Taking On The Billionaire (Redhawk Reunion #1) - Robin Covington Page 0,58
back years and years, before I was even adopted.”
His partner scanned the sheets, eyes getting wider with each one that he read. He whistled, long and loud. “Daddy Franklin has been very, very busy being a very, very bad boy.” Justin looked at Adam. “So, what are you going to do with this? Go to the authorities?”
Adam was already putting on his jacket, gathering documents and shoving them into his briefcase. “No. Some of it is so old they wouldn’t touch it and he’s got too many people in high places in his pocket to guarantee that it would have the desired result.”
“Okay, so what are you going to do with this? The last time I checked, Franklin was still gunning for us and we are two weeks away from release or ruin. We haven’t even fired that Mitch asshole!”
“Justin, this is insurance. Leverage.” Adam fished his cellphone out of his pocket and swiped the screen. “And we’re not going to fire Mitch and tip off Franklin. I’m going to see Franklin now. You get security and IT ready to shut down everything associated with Mitch the minute I send word.”
“Wait. Wait.” Justin moved with the speed of a man fueled by two large coffees and plucked the phone out of his hand. “Franklin isn’t going anywhere. What are you going to do about Tess?”
Adam didn’t want to have this conversation. Not right now and preferably not ever. “She lied to me, Justin. Got close to me to get back at Franklin. There is nothing to do about Tess. We’re done.”
“What about the baby?”
“We’ll work out arrangements for the baby but the white picket fence and happy family dream you’re always talking about isn’t going to happen.” Adam grabbed his phone back and headed for the door.
“My dream is a week on a yacht with two or three supermodels in my bed and a high-stakes poker game on the offer. I didn’t say anything about happy families and fences. You were the one dreaming about those things, man.” Justin’s words hit him in the gut, no they hit higher, right behind his ribcage. “And I heard what she said—”
“You heard? What? How?”
“I picked up Estelle’s line and hit the intercom/listen code.” Justin shrugged like it was something he did all the time and Adam made a mental note to have that function disabled on Estelle’s phone as soon as possible. “So, I heard everything and all I know is that she’s got a lot of guts and she must really love you to give up everything for you.”
He scoffed, clearly not having heard the same conversation that Justin did. “She didn’t give up anything. Franklin will get what he deserves and she’ll get exactly what she wants.”
Justin was shaking his head. “You are the dumbest genius I know, so I’m going to say this slow and in as few words as possible.” Adam flipped him the bird but he ignored him and kept moving on. “Tess doesn’t get anything she wants. She doesn’t get her father the recognition for his invention. She doesn’t get you, the man she loves. She doesn’t get to move on and have a little happiness after the crap life she’s been dealt.” He held up a finger to pause the response hovering on Adam’s lips. “Wait, I was wrong, she gets lots of things. She gets you being a stubborn asshole and refusing to acknowledge that you love her. She gets you making her pay over and over again for trying to survive and make a life of the crap her father put her through. And, this is the best part, she gets to raise your kid and hope to God that he or she isn’t as stubborn as you are.” He made an elaborate play out of counting on his fingers and ended the show with an empty hand, just like a magician. “So, in the end, she really does end up with a whole lot of nothing because she gave you everything—her information, her only chance at vindication and her heart. And I didn’t hear her ask you for anything.”
Justin wasn’t wrong. He could be reckless at the poker table, terrible with women and he drove Adam crazy but he was a man who noticed the details. It didn’t matter if it was a million numbers on a spreadsheet or a single puzzle piece out of place, nothing got past Justin. And he’d listened to every word that Tess had said, really heard