Page 67 of Ruthless Billionaire Daddy

“I’ve been trying to take them down since they’ve been posted. I got an alert for her name being used. I bypassed security and reached the file, but the moment I deleted it, an automated script restored the video. No matter what I did, a fresh copy replaced the deleted one instantly. Someone wants to make sure these videos never disappear.”

“Shit!” I roared. I slammed my phone onto the table. My fists clenched and I drove my knuckles into the dry wall of the office repeatedly until a jagged hole appeared. I barely registered the pain as Leonardo moved and pinned my arms to the side from the back.

“Leo, let me go!” I screamed.

I tried to get lose from Leo but even though he was younger than I was he was taller and three times as big.

“No chance in hell that’s going to happen. You need to calm down so we can talk about this,” he said firmly.

I knew Leonardo was right. I forced myself to calm down and after I few minutes he asked, “Can I let go now?”

I nodded and I felt him release me. He guided me to the sofa and we sat.

“What’s going on? What videos of Delilah do you want taken down?”

“Hawthorne posted some videos of Delilah, of her past. Is there any way we can get him arrested for this?”

“What’s in the videos?”

I sighed, “It’s her dancing and stripping for men in a hotel room.”

I expected to see some sort of reaction from Leonardo, but his expression was blank. I guess it came with the territory of being a lawyer and hearing crazy confessions.

“If we have solid proof that he’s behind it, then yes, we can. If Delilah’s at the office today, let Tony take her home. Because this shit is about to blow up, and you don’t want her caught in it.”

I placed my head in my hands. “We went out last night, she’s been sick since. She thinks it’s an allergic reaction. She’s home today.”

“Good. Now call the others and tell them to come to your office now. Because knowing you, there’s more to this story, and it's time you came clean.”

Knowing that Delilah was safe at home. I focused on calling my brothers. Within the hour, they had gathered in my office, and I told them everything: about the fire, thecontinued threats, money that was stolen but was repaid by Mr. Jaxson, about Dean and how Delilah got roped into everything, Hawthorne’s threat to say Dean was in the drug trade and was a human trafficker, my suspicions that Hawthorne and Obsidian were working together but I couldn't quite make the connection yet, my threatening Hawthorne at his office, and the real reason why I married Delilah.

When I was finished, my brothers looked at me like I had grown an extra head.

“What is it with the men in this family who get themselves into fucked up situations and instead of asking for help decide to try to fix things on their own? What the fuck do you guys take us for? Chopped liver?” Vincent asked in disbelief, the anger in his voice unmistakable.

“The real reason you didn’t want us to talk to Victor was because you think Obsidian knows about Delilah’s past and he’d tell us about it. You were trying to protect Delilah, weren’t you?” Dominic asked.

I nodded. “But I made a fucking mess of everything. Hawthorne has exposed her. Some protector I turned out to be.”

“Call me the devil’s advocate, but what’s the big deal with Delilah’s videos being leaked?” Axel asked.

He put his hand in the air to ward off the insults the others were about to send his way.

“Here me out. I’ve seen the videos, and one, Delilah is wearing clothing. People go to the beach dressed in bikinis all the time. Not a big issue. Two, Delilah looks scared and she isn’t enjoying herself. Any smart person would know that she isn’t doing it because she wants to. And three, none of us here see her any differently because of the videos, and as far as I’mconcerned, those are the only opinions that matter, excluding Emily, Lucy and Mrs. Kensington.”

“Axel does have a point.” Vincent stated. “However, we’ve all gone to parties where the striptease and lapdancers were intoxicating and I don’t know about you guys but I fully enjoyed myself.” Vincent looked around the room at everyone. “If she was doing it willingly, would it have been a problem? Would any of us now look at her differently? Her body, her choice if that was the case. I’m just putting that out there.”

“While the both of you have made compelling arguments, and I don’t think any of us would’ve given a shit if she’d done it willingly, but the fact is she, Dean and Seb are in danger and that’s where our focus should lie,” Leonardo stated gruffly.

“Leo’s correct. Hawthorne had been holding that leverage over your head for a long time, but now that it’s out there, what’s his end game?” Nate asked.

“Hope that my businesses will crash, sink Delilah’s reputation to the ground along with Dean’s. We didn’t even know they had those damn videos, although after getting the picture I suspected. But Delilah was more worried about Dean’s rep and how others knowing that he used drugs would affect him. That’s what got her to agree to Hawthorne’s so-called job in the first place.”

“But now that we do know they have videos, by sinking Delilah wouldn’t Hawthorne be sinking himself? Now that the videos are out, what makes him think that Delilah wouldn’t go to the police and report him?” Vincent asked.

“Fear. Dean was using drugs. If she squeals on Hawthorne, Dean could get thrown in jail, and Hawthorne has enough money to buy off judges, lawyers and juries,” Leo stated.

“But how does Obsidian play into all of this? Something still isn’t adding up.”

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