“Taylor! Welcome…” Alexis flashed me a plastic smile and stepped to the side so I could enter.
“Hey…” I walked in.
“You have an agenda for my party? Come, let’s review it.” She motioned for me to follow her. “Honestly, I thought you were going to forget…”
“I told you I would do everything I’m supposed as Maid of Honor,” I sighed as I followed her into the living room.
“Yes, well.” Her smile faded as she sat down. “If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, then I would be forced to call my friend Dean Richart—and neither of us wants this to get ugly, do we?”
“No.” I tensed up immediately.
“Tell me, since it’s just us girls…” She leaned forward. “How is he—in bed?”
“I’m sorry—what?” My head snapped back.
“I just want to know if I’m going to be satisfied.” She flashed an evil grin. “I plan to ride that big, hard cock of his every single night once we’re married.”
Stay calm. Stay calm. Just stay calm.
“You’ll be satisfied…” I looked down at the floor. “Can we talk about the party now?”
“Yeah, we’ll get to that. I know he’s getting a bit older now… Should I go ahead and get him a prescription for Viagra?” She tilted her head to the side. “Maybe I’ll do that anyway—just in case.”
Oh my god, she’s such a miserable cunt.
“I’m sure you won’t need it,” I sighed. “The party?”
“Fine, let me see what you put together.” She extended her hand and snapped her fingers at me like I was a dog.
Okay Victoria—here’s your cue.
“Dad, are you here?” The front door opened, and Victoria walked in a few seconds after I hit the button on my phone to let her know it was time.
“Victoria?” Alexis put the agenda down on the table and looked up. “What are you doing here? Your father is in the city—visiting your sister.”
“Shit, really?” Victoria pretended to be surprised. “Oh—she’s here.”
“I can go.” I started gathering my things.
“Nonsense, we’re talking wedding stuff.” Alexis waved off my suggestion.
“It’s—fine…” Victoria gave me the angriest glare she could muster. “I just need to grab some stuff out of my room.”
Alexis had no idea that Victoria and I survived the bombshell about my relationship with her father. We figured it was best that she thought we hated each other to make it easier to work together on our real agenda. Victoria had done her best to be civil to Alexis in order to stay on her good side—but she knew she would eventually crack if she had to stay at Benson Estate. That, of course, made it seem like Bryant’s relationship with his daughter was strained—and provided the perfect cover for why she would show up when he was out of town. Alexis reached for the agenda after Victoria walked off—and a second later there was a loud crash.
“Oh shit!” Victoria squealed.
“What the hell?” Alexis stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
Bryant fought Alexis’ attempt to redecorate Benson Estate at every turn, but a few things had made their way there—like the ashes of Alexis’ father. It was morbid, wrong, and so awful, but it was the best way to get a reaction out of the venomous bitch. Needless to say, when she turned the corner and saw the ceramic urn shattered and her father’s ashes strewn all over the floor, she went ballistic. That was my cue. I grabbed Alexis’ phone, swapped it out with the decoy we bought, and gathered my things. Alexis was screaming at Victoria and wailing when I made it to the door of the living room. She looked almost human in that moment, but I didn’t care—she had drained whatever compassion I might have had for her humanity out of me long before our plan was made.
“You are a wretched little bitch; I swear to god!” Alexis pushed Victoria.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Victoria faked her way to the verge of crocodile tears.
“I should just go. We’ll discuss this later…” I made a quick dash for the door.
Bolt was waiting in the car—and a few seconds after I escaped from Benson Estate, Alexis’ phone was in his hand. He plugged it into his laptop and started typing as I drove. That was it—our only play. If we got into Alexis’ phone, then it was our best shot of bringing her down. If we failed, and the cloud didn’t have what we were looking for—then it was over. Her retribution would be swift—there was a chance I would lose everything—but I didn’t care anymore. If there was a chance that I could end Alexis’ engagement with Bryant and bring the bitch to her knees, then I had to take it.
