Page 36 of Guarding the Billionaire

“Jake? What about him? I think I’ve seen him like once since I went away to college.”

“Tell me everything you know about him,” she instructed.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Boris spent the night investigating online comments about you.”

I reared back in surprise. “Online comments about me? What do you mean?”

“I look through new articles that mention your name, then read the comments,” Boris explained.

“Oh no, don’t read the comments online, everyone knows they’re terrible. I’ve heard those comments are all a bunch of incel trolls hanging out in their parents’ basement trashing people for fun.”

“Well, one of your incel trolls is your godfather’s son,” Teresa informed me. “So I’m going to need to know everything you can tell me about him.”

“Hm. Wow, okay. Well, Jake is about five or six years younger than me, so we never hung out or anything, even though our fathers were good friends,” I said. “He came to my parents’funeral with Henry, and I talked to him briefly. I remember being so surprised because the last time I’d seen him he’d been in junior high, you know how when you see someone as a kid it’s almost jarring to see them and realize they’re all grown up.”

“What did you talk about at the funeral?” Teresa asked.

“Um, I don’t know, the usual funeral stuff, sorry for your loss, that kind of thing.” I paused, trying to bring up anything unusual about the interaction. “I remember he was kind of twitchy.”

“Twitchy?”

“Yeah, I remember he was ADHD as a kid, and I was surprised he still had such a hard time being still. I mean, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was on drugs or something.”

“How did you know he wasn’t?” Teresa asked.

“Oh, well I guess I didn’t know for sure. I just assumed that he hadn’t grown out of his ADHD. There were so many people to talk to that day, I don’t think I spent more than two minutes with him, although Henry stuck by my side the entire time.”

I allowed myself a smile, appreciating the gentle support of my godfather.

“Did you know that Jacob has been in and out of jail since he was fifteen?”

My eyebrows rose. “No, Henry never mentioned that. I can’t believe it.”

“He gets in trouble many times, but has good lawyer,” Boris told me. “Charges do not stick.”

“Do you have any idea why Jacob would be hostile towards you?” Teresa asked.

“I doubt that he is,” I replied. “We’ve never been friends or anything, but I never got any bad vibes off him. I don’t even know the guy.”

“Explain this then.”

Teresa slid her laptop over to me, pointing out an article about my becoming CEO of Meyer Beauty.

“Read the eighth comment down.”

I scanned the online comments until I found the one she wanted me to read.

“This cunt stole everything from me. I hope someone rapes her until she dies. Maybe I’ll do it myself.”

My hand came to my mouth as I read the vitriolic comment out loud. “God, that’s awful, why would someone write that?”

“The real question is, why would Jacob Shapiro write that?”

I looked at the username. “You think thatdisgruntled589is Jake Shapiro?”

“I don’t think, I know it. Boris traced this username to his ISP.”

---