Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Fine. We could go that direction. “You heard wrong.”
“Our stock plummeted the day after your daddy kille—” He choked and stopped speaking, his voice strangled because I had a grip on his shoulder, a painful grip, and I walked him into the side of the equipment shed. I hadn’t meant to accelerate things to this point so quickly, but he was about to talk about my dad.
I glanced at Brett. “I think he needs help standing.”
He grunted, staring down at Moreaux. “He was stumbling all over the place. Intoxicated at a public event. Good thing he has us. To help him out.”
I deadpanned, tightening my grip on him. “That’s us. Regular saints here.”
With the grip I had on him, he couldn’t use one entire side of his body. As he was still registering that he couldn’t lift his arm or move his leg, I caught the shadows of Brett and Mark blocking us from view.
“He needs to stand a little, Mase,” Mark pointed out.
I eased up my grip, just a bit. “Our stock bounced back the next day, you dumb fuck. You’re going to shut your mouth about the company.”
Moreaux glared at me, but he remained still. He looked at me as if I’d offended him. I knew his kind. They’d been at the top of the hierarchy all their lives.
Here I come—a name he knows, but I’m new money. I’m an athlete. I’ve got fame and power, but in his mind, I can’t match him. Can’t equal him. No. I’m just a football player.
“You think you’re top dog, huh? No one messes with you. Poker with the district attorney. That sort of thing.”
“I think I got friends in places that you have no idea about.” He lifted his chin up.
My grin, if that’s what it could be called, was cold. His eyebrows pulled together.
“You think I’m not aware of the calls and meetings you’ve been having with the other shareholders?”
His sneer faltered, slightly.
“You think I don’t know the shit you have on those members? That I don’t have that information as well? The photos. The blackmail material.”
His sneer faded entirely.
“Or that I don’t know about the secret meeting you’re going to call early Monday morning with the agenda of finalizing those shares and making a move to force me and my brother from the company?”
His smarmy tanned skin went pale underneath, but then it started to get red. That color spread.
I lifted a thumb, seeing a white print there.
“You don’t know shit. And even if you did, it’s too late—”
“You’re so wrong that you look stupid.” This guy was coming for my family. He was going to regret that.
He stopped struggling, but he still seethed. “You don’t kno—” He couldn’t get out anymore.
I tightened my hold and he dropped down a couple inches. He was folding under my grip.
“Does Johannson know you’re fucking his wife?” Axel’s dad was also a shareholder.
He went still. “You’re bluffing.”
“I could tell him I know what sort of lingerie she wears, that I bet she hasn’t worn it for him in a while. Course, maybe she’s got more than one set, but I’m betting he’ll go straight home to look through her drawers himself. He’d be so angry. He won’t stop to consider that he’s cheating too. Or that he probably cheated first. He’ll just care that his wife is fucking you, and moments earlier you had the balls to blackmail him.”
“You’re lying. This is all a massive bluff.”
“I got pictures.” I smirked. “None of the sales have gone through. You think he’ll still sell after I show him those pictures?”
He scowled at me. “I don’t think you know what you’re doing. This is the big leagues. We don’t play around with empty threats. We deal with lawyers and—”
I stepped back, a part of me wishing I could put bruises all over this guy. “Yeah, yeah. You give the cops a good annual donation. You golf with a local judge who’s interested in running for public office, and you’ve promised him a nice sum of money for his campaign. Christ, you’re annoying. You think I don’t know all of that?”
He fell quiet. Finally.
I glanced around. We’d drawn a fair amount of attention, but Brett and Mark hadn’t moved. Sam had come over, but she stood to the side, her back to us. She was keeping watch on who might be recording us or paying attention to us that shouldn’t be.
“I was going to wait until Monday to crash your party. I was going to release all the shit I know, and I was going to keep it at the office. But then you swagger up to me, acting like we’re bros at my dad’s funeral. You come over here, putting hands on kids.” I looked at him a moment. “Here’s what we can do. You withdraw everything. And you’re going to sell your shares. I want you out of the company. You do that, and I won’t destroy you. There’s my offer. And in the meantime, you’re not going to shove your kid around, or any kid. You’re not going to grab a player by his helmet and use that to jerk him around—not unless you’re okay with someone like Broudou doing it back to you.”