“I’m in!” Bolt practically jumped up and down in his seat.
“Oh my god…” Anna stared at the screen.
“What?” I looked over my shoulder.
“Pull over, Taylor. Pull over now!” Anna motioned to me.
We didn’t just find what we were looking for—we hit the fucking jackpot. There were so many files—so much blackmail material—we could have brought down half of the families in Carson Cove. Every time we clicked one of them, we found something that made us either shake our head in disbelief or want to throw up. Bolt moved all of the files into his cloud, cleared Alexis’ out, and wiped the backups.
“It’s over…” Anna looked up at me. “She’s finished.”
“Are you sure she can’t get the files back?” I couldn’t help but feel worried.
“Her cloud is backed up, but that’s it—there are no file transfers to other sources. All I see on the logs are transfers in. I’ve been through everything else.” He nodded.
“Yeah, but where are those transfers coming from?” I tilted my head in concern.
“From her phone.” He turned it towards me. “Emails mostly—but I’m going to wipe all of those and kill this phone to be safe.”
“Wait…” I held up my hand. “If the transfers came from emails, it will probably implicate the people who were helping her. Can we back those up too?”
“Uh…” He narrowed his eyes. “It’ll take a while—if she realizes we’ve got her phone, she could log in from another location and save some of them.”
“Okay, forget it. Just wipe them all out.” I nodded. “Wait, can you find the one with Shaina Benson?”
“Yeah, it’s from a guy—at a security company I think?” He nodded.
“Forward that one to me.” I turned back towards the steering wheel. “Wipe out the rest of them.”
Bolt worked his magic, and I drove back to my house. It was another hour before Victoria showed up, and she practically screamed for joy when she found out that our mission was successful. I knew it was only a matter of time before Alexis figured out what we had done—and none of us were going to sleep easy—if we even slept at all. We had a lot of stuff to look through and try to figure out what we could undo—what we needed to send to the authorities—and we had to let Bryant know that he didn’t have to marry the venomous bitch.
“Click that one.” I pointed to a file. “That’s the dean at Carson Cove University.”
“Oh!” Bolt’s eyes opened wide when the video started. “Yeah, I’m not watching this.”
“He—likes to be dominated.” I squinted and grimaced. “And that’s definitely not his wife.”
“What’s that one? Isn’t that mom’s boss?” Anna pointed at the screen.
“Damn—Anna, you don’t need to be watching any of this.” I put my hand over her eyes when I saw my mom’s boss climb into bed with another man—obviously there were a number of wives in Carson Cove that had no idea who they married.
“That’s my sister…” Victoria exhaled sharply. “Can you just get rid of that one?”
“Yeah, of course.” Bolt nodded and hit a button. “There—it’s gone from my cloud now.”
“The link doesn’t work!” Victoria smiled when she tried the one that was supposed to lead her to the video.
“I have the name of the guy who sold it to her.” I picked up my
phone. “I’ll forward it to you.”
“Perfect.” She smiled. “I’m sure my sister isn’t the only one he has footage of—and the cops are going to love that.”
“Oh man…” Bolt gulped—like, literally gulped. “You need to see this.”
“What is it?” I leaned forward.
“This is—her file on Sawyer King.” He raised an eyebrow.
“She should have plenty of dirt on him. They were married…” Victoria shrugged.
“No, you really need to look at this.” He put the laptop on the table and started clicking.
Holy shit…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bryant
The next morning
I slept like a rock. The hotel room gave me a different perspective—or maybe the change of scenery just allowed me to feel like I wasn’t stuck in the midst of chaos. I’m sure the whiskey I drank at the hotel bar had something to do with it too. Either way, I slept until the sun was up, and woke up feeling refreshed when I should have had a hangover. I immediately went over to start a pot of coffee—the hotel room didn’t have anything I liked, but I just needed caffeine, so the cheap stuff would have to do. I reached for my phone, unplugged it from the charger, and then my eyes nearly bulged out of my head.
