Page 83 of My Brother's Billionaire Best Friends
Parker’s eyes meet mine. “You don’t think it was just Vanessa being Vanessa?”
“No.” I don’t want to say the words, but they come out anyway. “I think it was Vivian’s script. Vanessa was just the actress.”
Harrison crosses his arms again, heavy and solid like a boulder you can lean against. “We’re not done tracing everything. But there’s one thing I know for sure. Vivian’s financially tied to Icon PR. If she wasn’t our enemy before, we know damn sure she is now. Gavin, I’m sorry for this, but?—”
“Vivian Thatcher was an enemy long before we knew about Icon,” Jack says. “Now it’s up to us to clean up her mess.”
20
HARRISON
I didn’t thinkit would feel like this. I didn’t think saying it out loud would make the air go this still, this sharp. Like a storm passed through and forgot to take the lightning with it.
But I said it. And the silence that follows is so deep, it hums.
Gavin stares at me like he didn’t hear it right. Like if he doesn’t speak, maybe it won’t be true. His jaw’s tight, his hands fisted at his sides, his posture frozen—too still to be neutral.
Jack’s already halfway to the next thought, pacing near the floral wreckage of the bar, lips parted like he’s got a list of theories he’s been waiting to unload.
Parker?
She’s still. Seated at the edge of the riser, eyes down, like she’s trying not to absorb the explosion about to go off in front of her.
Gavin’s voice breaks the silence first. Cold. Controlled. “It’s not possible.”
I nod once. “You saw the same evidence I did.”
He shakes his head. “She hates Icon.”
“She owns thirty percent of it.”
“That’s. Not. Possible.”
“She did it through two shell corporations and a bridge investment portfolio in Zurich. It took a lot of work to trace it cleanly, but it’s all there. Dated transfers. Legal structures. Her financial manager’s signature.”
“No,” he snaps. “Vivian wouldn’t?—”
“Why?” Jack cuts in, hard. “Because she’s your mom?”
Gavin’s eyes flash. “Because sheknowswhat they are. Because she’s the reason this company even exists—because she built VT Global from the bones of my father’s affair and his mistress’s rehab PR stunt.”
“She’s also a part of that same PR firm,” Jack says. “The one you’ve been fighting your entire career.”
“She hated Vanessa,” Gavin says.
“Until she didn’t.” Jack stops pacing. He folds his arms. “Come on, man. Think about it. She’s been griping about how you run things for years. Complaining about Parker. Whining about Heather retiring when it wasn’t onhertimeline. The woman’s bored, bitter, and still connected to half the board. Who benefits most from this leak? From this chaos?”
“She wouldn’t sabotage me.”
“You sure?” Jack’s voice sharpens. “You sure she didn’t just pick the longer game?”
Gavin doesn’t answer.
I watch him closely. And I see it—the denial. The fury. But not aimed at Jack. Not really. It’s aimed inward. He just hasn’t figured out how to aim it yet.
I step in. Calmer. Slower. I know I have to tread carefully. “I didn’t want to believe it either.”
His eyes swing to me. Jack quiets, letting me talk. Parker doesn’t move.
