18 Chapter XVIII

How dare he?! How fucking dare he?! I'm going to kill him. I stomped past his assistant, who tried to stop me. I ignored him and threw open the door. He looked up from his papers and as soon as he realized it was me who was standing before him, an obnoxious smirk materialized on his face.

"He came crying to you, didn't he?"

I crossed my arms.

"So predictable."

"What is wrong with you? Who gave you the right to..."

"I'm his boss. I have every right to let him go."

"Dad is his boss."

"And you think he wouldn't agree with me?"

"To fire one of the best workers here? Yeah, I think he would have something to say about that."

He smirked again. God, did I hate him.

"Not if I make sure he knows about you two."

I furrowed my eyebrows in dismay.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Do you think your father didn't notice there was a change in your relationship."

"Excuse me?"

"You are constantly protecting him, standing up for him, when only two months ago you couldn't be in the same room without shouting."

"It's called getting used to being around an idiot. You should be well aware of that concept since everyone who works with you has to live by it."

He shook his head.

"Insulting me won't help your partner."

But it does help me feel better.

"You know perfectly well there is nothing happening between us."

His face changed, grimaced. It seemed like he was getting angry.

"Then why do you care so much about the fag?"

His voice was positively poisonous. I knew him. I knew he was not a very accepting person. But I was still surprised by his choice of words.

"What did you call him?" my voice got a dangerous edge.

"You heard me."

I glanced to the upper left corner and smirked.

"And so did the camera."

He leaned back in his chair.

"It only picks up video, not audio. Sorry. Funny you didn't know that."

I was extremely pissed off. He gave his attention back to the papers. I slammed my hands on his desk and he almost stood up with a jump. A few papers flew off. He was just staring at me with wide eyes.

"Listen to me fuck-face, very, VERY carefully. You either not fire Spencer, because, we both know you have no real reason to OR I'm going to make sure your carer here, ends with an atomic BUM."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Very much so."

"I would be scared if you had something, but you don't. So get out of my office before I call security."

I wanted to claim I had something that would destroy his homophobic ass. But I couldn't.

I stormed out and slammed the door as hard as possible. I hope to god I broke something. As I stepped into my office, I was instantly met with a pair of blue eyes. I didn't need to say anything, because he knew. Like most of the time, he knew.

"You didn't manage to convince him," there was an unmistakable disappointment to his voice.

"I'm working on it."

"Lukas, you don't have to. I can handle it myself."

"You will not be needing to handle anything. I got this."

"Why are you so obsessed with this? And don't say ˝because we are partners˝, because that honestly never meant that much to you."

I glared at him. The frustration got the better of me.

"It's because he did it before!"

His mouth was slightly agape and he blinked a couple of times. We became quiet.

"Will you elaborate on that?" he asked after maybe a minute of silence.

I sat on a chair with a sigh.

"You know what happened to my last partner right?"

"Yes. You slept with her, so your father transferred her to some other position."

"That's part of the story. We had an ongoing ˝realtionship˝, which we kept under wraps pretty successfully until Kent found out and told dad. She was an awesome partner, we had such a good time and he had to ruin it. Just because she was an obstacle."

He nodded. I knew it sounded bitter.

"What is his plan?"

My eyes traced his face. It was soft and completely calm. It was exactly what I needed him to be. His question caught me off guard. He smiled, noticing my surprise.

"You mentioned it right before you stormed out. I do listen to you, you know."

I brushed my fingers through my hair. They were getting really long.

"He has a daughter, Sarah, who, by the way, can't stand the sight of me. Despite that, he has this idea that we should get together and marry someday."

"Why?"

"Because I and Victoria will inherit half of the company and so will Sarah. He wants the company to stay ˝in the family˝. And by ˝the company˝ I mean money and by ˝family˝ I mean him."

Spencer shook his head: "That's..."

"Idiotic? Sick? Batshit crazy?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

A small chuckle escaped my lips.