What the fuck? Did World War 3 start while I was asleep!?
I had missed calls and text messages from Taylor, Victoria, Sarah, numbers I didn’t recognize, and I didn’t even know how to start sorting through them all. It didn’t take much sorting to figure out that they had a common theme. The ones from Taylor and Sarah were directing me to call Victoria. The ones from the unknown numbers were rants—and they were from Alexis. The ones from Victoria just said that I needed to call her. I quickly flipped over to dial her number—and I was fairly terrified to make the call.
“Victoria, what’s going on? I’m sorry, I was asleep…” I exhaled into the phone.
“Dad! Oh my god. We got her!” Victoria’s tone was hurried and excited.
“What? Alexis? How?” I blinked away the last bit of fog, because that news woke me right the hell up.
Victoria explained what they had done—and I would have scolded her for behaving so recklessly if it hadn’t yielded results. I didn’t understand half of what she was saying—or who the Bolt person was that she kept referencing other than the fact that he was dating Taylor’s sister. She started rambling so fast that it was hard to follow what she was saying—it sounded like excited exhaustion—but the important part was crystal clear. I didn’t have to marry Alexis. The wedding was off—because she was headed straight to prison when the cops found her.
“Dad just turn on the news. Right now—the story is on Carson Cove AM.” She sounded like she was about to explode with joy.
I grabbed the remote and turned on television. It took me a couple of minutes to find Carson Cove’s morning show in the city, but I found a station that was broadcasting it. The anchor was talking about a file that had been emailed to the station—a file that implicated the Devereaux family in several serious crimes. I tried to listen to the story and put Victoria on speakerphone since she was still frantically talking about what they had done.
“Wait a minute…” I tilted my head as I stared at the screen. “Sawyer King doesn’t exist!?”
“No!” Victoria practically shouted into the phone. “He was just some actor they hired! The Devereaux family was behind everything!”
“Holy shit…” I shook my head in disbelief. “Wait—if they were behind it…”
“They were coming after Benson Enterprises!” Victoria finished my train of thought. “That’s why she wanted to marry you—and that wasn’t all she was after.”
“Alcott Inc…” I nodded. “Of course.”
“Yeah…” The excitement faded from Victoria’s voice. “She had a lot of dirt on Mary Alcott—sadly, I think divorce was the right choice, but it was ultimately orchestrated by Alexis. She was planning to buy the company when it went on the open market…”
“Alexis and her brother ruined so many lives.” I shook my head back and forth. “And for what? Money?”
“It is the root of all evil,” Victoria sighed.
I watched the rest of the story with Victoria on speaker phone, and then I had to wrap up the call. I still had plans to meet with Sarah, and then we had to go see Shaina. I took a shower, got dressed, and when I got to the car, I called Taylor. We made plans to get together as soon as I got back to Carson Cove. I had to catch Sarah up over breakfast. She knew something was going on because Victoria called her looking for me—but she was fairly surprised when I told her the full story.
Shaina was very happy to see us, and she had asked me to come because she wanted to apologize for everything in person. I didn’t need her apology—I forgave her as soon as I saw she was safe in the hospital—but it seemed to be important to her recovery. She had decided that she was going to stay in rehab for a little longer than originally planned, and then she planned to return to Carson Cove. I told her that she would always have a spot at Benson Enterprises if she wanted to work there—what was left of it at least. It was going to take a long time to restore it to its former glory, but I hoped things would move in that direction once people realized the truth about Alexis Devereaux.
My employees and clients put their trust in me. I let them down. Hopefully they’ll understand why I had to do it when they realize what I was up against.
