“What is the meaning of this? What the hell are you doing here?”
Colton strode in with a grin. “Just thought I’d stop by for a drink. Got any Johnny Walker?”
“Get the hell out of my office. Sarah!”
The woman ran in, hands twisting and lips pursed. “I tried to stop them,” she said.
“Don’t worry,” Jack said smoothly. “This won’t take long.”
Evan puffed out his chest but nodded crisply at Sarah. “If we’re not done in five minutes, call security.”
Sarah hesitated but stepped out of the office, pulling the door shut with her. Jack claimed one of the leather club chairs facing Evan’s desk, his demeanor relaxed. But beneath the nonchalance, a simmering rage radiated off him that even Evan was smart enough not to ignore.
“What do you want?” Evan barked, returning to his chair.
“Time to eliminate the middleman,” Colton said, matching Jack’s deceptively easygoing tone. “So let’s just get straight to the heart of the matter. Thirty million.”
Evan chuffed. “You can’t be serious. You think we’d still consider giving you a penny to endorse us after this?” Evan pointed at his swollen purple eye.
Colton had to flex his fingers just to keep from giving him another one. “I’m not here about the endorsement.”
“Then what the fuck is the money for?”
“My silence,” Jack blurted out.
Colton blinked. This was . . . not the plan. They were supposed to demand the money in exchange for Colton not holding a press conference and, well, all the shit they’d discussed at the house. And then the money was going to go straight into helping Gretchen expand her clinic.
Evan scoffed again. “Silence about what?”
Colton wanted to lean over and ask the same question.
“About this.” Jack pulled a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket and then tossed it on the desk. Colton would’ve side-eyed Jack if that wouldn’t clue Evan in to the fact that Colton had no idea what was going on.
Evan swiped up the piece of paper. “What the fuck is this?”
Same, dude. Same.
“Read it,” Jack ordered.
Evan uncreased the paper, and the man’s face morphed from obstinate insolence to a queasy shade of dread.
“I’m guessing Anna doesn’t know?” Jack said, his voice chillingly quiet.
Know what?!
“This is blackmail,” Evan growled. “I will call the fucking police. I will sue your ass.”
Jack managed to sound bored in his response. “Ever heard of the Streisand effect? Not sure you want to do that. And anyway . . . blackmail is what you did to Gretchen. This is a negotiation.”
“What do you want?” Evan’s jaw clenched so tightly that Colton could’ve sworn he heard a tooth crack.
“Several things.” Jack leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, as casual as a man discussing the score of last night’s hockey game. “First, you give us that piece of shit contract you made Gretchen sign this morning so we can burn it. She retains all her inheritance and shares, and she gets a spot on the foundation board.”
Evan’s nostrils flared.
“Second, that thirty million dollars? Gretchen’s clinic is going to receive an amazing anonymous donation that will allow her to start an endowment and expand.”
Evan’s face turned to stone. “What else?”
Colton gulped. What else, indeed?
“You step down as CEO of Carraig Aonair.”
Evan leaped to his feet. “Fuck you.”
Jack waved off the dramatic display. “You can claim whatever cock-and-bull excuse you want. Illness. Time with family, which, obviously, you need right now. I don’t care. But you’re done with this company.”
“And if I don’t?”
Jack looked at Colton for the first time and lifted his eyebrows.
Oh. Right. He leaned forward. “If you don’t, I call a press conference right now and tell the world everything. How you blackmailed your sister. How you erased the security video. How I did, in fact, beat the shit out of you because you’re a sack of shit.”
“That makes no fucking sense. You’d just be admitting to charges that are about to be dropped.”
“Of course it doesn’t make sense to you,” Colton said. “Because you have no idea what it means to sacrifice for someone you love. That’s the difference between you and Gretchen.”
Evan rounded the desk with a sneer as ugly as his soul. “She talked you into this, didn’t she? I can’t fucking believe it. You of all people. How the fuck did she get her hooks into you?”