Page 48 of Delilah In Discretion

Calvin held his hands up in a sarcastic manner. “Fine, if you sodesperatelywant the details, we made anagreement.”

“What kind ofagreement?” Killian pressed.

Calvin thought about it for a moment. “Well, now that I think about it, it wasn’t much of an agreement... more of a compromise or a negotiation.”

“I don’t care what the hell you want to call it, Calvin. What the hell did you do!” Killian yelled, causing some to flinch, but Calvin stayed motionless.

Pouring himself a glass of champagne, Calvin smiled, tipping the glass towards Killian.“We’re back in business, baby.”

Chapter sixteen

Delilah

Sitting beside my mother in my father’s office, we watched silently as he paced back and forth. Zachary and Ivory stood next to us, Zach looking furious with his arms crossed and Ivory looking petrified as she watched my father’s every move.

He stopped pacing after a moment and looked out of his window. He cracked his neck to the side and sighed heavily.

“Zachary, take your sister to her room,” he instructed, and I already had a feeling of what was going to happen.

Zach grabbed Ivory’s hand and practically dragged her out of the room as softly as he could, closing the door in the process. I gulped softly as he let out a dark chuckle.

“He’s playing me. He’s got people in the fucking back of everything I’m doing, and now he’s trying to become a part of my fucking company.” He let out a humorless chuckle. “And he thinksI’mthe desperate one.”

He paused for a moment, and I thought about saying something, but I yelped in place of it as he threw one of the chairs into the corner, effectively breaking it. As a reflex, I latched onto my mother’s hand while she sat unbothered as shewatched him, but put her other hand over mine to comfort me somewhat.

“Killian... relax,” she suggested, and he ran his fingers through his hair as he glanced at my face momentarily before walking to his desk chair.

A few moments went by, and the door opened with my brother and Uncle Blaine and Shin coming in as well.

“I don’t know how the fucker did it, but he has seventy-five percent of the investments in our real estate department, and if we do anything too irrational right now, it may go under. It’ll take months to get it back where it used to be, and that’s counting out all the press the media will try to cover with the topic,” Uncle Blaine explained.

My father sighed heavily. “How the hell did this happen?”

“We were unaware that Crawford had an affiliation with the investment group, and the majority of the finances from the ‘investors’ they speak of come from Calvin,” Uncle Shin explained, and my father put a smile on his face, a menacing one at that.

“So, to be clear, for the time being, Calvin is basically calling the fucking shots somewhere in my company…”

“And the only way we could successfully erase this problem is if Calvin withdraws from the deal...” Uncle Blaine said.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, well, for me at least.

I stood up and excused myself quietly. Hearing my mother following behind, I turned to her as she closed the door.

“Mom, what is going on?!” I asked her impatiently, and she sighed.

“Calvin is doing what he does best: screwing people over and only making things right when he gets what he wants in return.”

“Well, what does he want now? He’s already a part of Dad’s business and slowly beginning to drive him to the brink of insanity, again for like the hundredth time.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t know what he wants, but I know I cannot endure an angry Killian for too long. There’s only so much I can take, and once I’m worn out for the day, there’s not much I can do.”

I crossed my arms warily as I looked at her with nervousness. “But you know how he gets when he’s like this...”

“Which is why you and your siblings are going to do your best to stay on his good side.”

I gave her a look. “Dad doesn’t have a good side in times like these.”

“Okay... so in other words, try not to piss him off.”

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