"Look I really don't want you doing anything insane. I can find another job."

My intense gaze met his.

"You are not going anywhere. I'll find something. You always say that there is always something."

He leaned his head a bit on the left. There was a confusion in his expression.

I smirked: "What? I listen to you too."

"If you feel like listening to me again, here's my idea. I would go to your father. If someone knows Kents' secrets, it's his lifelong friend and business partner."

That was when a realization came. I knew what to do.

"My dad was right. You are valuable."

I wasn't certain but I think his cheeks coloured pink.

X

I've been up all night. Killing myself over this, but it was worth it. After Spencer's advice, I had an epiphany and ran with it. My hard work proved to be very fruitful. When I stepped in the office building, I felt powerful. In my hand, I held a mean to absolutely destroy Kent in every way. I decided on a different plan, however. One that will be much more profitable in the future.

And fun also. For me, not so much for him.

Spencer wasn't here yet. No surprises there. I know I can be hard on him for being late when he actually isn't, but I just can't resist making him all pissy. It's entertaining as hell. I laid my cup on the desk and hanged my grey suit jacket on the chair. I was putting my hair in a small bun when my partner entered. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink either. Probably because of similar and at the same time, very different reasons.

"Morning. You look fresh," I quipped.

He just mumbled a response.

Coffee in his hand obviously hasn't kicked in yet.

"You look tired. And happy," he voiced his observations.

He froze: "You didn't kill him right?"

I snorted.

X

I stared at the door. It's been ten minutes since I called for Kent to come. Spencer's eyes darted from me to the door and back to me. He started tapping his foot.

"Do I have to be here?" he asked a bit nervously.

"It is about your future."

He rolls his eyes.

"Partly. And partly about your wish for revenge."

"My wish for revenge?"I repeated in a mocking tone.

"Yeah. A little bit like a..."

"Maniacal villain?" I completed his sentence.

He was surprised by what I said: "That was a freakishly accurate guess."

I smiled to myself, remembering what his roommate said about me.

"So what's the real reason I'm here?"

"I told you already."

"No, you didn't."

"Maybe I just want someone else to witness his humiliation."

He shrugged. I could see he didn't believe me.

"Or I hypothetically want you to see who a person you idolize really is."

"I don't..."

"Oh please."

"Ok, maybe I did, but not anymore."

I smirked a little: "Good to hear. He doesn't deserve it."

I wasn't turned to him, but I could still feel his eyes on me. I knew he was studying me. Trying to figure out if I was serious. For a change, it didn't annoy me or make me feel uncomfortable. It was kind of weirdly comforting knowing he was here. That was when the doors opened.

"You called?"

"10 minutes ago."

"Some of us have work to do."

"Yeah sure."

He sighed seeming to be bored: "What do you want Lukas?"

"I want to tell you that yesterdays' proposition still stands. If you don't fire him for the bullshit you made up, mind you, I will not completely ruin your career."

He laughed: "And I said you have nothing for me to fear."

He glanced at Spencer, probably just noticing him. Spencer didn't turn away from his eyes. Kents brows furrowed: "Or do you?"

I smirked and opened the file. I cleared my throat. For dramatic purposes of course.

"Police report. 11th February 2006, Palace Hotel, Las Vegas."

He stepped back, watching me suspiciously. Trying to figure out if I'm bluffing. In his mind, there is no way I could have known this.

"At 2.03am Las Vegas PD receives a call. There was excessive noise in the rooms 703 and 704. Upon arrival they discovered..."

"Stop it," he said slowly, yet quite aggressively.

I made eye contact with him and continued: "...Four ˝working girls˝ who were later arrested for prostitution. Two clients were questioned. After that, no further information is given about the clients. But I think we both know who they were."

Kent was either fuming or panicking. I glanced at Spencer who was completely stunned.

"I said stop," he commanded.

I almost laughed.

