Your Fierce Love (The Bennett Family 7)

“Hates your guts, as does half the network.” As do I. Just imagining this slimeball making Clara’s life hard is enough to make me want to punch him. His willingness to sell out my family only adds gasoline to the fire. “So, don’t let the door hit you on your way out. But before, you’ll both sign those documents, or I will make your lives very hard.”

I pull myself to my full height, glaring at both of them. My bet is they will cave within thirty seconds. They cave after twelve.

***

“Hello, fellow Bennetts,” I say two days later, stepping inside Sebastian’s office.

He sits behind his desk, while Logan paces around. They both look at me curiously. I asked them to meet me for lunch today, which is why I brought burgers for everyone.

“Double cheese.” I put one brown paper bag in front of Sebastian, then hand the other to Logan, saying, “Extra pickles.”

“Why did you want to meet?” Logan asks as we start on our lunch.

“To give you a heads-up about a few things. I got wind that the slimebags from We See You plan to trash Sebastian.”

I start by telling them everything I know from Clara and then everything I found out through my own digging.

Logan swears; Sebastian just leans back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the desk.

“These people never give up, do they?” Logan asks through gritted teeth. “If they don’t have fodder for tabloids, they make it up.”

“Exactly,” I confirm. “But I killed the entire story. Just wanted you two to know in case anyone contacts you about it.”

“Blake,” Sebastian says slowly, “I appreciate this, but I don’t want you to get caught up in this fight. You can waste your life fighting the tabloids, but there’s no winning here.”

“Sebastian, you’re too cerebral for your own good,” Logan says. “I’m with Blake on this one.”

“It’s the reverse of the medal,” Sebastian continues. “The press spent years building me up to be some kind of superhero, now they want another angle. After all, there are only so many articles you can write about the success of a company and its founding family. After a while, you want some dirt, something to prove their life isn’t perfect either. People like a success story, but they love a scandal and tearing others down more.”

“Lucky I like tearing down people who try to tear down the family,” I say dryly. I lost count on how many stories I’ve killed over the years. Daniel and I started doing this to stop our own stupidity from damaging the family. In our early twenties, we went from one wild party to another, and that’s fodder for tabloids. As the years went by and Daniel and I appeared less in public, the type of stories the press was after changed. They wanted dirt especially on the oldest trio—Logan, Sebastian, and Pippa—since they’re the pillars of Bennett Enterprises.

In the beginning, we mostly had to kill facts that leaked out, such as details about Pippa’s divorce, which leaked because of my own big mouth. But as Daniel and I became more careful, the press was fabricating stories—one in particular was a painstakingly detailed fake account of Logan making deals behind Sebastian’s back with the goal of seizing control of the company. I remember feeling sick to my stomach about the lengths to which people would go. Finding out about these things and killing them before they reach the public is a tedious and relentless job, but someone has to do it. Daniel and I are up for it. We owe Sebastian so much; this is the least we can do.

Most of the time, we didn’t even tell our eldest siblings. They had enough on their minds without having to worry about such imbecilic attempts to discredit them. Now I’m thinking that might not have been the best approach, because I don’t think Sebastian actually realizes the extent to which some people would go, and the damage they can do.

“Look,” Sebastian continues, “these types of stories hurt only as much as you allow them to. As long as you and those you care about know the truth, nothing else matters.”

Groaning, I drag a hand down my face. I can see his point, but what he doesn’t seem to realize is that if your name is dragged in the mud often enough, people start doubting you, and doubts are the hardest to fight or disprove.

Logan raises a skeptical eyebrow. “I for one would rather not read accounts of you having a double life, even if they’re fake.”

“Exactly.” Agreeing with Logan so thoroughly on a topic happens so rarely that this is almost weird.

Sebastian shakes his head, shrugging. “In that case, heads-up—it’s possible a story about me trying to take back everyone’s shares will be published next week.”

When he set up Bennett Enterprises, Sebastian gave every single one of us shares in the company—one of the many reasons I’ll owe him for the rest of my life.

“What the fuck?” Logan exclaims, mirroring my thoughts. How did I miss that?

“I want all the details,” I say at once.

Sebastian hesitates, then spills it all out, and I already make a fight plan.

“I’ll handle this,” I assure him, even though it’s a bit late in the game to kill a story.

“Blake—” Sebastian begins, but Logan puts his hand up.

“You go ahead with whatever you’re planning,” Logan tells me, interrupting him. Then he points at Sebastian with his thumb. “This one needs saving from his own too-democratic ways.”