Page 5 of A Linton Scandal

Standing up, I turned my back to him.

“Hey, Linton. Wait, I still have something to say to you,” before he could finish what he had to say. My guards grabbed him by the arms and forcefully escorted him out. “You can’t do this to me. Don’t you know who I am?—”

His voice was cut off by the door shutting behind him, I looked down at my wristwatch. “Thirty minutes gone.” Time was something that should never be wasted. I glanced at Nao, who immediately nodded.

“I’ve already contacted the necessary people. Your morning appointments have been shifted around, and the meeting with the Brazilian ambassador has been changed from a lunch to a dinner,” he said.

I nodded, walking over to the window. I stared down at the city below, my playground. “And the other thing?”

“The bartender has been captured, I had Callin take him to your second property, Morta Estate. So far, he’s only confessed to being bribed to serve the drugged alcohol, but he doesn’t know by who, or why.”

I watched as people made their way to wherever it is they needed to go. For me, it was akin to watching ants, and to be honest they were ants in comparison to me. Not that I naturally looked down on others. My father had been wise enough to teach me the dangers of being arrogant. I’d pushed myself to be the strongest, fastest and the smartest in everything so that it wasn’t arrogance that held me up but my own abilities.

“Two months have passed already,” I said aloud.

The night I’d been called to come drink with a few of my father’s old associates, at the Sky bar I’d already been prepared for them to attempt something. Afterall, most of the other executives hated me. Since I’d taken over the company when I was twenty-two they’d been trying to bring me down, from stirring trouble between my father and I to trying to ingratiate themselves to my brother.

It never worked because my father had never put anything on a platter for me. Now at the age of thirty-seven, their tricks were dwindling.

Too bad for them I’d been raised in a den of starving lions, and not once did I lose my seat. In their desperation they’d sought to sully my reputation by scheming to destroy it. Fools, the only thing they’d done was put targets on their backs.

Sadly, I couldn’t treat them the old Linton way and have them taken care of by a few associates. I had to be more cunning.

And while I knew the old fogies had been in on the plan, they couldn’t have been the masterminds. Someone else had to be behind them, and that person was powerful enough to give them the courage to do it.

I would first pin down every single one of them and watch them squirm. Luckily my reputation did not suffer, thanks to Nao who tracked me down and dragged me out of the hotel. While strategically using our resources to block the media and erasing the video footage of my blunder of following a woman into her room.

Yet, even with that I’d lost a major chess piece. I’d decided to use the position of wife for when a good match and deal came up. As the eldest I couldn’t marry irresponsibly. Unlike my brothers, my wife had to be someone who could benefit the Linton’s and take them to the next step in this cutthroat world of business and there were only four families that fell in that realm. Firaldi, Khari, and Ajian, unfortunately that chess piece was now up in the air.

“Let’s go, I want to see him,” I said, leaving the office. I’d invested too much time in gathering those who’d tried to take advantage of me. As we reached the elevator I paused. “I almost forgot, what about the girl?”

As usual Nao immediately answered. “The bartender couldn’t confirm or deny if she was in on it. But he did tell me she drank from the same bottle you did.”

“Hmm,” I reached out and pressed the button to the elevator. “And that other thing?”

I noticed immediately that he didn’t answer right away, I didn’t bother to glance at him. “Answer me,” I snapped as my annoyance grew.

He sighed, before nodding his head. “She is indeed pregnant. Her test came back positive.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or… No, I knew what I had to do but this wasn’t something I’d planned on. I hated when my shit was derailed because of an unaccounted for variable. I couldn’t wait to meet the fucker who’d planned this behind my back. Once I was done with him, he’d be nothing more than a smear under my shoe.

“After I finish with this rat, we’ll go meet her.” And she better fucking pray, that I’m in a forgiving mood. Because if she thought for a single second, she could take advantage of me using the child in her womb, then she’d lost her mind.

* * *

A screamof pain filled my study. I leaned back against my chair, keeping my cold gaze on the man who sat across from me tied to his chair. There was a plastic tarp under his feet, so that his blood wouldn’t get on the Prussian carpet beneath him.

“P… please, I don’t know anything else I’ve told you everything,” he panted out.

“You’ve said this, and once again I don’t believe you.” I lifted his cell phone up. “Your text messages tell me you have a hunch as to who hired you.” I swung it between my two fingers. “It also tells me you’ve done dirty work for them before.”

Tossing the phone up, I caught it and grinned at him. “Tell me, Trevor, who hired you to spike my favorite liquor that night?” I stood and pushed my long coat off. It fell to the ground. The sheathed handles of the knives I wore came into view. I could see the fear growing in his eyes, he obviously thought I was planning on using these knives on him. And I might, since he thought it was nothing to continue wasting my time.

The sound of my shoes was muffled as I drew closer to him, he shrank his neck as I stared down at him. “Do you know how much time I’ve spent trying to piece together who had the courage to fuck with me, two-damn-months. The fucking money I’ve poured out, only to learn you’d runaway which forced me to send my men after your rat ass to drag you back—shit, I’m getting to that age where this shit makes me tired.”

I wrapped my fingers around the phone, drew my arm back and swung. The feeling of my knuckles smacking into his jaw, felt exhilarating. “I. Am. So. Fucking. Tired.” Breathing hard, I took a step back and swept my hair back and glared down at his bloodied face.

I wrinkled my nose at the smell of piss in the air. “Did you piss yourself, shit.” Laughing, I shook my head in amusement. “If you’re this scared of being hit a few times how the fuck, did you have the courage to serve me some laced shit.”

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