Page 28 of Broken

Walking down the corridor to what in any other building would be considered a penthouse suite, makes me laugh because there’s no way that term could be applied here. It is simply a shining star placed on top of a steaming pile of shit, no matter how you dress it up, it's still shit. Everytime I walk down this corridor and shiver at all the possible diseases I could be catching by just being here, I wish that Eli would take me up on my offer to buy him a new place, but he always declines.

Eli Sanders is a twenty-three year old tech genius and he works for me as a hacker. He doesn’t work for the family, he works directly for me, and I hope to fuck that Father knows nothing about Eli, because his life is safer that way. Eli is the best investment I have ever made. I bailed the kid out of a pretty serious situation a few years back that would have seen him do a considerable amount of jail time. In exchange for me getting the charges on Eli dropped, he agreed to work for me. He probably worked off his debt a long time ago, but he keeps on working for me. To be honest, I would be lost without him and he knows it. The kid is a walking contradiction. To look at him, at first with his typical sweet, boyish good looks, floppy brown hair and glasses he looks like your standard geek, but underestimating Eli Sanders is the first mistake people make, and their last. Beneath his clothing, he is covered in tattoos, most that he has drawn himself, he is also covered in scars from being in more fights than I’m sure even I know about and he’s a cocky son of a bitch. But I don’t have him out in the field, he’s too valuable to me, and I can’t risk my father finding out about him. Obviously, he has his own hackers, but they are nowhere near Eli’s level.

As I approach the door at the end of the corridor, I begin to notice the tell tale signs that someone not to be messed with lives here. This floor is the quietest of all that I have walked through, there's no drugs or whores and I don’t feel like my shoes are sticking to the floor. As I approach the white wooden door at the end, I see the security camera above. Looking up to it and giving my best smug grin that I know pisses Eli off, I hear the clicking that tells me the bolts on the door are now unlocked. This may look like your ordinary run down flat, but with the security system that Eli and Ryder setup here, it’s harder to break into than Fort Knox. I don’t wait for him to open the door because he never does, instead, I let myself in.

Eli lives in a bright, airy open plan apartment that was probably three of the shit ones below but knocked through to make one large flat. This place looks like an expensive bachelor pad that you would find in the more upscale parts of London, but Eli insisted on building his here. All I know is that he used to live in this building with his mother before she died and his life went to shit. Growing up with an abusive father is something we have in common, and just like me, Eli never talks about his childhood, so I don’t ask.

Walking into a room off the bright white and airy living room, it’s obvious that, just like Eli, this room could not be more different. It is dark, windowless, and filled with technology. There are computers and screens all over the place, I don’t even pretend to know what all the stuff is or what he does with them. All I care about is that he produces results.

“All right, Boss.” Eli swings around on his chair and flashes me his cocky lopsided smirk that, according to him, is a big hit with the ladies. He’s lounged back in his leather desk chair and he looks so relaxed, like all the equipment is an extension of him. His dark, low slung jeans and tight white t-shirt that shows off not only his tattoos, but also the hard muscles underneath are not exactly the normal clothes I would choose for one of my employees, but he doesn’t listen.

“Eli, for God’s sake, sit up straight. You look like trash.” He chuckles at my comment but makes no effort to do as I instructed. I grip my hands together and grind my teeth. This boy is infuriating, but he is also irreplaceable and the cocky twat knows it.

“I need an update, Eli. Things are taking too long and I need to make my move soon. What do you have?” I take a seat in one of the other desk chairs that are in the room and focus my intense gaze on the guy sitting in front of me. He’s only a couple of years younger than me, but we couldn’t look more different.

“I have a lot of the information we need about your father’s operation, but nowhere near enough. I have managed to trace some of the money exchanges and the contacts here in the UK, based on the people you have already dealt with, but the major issue is the importing. So far, it is impossible to tell how the old man is importing anything, who he is using, or how he is moving the money. What we need is an in, like with the girls. When you went to that auction, I was able to use facial recognition to track down a couple of Alan’s overseas contacts and that helped me work out who he uses to import the girls. I have a programme running currently that is trying to expose the money trail. What I need is the same insight. When will you be going to the next stage meetup?” Eli asks and I try to hold back the groan. I had hoped he would be able to expose my father’s business dealings without me needing to be exposed to them.

“So, we have a problem with that. My father has said that I will not be involved in his business dealings unless I agree to call off my marriage. Stubborn old fool knows he needs me as the face of the business, but he has to fight for control in some way,” I explain to Eli and I watch as his eyes widen and he runs his fingers through his floppy hair, the frustration clear.

“What the fuck? You are marrying Katyia?” he asks in a stunned voice that sounds strained like he is holding back.

