Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
The meeting with Mr. Chen had gone great. Leonardo was there ensuring that the legal side of things were taken care of and as soon as the meeting over I pulled out my phone to call Delilah. But I got a message from a number I didn’t know telling me to check social media.
And when I did my skin crawled there were at least a dozen videos of Delilah dancing and stripping.
Leonardo was the only one in the conference room with me, he sat looking at me and when I got up to go to my office he followed. He stood by the closed office door looking at me as I frantically dialed Vega’s number.
“Vega! Hawthorne posted videos of Delilah online. I need them down, now.”
“I’ve been trying to take them down since they’ve been posted. I got an alert for her name being used. I bypassed security and reached the file, but the moment I deleted it, an automated script restored the video. No matter what I did, a fresh copy replaced the deleted one instantly. Someone wants to make sure these videos never disappear.”
“Shit!” I roared. I slammed my phone onto the table. My fists clenched and I drove my knuckles into the dry wall of the office repeatedly until a jagged hole appeared. I barely registered the pain as Leonardo moved and pinned my arms to the side from the back.
“Leo, let me go!” I screamed.
I tried to get lose from Leo but even though he was younger than I was he was taller and three times as big.
“No chance in hell that’s going to happen. You need to calm down so we can talk about this,” he said firmly.
I knew Leonardo was right. I forced myself to calm down and after I few minutes he asked, “Can I let go now?”
I nodded and I felt him release me. He guided me to the sofa and we sat.
“What’s going on? What videos of Delilah do you want taken down?”
“Hawthorne posted some videos of Delilah, of her past. Is there any way we can get him arrested for this?”
“What’s in the videos?”
I sighed, “It’s her dancing and stripping for men in a hotel room.”
I expected to see some sort of reaction from Leonardo, but his expression was blank. I guess it came with the territory of being a lawyer and hearing crazy confessions.
“If we have solid proof that he’s behind it, then yes, we can. If Delilah’s at the office today, let Tony take her home. Because this shit is about to blow up, and you don’t want her caught in it.”
I placed my head in my hands. “We went out last night, she’s been sick since. She thinks it’s an allergic reaction. She’s home today.”
“Good. Now call the others and tell them to come to your office now. Because knowing you, there’s more to this story, and it's time you came clean.”
Knowing that Delilah was safe at home. I focused on calling my brothers. Within the hour, they had gathered in my office, and I told them everything: about the fire, the continued threats, money that was stolen but was repaid by Mr. Jaxson, about Dean and how Delilah got roped into everything, Hawthorne’s threat to say Dean was in the drug trade and was a human trafficker, my suspicions that Hawthorne and Obsidian were working together but I couldn't quite make the connection yet, my threatening Hawthorne at his office, and the real reason why I married Delilah.
When I was finished, my brothers looked at me like I had grown an extra head.
“What is it with the men in this family who get themselves into fucked up situations and instead of asking for help decide to try to fix things on their own? What the fuck do you guys take us for? Chopped liver?” Vincent asked in disbelief, the anger in his voice unmistakable.
“The real reason you didn’t want us to talk to Victor was because you think Obsidian knows about Delilah’s past and he’d tell us about it. You were trying to protect Delilah, weren’t you?” Dominic asked.
I nodded. “But I made a fucking mess of everything. Hawthorne has exposed her. Some protector I turned out to be.”
“Call me the devil’s advocate, but what’s the big deal with Delilah’s videos being leaked?” Axel asked.
He put his hand in the air to ward off the insults the others were about to send his way.
“Here me out. I’ve seen the videos, and one, Delilah is wearing clothing. People go to the beach dressed in bikinis all the time. Not a big issue. Two, Delilah looks scared and she isn’t enjoying herself. Any smart person would know that she isn’t doing it because she wants to. And three, none of us here see her any differently because of the videos, and as far as I’m concerned, those are the only opinions that matter, excluding Emily, Lucy and Mrs. Kensington.”
“Axel does have a point.” Vincent stated. “However, we’ve all gone to parties where the striptease and lapdancers were intoxicating and I don’t know about you guys but I fully enjoyed myself.” Vincent looked around the room at everyone. “If she was doing it willingly, would it have been a problem? Would any of us now look at her differently? Her body, her choice if that was the case. I’m just putting that out there.”
