I blink my eyes once, and then twice, as I try to process what he just told me. Great news? Am I still in my bed, dreaming?
Walking around the desk, Jonathan claps me hard on the back and lets his bright clear laugh inundate the whole office. "To be honest with you, I always thought that your vow was somewhat silly… And it’s a good thing that my daughter finally got some sense into her head and chose a man worthy of her. She feels the same toward you, I take it?"
"I… Yes…" I stammer, not knowing what to say. I’m so stunned right now that I can’t even think straight. And do you know who else looks stunned? Earl. His face has grown as red as a ripe tomato, and there’s a vein on his forehead that seems about to pop.
"No!" he cries out, jumping up from his chair so fast that it almost looks like there's a spring under his ass. "No! No fucking way!" he starts, looking from his father to me with a look of utter disbelief. "Are you out of your fucking mind, Dad? This guy and Clarise have been plotting together… And that’s not the only thing they’ve been doing!" he continues, raising his voice as he fishes out a flash drive from the pocket in his pants.
Here we go; I guess that now there’s going to be no turning back. Even though his father has given me the greenlight, Earl is still going ahead with that footage.
"Yeah, Earl, wave that flash drive around. It’s really going to help you out right now," I hear a woman’s voice say, and we all turn toward the doorway. Clarise is there, looking as beautiful as ever. Her lips are painted in a subtle red, and she’s wearing a tight black dress that, while modest, still looks sexy as hell. More than looking like a girl in her mid-twenties, she looks like a CEO ready to unleash hell upon her enemies.
"Dad, there’s something you need to know," she tells Jonathan, and I feel as if the whole room is about to blow up.
35
Clarise
"There’s no point in hiding it anymore, is there? Unfortunately for you, Earl, it’s all out in the open now," Clarise says, looking from her father to Earl with a winning smile on her lips. More than just a woman, she looks like a goddess right now.
"What Earl has in that flash drive is footage of me and Connor together," she continues, speaking to her father with a straight face. "He was blackmailing Connor with it, so that he’d back Earl’s newest idea."
"Is that… Is that true?" Jonathan asks, looking completely disoriented.
"That’s not… That’s not…" Earl tries to say, but he has been backed into a corner.
"Yes, it’s true," I nod, feeling as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. My God, it feels good to tell the truth. "Earl was pressuring me into backing his investment with Red Lion Aviation, and he was using whatever footage he has in that flash drive to have me side with him, but I just couldn’t do it."
"It isn’t true! They’re lying!" Earl cries out in utter desperation, his eyes darting toward the door as if he expected someone to come out of nowhere to save him. Unfortunately for him, his luck has just run out.
"Yeah? Then explain this," Clarise shoots back at him, walking toward the desk and slamming her phone down on top of it. She presses her thumb over the screen and Earl’s recorded voice starts coming out of the speakers.
"You still haven’t got it, huh? I have proof that the two of you were fucking. That’s right… I’ve got footage of the two of you going at it in the church." I can’t help but wince as I hear him mentioning me and Clarise fucking, but what the hell, Jonathan’s a grown man. The moment I told him I had fallen for Clarise, he probably figured out that we did more than just hold hands.
"You… recorded me?" Earl asks, turning to Clarise so fast that I’m surprised he hasn’t broken his neck. "How dare you!"
"I told you; you’re finished, Earl," she responds, that glint of supreme victory in her eyes. "Just for good measure, I also know that you blackmailed the church’s pastor so that you could get your hands on that footage… You’re the gift that keeps on giving, aren’t you, Earl?"
"Why, Earl…? Why would you do such a thing?" Jonathan asks him, sinking down into his chair in utter shock. It mustn’t be easy for a father to realize that his son is a gigantic piece of shit. "I don’t understand. Why is this investment so important to you? Why is the company so important to you?"
"I think I can answer that, Jonathan," I tell him, taking one step forward. "I’ve inquired about Red Lion Aviation, and it seems that the company is just a front for a drug cartel… They use the airline as their way of transporting drugs between continents. My guess is that Earl wanted a piece of the pie as well."
"No… No… No…" Earl repeats over and over again, sounding like a broken record.
"My own son!" Jonathan cries out, and I can see his eyes brimming with tears. Shit, being here and watching a tough man like Jonathan feel this crushed isn’t easy. "You’re fired," he growls, the sadness in his eyes being replaced with unhinged fury. "More than that, I’m going to disown you."
"You can’t do that!" Earl protests, but his voice sounds so weak that I don’t think his father even hears him.
"And I’m not going to stop there," Jonathan continues, reaching across the desk and grabbing Earl by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close until their noses almost touch. "I’m going to call the FBI right now, Earl. It’s going to break my heart, but you’re going to pay for everything you’ve done."
"NO!" Earl shouts and, before anyone can do a thing, he pulls back from Jonathan and bolts toward the door. He crosses the length of the office in two wide strides, but he isn’t fast enough for me. Right before he reaches the door, I extend my arm and hit him right in the neck. He folds onto the ground like a crumpled sack of groceries, both his hands on his neck as he tries to breath.
"Stay down," Clarise tells him, placing her heel on Earl’s chest and pushing him down to the floor. As she keeps him there, Jonathan calls the tower security, and they’re knocking at the office door just a minute later.
Two tall and well-built security guards stroll in, confusion washing over their face as they see Earl on the ground, being pinned down by his sister. They’re smart enough not to inquire about what’s happening, though, and they haul Earl out of the office the moment Jonathan tells them to.
As the securities drag him out, violent sobs make his chest rise and fall rapidly; tears fall down his face as he goes, and there’s snot falling from his nose and into his mouth, his desperate wails sounding like the cry of an animal about to be put down.
It’s not a pretty way to go down, but what was he expecting? You don’t try to fuck everyone over and expect there’ll be no payback.