“Erm… no. I’m marrying Ava Delgado and my father is not happy about it. He doesn’t want me to marry her and so in retaliation, he is making me choose between her and the company,” I explain.

“So why the fuck would you not choose the company? We have been working for years to bring down this fucking organisation and now your throwing it all away for a bit of pussy?” he snaps. I grind my teeth and take deep breaths as I try to get a hold on my anger. Him and Ryder are the only people that get away with talking to me like this and if I’m being honest, I like that they challenge me. I like that they aren’t afraid of saying what they think around me. But, obviously, because Eli has no idea about my plans, he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on and so I think it’s time to share my plans with someone.

“Of course, I want to bring down the company,” I explain to Eli but before I have a chance to continue, he stops me and starts talking to himself.

“Wait a minute. Ava Delgado, I knew I had heard that name before. She is the chick who I practically online stalked for months, her and her father. You got him set up by the 49er’s, they agreed to a bet that you authorised but knew he couldn’t pay for and they said they were going to kill him. She’s the one who is under the protection of your father, isn’t she?” he rants while running his fingers through his hair again. Before I can answer, he begins tapping away at the keyboard in front of him, and the next thing I know, he is pointing to a picture of Ava on his computer screen. I nod in confirmation and he growls in frustration.

“What the fuck, boss? What are you doing? I thought we had a plan!” He shouts.

“We did… I mean, we still do. But we both know that she is his weakness and if I’m going to bring down his company, then I need to have him at his weakest. I thought that when he found out I was marrying her, he would do whatever it took to stop me, and he is, but I also know he is trying not to let on how much Ava means to him. She has no fucking idea he is even part of her life, I don’t think. As far as she is concerned, he has bailed Manny out a few times and that’s it,” I reply, trying to calm Eli down as much as possible.

“So, what you are saying is that your spontanous plan you have undertaken without discussing with me, was intended to weaken your father in an attempt to make it easier to fulfil our ultimate goal of taking down his enterprise and surprisingly, it has fucking backfired? What the hell were you thinking? He has hidden his past with this girl for her entire life, did you really think that he was going to just fold once you used her as leverage?” As he finishes, he gives an evil laugh and is looking at me like he can’t believe how stupid I am, and for the first time in far too long, a blush spreads across my cheeks and embarrassment causes my stomach to flip nervously. But I don’t have to worry about Eli because he is back to typing on his many computers and when he is in this mood, it's best not to disturb him.

A short while later, probably not even five minutes has passed, I’m getting ready to look at my phone for a distraction, but before I’m able to, I hear Eli start to groan and he’s back to running his fingers through his hair in his usual nervous mannerism. However, this time he doesn’t look like he is nervous, now he looks furious.

“Please, tell me you didn’t spank and finger fuck this girl in your office in front of a group of dickheads that you call followers?” he asks, sounding exacerbated. I may sound like I’m shocked, but I knew those idiots wouldn’t keep their mouths shut. In fact, I counted on that.

“How the fuck did you find that out? They were all told to keep quiet.” His response is a dark chuckle and it grates at my skin. My instinct is to lash out at his utter disrespect, but I need him and there's a part of me that knows deep down, I need his honesty too.

“You’re seriously asking me how I found it? I hacked their phone records, of course. You have two men in particular who are very chatty about it with other members of their little group. Typically, it’s two of your rich CEO buddies who probably think they are exempt from any of your little instructions. I also believe that one of them has employed a hacker to try and get the footage from the security cameras in your office, which is fucking laughable. As if anyone could hack a system I created. But, you think you have control over these dicks and you don’t. Within the last hour or so, word of this encounter reached your father. He has gone radio silent and now I have no idea what he is thinking, but if this girl means as much to him as we think, then he is going to move against you. He could throw you out of the company and we could lose everything, you dumb prick. All because you wanted to wind him up about Ava. Fuck!” he shouts before standing up and pacing around the tiny room and I have to admit that my brain is working a mile a minute right now. He is right that when I went down this route to get revenge against Father using Ava, I did throw all my plans to bring his company down out of the window. But this became so much more because it’s personal. The moment I found out about the existence of Ava and her link to Father, I was fuming. I needed to know why he would care for an unknown, poor little girl from the wrong side of the tracks more than he does his own son and heir. So, I started digging and it consumed me. I have to admit that initially, I expected to find that she is my illegitimate sister, but computer records and an illegally performed DNA test confirm that she has, in fact, no relation to either of us, which is why I decided to use this plan to find out just how much she means to him.

