Page 75 of How to Resist Prince Charming

Without speaking, Ben settled into the chair across from Tom and watched him type. Tom continued to ignore him. He hoped Ben would get the hint and leave. He didn’t care what kind of Boss Boy report his friend delivered today. Farris had probably just used the bathroom, and Ben was running around like crazy to spread the news. Yes, Braxton Farris did relieve his bladder like everyone else on earth. What a shocker.

“I know who she is,” Ben said. “I know who Farris took to France with him.”

“Good for you.” Tom continued to type. “Still don’t care.” He didn’t even bother to look interested.

Ben tossed a CD onto Tom’s desk; it landed on the keyboard, obstructing his typing. Tom looked up in surprise. “What—”

“I was snooping in Farris’s computer and found this,” Ben said. “Thought you should see it.”

Tom’s eyes sprang open wide. “You were what? Are you crazy? What were you doing, getting into his computer? Do you want to be fired, Ben? Good Lord.” Tom wiped his hand through his hair and glanced nervously at the CD, wondering how to get the thing off his desk without touching it with his fingerprints.

Ben rolled his eyes. “I know how to cover my tracks, okay? He’ll never know I was in there.”

Then he surged to his feet and leaned over Tom’s desk, his eyes gleaming with urgency. “Forget about the computer. It’s not important.” He snatched the CD off the keyboard and he waved it in Tom’s face. “You need to look at this.”

“No,” Tom said, shoving Ben’s hand away. “I don’t want to see anything you took off Farris’s computer.”

“But they’re pictures of Lenna.”

Tom froze. “What?” He snapped the CD out of Ben’s hand. “What the hell do you mean, pictures of Lenna?”

“There’s hundreds of them,” Ben said. “In some, she’s in front of the Eiffel Tower, smiling at the camera. Some pictures have her and Farris both in the shot. Some of them were taken here in town. You name it. There are even some of her in a bed, sleeping...I’m guessing it’s his bed.” Ben paused and rubbed at the back of his neck uneasily. “His computer’s full them, Tom.”

Tom stared at the disc, unable to speak.

“Tell me honestly,” Ben said. “Did you know about this?”

Tom merely transferred his frozen stare to his friend. “They’re...are you sure they’re of Lenna and Braxton together? Not...not the younger brother? Not Tyler?”

Ben sighed as he patted Tom’s shoulder. “There’s no mistake. Our boss is definitely dating your daughter.”

Tom made a choked sound, but otherwise didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry,” Ben murmured, looking truly regretful. “I hate like hell that I’m the one who had to break this to you.”

* * * *

Tom followed Braxton home from work. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d been able to wait until after hours, but he’d managed to keep his temper cool throughout the day. Then again, he’d purposely avoided running into the boy too.

This didn’t have anything to do with business, though, so he couldn’t do it at work. It was personal. It was very personal. That slimy piece of shit had touched his baby. Nothing hit closer to home than that.

He wasn’t sure what to say to the backstabbing little asshole but he knew he couldn’t let this slide. Lenna was his pride and joy. She didn’t need someone like that smug bastard ruining her and using her just to irritate him. And, yes, that had to be why the kid was after her: to get back at Tom for being a belligerent employee. The son of a bitch had even told her he loved her during that phone call. He had brainwashed her and would probably end up breaking her heart.

Unacceptable.

Finding a parking spot half a block down from Braxton’s brownstone, Tom killed the engine as Braxton parked his Land Rover. Prepared for confrontation time, he reached out to open his driver’s side door when the front door to the kid’s place opened. On the sidewalk below, Braxton lifted his face to find Lenna skipping down the steps to meet him.

Unprepared to see her, Tom paused and gaped as the girl he used to rock to sleep and scold for talking too much at dinner time leapt into his nemesis’s arms. Braxton dropped his briefcase to catch her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips as she kissed him, and the punk put his hands on her ass to support her while he kissed her back.

Tom’s hands curled into fists. The boy might’ve brainwashed his child, but she’d let him.

His own daughter had betrayed him.

He couldn’t believe his first born had turned traitor. It didn’t matter what kind of charming words Farris had used to get her into bed, she’d still given in. She’d gone to fucking Paris with him. And she’d purposefully kept it all a secret.

Farris would pay for turning Tom’s daughter against him. He would pay dearly.

When Tom was through with him, he’d think twice before ever messing with a Davenport again.

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