My Stepbrother's Arrangement (A Stepbrother Romance) (19 page)

"I'm a busy man, Miss Scott. What did you want to see me about?"

"Appolo Construction. Mercury Painting. Titan Renovation. Among other things."

The man just looked at me blankly.

"Are those names supposed to mean anything to me?"

Right. So he wasn't just going to own up to it. Fine, whatever. I was expecting that.

"They're the names of companies you own. Well, if they even existed. They're the names of fake companies you used to embezzel millions of dollars from my stepfather's company on construction projects over the last ten years. I can name even more of them, if you need your memory jogged."

I might have been mistaken, but I could have sworn his face went just a slight shade whiter than it had been before.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. As I said before, Miss Scott, I'm a busy man, so if you don't have anything relevant to me to talk to me about, I suggest you leave."

His eyes went back to the screen of the laptop he'd been on.

I moved my hand forward and closed the lid.

"Believe me, Mr. Pollock. I have proof that you know exactly what I'm talking about."

This was when things were about to get interesting.

"You see, I haven't told my stepfather any of this yet." God, I hoped Kaleb's dad hadn't gone to Pollock the day before. If he had, my whole lie was exposed. "But I could. And I have proof. See, a little blogger who runs a personal finance site just happens to have websites for Appolo Construction, Mercury Paining and Titan Renovation running on the same server. I have proof of this, definitive proof, and also proof linking you to that little blog. But you already know which blog I'm talking about."

Sure enough, this time his face definitely paled. He was starting to look a bit like a vampire.

I waited, forcing myself not to say anything else until Pollock finally spoke.

"You're crazy. I don't know what it is you think I've done, but whatever it is, you're wrong."

"Fine," I replied. "But I'm just letting you know, the instant I leave this office, my offer's off the table."

"And what offer would that be? Hypothetically, of course, since I don't know about any of this."

"Well, hypothetically, I would consider making a deal with the person in question. They get to keep doing what they're doing, no one finds out about it, I do the tech stuff so that no one can connect you to those websites, and I get a 70% cut of what you're embezzling. And remember, I have access to the company files. You can't hide your numbers from me."

I could practically see Pollock's brain whirring, trying to make this decision.

"Fine. But 70% is way too much. 30%. After all, I'm the one taking all the risk."

"Fifty."

"Forty five. That's my final offer."

"Fine. When can I expect my first payment?"

"Before I tell you anything, I want to know why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? Why not just go to your stepfather with the info? After all, Kaleb is the one I figured would do something like this. You seem more like the tattle tale of the two. Little miss perfect and all."

I smiled. "Kaleb and I are a lot closer than most people imagine. He may have... rubbed off on me, just a little bit."

I took a deep breath and continued. I  had to really sell this next part.

"Kaleb's father wants him to sell the company. He thinks women belong in the kitchen. If you know him, you know I'm not lying to you. So basically, he wants to give Kaleb the company and hopes I just marry rich. I want more than that. This company is as much mine as it is Kaleb's. Our parents are married, after all. So I'm just after my due. My rightful due."

Pollock looked at me for what felt like an eternity. Inside my chest I could feel my heart rocketing at a million beats a minute. I was so close. So, so close.

Was I going to cross the line, or was I going to collapse and fall, just feet away from the red ribbon?

"Fine. You can expect your first payment in October. There's an apartment complex we're building in Palo Alto. Real Estate in that area is on fire with the tech industry."

"How much?"

"Your share will be around four hundred grand. Give or take. We'll see. As you say, you can check the numbers anyway."

I smiled as I mentally crashed through the finish line, hordes of people cheering me on. I had done it. I had the confession. I was going to be able to make everything right.

"Excellent. Thank you for your understanding Mr. Pollock, I believe we have a deal," I told him, getting up from my seat and moving my hand foward to shake his hand.

What I didn't realize was that when I got up, I knocked my purse over, and my phone fell onto the floor, the recording still going, the big red square in the middle of the recording dot making it obvious what I was doing.

It was like time stood still for a couple minutes. We both sat there, looking at each other, and at the phone, neither one of us knowing what to do.

Finally, Pollock's face turned such a deep shade of red he could have been mistaken for a beet.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked, motioning at the phone, still recording on the floor.

"I'm, well, I'm," I stammered, my brain desperately trying to come up with something. Anything.

"I need insurance. You know, in case you don't keep to your part of the bargain."

"Why would you possibly need insurance? You've got all the proof you need. Unless you didn't need any proof at all, you just wanted to get me on tape admitting to what I'd done."

Fuck. I was so close, then I tripped and stumbled over the finish line, breaking my leg.

Pollock came closer to me. I was scared now. Like fully, completely scared.

