Page 37 of Charming Deception

Ultimately, I’m pretty sure Graysen doesn’t want me to lose the game any more than I want to lose it.

“Then, by all means.” I call his bluff. “Do what you have to do. Hand my job over to Harlan and let him represent us in the media.”

I fucking dare you.

The constipated look is back. “Harlan isn’t… palatable… as a public face of this company.”

I snort. “Understatement.”

“And Damian is best left an enigma.”

“You mean a dirty secret that hides in plain sight.”

Graysen’s jaw twitches.

“I’ve given you my word. What more do you want me to do to prove I’m trustworthy on this? Wear a chastity belt?”

“I want you to put your money where your mouth is. Remove yourself from the immediate handling of all female talent. Hand them off to your team. Stick to the men. You’ve got this whiskey deal with Jesse Mayes, all the hockey endorsement deals with the Northmen. Focus on those.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“From where I’m sitting, you look eternally constipated.”

“You’d have trouble taking a shit too if you knew your entire family, your thousands of employees and your dead grandparents were all watching your every move, every moment of every day.”

Yeah, I have to admit that sounds exhausting. At least I only have him breathing down my neck.

“So, in summary, I’m an out-of-control playboy who’s destroying the family reputation. Damian owns a sex club, but I can’t have a sex life?”

“Damian is discreet. You’re not secretly banging your secretary or privately indulging in a kink. Your sex life gets smeared across the internet at least once a week?—”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“And we haven’t even gotten to Nina Joy yet. You were photographed with her in Vegas two days ago.”

And here we go.

“She’s been all over the web for months dating a famous soccer player,” Graysen grits out, “and there she is, two fucking days ago, in your arms, kissing you.” He’s actually getting mad, a flush of red creeping up his neck.

It’s not like Graysen to get mad at me.

As the oldest, eight years my senior, he became like a parental figure to me after Dad died when I was only eleven, and Mom remarried and lost interest in motherhood.

Maybe he really thinks I’m lying to him.

What can I do but keep telling him the truth?

“Yes, I saw Nina in Vegas two days ago. And yes, she kissed me. She kissed me. Someone caught it on camera, and now it’s online. But that kiss was not reciprocated. I didn’t touch her except to remove her from my body, which she was trying to climb. End of story.”

“So you’re telling me nothing happened?”

“I’m telling you what happened. And that was it. She tried. I turned her down.”

My brother’s jaw is twitching again.

“You don’t believe me.”

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