Razor: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance(35)

The video cut to outside a large brick building and a podium that was surrounded by reporters and flooded with studio lights. A tall, skinny man suit was huddled off to the side, talking to a group of men who looked like city officials and several men in uniform.

Mayor Bradley was nowhere in sight.

After a few moments, the conversation ended, and who I assumed was the Mayor’s lawyer walked over to the podium with a piece of paper in his hand.

He sat the paper down on the podium and opened his mouth, “Good Evening, everyone. My name is Steve Zucker—”, but was promptly cut off from the avalanche of questions coming in from all sides.

“Please, please!” he shouted over the tumult. “Let me give the statement and then I will take a few questions.”

The press continued to bombard him with inquiries, but when they saw he wasn’t going to answer until he had his say, they quickly quieted.

After a moment of silence, Steve cleared his throat and then began speaking, periodically reading off the piece of paper on the podium.

“Like the rest of us, Mayor Bradley was horrified at the footage that is making the rounds online, and equally horrified that people are jumping to the conclusion that it is him in the video committing this most atrocious act.

For a while now — even before this video surfaced — the Mayor has been under pressure from his peers to resign from office because they don’t like the way he runs things.

That’s the reason for this video suddenly surfacing, folks. As you all know, Mayor Bradley has an impeccable track record, and coming from a modest background, he’s a far cry from the corrupt career politicians that so infest our government.

Since his first day in office, Mayor Bradley has fought to turn this city around. As a result, the city is in much better shape than before he came into office and Mayor Bradley is committed to continuing his work as a steadfast public servant despite this slanderous attempt to destroy everything he has worked so hard for.

Lastly, Mayor Bradley wants to vehemently assure the public that the man committing murder in that video is not him, and he asks you to give him and his family privacy in this most difficult time going forward. Thank you.”





Steve nodded his head at the press and pulled away from the podium, causing reporters to howl in protest.

“Hey you said you were going to take questions!” Someone yelled.

“When is the mayor going to resign?” Someone else shouted.

“Why isn’t the mayor here himself answering questions!”

“Can you believe the balls on that guy?” I asked in disbelief with an angry shake of my head. The hypocrisy of him was galling, releasing a statement boasting about what an honest public servant he was and how he was a fighter of corruption, when clearly he was one of the most corrupt individuals to ever take office. “It’s clearly him on the video and yet he still tries to deny it.”

Mason stared at the TV screen where Steve could be seen gesturing animatedly at the people he was talking to. “What else do you expect? A guy like him isn’t going to just admit to it and go to jail for the rest of his life.”

Back on screen, one of the men in uniform speaking with Steve, broke away from the group and approached the podium.

He was immediately inundated with shouted questions, but he remained silent until the din calmed.

“Good evening members of the press,” he greeted, leaning forward to speak into the microphone. He had a deep gravelly voice that sounded like he was a chain smoker. “I’m Sheriff Appleby and I’m here to try to answer any questions you may have.” The crowd of reporters began to once again shout out questions over each other, but the Sheriff quickly waved them down.

“But before I take questions, I want to let everyones know that we have received the video in question and are currently reviewing it. Rest assured, our investigation will be meticulously thorough.”

“Does anyone know how the video got released?” a male reporter shouted over the din of voices.

Appleby was quick to reply, almost too eager. “We do, in fact. A notorious hacker who goes by the name of Razor is thought to be behind this leak. His real name is Mason Keller and he is a member of the group Anonymous. Keller is wanted in connection with this case. We are asking that if anyone knows anything about his whereabouts, please contact us immediately.”

“You said the video is a leak,” said a woman reporter curiously, “does that mean you’ve been sitting on this damning video for months?”

The Sheriff froze for a split second before answering. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that at this time.”

The question and answer session between the press and the Sheriff continued, but Mason turned off the TV.

“We need to start planning,” I said right away, my mind racing with ideas. “We’ve got to clear your name.”

Mason shook his head. “Like I said in the beginning, they’re going to make an example of me. You just heard what the Sheriff said. I’m a wanted man.”

“There has to be a way.”

“I’ll go into hiding until it blows over and they stop searching for me. Maybe flee across the border.”

Pain lanced my side. I couldn’t handle Mason disappearing out of my life again.

Especially with how close we came to . . .

I shook my head vehemently, “No, you can’t do that. What we should do is—”