Page 53 of Her Beastly Billionaire Rock Star
Emilia took it and looked it over. She pulled a box from the bag sitting at her feet and stuck it in. A tiny light turned green, and she removed it and promptly put it in her laptop. “Had to scan for viruses first.”
Moving around the coffee table, Charlotte took a seat next to Emilia with Malakai joining her. If this little card held any sort of information, no matter how small, Charlotte was going to be overjoyed. Not that she wanted the business anymore. At least, not taking it from Octavia. Maybe she’d start fresh and offer an alternative to her stepsister.
One file showed on the screen, and Charlotte sagged. Just one file? “I guess that’s better than nothing.”
Emilia clicked on it, and it opened, showing a video file which she clicked. A frame of Charlotte’s father pulled up, and she hit play.
“Charlotte, if you’re seeing this, it means my plan worked. I’m so sorry it took this long, but Octavia is nothing if not thorough. I couldn’t trust anyone. I’ve tried sending you several messages, but Octavia found a way to prevent it. The last time I tried, she threatened to hurt you. At that point, I didn’t feel safe risking it.”
Charlotte looked at Malakai. “I had no idea.” She turned her attention back to the screen.
“I donothave Alzheimer’s. I’m perfectly healthy, but to keep in contact with you, I had to pretend. Do you remember your car having trouble on the way back from school that Thanksgiving your sophomore year? She’d had someone tamper with your car. She said if I tried anything else, she’d make sure the next time you didn’t find the problem soon enough.”
Gasping, Charlotte leaned in further. “Yeah, it was scary. My brakes wouldn’t work.” Not that her father could hear her, but for some reason, she took comfort in responding.
“Octavia played me. Knowing how her father treated her and her mother, I should have realized it, but I was desperate to show her I loved her as much as I loved you. One minute, she was sweet, kind…warm. The next she was ruthless.” He sighed. “Now, about the car.”
She definitely wanted answers to that.
“I hid it before Octavia could sell it. When I saw you with Mr. Raven, it made me wonder what was going on. Then it was released to the press that you would be attending the auction with him. It was my opportunity to get it to you. You’re probably wondering who bid on it, but it was me.”
Malakai groaned. “I was bidding against your dad.”
“Jeffrey kept his visit a secret by offering the charge nurse front row seats to a basketball game. Hopefully, Octavia has no idea he visited or that I still owned the car. Charlotte, if she does, you’ll need to be careful. She’s become chummy with some of the darker sides of Los Angeles. I’ll go now. I hope to see you soon.” He smiled, and the video went dark.
“Wow. That was really clever,” Emilia said. “Your dad is brilliant.”
“No kidding,” Ryder said. “Has he thought about undercover work?”
Charlotte closed her eyes and seethed. Yeah, she’d let go of wanting the business, but that didn’t mean she wanted Octavia to keep it. Her stepsister was about to get a dose of her own nasty medicine.
Chapter 26
“Idon’t like it.” Malakai glared at the two people on Emilia’s screen. “What if Octavia knows Charlotte has this information? You heard her dad. The woman has threatened to hurt Charlotte.”
Ryder nodded. “That is a risk, but we’ll have a team close by. If something does happen, they’ll be able to get to her before anything can happen.”
Once her father’s video had ended, Charlotte had remained quiet as the rest of them discussed what they could do to trap Octavia. Or if there was a way to. So far all of the suggestions had Charlotte confronting Octavia, and Malakai was not okay with that at all, especially after finding out the woman had a license for a gun.
Emilia sighed. “These guys are the best. They won’t let her get hurt.”
Malakai pinned his gaze on Charlotte. Her silence was scaring him a little. “Could I speak to Charlotte alone?”
“Sure,” Emilia said, picking up her laptop as she stood. “We’ll give you a few minutes.”
When he heard the office door shut, Malakai dropped his arms to his sides and walked to Charlotte, taking a seat beside her. “Are you okay?”
She swallowed hard and looked at him. It was a lame question because he could see the strain on her face. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m running hurdles and I keep tripping over them. First the press conference, then the car, and now this? It’s a lot to take in such a short time.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. I had no idea Emilia would show up today. I suspect, like me with the car, she was using my apology to mask returning to the house. If your sister is as well-connected as you think, there’s a good possibility she knows about Emilia and what she’s been trying to do.”
Charlotte came off the couch and crossed her arms over her chest as she paced. She growled. “One second I’m so angry I can’t think straight, and then next, I’m aching. All this time, my dad has been perfectly healthy, and Octavia kept me from him. She made me believe that he had to be at that facility just so she could keep her thumb on me. I don’t understand it. Why?”
Malakai shrugged. “I don’t know.”
She abruptly stopped. “I spoke to her before the conference…before Bella left. I got angry and told her my father was better at running the business. Oh, you should have heard her. She was livid.”
Malakai stood and caught her by the shoulders. “We’ll figure out something to get the business back.”
