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The contents of the shelf next to him spilled onto the floor, Alexander made an indignant noise. But he did not seem surprised.
As he was about to approach me to return the favor, I raised my hand. "A word of warning: think carefully about what you do next."
Alexander didn't think twice and approached me without a second thought, causing me to clench my hand into a fist.
It wasn't until he stood right in front of me, about to grab me, that I took a swing and hit him right in the face.
He stumbled back with a bloody nose. I wanted to laugh, but I just looked at him.
"I wish it hadn't all come too late for you. But I guess this action proves very impressively what kind of person you are."
He snorted. Drops of blood flew through the air. "What do you know?"
"Obviously more than you do, if I may recall the video," I growled. Actually, I didn't want to lower myself to his level, but Alexander challenged me. He wanted me to show him the differences between us? After all, he would probably need a new ego.
Calmly, I watched the blood run down his chin and drip onto the floor. But when he said nothing more, I turned to Matt, approached the desk and propped myself up.
"Is it hard for you to imagine you have succeeded in tearing your family apart? First the words you chose yesterday, then the fact that you're sticking by him instead of your daughter. You can hate me if you're desperate for a scapegoat. But Audrey doesn't deserve it."
Matt rolled his eyes. "So I'm just supposed to overlook that you can see her completely exposed on the Internet– like she's some second-rate porn actress."
Only no adult film actress had the same effect on me as Audrey. A thought that, when I looked at Matthew's exasperated expression, I'd better not say out loud.
"And whose fault is that? Certainly not your daughter, who has successfully protected her privacy for years. But as soon as her ex-fiancé finds out, a video suddenly appears on the Internet. Strange coincidence, don't you think?"
Alexander cleared his throat. "Who says it wasn't you?"
Slowly, I turned around and punched again in the face. He didn't even manage to raise his arms in defense– what a weakling.
I turned back to Matthew. "You think I would do that to Audrey?"
His jaw tightened. "No. I don't think so. Otherwise, I'm sure there would have been a lot of sex tapes released in the last few years."
A silly reason, but I took every one he threw at me.
"Audrey means everything to me– and she's obviously not the only one suffering the consequences. So whether you like her being with me or not show some sense for once and make the right decision, Matt. Otherwise, I'm really going to have to put our friendship on hold."
Which I already wanted to do, because he had called his daughter a slut or whore several times, and that was one thing I was insanely allergic to.
It was working its way through his head. Meanwhile, I looked at him expectantly, ignoring the pitiful sounds Alexander was making in the corner of the office. I wasn't even afraid, because I just turned my back to him. He would not move, otherwise it would not be just a broken nose.
"What do you think would be the right thing to do?" asked Matt finally.
"Now we understand each other." I sat down in the chair and leaned forward. "You apologize to your daughter and then make sure you get rid of that bastard back there. You don't want a man like him as your successor. He was willing to destroy your daughter's reputation while mindlessly attacking the company."
"But... we've worked together for years. And especially toward him... taking over the company." Of course, now he found it difficult to make a decision so quickly.
"Then find a replacement. There are other capable men."
More capable men, after all, Alexander hadn't exactly proved in the last twelve hours that he was actually capable of running a company.
There was silence for a while, just looking at each other. There wasn't much more to say, so I left it at that. Surely I didn't need to explain to him the consequences of his current actions, and that there was little to shake Alexander's guilt.
"Perhaps twenty-four hours is too short a time frame to expect any serious change," I finally muttered and rose, believing that things wouldn't turn out the way I expected– and secretly wished for– anyway.
Matthew stood up with me and nodded. "All right, Alexander, you're dismissed. You know the reason– and you'll be lucky if I don't take legal action against you. I still don't know what happened between you and my daughter, but the bottom line is I don't want to know anymore. It seems like she made the right decision in leaving you."
"But Matt..." Alexander began but was immediately cut off.
