Page 23 of Forever Filthy

Call me crazy, but I would rather it be one of the first two. They are familiar and reachable but Alexander isn’t. Everyone has heard the rumors. He claims to be innocent of the crime he was accused of and hey, he might be, but he sure as fuck was no saint. He was the head of one of the deadliest crews in the nation and since his arrest, the Denver Kings have essentially vanished. I’m pulled from my thoughts when the double doors open and a man wearing a pair of plain jeans and jumper appears. I gasp, I recognize him! His blond hair styled roguishly and his blue eyes shine with warmth.

“Mrs. Tempest?” It still shocks me to be addressed asMrs. Tempest. I stand and smile as I make my way toward him with my hand outstretched, he wraps his larger one around mine.

“Call me Vivian, please,” I say with a smile.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Crue Hastings,” he says with a nod and releases my hand as he leads me inside. Crue Hasting was drafted into the NFL and had an amazing fucking career in the league. I pause in the entryway when I spot Dawson sitting there beside a mirror image of himself—his father. Including Crue and Dawson there are only six people in the room and I was led to believe there were more members of the board. Each of them stands from their seats and makes their way toward me with their hands outstretched. I recognize another two of them, Corvin Williams and Saint Morgan, both of them were in the NFL as well.

They’re all dressed in plain clothes which makes me feel overdressed in my pants suit.

“Darius Lockhart,” the first guy says as I shake his hand. The next one is Saint and I swoon. I had a crush on him years ago. I beam when Corvin Williams shakes my hand.

“My brother is a huge fan,” I blurt. Corvin smiles and ducks his head in thanks. The next to step up is Dawson’s father, Beckett Dawson. After the introductions are made, Crue leads me around the table and pulls a seat out for me. I look at Dawson feeling nervous but he shoots me a reassuring smile. Crue rounds the table to join the others. The six of them sit at one end of the oval table. I sit alone at the other end.

Saint reaches for the folder in front of him and opens it. He hands the others a piece of paper each, then focuses on me.

“Mrs. Tempest?—”

I cut him off. “Vivian, please.”

He nods. “Vivian, I must give you credit, you are very persistent.” I fight not to smile.

“Our wife is the reason we are taking this meeting.” I gape at Crue then dart my gaze between him and Saint, he saidtheir wife.

“Katie was impressed with the way you hacked her system.” I bite my lip and smile sheepishly at Beckett.

“I would be lying if I said I was sorry,” I admit, which has all of them chuckling.

“Impressing our wives isn’t an easy feat, Vivian. The fact you managed to impress all four of them means they see something in you we don’t.” My confidence waivers at Corvin’s decree. “We’re all curious about why it was so important you met with us specifically.”

“What makes you think it was you five I wanted to meet with and not the board?” I retort.

“You may be able to hack Katie’s system but she is better and counter hacked you without you even knowing. My wife doesn’t like it when another woman snoops around my background and tries to force her way into a meeting with me and her brother. You have ten minutes to explain yourself or this meeting is over and you will never get another chance,” Darius bites out. I look to my only friend in the room. Dawson nods for me to continue so I take a deep breath and do just that. I put my bad bitch hat on and channel all the big dick energy I have—if I can take the three alpha males like I did last night, I can take these guys.

“Okay, can I be frank?” I ask.

“Fuck formalities, Vivian. Give it to them straight or they will get bored and stop listening,” Dawson says. I nod my thanks.

“Okay. I know that you five are the owners of BCD’S?—”

“That isn’t a secret.” Saint cuts in to add.

“But it was at the start. The three of you managed to funnel from your investment in the stock market into a small startup that led to you owning a multi-billion dollar resort franchise.”

“Your point?” Darius clips out.

“My point is that I need to know how you did that.”

They all share a loaded look before Beckett eyes me and the scrutiny with which he assesses me has me fighting not to fidget. “Why would we tell you that?” he asks.

“The only reason I am disclosing this information is because I received the signed NDA from Alexa Williams a week ago.”

“Nothing you say will leave this room regardless of an NDA,” Corvin tacks on.

“Upon my investigation I found that some of you faced a similar problem as I currently do. I have a… company that I need to funnel money from without my… partners knowing and put it into a company under my name.” I cringe at how vague that sounds but I can’t give them more details than I already have. I have the basics down but I need to funnel the rest out so there is nothing left and the accounting team will know if I drain all the accounts.

They remain silent for a long moment studying me, then they begin speaking in hushed tones while I sit here trying to strain my hearing but still can’t manage to work out what they are saying. When they break apart, they all face me with serious looks.

“I can see here upon Katie’s investigation into you that your twin brother and his three friends transferred here.” I grind my teeth and force myself to nod, I don’t want to involve any of them in this. Corvin smirks then continues. “You get your brother and his three friends to agree to finish out their schooling here at CHU and bring our team to the championship four years in a row. You have a deal.” I balk at him.

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