Chapter 61: 61__Thin ice

Braden didn’t get to the place as quickly as he’d wanted to. Chris could be dead already, for all he knew.

Not to mention how he still had to walk about to find those two.

Minutes after parking his car, Braden was walking through the pace, keeping his eyes peeled for a tall, bleeding man or a shorter, furious woman.

“Good morning, Sir!” chirped one of the employees, suddenly appearing in front of him like a spirit.

Halting, he tried to step past her, but she matched his steps in a very frustrating tango.

“May I interest you in a relaxing—”

“No, thanks! Step out of my way.”

She shot to the side, wide eyes showing her surprise.

Muttering unintelligible words, he marched past her but suddenly spun around, making the girl jolt.

“What’s your name?”

“Vickie,” she squeaked.

“Right, Vickie. A man called Chris Michaels,” Braden said. “He had an appointment here this morning. Where was it?”

She blinked, her long lashes fanned out like a peacock’s tail. “Oh, dear, I’m so sorry, there are so many different sections of the spa he could’ve been in. Do you have any idea what he booked?”

“How the hell would I…” Braden trailed off, his gaze rising above her head as he stared through the glass walls around them.

There was just enough space through the throngs of working employees and yoga-loving middle-aged ladies for him to see a long leg stick desperately out of a door before it was snatched back inside.

“Oh, God.” He glanced at the girl, walking off. “Never mind, Nickie.”

Braden made his way across the pool area, gaze zeroed in on the door that he prayed he’d find two living people behind.

When he got there, he simply burst in and came to a sharp halt.

“Braden!” Chris screamed.

Braden’s mouth fell open, his eyes wide.

Chris was flat on the floor of his private massage room, his face pressed into the wooden floor as his bathrobe fought to maintain his dignity. “Braden, call the cops!”

Blue eyes overflowed with disbelief as they slowly rose, following the white sneaker pressed to Chris’s back and the denim-covered knee pressed to his head. Moving up the grey flannel shirt and black t-shirt, he finally made it to the face staring stonily at him through furious brown eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Erin questioned, pinning down a struggling Chris as she stared at Braden from under her black cap.

His brows rose. “Really? What am I doing here? What are you doing, Erin?” God, she’d given him that bloody nose. She’d given him more than a bloody nose.

“You gonna close the door?!” she said.

Spinning around, Braden saw the people walking to the pool look curiously in his direction. He slammed the door shut. “Fuck, I hope no one took pictures…”

“What are you doing?!” Chris yelled, a red handprint on his cheek. “Get her off me!”

“I told you before,” Erin muttered, yanking his arm higher behind his back. “I’m not leaving, not until I break your lying teeth and slap these goddamn psychopath tendencies out of you!”

Braden winced, watching in a mixture of concern and satisfaction. “Uhm, Erin, I don’t think—”

“Stay out of this Braden! You’re not the one whose face is all over the tabloids!”

“Yeah, but your face won’t come off those tabloids if you break his arm, so, please, let him go. Calm down.”

She raised her head and the glare that followed was so sharp, Braden nearly bled. “You knew, didn’t you?!” she accused. “You knew he’d been lying all along, why didn’t you stop him?!”

Braden scoffed. “You know what? I’m just going to assume that you realize I was right and that’s just your embarrassment talking because there is no way you’re yelling at me right now! Not when I literally told you!”

“You should have been more convincing!” she retorted.

“He doesn’t care!” Chris spat, gritting his teeth at the throbbing in his shoulder. It felt like it would rip if he moved. “He knew I’d do this if he touched those shares, and he still did it! You trusting Braden Stone is just as dumb as trusting me, Erin!”

Braden glared. “You should probably shut the fuck up for now, Chris.”

“I have nothing left to lose!”

“You still have a lot to lose,” Braden told him with a nod. “So, if you don’t want to hear your only way out of this mess, keep yapping.”

“But is he telling the truth?” Erin asked, looking up at Braden. “Did you know he’d do this if you messed with the shares?” Braden only looked at her with a frown and Erin shoved away Chris’s arm, standing up. “I asked you a question, Braden. This time, I’ll believe you. Tell me he’s lying and I’ll believe it.”

Chris groaned, clutching his arm as he sat against the wall.

“Does it matter?” Braden asked. “What matters is that now you’ve seen what an actual snake Chris Michaels is and you can now see through his lies.”

“But I have people believing fake news about me! The stock price is soaring over nothing but lies, I’m not okay with that.” She sighed. “Did you mess with the shares so that he’d do this to me? Just so I could learn a lesson? I know how smart you are, Braden, I’m sure you would have predicted that this would be his reaction to you attacking their company. You’re telling me you knew… and you did it anyway?”

