Page 82 of Broken Player

“Where’d all his money go?” I asked. Reputation was everything to his family, and I doubted his parents would’ve sent him off to college empty-handed. Especially after I’d gotten a look at the Ivy League douche squad he called friends.

Sebastian shrugged. “I can only trace parts of it since he took cash out for a lot of his spending. If I had more time, I might know more. But legal fees, failed business ventures, and insane spending habits mostly. Prostitutes, leasing cars, houses, boats. You name it, he’s bought it at some point.”

“What kind of failed business ventures?” Ryan wondered, still scanning the pages of transactions lying across her lap.

A smile stretched across Sebastian’s face. “He tried to start his own cologne company. Oh, and then there was the pocket square business. And then the porn production company. Too bad everyone watches that shit on the internet for free.”

Ryan stacked all the papers together and set them back in the folder, closing the blue file and pushing it back toward Sebastian. “Okay, we have all of this information, but what are we going to do with it?”

“We’re going to sit on it for a couple of days while we decide on the best course of action,” I decided. “We have something more important to deal with first.”

“What?” she asked.

“The fact that Sebastian dug in and that fucker really does own the ranch. But I’m going to get it back, Freckles,” I promised. “He’s stealing because he needs money, right?”

She nodded.

“He’s going to wait until he gets the satisfaction of kicking your family out, and then he’s going to try to offload it as fast as he can for as much as he can. But I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“How the fuck do you plan to do that? He knows who you are,” Connor pointed out.

“No, shit. I’m going to need Sebastian’s help.”

At the mention of his name, he perked up, lifting his eyes off the tablet he’d snatched from Connor and buried his face in it. “What’s up?”

“I need you to create some sort of mask or shell company or something to make the offer through. And then I need you to contact Yates’s lawyer and make an offer above market. Well above. I don’t want him to counter or get suspicious. Make it seem like I’m a big-time ag company wanting to buy up farms in the area or something. I don’t give a fuck as long as it works.”

Ryan had pulled my hand into her lap, threading our fingers together and squeezing. I knew she hated letting me do this, but she was out of options. So, she stayed silent with a look of appreciation sparking in her eyes.

“You got it. When do you want it done?” He was already tapping aggressively on the tablet’s screen.

“As soon as possible. Today if you can.”

“Done,” he assured, lost in whatever he was doing.

“Anything else?” I questioned.

“Now we talk about the best way to decimate one perverted asshole,” Connor announced with a menacing grin that stretched almost unnaturally across his face making him look goddamn terrifying.

“I’m listening.”

An uneasy feelingcrept through me as the rest of the day was quiet. After everything Yates pulled, I didn’t think for one goddamn second he would quit after I threatened him at the bank. At best, I thought I might buy myself a day or two while he figured out a new strategy. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to let shit go.

When my phone buzzed on the nightstand, I jolted out of bed still fully naked. Ryan shifted, sitting up as the sheet fell away from her enticing body, blinking the post-orgasm haze from her eyes as she watched me.

“Fuck,” I cursed as I answered the call. “Please tell me you’ve got good news.”

“”Fraid not, mate,” Harrison’s soft voice confirmed. “Have you had the TV on at all tonight?”

“No, I was busy doing something more fun,” I answered, eyeing Ryan as she laughed softly and winked at me. She was so goddamn sexy, even though I knew I was about to get a gut punch in the form of some retaliation by Yates, my cock hadn’t gotten the memo. It sprung to life and, like a goddamn divining rod, pointed right at Ryan.

She crawled across the bed, letting the sheet completely drop away. I groaned as she wrapped her fingers around me, pressing light kisses to the head of my dick before running her tongue along my entire shaft. Harrison’s voice slammed me back to reality, though. “Turn it on CNT.”

Ryan made a protesting sound as I pulled away from her. I sure as fuck didn’t like it any more than she did. Stalking out to the living room completely fucking naked, hard on bobbingbetween my legs, I gripped the remote and turned the TV on, flipping through the channels until I found the right one.

And when I did? It was like dipping my cock in ice water, it went down so fast. Sinking down into the soft cushion, I clenched my jaw. “What the fuck is this?”

On the screen in front of me was Russell, mydad, talking about shit he had no goddamn business discussing with anyone, let alone publicly. All I could see was fucking vengeance because I knew, I fuckingknew, Yates was behind this. I’d been a public figure for years, and Russell had never once tried to profit from it. It was the only decent thing he’d ever done.

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