Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
He swallows again, nodding his bloodless face slowly as he wrings his hands. “I—I need to call my lawyer.”
“Yeah, you really should,” I spit back. I smile widely as I watch Justin turn, stumbling like I’ve just smacked him in the head with a bat or something as he starts to stagger back into his house, leaving the door wide open.
“I—my lawyer,” he mumbles, his hands wringing as he shuffles down a hallway.
“Fucker,” I mutter at his back. And I’m about to leave, when suddenly, I spot it. Right there, on the edge of a console table by the front door, open and unlocked, is Justin’s laptop.
Bingo.
17
Kempton
The both of them look at me with stony faces, jaws tight and grim and eyes hardened as I step gingerly into Porter’s apartment, letting my bag slump to the ground.
They look like we’re at a funeral, by the way, because I’m messing with them. Because I just knocked on the door hiding my glee at getting the best of Justin and instead looking morose and like the shit is about to hit the fan.
I know, I’m terrible.
“Fuck,” Beckett growls quietly. Porter’s eyes narrow, and he hisses a swear as he whirls. “Okay, fine, we go back to the original plan. I’ll call my accountant and my lawyer, and we’ll get a non-disclosure agreement to go along with his pay—”
I start to giggle, the stoniness dropping from my face as I laugh. The both of them stare at me like I’m crazy before suddenly, they get it.
“Oh, you little brat,” Porter groans, blowing air out between his lips as he shoves his hand through his hair. Beckett glares at me, but he’s grinning too as he shakes his head.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Kempton,” he groans. “Really? You want to give us both fucking heart attacks?”
I giggle as I step into his arms, leaning up and kissing him slowly before I turn and eye a still-mad looking Porter.
“That wasn’t funny.”
I giggle. “I mean, it was a little funny.”
He rolls his eyes, trying to hide his smile. But when I slide over into his arms and kiss him, the scowl fades away.
“So, what happened?”
I turn to look back at Beckett.
“I think he shit himself.”
Porter chuckles. “Good, but what the hell did you do?”
I grin as I pull out my new fake ID and pass it his way. His brows shoot up, and he passes it to Beckett, who lets out a hooting laugh and grins at me.
“Okay that’s just fucked up and devious.”
“Yep,” I grin. “But so was fucking filming us. So was threatening us.”
“So, what’s his next move?” Porter growls. “I mean, after cleaning out his undies,” he grins. “Is he going to destroy it? And how the hell do we trust—”
“He’s going to try to destroy it, but he’s going to have a hard time,” I say quietly.
Beckett frowns. “Why exactly?”
I grin, turning and going over to the bag I left by the front door.
“Because he’s missing this, and it’s got the only copy.”
I yank Justin’s laptop out and turn to hand it to Porter.
“You sure he’s only got the one copy?”
I nod. “I think so. He was scared enough when I faked how young I was that he wouldn’t have lied.”
Porter nods. “I’ve got guys who can verify a file hasn’t been copied. Discreetly, without watching it,” he adds, nodding at me.
“Fuck it, let’s smash this fucking thing in—”
“Whoa! Easy!” Porter yanks the nine-iron gold club out of Beckett’s hands and glares at him.
“Relax, cowboy,” he mutters. “We do need to make sure he didn’t make copies. But also, hang on.”
He frowns as he sits on the sofa and opens Justin’s laptop. “Let’s see what other shit he’s got on… huh.”
Beckett and I glance at each other before we move to join Porter on the couch. Justin had a bunch of spreadsheets open when I took his laptop, and they’re still up. Porter’s eyes scan the lists of numbers and monetary amounts, and he slowly whistles as he starts to scroll through them.
“Dude, what are you doing?”
Porter smiles thinly, glancing at Beckett.
“Trying to figure out why a guy as loaded as Justin is pulling bullshit like this, trying to blackmail us for two mil.”
I frown. “Because it’s a lot of money?”
“Not to him, and not considering it’s even more risky because it’s extortion money. This was a gamble move for him, which doesn’t make sense because that new hedge fund he’s managing is worth close to ten billion. He doesn’t need two million buck—Oh, whoa.”
A smile spreads over Porter’s face as he scrolls.
“Oh, shit.”
“What?” Beckett growls.
Porter keeps scrolling.
“Porter,” I say softly, putting a hand on his arm. “What is it?”
His smile grows wider before he blinks and looks at Beckett and me.
“Justin’s fucked, is what it is.”
Beckett frowns. “Well, we can’t actually press any charges for the videos, I mean Kempton’s eighteen—”