Mitchell never blinked.
“I made copies.”
Well that settled it. Mitchell Hunter was the devil himself.
“This is ridiculous,” Nick muttered, trying desperately to sort his thoughts. “You’re not going to actually...” He saw the look on his father’s face and switched tactics. “Look, I’m sorry, alright? Abby and I got a little...carried away. I should have known better than to risk anything out in public. I sincerely apologize—it won’t happen again.”
As much of an olive branch as his son was extending, Mitchell merely shrugged.
“At this point, it doesn’t much matter if it happens again. In fact, given that the engagement has gone public, people might actually enjoy the fact that you two can’t keep your hands off each other.”
Engagement.
I paled just hearing the word, while Nick lost his temper—once and for all.
“There is no engagement, because Abby and I are not engaged!” he shouted. Without thinking it through, he almost sprang again from the mattress—only to again remember the fact that he wasn’t wearing any clothes. “What the fuck entitles you to try and make those sorts of decisions for other people?! You can’t just—”
; “Can’t?” Mitchell repeated dangerously. He took a step forward, leveling his son with his eyes. “Do you really want to get into a discussion of what I can and can’t do?”
The room fell deathly quiet, as the two men stared each other down.
I wanted no part of it. I wanted no part of any of it. As much as I appreciated the fact that Nick was trying to fight this, as hard as he was trying—it was no use. Our fate was already sealed. It had been sealed ten minutes ago when Mitchell first walked into the room.
Perhaps we had stood a chance. Perhaps there was a way around this. But all that changed the second that Nick threw a protective arm around me, and yelled at his father to turn around.
That was it—right there. That was the ballgame.
Because that was the moment, that Mitchell discovered a terrible truth. The truth that finally, after all these years, he had leverage over his son. Finally, after all these years, he’d found a person that Nick cared about more than himself.
Me.
“If you do this,” Nick murmured, in a voice just a chilling as his father’s, “there will be repercussions. I swear it.”
Mitchell’s eyes glittered with a bemused smile.
“A threat, Nicholas? You really think it wise to threaten me?”
“No one’s untouchable,” Nick fired back, never breaking his gaze. There was a fire simmering deep in his eyes. A fierce loathing that darkened every inch of his lovely face. “Not even you. My life’s an open book to the public. You still have some secrets.”
It was a bold strategy, but one that was based upon a fundamental flaw. It wasn’t just Nick’s life and reputation that Mitchell was threatening. It was mine.
Nick might have been too furious to think it through himself, but I wasn’t the only one who saw the fatal error in his plan. Mitchell cocked his head to the side with a smile that sent chills running up and down my arms.
“Careful, Nicholas.” His fingers tightened into a fist—closed around that dreadful flash drive in his pocket. “I need only to make a single phone call, then the picture is on every website, and billboard, and magazine cover to your darling public’s delight.”
Nick paled, but clenched his jaw.
“That call would hurt you, more than it would hurt—”
Mitchell raised his voice.
“Then we’ll see how long your favor lasts. Then we’ll see how long you can keep treating this city like your personal playground.”
They were both shouting now. Growing louder and louder with every pass.
“You’re not the only one who has friends at the Post,” Nick warned.