Page 4 of Hers To Keep

Outside the door of the room, I find Luke Prescott, Carrington’s older brother, and another of my uncle’s parasites, guarding the door. He straightens up as he sees us approaching, his eyes moving behind me to find the Spencer twins.

“Ladies, gentlemen, Remi, what can I do for you?” he asks as we approach, making a dig at Remi. Luke Prescott is nothing like his sister Carrington. His hair is dark, compared to her blonde, Goldilocks hair. They’re like night and day, the conceited, spoiled princess, and the rebel black sheep.

“You can move the fuck out of our way, Prescott,” Bass orders, taking the words right out of my mouth. I’ve never liked Luke and started liking him even less once he started working for my uncle about three years ago.

“Hargrove already in there?” I ask, stopping in front of him. He nods, moving slowly to grab the doorknob.

“Must warn you though, pretty boy, the sight ain’t too, well pretty.” I glare at him, ignoring his remark as I push the door open.

Stepping into the room, I find it unnervingly dark, with just a dim lamp hanging from the ceiling over the man of the hour, who’s tied up to a chair in the middle of the room. His dress shirt is wrinkled and slightly ripped at the sleeves, the buttons popped open revealing his flabby gut that’s waxed by duct tape, and turned bright red. Not to mention his gray dress pants are grossly stained in the middle. The drunk fucker must have pissed himself from the excruciating pain of the waxing.

I turn back and shout at Luke who stands by the door. “Who the fuck did this to him?”

“The boss said we needed to rough him up a bit for you,” he says, awfully proud of his stupidity.

“A bit? You fucking tortured the bastard, made him piss himself.” My mood instantly goes from impassive to angry as I look at the idiotic look on Luke’s face. How the fuck am I supposed to get Hargrove to talk if he’s already been fucking tortured?

“Some men just can’t handle it,” he mocks, only pissing me off more.

“Get the fuck out, Luke!” I shout, and his smirk quickly disappears.

“But the boss said,” he stutters anxiously.

“I don’t give a fuck what he said. I’m here now, and I say get the fuck out.” I turn to look at Alek and Beck, barking orders at them. “You two guard the door and him, make sure he doesn’t leave your side.” They both nod their heads pushing Luke out and slammingthe door behind them. I look to my right and find Remi and Lex standing against the wall looking terrified at the scene before them.

I walk over to Hargrove who sits with eyes bulging out of his sockets, as he watches me approach, looking more terrified than the twins. “We brought you two little gifts to enjoy a bit before the real fun started, but it looks like my uncle’s minion got ahead of himself. The girls aren’t gonna want to play with an old fucker who pisses himself at the show of a little pain.” His body tenses at my arrival before him.

On the table beside him are a few tools used in these interrogations: a pocketknife, a taser, a wrench, and two rolls of duct tape. I violently rip off the piece of tape that covers his mouth, as he lets out a horrifying shriek.

“Fuck!” he shouts, causing the girls to jump back. They don’t need to be witnesses to what’s about to happen. If I’m to question Mr. Hargrove, I need to do it alone.

“Ladies, I don’t think we will need your services any longer. You’re excused.” They both nod nervously as Bass opens the door for them to exit.

I turn back to Hargrove whose head hangs low trying to avoid eye contact with me. “So, Eli Hargrove, what have you done to make my uncle so angry with you?” I say, grabbing a chair from the side and sitting cross-legged before him.

“I… I have done nothing, man,” he stutters nervously.

I sit up, elbows upon my knees, the way I’ve always watched my uncle do, as I berate him. “Sir, you shall call me ‘sir’.”

“Yes, sorry, sir. I don’t know why I’m here, sir. I’ve always been loyal to your uncle, to your whole family. I’ve kept quiet about his businesses, covered up when he needed me to. Transferred money to his offshore accounts; I’ve done it all.” And there goes that loose lip again running like it’s got somewhere to be.

“Who are you exactly, Eli Hargrove?” I ask, confused by his pleas.

“I’m his accountant, your family’s accountant. I’d never blackmail him, sir. I’m not smart enough for that.” And there it is, the mystery behind my uncle’s unusual behavior unveiled. Blackmail. Someone is blackmailing Wesley. He honestly thinks it’s this pathetic fucker. This man isn’t capable of speaking without stuttering, pisses his pants at the show of a little pain, and surely looks like he’d get down on his knees and fucking suck me off and beg were he not tied to this chair. That and the fact that he looks like he’s about to cry.

“Why’d he think it was you?”

“The letters, they came from my office, with stationery that has my office’s name on it. I was out of town, some family affairs I needed to take care of.”

“So it looked suspicious that you weren’t there?” I ask, standing up and pacing around the room.

“Yes, he thought I’d run. But I would never.”

I need to find out who it is that’s blackmailing him, and if this has anything to do with why he’s become so obsessed with Scarlett. “Do you have a list of employees, clients, people who’d have direct contact to your offices?”

“Yes, yes. The list is probably long, but I can give it to you. I’ll have my secretary send it over immediately. I have a sign-in log as well for the time I wasn’t there. I’ll give it all to you, I’ll cooperate. I have nothing to hide, sir, I promise.”

Suddenly, we’re interrupted by a loud commotion coming from outside, the door abruptly swung open.

---