is to come clean and handle the consequences.
Because it always comes out in the end.
Fine, Jackson. You want to play this game, we will play. The best thing to do is play along, for now, pretend to go along with Jackson and his little scheme. I’ll do damage control. Distance myself from Aly the best I can, at least in the public sphere.
She’s going to hate me. But at least this time, I’ll have a better excuse.
I haven’t told her about Chloe yet. How am I going to explain I’m only dating her to bide time until I can concoct another plan? And now I’ll need to make that relationship as public as possible, anything to draw attention away from this tape. No one would believe it was Aly on the recording, anyway. They have no idea who she is, and I never said her name loud enough to hear.
They would just assume it was Chloe.
Chloe, who everyone is going to see me with at the gala in just over a week. Chloe, who I was with on the same night Aly texted me to come get her from the club. I could make it work somehow.
Deflect suspicion and do damage control for as long as I can.
Then no matter what happens, I’m done pretending. I will find a way out of this mess. I’ll find a way to protect Aly’s reputation and give her the life she deserves.
Then one way or another, Aly will be all mine.
Chapter Twenty-One
Aly
“They loved you,” Marianne says.
“They’ve agreed to a substantial contribution, and they even mentioned the idea to some of their colleagues.”
“So, where do we go from here?” I ask, trying to suppress the shaking in my voice. I’m practically trembling with excitement. Our meeting with potential backers for this business endeavor of mine couldn’t have gone any better. I was nervous the entire time, spouted out random statistics without even noticing it. But they smiled all the same, appeared impressed even. I felt good about it all, despite the sheer terror speaking in front of others caused me.
First obstacle down. A million to go.
“We can reach out to these new recommendations,” Marianne explains. She’s seated across from me at her dining room table, nursing a fresh mug of coffee and a slice of cheesecake. “Some of them have already agreed to talk with us over the phone. So we will start with them and move on to other areas of the proposal.”
The bubbling in my chest wells up like a cauldron.