Not the kind of scared you get at a Halloween party or anything like that. Scared that I was legitimately going to be hurt by this man.

My heart was going a million beats per minute.

I wanted to scream, but my mouth was dry.

"It won't do you any good to cry for help, this office is soundproof," Pollock told me menacingly as he came closer.

I looked at the door. Wondered if I could get out in time. I doubted it.

My hands were wet and clammy from the sweat pouring from me.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

What the fuck was he going to do to me?

I really didn't want to find out.

When I woke up I had the headache from hell.

Fuck. What the fuck happened?

I remembered Olivia crying. Those big doe eyes.

Then I remembered everything else.

"Shiiiiiit," I muttered to myself as I grabbed the pillow and rolled over. I looked at my phone. Just after nine in the morning.

How long had I been passed out for?

Hell, where was I?

I sat up, slowly, and looked around. The room was spinning, but I gave it a minute and slowly came to.

I was crashing on Ben's couch. One of my bros. He worked construction, so I figured he was out for the day.

Getting up, I made my way to the kitchen, downed a couple random pills I found in the bathroom that I hoped were for pain, and thought about whether or not I should try and find some more alcohol to make the other pain go away.

What the fuck had I told Olivia?

I had blamed her for everything. I think I told her I ruined her life. Fuck.

There was no way to really explain that to her, was there? I mean, how do you tell your stepsister you love her?

I couldn't, so there was no way I could explain what I meant.

Plus, it was all wrong.

She didn't ruin my life at all, she made it complete.

Fuck.

I considered going home and apologizing. Maybe she wouldn't want an explanation. Maybe I could get away with just saying sorry. After all, she could be pretty understanding.

God, I could fuck her so hard right now, I thought to myself. And I wanted to. I wanted her tight little body under me, I wanted to ram my cock inside her so hard she thought she was going to explode. I wanted to watch her when she finally did explode, when she milked my cock with the walls of her sex.

Then I thought about my dad. And his dumb fucking company. And his dumb fucking head that just wouldn't believe what Olivia and I had told him.

Seriously, what a fucking prick.

If there was one person I needed to see right now, it was him. I needed to make him understand what we told him. He had to see it. He had to.

I forced myself to get up. My suit was still lying crumpled on the floor.

Whatever, good enough.

I put the suit on and started to make my way downtown, back to the office.

I was going to tell my dad where he could shove his dumb ass opinions. Something I should have done a long time ago, really.

As I rode up the elevator at Leeman Investments I thought about what I was going to tell my father. I pictured the words I was going to use. Maybe he'd get pissed off at me again. Whatever. I was used to that. Maybe he'd even fire me.

Sure, what was the point of working there if he didn't trust his own son over some random dude he went to college with?

The doors opened and I started down the hall. Suddenly, I stopped.

You know who else deserves to get hell today? Fucking Andrew Pollock.

I turned and went towards the other end of the offices, where Andrew Pollock worked. His secretary was at her desk, browsing Facebook while the door to Pollock's office was closed.

"I need to see Andrew," I told her, and she looked up at me with a bored expression.

"He's in a meeting."

"Well this is important."

"So's that one, he told me no interruptions no matter what."

"This is more important."

"You're just going to have to wait."

"Who's he in a meeting with?"

"Some chick. Your age."

Suddenly, it clicked. Holy shit. No way. Absolutely not. Surely she didn't.

"Brown hair to here, big eyes, like a doe?"

"That's her."

Shit.

Suddenly, things got worse. I heard a muffled cry coming from inside the office.

"What was that?" I asked the secretary, and she just shrugged, but her bored look had turned to one of slight apprehension.

"Fuck it, I'm going in there."

This time, the secretary made no move to stop me. Her face had gone white. I strode over to the big double doors leading to Pollock's office and jammed on the handle. Locked.

Well, this was why I spent all that time at the gym, wasn't it?

I slammed my body against the door and the latch broke. I stumbled into Pollock's office to find Olivia huddled in the corner, her face bloodied, and Pollock standing above her.

"You get the fuck away from her," I ordered, and in a split second I was on top of him.

I landed punch after punch square in the face.

"Olivia, get out of here," I ordered her, and without a word she scurried past me, grabbed something off the floor and ran out of the room.

I was blind with rage. I don't know how many times I hit Pollock. All I could think about was making sure he felt every single blow he dealt my sister a thousand times over.

Eventually everything went dark.

I don’t remember much of what happened afterwards.

I only remembered snatches -  Andrew Pollock lying on the floor in a pool of blood. People holding my arms as I tried to kick out at him. A glimpse of Olivia out in the hall, crying, with the secretary’s arm around her.  Someone in a uniform, handcuffing me.

Telling Olivia I loved her as I was led past her.

Then everything went black.