Raine (Gods of the Fifth Floor #2) - M.V. Ellis Page 0,17

faces, and hefty litigation bills. Why the fuck would he willingly want this shitshow at his door, and more to the point, his client’s door?”

“You know, that’s the part in all of this that confuses me the most.” Nate scratched his goatee. “I mean, he’s old and ugly enough to know better. He’s been in the industry since we were fucking kids, and he knows as well as anyone that when this gets out, it’s going to blow up like a cheap firework. It will look bad on his client, but more so on PPBW, who put the client in this position. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the undoing of the agency, actually. I just don’t get why he would consider it worth the risk.”

“What if he doesn’t know?” All eyes were back on Dillon.

“How could he not?” Nate fired back.

“Well think about it, like you said before, the only people who know are the twins and everyone who’s involved on our side, and at Carlisle. So, what if the twins didn’t tell him?”

“But why the fuck wouldn’t they, unless...?” Nate let the words hang in the air while we all caught up with his train of thought.

“Right. My guess is that there are some deep-seated issues there between the twins and ‘Daddy Dearest,’ and this is a scheme to bring their father down in the most public and potentially costly way possible. I can’t see him coming out of this any way but disgraced and broke. If the scandal doesn’t kill his business, the crippling legal fees will. Either way we look at it, he’s finished in this industry.”

What Dillon usually lacked in vocalness, he more than made up for in brain capacity. The dude was smart as balls.

“Well, shit just got really interesting. But, while we ponder what in the name of fucked-up twisted Oedipus complexes that is about, we need to focus on getting our own house in order, and making sure this doesn’t fuck us up.” Nate was brisk as ever.

“I’m going to talk with the lawyer about the next steps legally, as obviously we’re about to wipe the floor with these bitches, but in the meantime, you know I never like to go to clients with problems, only solutions. As well as a concrete legal plan of attack, we need to come up with an idea that shits all over this one from a great height, and make the client fall in love with it so hard that they forget that Kick It To The Curb was even a thing.” Suddenly all eyes were on me.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, Raine. Much as it pains me that our fate now rests in your hands...” Ouch, Beck had always known how to twist the knife with his words when he wanted to. “...it unfortunately falls to you to dig us all out of the hole you created. I won’t pretend that thought doesn’t make me vomit in my mouth a little, because it does.”

“Well thanks for the confidence there, buddy. I know who to come to if I ever need a kick in the teeth, figuratively or literally.”

“Oh, sod all the ‘woe is me’ crap, Raine. You know who and what you are, and you better than anyone, know that you’re as reliable as a chocolate fireguard.” There went Dillon with his weird British similes, again.

“The thing is, you’re going to have to bring your A game for this one—leadership skills, creative energy, ideas, all of it. And it’s not that we don’t think you can do it, it’s that we don’t know that you will. You’re the loosest of loose cannons, which is a big part of what makes you fucking incredible at what you do. It’s also part of what makes you a total nightmare to work with, but we take the rough with the smooth, because we know you can kill it. You just have to want to.” Only Nate could make a thinly veiled insult sound somewhat like a compliment.

“And you need to do it in like...” Beck looked at his watch. “...seventy-two hours.”

“Pffft. I’ll have it licked in thirty-six.”

Chapter 7

Noa

* * *

“Hey, you. Ned.”

“It’s Noa.”

“I literally don’t care. Get me everyone in the creative department in the big boardroom on six in ten minutes. And I mean that. Ten minutes or you’re done here.”

“But I—”

“Whatever you’re about to say, figure it the fuck out.”

Then he was gone—striding down the hall like the Devil was on his tail—before I could finish the