The questions shot through my head like bullets, ricochetingaround until everything was a confusing flurry. My palms were clammy, and I slammed the device back on the table. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe he hadn’t backed the clip up in a cloud somewhere. This phone would be of no use to me. Although, I was tempted to grab it and just smash it into a million little pieces.
“Where the hell did you get this?” My voice shook with fury.
“Wouldn’t be very smart of me to reveal my sources. Bad business, and who’s to say I won’t need them again? No, it makes absolutely no difference to this conversation how this blemish got into my hands. You see, Colt, I had a plan for Hailey, and it certainly didn’t involve her being savaged by a brute like you. She was supposed to help me close a deal by marrying the son of one of my business partners and cementing the union between our families. I had everything in place, and then you came along and fucked it all up. After being seen with you and … being with you, she was no longer a suitable choice for my partner’s son. You cost me millions. I don’t mind admitting that my business hasn’t been ideal lately, since this conversation is ultimately going to stay between us,right?” He gave me a condescending smile, stood up, and strode over to a bar cart with several decanters of amber liquid.
Mr. Brentwood gestured to them. “I’d offer you something, but I don’t like to waste resources, and considering you’ve already cost me one of my greatest assets, you’ll forgive me.”
My teeth were grinding so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if one of my molars cracked soon.
“I’mterriblysorry,” I ground out, my eyes narrowing to slits.
He snorted. “Of course you are.When I heard she wasinvolved with you, I was very irritated at first. Not only do you not fit my image, but your dear father thinks my business is beneath him and flatly refuses to invest. I was this close” — he held his thumb and forefinger close together — “to pulling her out of college because of this grave lapse in judgment. I should never have let her attend in the first place, but what’s done is done. Then I got my hands on this goldmine.”
He looked so pleased with himself, so sure I was at his mercy, it made me want to knock his far-too-white teeth out of his face. Swirling the liquor in his glass, one hand in his pocket, he walked back to his chair like he had all the time in the world.
“You’redisgusting. Aside from the fact that it’s none of your business and we’re consenting adults, Hailey is still your daughter. And you want to what …blackmailme with the release of our sex tape?” My voice was cold and cutting. Inside, I was seething, the rage boiling in my veins alternating with the gut-wrenching disgust swirling in the pit of my stomach.
“Blackmail is such an ugly word,” he said with mock innocence. “Think of it as … an arrangement. Hailey made her bed, now she can sleep in it for all I care and at least be of some use to me. How do you think it would be perceived in the NFL if that disgusting video fell into the wrong hands before the draft?”
I scoffed, trying to mask the panic rising inside me. “You think I care more about the NFL than Hailey? You don’t have a fucking clue. Go ahead, destroy my career. I’d blow it up inan instantto protect her.”
He shrugged, taking a sip of the scotch he poured himself. “Oh, it’s not just your career on the line. I’ve also dug up some … extracurriculars. As I understand it, you’ve been more than a little interested in my daughter for some time — not that I wasn’t aware of it. Interested enough to amass a nice little collection of pictures. What would Hailey think of you if she knew you’d been spying on her for years? Some people might call that stalking, Colt. I’m sure that’s what the district attorney would think, you know, your father and I play golf with him.” He let out a sanctimonious little chuckle. “It would be a shame if you were to force me to file stalking charges against you.”
Panic surged through me, eating away at each of my cells like a cancerous growth. Where the fuck did he get all this information?No oneknew about that folder, no one except Hunter, who had helped me secure it from prying eyes.
“It’s so easy to dig things up these days once you have access to a cloud,” he replied mockingly to my unspoken question. “Colt, you and I both know that Hailey is way out of your league. How you got her to even entertain the idea that you’re anything other than what you are is beyond me. Do you really think for one second that she would stay with you if she found out howobsessedyou are with her? You’re not exactly a catch without this precarious affair, so what would your chances be if she found out about your dirty little photo collection of her?”
Sweat beaded my upper lip, and my stomach felt like a yawning, endless abyss of dread. My mind was overwhelmed by terror, which drove away the anger —he was right. If she ever found out how fucking sick I was when it came to her, she would dump me without hesitation, probably run screaming in the other direction. The fact she even gave me the time of day was a miracle in itself, and I was more thanaware of the tightrope I was walking.
I dropped my gaze to my lap. “So, what, you want me to talk to my dad about investing in your business?”
“Colt, Colt, Colt … if only it were that simple,” he said patronizingly. “No, that won’t be enough. I was thinking more along the lines of a share in all your future endeavors. I hear you’re a shoo-in for the draft … just think of me as your agent, unofficially, of course. Like I said, this conversation is best kept between us, don’t you think?”
Completely aghast, I barked out a laugh.What was this guy smoking?He obviously had no idea how much you made as a rookie. I’d have to be a first-round pick, and even with a signing bonus, it wouldn’t come close to the millions he claimed I’d cost him.
Unless … I gave him the whole thing. There was no mention of my trust fund, which was a relief, even if it was strange. He had to know I had more lying there than I would earn right from the start. Sowhywouldn’t he try to take advantage of that as well?
“Yeah … I guess so,” I said slowly to buy myself some time to think. My mind was in a state of chaos, with old insecurities resurfacing along with the terrible fear of losing the person I loved and …
I sat up, my back suddenly ramrod-straight.The person I loved?It had taken a second for my consciousness to stumble over this statement because my mind had jumped to it so naturally. But now that the thought was there, it was irrefutable, undeniable, and logical.
I loved Hailey. I had been in love with her for years, yes, but being in love with someone from afar and truly loving them, having them in your grasp, and having your love reciprocated,are two different experiences.
This revelation only made me more aware that I had to do everything in my power to protect Hailey, but I needed one thing to do that — time. I had to stall her father without alienating him. I had to make him believe I was caving in to his absurd plan.
Most importantly, Hailey could never know about this conversation. The skeletons that I and her father had in the closet had the potential to not only disintegrate their ties forever — even though he deserved it — but also to obliterate my relationship with Hailey.
Mr. Brentwood clucked his tongue. “C’mon, kid. We don’t have all day, and you already know the only possible answer to this.”
“Okay. You win,” I said in a low voice, hanging my head and slumping my shoulders, trying to look as resigned as possible. He wasn’t the first to underestimate me, and he wouldn’t be the last.
It was too convenient to assume I was a big brute with no intelligence to speak of. He didn’t need to know that my gears were already turning full throttle. I would beat him at his own game, I just had to work out how.
“Knew you’d listen to reason,” he said with a smug smile, then clapped his hands. “Now, it goes without saying, this little arrangement doesn’t leave this room. I want you to head downstairs and play your part. If you don’t tell Hailey, I won’t either.”
Mr. Brentwood leaned back in his chair, his aura distinctly that of a man who had gotten what he wanted. Nodding, I stood, the chair groaning under my weight, and earned a disgusted look from him before he dismissed me with anarrogant wave of his hand.
“Off you go now, boy. I have calls to make.”
