Page 89 of His Rules

“What’s going on?” Kacey said from beside me.

I was shaking from rage, still trying to process the fucked-up clues Ashley had tossed out. “I don’t know.”

“That was your ex-wife.”

“Yes.”

Kacey sat up, holding the sheet over her breasts. When she touched me, another powerful wave of heat collided with the anger. “What is she threatening?”

“Ruination for one.” I immediately moved to the internet on my phone, searching for the local newspaper’s website.

It didn’t take long to find what Ashley was referring to.

“Oh, fuck.”

Kacey rose onto her knees, peering over my shoulder. “What is it?”

“We have a problem.”

The word wasn’t adequate. While what I shared with Kacey wasn’t wrong by any standards, the optics including the timing were terrible.

Plus, it was evident a photographer had been hired to spy on us. Some of the photographs had been taken from outside therestaurant. However, they weren’t as damning as those taken of our time spent in the pool right outside the door.

At this point, I couldn’t hide what was already in print, the photo taken as I’d laid her in the bed where we’d made love three times during the night.

As the woman I’d grown to care about tremendously locked eyes on the pictures as well as the racy headline, I made a pact, a promise that I would avenge her honor.

Drake had gone too far. Now I would destroy him.

CHAPTER 24

Sebastian

“Mr. Winfield?”

I lifted my head from the file I was working on. The receptionist had popped her head in. Her face was beet red.

“What is it, Jenny?”

“I have a reporter from theSt. Louis Sunon the line for you. He insisted he speak with you.”

It wasn’t even nine-thirty in the morning and the shit had hit the fan as expected. I’d recommended Kacey not come into the office, but she’d insisted. However, the press wasn’t getting a minute of my time unless I decided to consider a lawsuit. Fortunately, nothing that had been said up to this point was worth spending the time, money, or effort.

“Not a chance. Tell them I’m in meetings all day.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath after she left. I tossed my pen and raked my fingers through my hair. This shit was going to get messy. I’d started the battle. I had to see it through, but now, I was dragging Kacey down with me.

She was a smart girl. She knew better than to talk to the press, but as one of the owners of the wealthiest company in town, false news that I had a mistress when I was, as far as they knew, still married was too juicy to bypass.

I’d purposely kept my divorce from the papers, which had been no mean feat. But it also had left the door wide open for speculations. I jerked up from my desk, walking around the end and trying to determine my next move. Until the auditors had completed their examination, I’d still need to face the board. No, they couldn’t shit-can me unless Drake had already managed to fabricate evidence I was stealing from my own company.

My door was pitched open and before I had a chance to react, a brutal punch was thrown in my face. I stumbled backwards, hitting the edge of my desk and immediately offered a swing in return without thinking.

The punch landed squarely in Daniel’s face, forceful enough to toss him backwards, his foot catching on a chair leg. He went flying halfway across the room, landing on the floor.

Within seconds, several people came rushing into my office, their mouths open as they gawked at the sight.

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