Addicted (The Addicted Series, #1)(53)

Charles grinned at me with that smug look of his, pissing me off further. “So you see, James, your son is nothing but a liability to this company like everyone has known all along. I’m not asking for anything that isn’t warranted here. Tyler will forever be a thorn in Armex’s backside while he remains employed here.”

Dad looked around at all the photos scattered around his office, gathering his thoughts. “So let me get this straight. You want me to get rid of my son in exchange for your not releasing these photos to the press?”

Charles beamed. “Correct.”

“Charles, I’m not the sort of man that responds well to blackmail.” Dad snorted and turned toward me. In his eyes, I could see the anger reflected there. After all the great work I’d been doing lately, I’d now managed to upset him again.

“I’m sorry—” I began.

My dad waved me off. “Don’t be.” He turned back to Charles, who was smugly adjusting his clothing, looking as if he knew that my title, what he’d been after for so long, was finally his. “These photographs are truly unfortunate,” Dad said. “And I can’t tell you how upset I am that my son is a part of them.”

“Don’t worry,” Charles said, casting a triumphant glance my way. “No one will ever see them, and maybe Tyler will learn to have better judgement in the future—”

“But I won’t be meeting your demands,” Dad interrupted.

Charles froze. “What?”

What the hell are you doing? I wondered.

“You heard me,” my father growled, tossing the photograph he’d had in his hand to the floor with the rest of them.

“You’re making a very big mistake,” Charles warned.

“In fact,” my father retorted, unperturbed. “Once my lawyers are done with you, you’re going to be lucky if you avoid jail time.”

Despite the dire situation, I let out a mocking chuckle. At least he had my back.

Charles shook his head in disbelief. “You’d throw your company’s image down the drain all on the account of your son? Someone who disrespects the position he holds?”

“Our competitors will use it against us, no doubt. But we’ll recover,” Dad said, walking around to his desk and placing both hands on either side, fixing Charles with a glare that looked as if it could burn a whole right through him. “But you? You won’t recover.”

Charles was at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“Now you can take your threats and shove them up your ass, because you’re fired.” He said, making Donald Trump sound like an amateur. “Get him out of here.”

“My pleasure.” I grinned.

Though I was worried about what would happen with Armex and the effect on my relationship with Victoria if the pictures were released, it was comforting to know that my dad had my back.

I walked over and grabbed Charles by the arm. “Let’s go.”

“You can’t fire me!” Charles yelled as I led him to do the door. “This place will crumble without me!”

Dad laughed. “Everyone is replaceable. Someday you’ll learn that, Charles.”

Charles struggled against my grip as I dragged him, but he was no match for my strength. I dragged him, kicking and screaming like the little bitch that he was, out of the office.

I walked over and gathered all the damning photos and stuck them back in the envelope and turned to face my father. “So,” I said. “What now?”

I expected him to go off on me, yell at me and shame me for putting us into this position. Instead he grinned at me and said, “It looks like we’re hiring.”





Chapter 28





Victoria





“I heard you had quite a week,” Christine said to me as I stood before her desk. My boss was sitting there looking super sharp as usual in her leopard dress of all things, flawless makeup and an elegant updo, smiling at me as if I were the winner of some unknown prize.

Christine had continued to progressively show me more respect. She was even asking for my opinion on matters and complimenting me on what I wore, which was an absolute rarity.

All in all, I had to wonder if finally standing up to her that day I almost quit caused her to respect me.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied respectfully.

She sat back in her seat, her eyes on me. “I heard that Tyler Locklin interrupted one of my auditions.”

I paused, not sure where this was going. Christine had known about this incident since the day it happened, but she was just now mentioning it. I hadn’t told her that I’d resumed my relationship with Tyler, not sure how’d she react—not that it was any of her business. “Yeah, but the audition was almost over when he did, and April got rid of him fairly quickly. I’m sorry, Christine, I know I said he wouldn’t cause any more trouble.”

Christine raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Did she?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what was he doing up here in my office after hours?”

I froze. Did she know? There’s no way she could’ve known, could she?

“One of the interns said she saw him coming up here.”

Relief flowed through me as I realized Christine didn’t know the extent of what went on in her office. I’d done my best to clean up and get everything exactly right, after all.