“It is. I won’t bore you with details, but we can safely say he’s fucked,” Noah said.
“I want the boring details, to be honest. I want to know how it happened. How does this work?”
“The simplified version is this,” Adrian said. “We pulled strings internally to get your father’s advisors to push for the acquisition of another corrupt company called Pulse. If we couldn’t get this laptop, we had reason to hope it’d be simple to expose the corruption at Pulse, which would now be part of Coleton. They could obviously claim they were ignorant, but it’d open the door to the details we’d leak from Coleton.”
“That seems like a lot of work just to make them look a little more guilty.”
“Well, that’s where it gets a little more technically complicated,” Noah said.
I shrugged. “Try me.”
“Companies like you father’s don’t always operate for immediate profit,” Noah explained. “Many actually pump almost every dollar they can get their hands on into growth. If they spent two billion in 2020 and earned three billion, they will throw that one billion into expanding. It’s a long-term plan and they can sell that growth to investors and speculators. Your father was in the process of convincing his board of directors to invest huge amounts of money in Coleton for their global expansion push over the next eight years. That means Coleton didn’t have much in the bank, so to speak. Acquiring Pulse was a huge risk, but one we convinced them they couldn’t afford to miss.”
“So they didn’t just buy a corrupt company, but they wasted money at a time they couldn’t afford to waste it? And their investors may back out?”
Noah nodded. “And now that we have this laptop, that will all just be icing on the cake. Your father is meticulous about documenting everything he does, from bribes to collusion and even tax fraud. It’s all here. Even if we didn’t destroy Coleton Enterprises the business, which I think we will, we’ll certainly have enough to put Russ Coleton the man behind bars for a long time.”
I took a deep breath. The honest truth was I had never considered my father being put in jail because of what we were doing. Financial ruin, damaged pride, loss of respect? Yes, yes, and yes.
But I thought about the things I knew he’d done like the decisions that led to Adrian’s father getting cancer and the thousands of others. Whether it twisted my stomach or not, my father deserved everything he had coming. He’d never done anything to earn my loyalty, either.
“Good,” I said.
Adrian gave my leg a squeeze. “I’ll keep you updated as all this develops. It could take a few weeks or even months before we really have concrete results, but they are coming.”
“Okay,” I said. I leaned into his ear, breathing in his cologne. “Could you ask your friends to leave our apartment? I was really looking forward to letting the man who loves me carry me to his bed so he can have his way with me.”
Adrian stood suddenly. “Okay. Everyone out. Thanks for coming.”
Travis tilted his head. “Look at this fucker. She whispers a dirty little something in his ear and he kicks us all out?”
Jordan got up suddenly, grabbing her coat. “I don’t intend to be here when my brother does whatever he’s about to do. Gross.”
Travis got up with a shrug. “I’d still watch. For the record.”
“Nobody wants you watching them have sex, Travis,” Noah said. He closed both laptops and slid them into his bag. “I’ll let you know if I have any hang-ups, Adrian.”
“And I won’t respond for the next few hours.”
“Few hours?” Travis asked. “I guess that’s what happens when you sexually deprive yourself for… what was it, eight years?”
“Could we not talk about this?” I asked, cheeks burning red. “All I told him was that I wanted to watch more of the show we’re watching.”
“Yeah,” Travis said. “That’s why Adrian’s got a raging hard-on. What are you guys watching, Fifty Shades?”
I looked at Adrian, and, sure enough...
“Ugh,” Jordan said, shielding her eyes. “I’m so gone.”
“Likewise,” Noah said.
Travis lingered at the door after they left. “Last chance for a spectator.”
“If you stay, the only thing you’ll be seeing through are two black eyes,” Adrian said.
Travis raised his eyebrows. “Oh. So I can watch?”
“Get the fuck out,” Adrian said in a deadpan voice.
Travis smirked. “If you can’t be safe, be careful, kids.”
“This is why subtlety is a valuable skill, Adrian,” I said. “And what is this, the fourth time your uncontrollable erections have gotten us into trouble?”
“If this is trouble, sign me up,” he said. He scooped me out of my chair and carried me to the bedroom.
Adrian tossed me on the bed from his shoulders and I landed with a bounce. I laughed, then held up my hands and formed a little square with my fingers. “Hold on,” I said. “Let me just take a mental image here.”