Chapter 48 Nothing to Speak Of

Chapter 48 Nothing to Speak Of
Chris:

"I don't believe Dad has nothing to do with Zayd," I said, trying to pull my brother's attention from whatever had him glued to the screen.

He hadn't so much as glanced at me since I walked in.

"I guess you need a busier schedule to erase that foolish thought from your mind." Liam finally looked up, glaring at me for a few seconds before his eyes dropped back to the display.

"I remember telling you never to speak of it again," he added as his brows knitted.

"I can't stop. Not with so many things raising my suspicion." I tried to reason calmly.

I knew better than to push. Liam's temper ran close enough to our father's that I had learned to read the warning signs early, and I had barely crawled out of being grounded after a good scolding following what happened with Yvonne.

I was still dreading what would come for making Carl adjust my contract about the relationship clause. I didn't have the appetite for a second round of grounding.

But this had been sitting under my skin for days, and I couldn't leave it alone.

"What is raising your suspicion?"

It wasn't really a question, more of a dare, but I'd take it. At least I had his interest now.

"Do you remember the Reverie jet Dad was bidding on six months ago?"

"The silver-lined one?"

"That one. It flew Zayd out this morning. And he had a very skilled bodyguard with him, too."

"Really." Liam leaned back, and just like that, the interest drained out of his voice, like I had handed him something very boring.

"Yes. So did Dad actually spend that kind of money just to hand it to Zayd, or is there something I'm missing?"

"There's definitely something missing. Dad didn't win that bid. So erase whatever twisted little theory you've built about Zayd being our illegitimate brother from your head right now."

I went quiet, turning it over again anyway.

How did someone like Zayd end up flying around in a limited-edition jet like it belonged to him?

"It can't be his. Can it?" I hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"It can," Liam said, easy as anything, already back to swiping through whatever was on his screen. He paused, studied it, then looked at me again.

"How? He doesn't exactly have an impressive background to fall back on."

"Only fools like you think a background is what gets you something like that," he said flatly, like he was correcting a child.

"I would say he worked for it. Or one of the old foxes out there is using the jet to buy his favor."

The way he said it, like he knew everything about Zayd, made me pause. He did know more than I did, which made me jealous.

"What? Someone handed Zayd a jet just to curry favor with him? What's so impressive about him besides his blueprints and a pretty face?"

I heard how I sounded the second it left my mouth. Too fast and sharp, definitely full of envy.

"Good thing you know he has the blueprints and the face. That's more than enough."

I knew exactly what he meant. Zayd's designs broke records easily and repeatedly, like it cost him nothing. It wasn't news to me.

What I couldn't stand was that it made him better.

Everyone wanted him, either for his intelligence, his face, or that magnetic aura. Even my own agency had wanted him first, and the only reason I was standing where I stood was because Zayd had recommended me instead. I hated remembering that, and I hated the fact that I remembered it often.

"That's beside the point," Liam went on. "What's this rumor about you and the Van-Arthur girl? Why are you tangled up with the same woman as Zayd? Trying to compete with him now?"

"The question should be why he went after her knowing I was already with her."

"You told me you had nothing to do with her."

"I lied. Because I know I'm not supposed to be in a relationship."

"Well, there has been another change to your contract. I didn't approve whatever you and Carl rewrote."

Carl ran production at CA and had signed off on the clause that let me actually have a relationship out in the open without it becoming a liability. It was the one thing I'd fought for and won.

"Liam. The agency already agreed to it, so why do you—"

"Do you honestly think CA has the authority to decide whether you're allowed a relationship because you work for them?"

I dreaded the answer even though I already knew it.

"It is Father. He told me to be stricter with you. Pack a bag—you are going to the North tonight. I have set up a military-themed shoot for your next campaign."

I didn't have it in me to argue. My mind was somewhere else entirely, circling the same question it always circled when my father did something like this.

What did he gain from keeping me from being with someone? What was the actual cost to him?

"What the fuck is this!"

Liam's voice cracked across the office, and he was out of his chair before I'd even processed the words.

"What's wrong?"

"You. You're what's wrong, you motherfucker."

He spun the screen toward me, jabbing a finger at it like it might bite him.

I didn't understand what I was looking at at first. Then it started playing, and whatever it was made my brain freeze.

I watched myself ravaging Jerry and a few others within ten seconds that felt like years.

From videos of me convincing those foolish, naive girls that I would make them feel good to the ones with a few willing others, and then Jerry. Everything was strung together into no more than two minutes, with my face crystal clear while the other parties had their faces blurred out.

"Where did you get that?" I said, and my voice came out thinner than I wanted it to.

"Where did I get it? It's everywhere, Chris. It's been circling for two hours."

Liam's eyes cut into me, sharp and furious, like he was trying to decide whether to strangle me or throw me out the window first.

"Care to explain?"

I couldn't answer. My hands had gone cold, and I could barely breathe.

Father would have gotten this...

I felt a wave of cold hit my face while my stomach felt hot at the same time.

All I could think, staring at that screen, was: How do I undo this?

Liam's voice was getting faint as my brain began to buzz loudly.