Fletcher shrugged, grinning. “I’m likeable.”
Daniel rolled his eyes.
“Dear god. His ego knows no bounds,” Hunter said.
“Oh, excuse me, Shakespeare.”
“That’s not Shakespeare, idiot.”
Daniel usually enjoyed their brotherly banter, and, for a moment, he was pleased to be home, but he had to stay focused and get back to his original reason for calling them here. But he wasn’t done.
“I’m serious, Fletch. You can’t go there. We’re clear on that, aren’t we?”
Fletcher placed his coffee loudly on the table. “Drop it, Daniel,” Fletcher growled. “I know the fucking rules. Now what the fuck are we doing here? Because unless you’ve forgotten, my team has a media crisis on our hands.”
Interesting.
He did drop it. For now. But he was keeping an eye on that space.
“Get comfortable,” he said, and pressed play on his laptop. After they had listened to it and their mouths dropped, he slammed the laptop closed.
“Mother fucker,” Hunter exclaimed.
“That prick is going down,” Fletcher said, standing and pacing. “Asshole.”
He gave them a moment longer to let it sink in, allowing the now familiar flush of fury to wash over him. No matter how many times he listened, Daniel wanted to force his way into the senator’s office and punch the old guy.
That wasn’t an option. And it wouldn’t solve anything. He needed a clear head and a plan.
“How did you get this?” Hunter asked, pointing to the laptop.
Daniel shook his head. “Don’t ever ask me that again.”
Both his brothers stared at him, then nodded.
“You need to stop protecting us,” Fletcher said. “We’re not kids anymore, Daniel.”
He didn’t care how old they were. It was his duty to protect them, and everyone in his company.
“I will always protect you, so fuck off. It’s my job as your big brother and duty as the CEO of Dufort Hotels.”
“You really think that?”
“Yes,” he growled, then got them back on track. “Now we need to decide what to do about this. None of it can be used as evidence, so taking legal action is not an option here.”
During the conversation, the US senator had shared that he’d been planning his run for president for a long time and had planted seeds to fund it over the years.
Johnathan Dufort had never been a target until the night he’d found him with his hands on his wife. The two were old college buddies and were well known scoundrels, but it was an unwritten rule that you didn’t touch another man’s wife.
That was when he decided to change the rules of their agreement. He knew he wouldn’t take long for Johnathan to dig himself a hole and when his friend had told him about the situation with Suzanne, Mackenzie had laid the foundation for what was now playing out.
Mackenzie knew Suzanne and stayed in casual contact with her over the years, helping her out if she needed it. Then, boom, just in time for the agreement to be paid out, Mackenzie tells her she wasn’t Johnathan’s only lover during that time of their lives.
All those promises that she was the love of his life, but he couldn’t be with her because of his wife and kids, suddenly meant nothing. His explanation that because of the Dufort Dynasty, they couldn’t be together was an obvious lie.
Suzanne was furious, of course. Makenzie then offers her the opportunity to get revenge and sweetens the deal by offering her two million dollars. All she has to do is retrieve the document from the Dufort vault.
As Olivia said, a woman scorned.