* * *
Later that day
I drove back to Carson Cove, and Taylor said she would be waiting on me at my house. I was anxious to see her, but I had a press conference to handle first. I had several calls from reporters who were wanting an interview, but I needed to make sure everyone heard what I had to say. The best way to do that was just stand in front of everyone and admit the truth. It might have bothered me more if I wasn’t so happy to be rid of Alexis. I decided to hold it at Benson Enterprises, because the people there needed to hear it most of all. My lawyer met me in the lobby, we reviewed a few notes, and then I walked to the podium where I saw more reporters than I had ever seen in my life. It wasn’t just the local reporters—there were a few national ones there as well.
Okay, this may be more difficult than I expected—fuck it.
“Good morning everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Bryant Benson.” I looked around the room.
“Mr. Benson!” A reporter in the front row raised his hand. “Do you have any comments about the Alexis Devereaux situation—you were engaged to be married, right?”
“I’m going to address all of that.” I nodded. “I’ll take questions after I’m done.”
I started as close to the beginning as I could without saying Taylor’s name. It wasn’t fair for her to get pulled into the middle of a media frenzy. I told the reporters about the blackmail, without saying exactly what she had on me, and that it appeared Alexis’ goal was to gain control of Benson Enterprises. I apologized to the people who worked for me—the investors that didn’t trust me—and thanked those that stuck with me through the difficult time. I invited all of the people who had decided to leave Benson Enterprises to return—and promised them that I would make it up to them if they did. After that, I opened it up to questions.
“Mr. Benson, you said that Mrs. Devereaux was blackmailing you. Can you tell us what she had?” The reporter in the front row hit me with a hard question.
“Considering the fact that you agreed to marry her—I think people are going to wonder if she had something on you that could have put you in a cell beside her.” A reporter in the back held her hand up as she spoke.
“Alexis Devereaux is an opportunist,” I sighed. “All I can say is that she obtained access to something that would have ruined someone’s life—and I wasn’t going to let that happen—even if I had to marry her. I can assure you that I am not a criminal, and the situation has been addressed by the proper authorities.”
That much was true. The police wouldn’t have a
rrested Shaina without actual evidence and there was none in her apartment. My explanation seemed to quell the reporters, and they fired off a few more questions that I was able to easily answer. I didn’t know if it would be enough to undo the damage that Alexis caused, but I would have to carry the weight of my part in it. I made a decision to protect my family, and I didn’t regret that. I was just glad it was over. As soon as the press conference ended, I reconvened with my lawyer, we put together an official statement for the people that might not have seen the press conference, and I was finally able to head home. Taylor’s car was in the driveway, and I couldn’t even begin to contain my excitement.
“Welcome home…” Taylor walked out of the house as soon as I stepped out of my car—and the smile on her face was radiant.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to see that smile.” I ascended the stairs and nearly tackled Taylor as I pulled her into my arms for a kiss.
“I did a little redecorating while I was waiting…” She leaned back from our embrace after our lips finally parted.
“Really?” I raised an eyebrow and followed her inside.
“I think this is everything that Alexis changed.” She motioned to a pile on the floor. “I don’t know where the stuff you had there before went…”
“She had some movers put it in the west wing of the house. I’ll take care of it later…” I put an arm around Taylor. “God, I just want to burn all of this shit.”
“Why can’t we?” Taylor grinned and looked up at me.
She was right, so that’s exactly what we did. We carried everything that belonged to Alexis out of the house and set it on fire. It was rather cathartic to see all of the stuff Alexis brought to my house go up in flames—and get reduced to ash. I fought her changes in the beginning, but she was persistent—I didn’t even realize she had moved so much stuff in—obviously she had used my trip to the city as an excuse to make some changes I previously stopped her making. We saved the art for Mr. Wellington. He could keep the profits for charity for all I cared. We watched until the fire burned out, and then we walked back inside—where we shared a long, passionate kiss before we went into the living room to talk. I didn’t want to talk—I wanted to take her upstairs immediately—but there were a few things we needed to work through first.
Forbidden Kiss: Carson Cove Scandals Page 19