Page 157 of The Price of Scandal

“Dude. Can we not with the insults?”

“Dude. You’re lucky your sister didn’t give me permission to destroy your face,” I shot back.

“Look, man. I’ll clear it up with her. It was a misunderstanding. Just lemme talk to her.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” I asked.

“Get what?” he asked, exasperated.

“You blew it. That was your last interaction with your sister. Ever. There’s no coming back from what you did.”

“So she lost her job. Lita’s gonna give me a title and some pull. Maybe I’ll make a position for Em after she apologizes.”

I laughed. The unbridled idiocy of this moron was making me crazy.

“Have you ever had any IQ tests? Taken your SATs?” I asked.

“My tutor took the SATs for me. My time isn’t best spent in some classroom.” Trey snorted.

“I can see that.” He was a fucking git, and it was all Venice Stanton’s fault. “Let me spell it out for you. You tried to take away the thing that mattered most to Emily. And now you’ll never see her again.”

“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“I wonder how your father will feel? He’s the one who holds the purse strings, isn’t he? He wasn’t too keen on helping you out of this jam before. How’s he going to feel when he finds out you tried to sabotage Flawless? Your sister’s company. He’s on the board of directors here. He’s got a vested interest. So really, you screwed him over, too.”

“Look, it’s not that big of a deal,” Trey insisted. “Emily was being a bitch. Lita and I taught her a little lesson. Whatever.”

“Now it’s my turn to teachyoua little lesson,” I said amiably. “You saw Lita leaving?”

“Yeah, what the hell happened to her face?”

“You’ll see in a minute or two,” I predicted. “Lita is being questioned by the SEC. Do you know what that is?”

“The better question is, do I care what it is?”

“Oh, I think you will. But some things are better left as a surprise. Your girlfriend Lita—”

“We only screwed a couple of times,” he clarified.

I shook my head to clear it. “Very well, your friend Lita is being investigated for committing fraud.”

“Jesus, what’s with everyone and this fraud bullshit?” Trey demanded.

“The government doesn’t like it when you fuck with people,” I explained.

“You’d think they’d have better things to do.”

“Be sure to make that point when they question you.”

“Me?”

“Lita has been in their custody for—what?” I glanced at my watch. “Five whole minutes now. How much do you want to bet that your name was the first thing out of her mouth? Oh, I forgot. You don’t have money. You can’t bet.”

“She wouldn’t…” But his slow, clunky wheels were starting to turn. I could hear the creak of unused machinery.

I glanced up and spotted the man I’d been waiting for.

“So, to recap, not only are you facing fraud charges for your little non-existent music festival, but you’re also going to be looking at some pretty serious charges from the SEC because you decided to take your sister down a peg or two and helped Lita Smith steal and sell a patented formula.”