“While the both of you have made compelling arguments, and I don’t think any of us would’ve given a shit if she’d done it willingly, but the fact is she, Dean and Seb are in danger and that’s where our focus should lie,” Leonardo stated gruffly.
“Leo’s correct. Hawthorne had been holding that leverage over your head for a long time, but now that it’s out there, what’s his end game?” Nate asked.
“Hope that my businesses will crash, sink Delilah’s reputation to the ground along with Dean’s. We didn’t even know they had those damn videos, although after getting the picture I suspected. But Delilah was more worried about Dean’s rep and how others knowing that he used drugs would affect him. That’s what got her to agree to Hawthorne’s so-called job in the first place.”
“But now that we do know they have videos, by sinking Delilah wouldn’t Hawthorne be sinking himself? Now that the videos are out, what makes him think that Delilah wouldn’t go to the police and report him?” Vincent asked.
“Fear. Dean was using drugs. If she squeals on Hawthorne, Dean could get thrown in jail, and Hawthorne has enough money to buy off judges, lawyers and juries,” Leo stated.
“But how does Obsidian play into all of this? Something still isn’t adding up.”
There was a knock on the door and Caite entered.
“Sir, there is a Victor Montgomery here to see you,” she looked at me.
Everyone froze.
“Sir, should I send him in?” she looked around the room then looked at me once more.
“Yes, Caite, thank you,” I said.
She nodded and left, returning shortly with Victor who she ushered into the office and closed the door behind him.
Victor looked way older than the forty-one years he was supposed to be. He had a lot more grays in his hair and his suit looked a size too large, which meant he lost weight. His eyes looked dull and there were prominent wrinkles by his eyes.
“Dominic,” he stated firmly.
“Victor,” Dominic responded in kind.
Victor didn’t move. He stood where he was and spoke. “Emily reached out to me this morning. We met at my house. When she arrived, she had Lillian.” His voice cracked a bit. “I hadn’t spoken to my daughter in over a year because of what happened between us.” He scanned the room before he continued, “After seeing the videos of Delilah, I had already decided to come here, because it could’ve easily been Emily, and as a father, what kind of man would I be if I withheld information that could put that bastard behind bars?” His voice hardened at the end.
Dominic nodded. “Thank you for coming. We appreciate it. Please tell us what you know.”
“A little over a year ago, Obsidian met with a few older heads of the Syndicate. Dominic, he was pissed when you and Sebastien had confronted him and threatened to take down the Syndicate.”
Dominic and I shared a glance, but we didn’t say anything. Victor looked at Dominic when he spoke. “He stated that you broke the code by telling Sebastien about Syndicate and the fact that you guys were able to gather all that information about them meant that you all were threats. He wanted the Syndicate to destroy you.”
Victor’s jaw clenched, “But, when everything came out in the open after Emily and Lucy were rescued from Amber, the other members understood why you would’ve thought the Syndicate was behind it and that you did what any upstanding man would do for his family.”
“But Obsidian wasn’t having any of that, was he?” Dominic asked.
Victor shook his head. “Obsidian wanted blood, your blood. The other members thought that going after you would be reckless and unnecessary. Obsidian knew that if he went directly after Dominic, the Syndicate would catch on…”
“So, he came after me.” I finished his sentence.
Victor nodded in agreement. “In every way possible. Since he couldn’t get everyone on board he recruited Hawthorne.”
“So Hawthorne is a part of the Syndicate,” Leo stated, and Victor nodded again.
“He also tried to recruit me, saying that any man who could sell out his own daughter and best friend would be the type of ruthless man he needed for the job.” Victor’s gaze softened. “I regretted everything I did to Emily, and I was still trying to get her to forgive me, so there was no way in hell I’d go after her brother-in-law. But even though I didn’t join him, Obsidian couldn’t help but brag. He was the one who threatened your staff so they’d quit and offered your vendors better deals so they’d break your contracts.”
“Fuck. I thought all those things were coincidental,” I said.
“They weren’t. He was trying to get you frustrated so that when the big plan was rolled out he’d get you right where he wanted.”
“What was the big plan?” Axel asked.
Victor focused on me as he spoke. “While Obsidian worked on you, including the protection fee threats and the fire, Hawthorne worked on Dean. He befriended him, even got him new clients. So when he told him about wanting to get the rare luxury cars, he already had Dean, hook, line and sinker. That’s when Obsidian made his move as a car dealership owner.”
Shit! That was the piece we had been missing all along. The connection.
