Page 28 of My Best Friend's CEO Dad

“I understand,” Gabriel says. “I can handle this, no problem. I’ll keep you updated.”

After shaking his hand, I lead him to the private elevator that will take him directly into the underground parking lot. Returning to my office, I work until my assistant buzzes through on the intercom.

“Uh, sir,” he says.

“Yes?”

“There’s a young man here to see you. He says he’s a friend of your daughter’s. Ethan Smith. He said you’ll know who he is.”

A smile touches my lips, a rare one this past week. All Kayla has been talking about is Ethan-this and Ethan-that. They’ve been speaking almost nonstop on the phone and via text, and I heard from my security that, when I left, Ethan visited Kayla again.

“Sure, let him in,” I reply.

A few minutes later, Ethan walks into the office wearing a shirt and tie tucked into black pants. His shoes are a little scuffed, but he’s made an effort, and that’s what counts.

“Thanks for seeing me, sir,” he says.

I stand, shaking his hand. “No problem.”

“This is, ah… May I sit?”

I gesture at the chair, dropping into my own. With all the guilt about Maci eating me up, it’s refreshing to know Kayla has something warm in her life that will put a smile on her face.

“This is awkward,” Ethan says, leaning forward and staring at me directly. Something in the kid changes. Suddenly, I know I misjudged him. It’s in his eyes. They shift subtly in a way I can’t describe exactly, but it’s an undeniable alteration. “I’d like ten million dollars, sir.”

I curl my hand into a fist. I can’t believe I misjudged him so badly. “Or you’ll break Kayla’s heart, is that it?” I growl. “You little shit. If you’re the sort of person to do this, I don’t want you anywhere near my daughter, anyway.”

He sighs. “I’m afraid it’s worse than that, sir.”

“Drop the sir crap,” I tell him.

He shrugs, reaching into his pocket.

CHAPTER 14

ETHAN

Ihope he can’t see how nervous I am as I reach into my pocket. They want me to give them what I have, but I’ve got to think about myself, a road out of this miserable, poor life. I’ve got to make something of myself. Escape that depressing shadow of Mom and Dad and the life I was crapped into.

I place my phone on the desk, and it’s already open on the media file. I hold my finger over the play button. “It’ll be easier if we just listen to it first.”

I hope he can’t see the fear pulsing in me, too. Lukas Larson is a tall, strong, intimidating man. Even in his expensive tailored suit, he looks like the sort of man who knows how to fight and has no problem doing it. He stares at me coldly, giving me no reaction, but when I click play, his face changes. He bolts to his feet.

“That’s enough,” he snaps.

It’s a recording of him and Kayla’s friend, Maci, in Maci’s bedroom the night I came for dinner. It has them getting steamy together with lots of dirty talk. It’s the sort of stuff that would ruin Kayla’s life if she heard it. That was my idea, based on my intuition, not theirs.

“Explain,” he says, laying his fists against his desk.

“I’ve got c-copies,” I murmur, my voice cracking. He’s staring at me like a man ready to kill in cold blood.

“You wouldn’t walk in here without them,” Lukas snarls. “Whatever you are, you’re not stupid. Explain now.”

“During dinner, I saw Maci looking at you and how badly you didn’t want to look at Maci. When I was a kid, my dad cheated on my mom a lot. Once, we ran into one of his girlfriends at a diner. It was the same thing, how determined he was not to look at her. I planted a listening device in her bedroom and yours. I just want ten million.”

“Just,” Lukas says, shaking his head. “Just ten million.”

“That’s nothing to you.”

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