Page 67 of The Arianna Arrangement

“What if he didn’t have power and connections?” All eyes turned towards Potter. “You all keep saying that Bradley won’t go to prison because of his father. What if we could take away that power?”

Dad leaned back in his seat, his brows furrowed. “Explain.”

A grin spread on Potter’s face. “The Blackwood’s own basically all of the media in the country. When he makes a call, everyone jumps. What if I could hack into his email and send out a message telling all of his companies to run with a story that wasn’t just false, but slanderous and libel. Hurt his bottom line and get rid of some of those connections?”

Atlas smiled. “It’s not a bad plan. But it would have to be a huge swing. It would have to be against someone major for it to make a huge impact.”

“Or…” Ari looked right at me, “hear me out before you interject.” Her attention turned back to my dad and uncles. “What if we made it dangerous? Instead of going against one of his connections, we go against someone that would wipe him off the board in retaliation instead of going after his assets. He’d have to take his son and himself and go into hiding to make sure they were protected. Doing that would get rid of Bradley sooner rather than later.”

“But it would put their lives at stake. Both of them. They haven’t done anything to deserve that.”

Dad rubbed his hand across his jaw. “Actually, I’m not sure that’s true.” I whipped my head around to him. “When you came to me at the end of the school year saying Leyla and Ari were putting a hit on Bradley, I decided to do some digging in case we got to this point. While I can’t be sure that the younger Blackwood is in on it, it appears the older one has his hands in some illegal cookie jars. One of which is selling women on the blackmarket.” His eyes flicked to Percy. “I think he may have been behind the auction that Archibald bought Sterling at.”

Percy’s jaw clenched and his eyes lit with fury as he looked at Potter. “Do it. Ruin him.”

Chapter 32

Arianna

Going to school the next day after creating a plan, but not seeing it come to fruition felt a little anti-climactic. It was like when I walked out of my father’s study after planting the pill that would eventually kill him. I was going to have to be patient, and that was not a word that could really be used to describe me.

I couldn’t ride to school with Leyla today due to the orders of the parents. Until Bradley was no longer a risk, all of us had to go to school with our security. It pissed me off because I was the one to handle the situation the day before so I really didn’t understand why Christian had to come with me.

From the look on Potter’s face when I walked up to the ledge where Leyla was holding court, I wasn’t the only one pissed off. He’d thrown a fit yesterday when Atlas declared all of us, even Potter and Brennan, would have security with us at all times.

Doug, Pott’s guard, and Lewis, Leyla’s guard, stood off to the side together, eyes scanning the crowd. Christian joined them when we approached.

“Ugh.” Leyla rolled her eyes. “Why do we all have to have security guards just because Pott got jumped yesterday?” Her eyes flicked towards her cousin. “Probably wasn’t even jumped, just didn’t want to fess up to his dad that he likes a little violence when getting dicked down.”

The decision had been made that no one outside of that room would know the truth. The story would be that Potter had been jumped and robbed by someone when he was in town. In theory, it was a big enough threat that the men would want their children to have protection with them, but not something that would make most of the kids bat an eye. Telling them the truth, however, would risk ruining our plans.

If Bradley thought his attack had scared us into having guards with us, he would be less likely to think we were plotting revenge.

If he thought we weren’t plotting something, then he was dumber than I’d given him credit for. There was no way in the world I wouldn’t go after someone that came after my family. It wasn’t how my genetics worked.

Potter scoffed and pointed to his face. “I might be good with rough sex, but I would never allow anyone to mess up the money maker.”

“So you admit you’re nothing but a pretty face?” Leyla grinned smugly.

“I meant my big brain, but good to know you think I’m pretty.” He winked at Leyla before hopping off the ledge and heading in the building.

It didn’t escape my notice that this was the second day in a row that he’d followed Carlisle inside, but if he wasn’t ready to share, I wouldn’t pry.

Leyla’s voice pulled me back to the conversation. “What I don’t get is how someone was able to get the jump on him. I’ve seen him take down Apollo in the ring, so how did some random thug take him down and steal his wallet? And why was there a random thug in Crestwood?”

My bestie was smart, so I wasn’t surprised she was asking questions. The story was flimsy at best. “I have no idea, Ley. Maybe this place isn’t as safe as it seems.”

“If I can’t get dick because of the guards, I’m going to need more toys. Who knows how long this stupid security mandate will last. My dad is seriously over protective.”

Leyla dropped Karly off at home, then came back to my place to pick me up to go shopping. Of course, Lewis and Christian were in tow.

“Honestly, I’m kind of surprised we’re not locked down. I mean, if Potter got jumped in town, doesn’t it seem silly that they’d have guards following us to school, but still let us go around town?” She eyed me as we got out of the car at our favorite sex toy store, Kiss and Tell.

That look said it all. She knew, or at least suspected, that I knew more than I was letting on. Keeping secrets from her sucked, but I knew I had to. “They’re not really just letting us go around town, though. I mean, we’re not trapped, but we have to have our guards with us.”

“You’ve always had to have a guard around town. That part doesn’t surprise me. I’m not even surprised that I have to. I’ve been waiting for the day that they started requiring it. But at school? We’ve never had that. Even you have to admit that it’s weird.”

I shrugged. “Who knows. I just know that we have to do what they say, for now.”