TWENTY-TWO
Everything was set. The police officers were informed, Tara was called away for a photo shoot, and Bobby had the fake webpage set up. They just had to wait for everything to go down and the police to swarm in and arrest his father. So then why was Mick worried that something would go wrong?
Because he knew his father. His father could take down anyone – and not in a good way.
After giving Nicole a kiss and sending her off to her office this morning, Mick made his way toward his office. He walked a little taller and puffed out his chest a little more. He couldn’t help it. Loving Nicole did that to him.
As he greeted everyone along the way, they wouldn’t meet his eyes. Some even snickered behind their hands. Unease slowly grew inside of him. Something wasn’t right. Why were these people acting this way toward him? Yesterday, most of them were polite and at least carried on a decent conversation with him.
When he made it to his room, he was convinced there was some kind of rumor going around about him. Why else would the staff look at him as if he was the brunt of someone’s joke?
He sat behind his desk and turned on his computer. He drummed his fingers on the desk, waiting for it to boot up. The first thing he did once he was able to log in was check his email. The top email stood out more than the others did because the subject line was all in caps, reading – IS THIS THE KIND OF PRESIDENT YOU WANT FOR OUR COMPANY?
The sender was from someone unknown. That wasn’t good at all.
Cautiously, he clicked it open. Pasted inside of the email were the photos that Mary had taken of Mick on his bed with his arms around Nicole as he pretended to be passed out.
Bile rose to his throat and his stomach churned. Who had gotten a hold of those pictures? Nicole had told him that Mary deleted them off her camera.
Mick quickly checked the email to see where it had been sent. Inwardly, he groaned. Everyone employed at Adkins Dev-Tech – along with the shareholders – had gotten this email. They didn’t need to click on any attachments because of the way the photos were pasted right in the body of the email.
Nicole is going to see this!
Mick shoved away from his desk and raced out of his room. He didn’t care that everyone glared at him. He only needed Nicole and to stop her from reading her email.
When he reached her door, he didn’t knock but quickly entered and closed the door behind him. She sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide and watery.
Slowly, her gaze moved to him. The tears fell down her cheeks and she slowly shook her head. “Who did this?”
He moved around to her side, kneeling beside her chair as he took her cold hands in his. “I don’t know, but I’m thinking someone got a hold of Mary’s camera before she could delete the pictures.”
“I... I need to talk to her,” Nicole said with a tight voice.
“My father was behind this, I just know it.”
She nodded. “I believe that, but he wouldn’t have been able to bribe Mary. She’s my best friend. She wouldn’t do that...”
She peered back at the screen. Seconds later, she crumbled as her hands covered her face. Her shoulders shook with sobs. His heart twisted in agony. How could he take away the embarrassment she must be feeling?
“Come here.” He pulled her up from her chair and led her to the sofa.
Once they were both sitting, he took her in his arms as she cried on his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s mine,” she mumbled against his shirt. “Mine and Mary’s. We were the ones who came up with this plan to blackmail you.”
“No, it’s mine.” He stroked her hair. “I should have gotten rid of my father sooner. I should have told him that your grandfather turned over the company to me. If only I hadn’t kept it a secret, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