"I did some further digging. It wasn't easy, but I did manage to find what happened with the mysterious men. Turns out they paid off a few detectives and police chief, to erase them from all the records. Apparently, both of them were married already. One still is."

My eyes found Kents' again. He was raging.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU BRAT!!!"

"Insulting me won't help you," I mimicked his yesterdays' response.

"Do we need the names of those clients?" I turned to Spencer.

"I think we do."

He smirked to me. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. One that had to be mirroring mine.

"Liam O'Neal and...oh...Would you look at that...Joshua Kent."

His glare was murderous. I enjoyed this whole situation immensely.

"What do you want?"

I smiled, closed the file and handed it to Spencer. Not sure why I did that. I just had a feeling he would want to read it.

"I told you. If you fire him, all this information will be magically sent to your wife, every tv channel, paper, magazine, and radio station."

"You are blackmailing me. That's a criminal offence you know."

"So is firing an employee, because of his sexuality. I'm honestly doing you a favour. He could've sued you."

Spencer snickered beside me.

Kent looked at me, more at ease than I would have liked.

"If you send this, then your fathers' reputation is on the line too."

I laughed.

"Do you think I would be talking to you if I didn't erase every trace of his involvement. Mentioning his name in my speech was just for effect. There is nothing that leads him back to this affair."

He didn't respond.

"So what I'm proposing is, you leave us alone, only fire Spencer if he is being an incompetent idiot and this file, its' three copies, and a USB I've hidden, will not see the light of day."

"And you think they can't trace you?"

I scoffed: "Please. I know how to hide my footprints. Unlike you. And before you look around, I didn't allow instalments of any cameras here."

He shook his head and smiled.

"Too bad you are not a lawyer," I frowned, "You would have made a great one. It's a shame you are not always there."

I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes at him: "You really want to poke at me right now?"

"No, you win, but you should know that Karma's a bitch. I'll wait for you, either of you, to slip, because you will. Lukas, you don't even need that much to crack."

He was STILL way calmer than I would have predicted. Spencer was watching us, confusion plastered on his face,

"You better hope I don't. Who knows what might happen with this information if I...crack."

His attention turned to Spencer: "I don't know what makes you so special, but if I were you I would have cherished the moment. He doesn't usually stand up for people that are not himself."

He left the room without another glance at me. I let out a breath. This wasn't as humiliating as I thought it would be for him, but more importantly, now he knows I'm not one to underestimate. I fell back down on my chair and started laughing. It was probably, because of the relief I felt and also because of the face he made when he realized I know about his Vegas trip. Spencer looked at me like he was seeing some paranormal shit.

"What?" I asked with tears in my eyes.

"Nothing. It's just...I've never heard you really laugh."

"It's like everyone else's'. Nothing that special."

Has he really never heard me laugh?

"Yeah, if everyone else sounded like a hyena."

I chuckled again.

"Thank you, Lukas."

"No problem. It was fun. I haven't used a computer in that way since high school."

"What were you? A class hacker?"

I shrugged: "You could say that. People usually came to me to get past passwords and parental supervisions so they could watch porn."

He laughed, then got serious: "Did your father really..."

"Mhm. That's why my mom divorced him. She found out completely by accident when dad forgot to log off his e-mail. It took only one undeleted message to unravel the whole thing. That's how I found all of this. When you delete something it can always be brought back, if you know where to look."

"Suddenly I don't feel so safe anymore."

I chuckled.

His eyes sparkled in amazement and curiosity.

"What did he mean by you cracking?"

My heart sped up. Thank god for my poker face.

"Nothing. he just thinks that I crack easily under pressure."

He scoffed: "Then he doesn't know you at all."

I gave him a grateful smile.

"Oh, also I won't tell anyone about Kent or your dad."

I nodded. I knew he wouldn't. The crazy thing was, that it didn't even cross my mind to tell him not to. Maybe I trusted him way more than I was aware of. And to my biggest surprise, that didn't scare me at all.