Page 88 of Boost

Outside I was calm and collected, inside I was scattered and torn between my head and my heart.

Only, once Arlo was gone and Colton was making calls, did I acknowledge the tremor running through my hands.

I blindly reached for my cell phone and typed inRafferty Delgado.My breath stilled out of fear for what the results would show. A shuddering exhale released as my eyes skipped over the search results, seeing words but not comprehending them through the daze of disbelief.

I sank into my leather armchair and pressed a trembling hand to my mouth when the first photo appeared.

A mugshot.

Or more specifically,Raf’smugshot.

The face of a young man, no more than a boy, yet so much like the man I’d grown to love, stared directly at the camera with the same jaw clench and vacant void in his eyes I’d caught glimpses of. So broken. So hollow. The image captured how lost he was and exposed that for all the world to see.

Cracks formed through my heart. Over and over again every time I looked at the photo. I scrolled down to another photo with the caption‘Fourteen-year-old arrested and charged with his father’s murder’.

Hearing Colton sit on the adjacent couch, I looked up to see his face cloaked in an unreadable mask as he read from his phone. He briefly met my eyes, then looked away with a heavy swallow. We stayed silent and within our own heads as more little parts of us died with each new article we opened.

“What the fuck?” I whispered in disbelief.

Words here and there stood out;family violence, child abuse, self defense, multiple weapons on property, multiple shots in the back, bled out, mother in critical condition and not expected to live, sister missing.

My stomach twisted further as I read on. They’d painted Raf as a cold-hearted killer that held no remorse purely because he refused to speak after the incident.

I was torn between shattering for him and what he went through, and seething inside for the way I’d found out about his hidden past. I had an inkling he’d kept something from me, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would be something like this. Something sohorrific.

I startled when Christian burst into my office. “The fuck, Greer!”

My hands noticeably shook as I held out my phone. “It’s true.”

He spluttered a couple of times, then fell silent as his eyes skimmed the article.

“Of all the things, I never expected…” I shook my head, feeling as if I’d been blindfolded, spun in circles, and then stabbed in the back.

Tian sat on the arm of my chair and reached for the crystal decanter of scotch. After haphazardly pouring one for himself and one for me, he offered a third to Colton.

Colton held up a hand. “I can’t stay. My independent publicist is losing her shit. Plus I need to meet with my attorney A.S.A.P. Christian, get Elvia to set up a meeting for tomorrow.”

Tian and I rose to shake Colton’s hand, and I stole a quiet word before he left my office.

“Colton, I’m so sorry; I feel like this is all my fault.”

His green eyes seared into me as he shook his head. “It’s not your fault at all. Shit, none of us saw this coming. It’s fuckingblownmy mind. I’m pissed, but not at you, or him for keeping this to himself. I’m pissed at the media for doing what they just did.”

“You’ll file for defamation?”

Colton twisted his lips in thought. “Undecided yet. As for now, we continue as we were and push ahead. Let’s hope this all blows over real fucking fast.”

With that and a final nod, his broad shoulders angled as he pushed through the glass door and headed for the elevator.

I turned back to Tian, now seated on the couch and jiggling his knee restlessly. He took another large sip of scotch.

“We’re going to dig up every last bone of this skeleton, Greer. You and me, starting now. Roxiee!” he then shouted. She appeared in a beat to receive his instruction. “Bring in my laptop, please.”

Her eyes darted to me before she hastened to Tian’s office, returning at record speed with his laptop. “Can I help with anything else?”

I nodded while forcing my brain to function properly. “I need you to field all calls apart from ones from Colton or Rafael, and don’t engage with the media. Tell security that no-one without swipe access is allowed in, and for meetings already scheduled, theymustbe escorted through the building.”

“Got it, babe.”

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