Forbidden Kiss (Carson Cove Scandals 1)

“Devereaux Properties.” Anna sat down next to Bolt as he pulled out his laptop. “I’ve been thinking about what Taylor told me—and if Alexis Devereaux has this much power, I doubt it’s because of her generosity. People hate her—like, everyone hates her.”

“That’s true…” Victoria raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never met anyone that was happy to see her. When I was dating her son, she was always screaming at someone on the phone or yelling at them in her office—except her brother. He seemed to be the only person in the world she could tolerate.”

“Blackmail…” I nodded. “How else could she get my mother fired and have me set up for plagiarism at school—she’s got dirt on people.”

“There’s plenty of it in Carson Cove.” Victoria poured a glass of wine and sat down. “Enough to fill the Grand Canyon twice…”

“But if she has dirt on people, I doubt it’s going to be just sitting on a server at Devereaux Properties.” I shook my head back and forth.

“Where else would she keep it?” Anna looked up at me. “Her cell phone? Her personal computer? That’s too dangerous—especially if it’s the kind of stuff that can coerce people into doing things, they don’t want to do…”

“It’s worth a shot.” Victoria shrugged. “She’s obviously got something on my dad, and if we can figure out what that is, we might be able to put a stop to this wedding before you have to try on a dress…”

“That—would be nice.” I nodded.

Bolt was a good hacker—by my standards at least. He was able to get into the Devereaux Properties database, and access a lot of confidential stuff, but none of it appeared to be helpful. We found a lot of purchase orders, deals that Sawyer King made when he was still married to Alexis, and it was clear that company was doing better than we had heard. In fact, it was quite profitable. That didn’t really make sense to me. Alexis and her brother were co-owners of Devereaux Properties, so half of everything should have belonged to her.

Bolt kept digging until it started getting late—late enough for my mother to get home and wonder why there was a party at her house. Luckily, she didn’t ask many questions after she said hello to Victoria and met Bolt for the first time. I didn’t want to just give up, but it didn’t seem like we were getting anywhere. We were just going in circles.

“I thought she was looking for a rich husband to marry…” I shook my head back and forth. “It looks like she’s—loaded.”

“My dad always said her father squandered the Devereaux fortune, and her brother’s gambling problem is no secret, so—it made sense to me too.” Victoria nodded. “What the hell is she after?”

“I’m sorry…” Bolt sighed. “It doesn’t look like there’s anything useful here.”

“There has to be something we’re missing,” Anna grunted in frustration.

“I’ll keep looking, but if I don’t get home soon, my parents might send a search party for me.” Bolt closed his laptop. “Or Coach Boyd—and I’d rather have the cops after me than him.”

“I understand that,” Victoria chuckled. “Okay, I think we need to call it a night. I’ll approach things cautiously with my dad and see if I can figure out what the hell Alexis is up to—maybe I’ll have better luck at Benson Estate.”

We said our goodbyes, and I hugged Victoria one last time before she left. I felt better with my secret out in the open with her, but I still didn’t feel good about the situation as a whole. Victoria was still my friend, but we had no idea how to take Alexis down—or stop the wedding. I was going to have to play Maid of Honor—and stand next to Alexis while she married the man that could have been mine. Our relationship never got to the point of talking about rings or dresses and it never would. It hurt even worse knowing that Victoria would have approached our relationship with maturity instead of disdain.

I should have cherished the time we had instead of fighting my feelings—I’d give anything to have that chance now…

Chapter Twenty-Two

Bryant

“Don’t…” I looked up at Victoria as she stormed into the living room. “You should be at school.”

I knew she was coming in guns blazing as soon as I realized she was in Carson Cove…

“Do you really think I’m going to stay at school when my dad is about to make the biggest mistake of his life.” She narrowed her eyes. “We need to talk about this.”

“We talked on the phone. I told you—I’m marrying Alexis. That’s the end of the discussion,” I sighed. “It’s my life. I get to choose who I want to be with—not you.”

“Then tell me this.” She took a step forward. “Would you rather be with Alexis—or Taylor.”

“Taylor?” My mouth fell open in shock.

“I know everything, dad. So why don’t we cut through the bullshit and talk about wha

t’s really going on here.” She sat down across from me. “What does Alexis have on you?”

My youngest daughter had obviously made a stop on her way to Benson Estate—and found out the truth from Taylor. If she knew that, then there was no reason to hide the rest of it from her. She knew Shaina was in rehab, but she didn’t know about the video, so I showed it to her. Alexis had promised to delete it after we said our vows, but she sent me a link in case I wanted to torture myself with a reminder of why we were headed to the altar. Victoria watched enough of the video to see why it was so bad before she finally shut it off.

“That video would ruin your sister’s life,” I sighed. “I don’t know what she’s going to do when she gets out of rehab, but I don’t want it following her around. Alexis said she would send it to every potential employer, every school that she applies to—anyone that might give her another chance.”