His blue eyes stared at her and Braden found himself stuck. This… wouldn’t end well. Turning his gaze away, he gaged how to approach the matter. “Actually… I didn’t touch the shares.”

Chris’s head snapped up, dark-circled green eyes wide. “He’s lying! My uncle phoned my father and personally announced that he’ll soon be returning because the damn shares were being transferred to him! That man will run us into the ground as soon as he returns! My dad said so!”

Braden rolled his eyes. “You’re not as smart as you think, Chris.”

“I don’t understand,” Erin said. “You didn’t touch the shares?”

“He did!” Chris spat. “Don’t listen to him, Erin! This time, he’s the one lying!”

“I didn’t!” Braden bit out. “I only made it seem as though I did to trigger a reaction out of him. Wesley Michaels was more than willing to help me by making that call when I offered him some cash.” He shrugged. ‘The shares aren’t under my power to control that way. If I signed off on anything owned by our company, grandpa would have to confirm it before it’s finalized. Clearly, Chris and his father are too idiotic to know that, looking at the way they panicked.”

Chris was scoffing as hard as his bruised ribs could allow. “Sounds like a fat lie to me! He used you, Erin, to teach me a lesson! Just like I used you!”

Biting his lip, Braden fought the simmering anger in his blood as he glared over Erin’s shoulder. “Shut the hell up, Chris. Don’t make me add to what Erin’s done, you’ll leave this room in a fucking ambulance.”

Chris shrunk away but glared at them both. “I’m pressing charges for assault. So, there, you fucking twats!”

Erin spun around and Braden grabbed her, hauling her back. “Erin!”

Her eyes lit up with fury, glaring down at Chris. “You have no right to press any charges, you sick bastard!” she spat, trembling. “I’m the one being tossed around from rumour to rumour in those stupid little tabloids like a Rubik’s cube they can paint any colour they like! That fake engagement was like a green light for them to write whatever crap they could about me!”

Chris gave a careless shrug. “So? We all get ridiculous articles written about us, get used to it.”

“Take those articles down,” Erin muttered through clenched teeth. “Not only will you take them down, but you’ll release new ones revealing how you’re a conniving liar who made all that stuff up!”

His green eyes narrowed as he cradled his arm. “Or what? You’ll hit me? The next time you lay your hands on me, I’ll fight back and I don’t give a fuck if you’re a girl—”

Braden snatched him off the floor and slammed him against the wall, holding him up like a hung clock.

“You’ll do what?” came the dark question, his voice cold with fury.

Chris looked down into those icy blue eyes and saw death await him. “This is…” he choked out, struggling to breathe. “Between me and Erin—”

“Let me just catch you,” Braden growled. “Let me catch even thinking of trying to lay a hand on her. I’ll ruin more than just your fucking company, you bastard.”

Chris’s eyes were turning red, his toes tensing as they clenched in the air. Desperation filled his heart. “Let me go! B… Braden.”

Erin was annoyed to find that she still worried Braden would seriously injure him. Why couldn’t she give zero fucks about what happened to this creep? Even if she was kind, she needed to switch that kindness off for people like Chris Michaels.

“I’ll reveal everything,” Chris sputtered, gripping Braden’s fists as they crucified him on the wall. “I’ll tell the press everything you ever t-told me! About your mother. Her name, h-her… her description. How she left you! All your insecurities—”

A foul-smelling tape was smacked onto his mouth, sealing it shut.

Erin stepped back, wiping off her hands. “A used pain relief patch from the trash can. You should shut your mouth, you’ve done enough damage.”

“Oh, let him talk,” Braden said, smiling cruelly up at a red-faced Chris. “You bark a lot, Chris. As if I can’t do the same. As if I don’t know all about your abusive father and your cold-hearted, neglectful mother.”

Erin watched Chris’s eyes go still, the internal struggle ceasing as he stared at Braden.

“Exactly.” Braden nodded, clenching his jaw. “So don’t fucking go there because we both have messed up families and yours is worse.”

Erin touched his shoulder. “Let him down, Braden.”

His arms dropped and Chris slumped to the floor, holding his throat as he caught his breath.

His bathrobe fell open and Erin turned away, facing the door. “Get the articles corrected and… everything else we discussed,” she said. “Shut your mouth and keep it shut. Or I’ll reveal it all. Miguel Ribeiro’s party is only one of the countless you’ve secretly attended and I have photos, Chris. I don’t think the board of Directors at Steel Core would allow a CEO who often takes drugs and engages in immoral orgies with the dirt of high society.”

