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“I’m no stranger to adversity. I’ve had to fight tooth and nail almost my whole entire life, and I’ll be damned if I let entitled assholes like the three of you get the better of me.”
Standing tall, I look down my nose at them, disgust featuring heavily on my face. Carter is staring at his lap, and even Finnegan’s eyes are cast downward, unable to meet my uncompromising stare.
Freemont, on the other hand, steeples his finger and taps the index ones against his smirking mouth as he leans back in his seat like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“This won’t be the first time you’ve pulled shit like this, but you can bet your ass itwillbe the last. You won’t get away with this, Chad.”
I spin on my heel, pull open the door, and flick a final glance back over my shoulder. “I promise you that. Karma’s a motherfucking bitch!”
* * *
ALEX
“Alexander DeMarco, are you even listening to me, for Christ’s sake?”
I scrub my palms along my weary face before running my hands through my unkempt hair. My eyes land on my irate older brother, Henry, as he glowers at me frommyseat behindmydesk.
His face is flushed, and his own usually immaculately styled hair is falling over his forehead, causing him to raise a hand to brush it away impatiently as he holds my gaze.
I open my mouth to speak, but the words won’t come.
“Speak, damn you!” Henry’s roar of frustration reverberates through the office, making Grayson flinch openly. “How could you be so fucking stupid, Al? A motherfuckingsex tape! If this gets out, our reputation may never recover.”
He throws his hands up in exasperation, giving me his back as he plants his hands against the glass walls overlooking Wall Street below us.
Henry’s mumbled words land on my ears. “An orgy, by the sounds of it, for fuck’s sake.”
I’d learned from an early age to keep a cool head in a crisis, to think before I act, to always uphold the DeMarco family name—despite the fact my father never wanted a damn thing to do with me—and I’d always played my part.
Until now.
Henry’s surprisingly soft voice carries easily through the silent space.
“I told Liv I was going to scale back at the company, Alex. Last night, minutes before your call. I told her I was giving your sorry ass more responsibility. And that I was going to be there for her and the kids.”
My heart clenches in my chest, and my lungs constrict at the thought of disappointing my best friend in the world.
“She’s carrying twins, Al.”
A lump the size of a boulder makes words an impossibility as Henry slowly continues. “She’s given me a life I could never have imagined. Not in my wildest dreams, Alex. And what do I give her?”
He pivots about, his face is thunderous, as he answers his own question in a yell that carries beyond this office. “A workaholic husband with a completefuck-upfor a brother, that’s what!”
I hold his glower as I lean forward, resting my elbows on my desk, Liv’s undoubted disappointment spurring me to action. “My source has the best of the best on this, Ri. Give me time—”
He cuts me off, his eyes flashing green flames. “This isn’t the first time, Al. There’s been stories that have needed to be squashed, almost scandals that we’ve narrowly avoided. This is the first time that you just might get caught red-fucking-handed.”
His exhalation weighs heavily as he regards me with exasperation.
“When are you going to quit fucking around? I know all about your time at Rogue with that reprobate, Burton. That’s a given; I was young and stupid once, too. But even I knew to maintaindiscretion. For you, this is a million times worse than if it had ever been me.”
I shake my head, my hair landing in my eyes. “No, that’s not fair—”
“He’s right, Alex.”
Grayson cuts me off this time, and I quickly level him with a stare of betrayal.
I don’t even attempt to keep the disdain out of my tone. “And how,pray tell, is he right,friend?”
