Page 39 of Glitter

Travis’s eyes bulged as his face grew even darker, before he slumped, the fight finally going out of him.

“Bet you never thought you’d be doing that move again so soon, huh Amy?” Blue asked quietly, still devastated about his phone. “Congrats again on your rise to black belt status.”

I raised an eyebrow at Blue’s words and glanced at Amy, who simply shrugged. “I went from brown belt to black belt yesterday morning at my jiu jitsu presentation.”

Travis groaned.

I smiled. “Congratulations.”

Amy shrugged again, this time with a cheeky grin. “Thanks.”

Finally, I pressed the button on my phone to stop the recording, then looked up to search for the face I’d seen hovering at the door, pocketing my phone as I did so. “You can come in now, Mr. Eckersley. It’s safe.”

The room went quiet at my words as everyone realized who was in attendance and what he’d probably seen.

Roman Eckersley, the head of Eckersley’s Institute, had seen and heard at least my interaction with Travis. It was highly possible that he’d seen and heard far more.

Travis knew it, too. His face paled as the full extent of his words and actions finally crashed down upon him.

Matthew grinned and turned to find Roman standing behind him. He held his hand out to shake Roman’s hand. “Thank you for coming, sir. I wasn’t sure if you’d see my email until later.”

Roman said nothing as he returned Matthew’s handshake and patted him on the shoulder, simply nodded at him with a tight press of his lips. He stepped around Matthew and approached Travis, still held fast by Amy, who wasn’t letting him go for anything. Just as Travis had done with Blue before, Roman loomed over Travis’s crumpled form on the floor, looking both furious and disappointed.

“This isn’t—”gurgle“—what it—”cough“—looks like,” Travis said hoarsely, his throat convulsing with every second word from the way Amy’s leg was wrapped around it.

The disappointment grew even further when Roman shook his head and folded his arms in front of him. He blinked, oh so slowly, and let out a long sigh before he lifted his face and looked at me. “I’d like a copy of that video sent to my office, as well as a copy of any other recording you might have of Travis’s…” Roman sneered back down at Travis, and with a jolt, I saw a distinct familial similarity between the two. “… indiscretions.”

“Uncle, please…” Travis pleaded as he flexed under Amy’s tight hold.

A gasp went through the room at the implication of his words.

Amy narrowed her eyes and pulled Travis’s arm back even further, making him whine again. She didn’t seem that shocked by Travis admitting that he was related to Roman, and neither did Matthew or Blue. I’d have to ask them about it later.

“You’ll have everything emailed to you by the end of the day, sir,” I said to Roman, who nodded his thanks without removing his attention from Travis. I motioned Blue over to me. “Including a copy of Blue’s recording, which wasn’t destroyed, as much as Travis would like to think otherwise.”

Blue picked up the pieces of his shattered phone and walked slowly over to me. I hugged him into me, tipping his head down so I could kiss his forehead.

“Are you okay?” I whispered to him, my palms on his cheeks.

Blue only nodded, his bottom lip trembling slightly until he chewed on it.

I took his hand, and we both looked at Roman to see what was coming next.

“Good,” Roman said, nodding once before catching himself. “Who should I be expecting the email to come from?”

I released a slight smile. “My name’s Henry Porter, sir. I work for Thomas Wigner up in Engineering.”

“Ah, yes. I know young Thomas,” he said, nodding again before he took a deep breath and squatted next to Amy, his elbows resting on his knees as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Travis, Travis, Travis. You and I both know this was your last chance.”

Travis’s eyes went wide, and he began squirming anew.

Roman turned his head to Amy. “You have him, Miss…?”

Entirely at ease, Amy barely moved. “Amy Greening, sir. I work with Blue for Matthew,” she said, her voice completely steady. “And this one’s not going anywhere.”

“Amy. Good.” Roman turned back to face his relative, his eyes narrowing as he lowered his voice. “This is how it’s going to go, Travis. First, I’m going to call the head of the family trust and remind them of the morality clause in your monthly stipend, and how you’ve breached those terms by what I’ve seen here today. I believe that means you’ll be cut off from the family fortune. I hope you’ve been saving your pennies.”

Travis’s jaw ticked as he shot daggers from his eyes, first at Amy for keeping him pinned, then at Roman for what he was saying.

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