Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,41
head at that in silent agreement.
“Good point. The pictures came out nice, though. Have you seen them?”
“Actually, no, I haven’t.”
Pushing up to my feet, I walk around his desk to stand behind him, laughter bursting from my lips as soon as he scrolls to the first picture that is plastered all over a well-known celebrity magazine.
Taylor did a remarkable job creating fake images of Ivy and me together, the headline above reading Millionaire Bachelor Now Off the Market.
The article is laid out like a grand feat of investigative reporting, when the sad truth is we handed them the information.
“How did you fuckers even do all of this?”
Laughing again when he scrolls down to the shot of me proposing, I answer, “It wasn’t all that difficult. Technology makes just about anything possible these days.”
“They look real,” he comments. “But that still doesn’t explain why you would do something so fucking stupid.”
Returning to my seat across the desk, I drop down and stretch the muscles in my neck.
“Ivy would just keep running and dodging me if I didn’t lock her down. So, knowing how much her dad hates our families, and guessing that he’s most likely forbidden Ivy from having anything to do with us, I took a risk. Before any of this shit went to the media, a courtesy copy was sent to Governor Callahan, from the San Diego Tribune. According to that, we got engaged after he financed our extravagant vacation together. I was pretty sure that after the asshole saw the bill for all the lavish hotels she’s been staying in, he would cut her off just to spite me.”
“Is she here?” he asks.
“Of course. He cut off her credit cards, took away his private plane and pretty much disowned her just like I thought he would. Honestly, I can’t be blamed. She’s the one who gave me the idea when she played the helpless, spoiled daughter routine.”
Tanner chuckles at that. “She is the spoiled daughter.”
I don’t bother arguing or agreeing because it doesn’t need to be said.
“But she wasn’t helpless.” I grin. “She is now.”
Pulling his legs down from the desk, Tanner meets my stare.
“So what’s the safety net to set her life straight again when she gives us what we want?”
When I don’t answer, he leans back in his seat and scowls.
“Fuck, Gabe. You didn’t set one up?”
I didn’t see a need for it when my goal is to wreck her life.
Warbucks and the rest of our fathers might be after information, but I want more than that. This is the cherry on top of the fuck you sundae, the final prank that ends the war.
Should I feel bad?
Probably.
But there are no rules when it comes to just how far I’m willing to go.
“This is beyond gauntlet shit.”
“Of course, it is. This is a vendetta. She had it coming.”
Tanner wears a worried expression, his eyes meeting mine with far too much concern behind them.
“I think you’re targeting her because you can’t touch the person you really want to bring down.”
Pursing my lips, I shrug a shoulder. “It’s more than that.”
“Sure it is.”
He sighs and taps a pen on the desk. Tanner is always fiddling with something in his hands when he’s agitated or thinking.
Glancing at me again, he asks, “Does she know what you’ve done?”
“What the fuck? Goddamn it, Gabriel! You son of a fucking bitch!”
The timing of Ivy’s outburst downstairs couldn’t have been better.
My lips twitch to hear the shriek, my eyes locking with Tanner’s.
“She does now.”
He scrubs a hand down his face, softly cursing beneath his breath.
“I take it this means you’re not making it back to the office today?”
My spine straightens at that. “Why? Who did you fire? Who quit? Is Lacey still an employee?”
I swear to God this asshole can’t be trusted with anything that requires even the tiniest amount of finesse and social etiquette. It’s not that Tanner doesn’t know how people work, it’s that he doesn’t care, and he’s become far too dependent on me to fix all his foul mood fuckups.
Since boarding the plane in Miami, I haven’t checked my phone, but I thought the two hours that Tanner spent away from the office would be safe from having to worry.
Slipping my phone from my pocket, I tap the screen and scroll to my email app.
There are no threatening subject lines in all caps usually sent by Lacey, or sad face snivel-nosed resignation letters from the associate attorneys thanking me for the opportunity, but expressing their regret that they are