My whole life it has been carved into me that a Blakeman must run the family business, without having our face and notoriety at the center, there would be potential for the whole enterprise to crumble. So, when I found out about Ava, I realised there have been times when he has made himself look weak to his opponents by paying off Manny’s debts, all for Ava. I wanted to know what makes her more important than the rules that he has quite literally beat into me from an early age, which is how this plan came about. If he wants me to rule the Blakeman family, then he has to let me marry Ava, or I walk away. Of course, he knows I don’t actually want to marry Ava. Sure, she is gorgeous but the very sight of her is a constant reminder of how much he cares for her. This is when my plan changed and I decided I needed to really test how much my father cares. I am going to slowly break Ava until she is a shadow of the girl he likes so much, and I will mould her into the perfect wife if I have to be married to her, but really, I'm just trying to work out how far I have to push him. How much do I have to break Ava before my father breaks and gives me what I want? Hopefully, it doesn’t take too long because I am on a very tight deadline with a very sensitive anniversary approaching. Hope that I will have vengeance for them drives me forward.

So in this little room with Eli, I play the part and pretend to be outraged that those two men would share the information after being threatened. But, I knew when I invited them into the room, they were secretly working with Father. Ryder is fucking good at his job. So, I let them in and made sure they got an encrypted copy of the security footage. Using a programme Eli had shown me how to work for a previous task, I made sure the video would only open on a phone attached to those two idiots and my father. So the video of Ava cannot be shared with anyone except my father, and it did not take them long to get it back to him. What I need to know now is what he plans to do about it. So, I tell Eli what he needs to know and set him up some more tasks before I head out.

Before I even know whatI’m doing, I find myself outside Katyia’s apartment. I know that I can’t go in there, not with the way we left things. But it’s more than that. I know that Katyia would hate this plan, the way I’m using Ava. The idea that I would use a woman and break her spirit for the sole purpose of exposing my father and manipulating him to get my revenge, that would appall her. As far as my beautiful Katyia is concerned, there is nothing more disgusting than men who abuse women and I know she is right, but I feel like I have this tunnel vision. It’s like nothing matters except bringing down Father. I had a way of doing it and a plan, it was a long game but I was committed and I knew it would work. Then Eli discovered Ava and I became obsessed. The little boy in me that Katyia slowly brought back to life is crying out to know what it is about this particular girl that he can care about when he is incapable of showing that same feeling to his son. I know that it was jealousy and envy that were initially driving my plans, until I discovered the reason behind his behaviour. Jealousy was replaced by hatred and anger. I know the only logical source of these emotions is my father, but every time I see Ava, I see my father’s betrayal and my skin glows hot with the need for revenge.

Katyia would tell me that there are other ways to do this. That Ava is innocent and probably has no idea Alan Blakeman even knows her family, let alone their sordid past. But I don’t care. I need to get revenge and not just for myself. My mother deserves to have her revenge too. Her anniversary is fast approaching and she needs closure.

As I’m looking into the apartment window, I see Katyia look out, like she senses I’m here and just catching sight of her silhouette, hitches my breath. She truly is beautiful and that is why I won’t be near her whilst I’m going through with this plan. She deserves better. Maybe when all is said and done, I will go back and seek forgiveness, but who knows the person I will become after going down this road. For now, my beautiful Katyia is lost to me. I just hope that it is not forever.

I spend a week in a hotel, just lazing around and generally escaping from the world. I indulge in massages, room service, and lots of alcohol. My phone is on, but on silent and I completely ignore it. I check in regularly with Ryder, who is taking care of Ava. Man, was he pissed about the office incident! But I've always said that Ryder is the better side of my conscience and he would never have let me go through with the plan if he had known in advance, but he would never challenge me in front of people. He knows better than that. Truth is, I never intended on taking it that far at all. I was just going to strip her to her underwear in front of everyone to humiliate her, but the problem is that she really knows exactly how to fucking push my buttons. Ryder says she is fine physically, but may need some time mentally and he advised some space while she recovers. I know he is right and I did push Ava too far, I let my anger get on top of me, but just looking at her sets off my rage, so when she then starts with that fucking mouth of hers, I have no chance of staying calm.

Ava isn’t the only reason I’m staying away. As soon as word reached my father, he demanded an audience with me the next day. That’s when I decided to push him. I checked into the hotel under both my name and Ava’s. I paid the staff to tell anyone who enquires that there is a man and a woman matching Ava’s description staying in the room. I know that he cannot get close to the real Ava with Ryder guarding her. The longer I do not message him back and he thinks that I am holed up in a room with Ava, doing God knows what to her, the crazier it will be driving him. He stopped attempting to make contact over twenty-four hours ago and all my staff have been put on alert in case he tries anything. But rather than waiting for him to act, I decide to keep him on his toes even further and make the first move. I turn my phone on and dial the one number that always sets my nerves on edge.

“Where the fuck have you been, you little shit?” my father screeches down the phone at me after just two rings. I have to hold back the little giggle that is threatening to ripple out.

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