I told Vega to check all the clients of Dean’s business right before he went bankrupt. Had I told him to check back a few more months I’m sure we would've been able to figure out that Hawthorne and Obsidian were working together earlier.
“Obsidian shipped in the cars, knew they were stolen and had forged papers, but him getting them into the country past security was child’s play because of his connections. They thought that after bankrupting Dean, and after he began to use drugs, he’d come running to you, because you were his best friend. But he didn’t.”
My blood ran cold.
“So everything that happened to Dean was because Obsidian was trying to get back at me?” I asked, my chest tightening.
Victor nodded.
“But, why did he want Dean to come to me?” I asked confused.
“Because if he came to you and you found out that Obsidian was the one behind it…”
“And Seb had lashed out, he could’ve gone to the Syndicate and said Sebastien was now a threat. Fuck!” Nate said angrily.
The others swore under their breaths.
“Correct. So when Dean didn’t do as they predicted, they got hold of Delilah. They did a fake police raid and let her get away. But she didn’t run to you either, even though she knew you were Dean’s best friend, so they emailed her CV to you. She’d been sending out so many e-mails that she would’ve never remembered if you were one of them.”
I had to give it to Obsidian, that fucker thought of everything.
My voice was strained as I spoke. “So everything that Dean and Delilah went through was because of some kind of sick vengeance scheme because of Obsidian? Is that the reason why he killed Eso and his boys?”
“Yes, and he planted that picture for you to find,” Victor stated. He continued, “The problem however was when you did get pissed off you went to Hawthorne and not to Obsidian. Hawthorne's boys were the ones who ambushed you and when I found out, I decided to leverage it. I wanted to see Emily and hoped that because you guys are now family that she would jump at the chance help you.”
My head felt light. Eso, Dean and Delilah had all been affected because of me.
"That shit was a lot to unload,” Vincent nodded.
Everyone nodded. “But now we know that Obsidian is itching for a fight. We can’t give him the fight he’s looking for, but we damn well can make sure that he never fucks with any of us again,” Dominic stated.
“Guys, there’s one more thing.”
Everyone turned to me.
“I found out that Lucy had been crying herself to sleep after my accident.”
“Fuck,” Dominic whispered.
I focused on Dominic. “She didn’t cry in front of you because she didn’t want to look weak in front of you.”
“But she’s six!” Dominic exclaimed. I could see the hurt in his eyes.
“That’s the same thing I said. Also, she knows that something is up and she’s worried. Worried that something else would happen to me. Sometimes, we forget how old Lucy is because of how she interacts with us, and that’s something that we need to change. Honestly, I don’t know how, but the fact that she thinks not showing emotion is a good thing—I’m worried what else she’s been hiding from us, from you, Dominic.”
I saw the frustration in Dominic’s eyes as he passed his hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to Emily when I get home.”
“You can’t let her know I told you or she’ll never tell me anything again,” I told him.
Dominic nodded. “Let’s get these fuckers out of the way so we can focus on Lucy.”
We all agreed.
For the next two hours, my brothers and I, together with Victor, came up with a plan on the best way to take down Obsidian and Hathorne. Victor was able to get someone from the Syndicate to take down the videos. And by the end of the meeting, we were one step closer to taking Hawthorne and Obsidian down.
I extended my hand to Victor when he was ready to leave, “Thank you. For everything.”
He shook it firmly. “You’re family. No thanks needed.” He left.
Dominic patted me on the back. “Seb, you look like shit. Go home and take care of your wife.”
Leonardo asked, “Are you going to tell her that everything that happened to her and Dean within the past year is because of your connection to Obsidian?”
I scratched my head. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want any secrets between us, but I don’t know if telling her is going to be the right thing to do.”
Axel shook his head. “You’d better tell her before someone holds that over your head. I don’t know about you guys, but having to deal with the Syndicate and its members is cutting it too close for all of us.”
“I agree. Tell her,” Dominic said. “Delilah loves you. She’ll understand that none of this is your fault.”
“I sure fucking hope so.”
After a chorus of goodbyes, I finally left my office feeling lighter than I had in a long time. Now the only thing I had to worry about was Delilah.
An hour later, I walked through the front door. In a rush to see her, I left my jacket and bag in the SUV.
“Sweetheart, are you—”
Before I could finish my sentence, someone lunged at me and hit me with a punch to the face that sent me reeling backwards.