Chris was frozen on the floor, the patch falling off his mouth. “H… how…?”

Erin rolled her eyes. “My best friend’s a lawyer with connections to all your little party hosts. Fix the mess you made.”

With that, she marched out of the room and left them alone.

Braden stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at Chris.

“You’re a fucking mess, Chris,” he muttered. “Get yourself together.”

A hoarse laugh was his answer. “Are you fucking surprised?” Chris demanded. “You’ve been playing stupid mind games and driving me crazy, why are you surprised?!”

“You only ended up in this situation because of your father,” Braden told him. “Your greed to get that 40% back comes from your need for validation from your dad. Validation you know you’ll never get cause the old man’s messed up.”

Chris was silent, clenching his teeth.

“Sort yourself out,” Braden said. “Secretly partying to relieve stress won’t help you as fast as it’ll kill you. If you’ll take it from me, go to your uncle for help, he’ll sort you out.”

“He doesn’t have money.”

“You don’t need money!” Braden said. “You need a goddamn human being who’ll help you. You won’t find that with your parents, so go to Wes. He’s pissed at your father, not you. Steel Core will still be there when you return, your father’s pride will never let him give the CEO seat to anyone else. So, take time off. Before you drop dead…”

Silence enveloped them and Braden sighed, turning for the door.

“You know…” Chris said, making Braden stop. “Erin would’ve never come here if it wasn’t for you.”

Braden looked back. “I didn’t tell her to go after you.”

“I know.” He scoffed. “I threatened to tell your grandfather about you and Erin hooking up at Miguel’s party. That’s why she snapped. She got pissed that I was threatening your future.” He clenched his jaw. “She’s so fucking loyal and it pisses me off. Cause she could’ve been mine and I could’ve had that loyalty. You’re a lucky bastard, Braden.”

Braden gave him a dark expression. “I am lucky, but also no. No, Chris, not in a million years. You couldn’t have had Erin Moore in a million fucking years. Go get fixed.”

Turning his back on the pitiful man on the floor, Braden marched out of the room and went after Erin.

He found her right where James had been with the car, looking around in frustration.

“I sent James home.”

Erin spun around and looked at him. She glared and huffed, turning around to march away.

He caught her wrist. “My car’s in the lot, Erin. Let’s go.”

She looked at him with an angry pout. “Let me go. You were in on it.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. I went too far to show you he was lying. I’ll make up for it.”

“Let me go, I’ll take a taxi.”

“You’re late for work, Erin. It’ll be faster with me. Hm?”

Weighing her options, she huffed and pulled her wrist out of his hold, walking towards the parking lot.

Braden followed her in cautious silence. He was officially on thin ice.

The thin ice lasted all the way until their big conference days. Braden and Erin had had to move to the Stone Towers where the presentations would be held.

Her team was offered three rooms but they’d chosen to get one large room they could share and work closely in.

It was the afternoon before the first conference day and so everything had to be perfect, Erin couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. She’d be presenting tomorrow.

Unfortunately for her, it appeared Braden wanted to start a fight.

Erin was coming out of the shower, bundled up in a thick bathrobe when she found Athena wrecking their bags in search of something.

“What’re you looking for?” she asked.

Athena looked at her, eyes wide in horror. “Erin… what do we do? I really can’t find it.”

Erin paused. “Can’t find what?”

“The flash drive, Erin,” she whispered. “The flash drive with the final edit of our presentation!”

“Tell me you’re lying!” Erin dropped the towel she’d been rubbing through her hair, hurrying over to throw open a few bags. "Did you look everywhere?!"

“We’ve searched everything twice!” said Athena. “It’s not there. I’m so sorry, Erin, I should’ve taken better care of it!”

“No, no, don’t cry, we’ll find it!”

The door burst open and Caitlin ran into the suit, rushing over to the bedroom. “Erin! You won’t believe this!”

“Please, tell us you found it,” pleaded Athena.

Caitlin scoffed, crossing her arms. “I was taken up to the surveillance room and saw, with my own eyes, the thief who entered our room to take the drive!”

“Who is the bastard?!” demanded Athena tearfully, her hands forming fists.

Caitlin’s eyes went wide. “Braden Stone! That’s who!”

Athena gasped, clutching her pearls. “What?!”

“He didn’t even try to hide it! He looked right into the surveillance camera and smiled! Waving our flash drive!”

The girls collectively sputtered in disbelief whilst Erin stood there in a mixture of relief and annoyance.

What a frustrating way to demand her attention.

With a sigh, she turned for the door. “Wait here, guys. I’ll go get it back.”