THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 31

I looked at my phone again.

The notification came again and again from different news platforms that I didn't follow.

One caught my eyes. It was one of the top tier celebrity and gossip outlets that always had the most recent gossip about yip celebrities. They have been paying attention to me since I was made CEO of Blackwell's business.

The headline hit me.

BLACKWELL HEIR'S SECRET ROMANCE? Ethan Blackwell spotted in intimate conversations with sister-in-law Emma Clarke — TWICE.

Underneath that headline was two pictures. One from the bench in the campus garden where Emma and I sat together. Then the second was from the time before that.. the hallway near the restrooms.

From the angle the pictures were taken, the only visible was the two of us standing close together.

I looked at the pictures again.

Someone had intentions to take the pictures. Then I put my phone down and glared at Daniel for a while.

He was watching with that same expression he also had when I lived in the Pierces home. That expression always came when he had done something he was so happy with and was now waiting for a reaction from me.

“You hired a good photographer.” I started.

He smiled but didn't deny it. “People take pictures, you know.”

“Both times we were at the Campus?” I asked. “You had someone watching us?$

He shrugged. "I told you. People take pictures."

I looked at him.

The shock of this news was so real to me that I couldn't believe it. Of course the accusation and all the news blocks could be taken down in a few minutes if I wanted. What caught me was the speed of it.

Just yesterday, Emma was talking to me about having only twelve more days before I could act and I listened and kept planning.

I was wrong. She was wrong.

I hadn't expected that Daniel would walk into my office like this. I also hadn't expected that he knew Rmma was seeing me.

I looked at him again. He did this for a reason and that reason was because he never thought he could win me so he started by trying to make the public hate me.

“Yes, I like this.”

I looked up at him.

“I like that you are thinking about your actions. Don't forget what this will do to your reputation too. You are the new Blackwell heir and I'm sure not a lot of people want you in this place. You haven't been here for a year and now there are pictures of you having a private meeting with my wife.”

"We talked on a campus bench," I said. "In full view of several hundred students."

“Well. No one cares about that. They only live gossip and I mean I gave them what they want.” He titled his head. "It doesn't matter what actually happened, Ethan. You know that. It matters what it looks like."

I was quiet for a moment.

Yes, he wasn't wrong. The media only cared to carry the story that would give them more traffic and not actually.the truth

“Why would you do this to Emma?”

“Oh. You mean Emma, my wife?” He sat up. “And who says she isn't aware that she wasn't on the news?”

I froze.

“I'd asked her to do a good job but that pitiful woman would never do what she's told.”

Oh no. Emma was on it as well.

Yes, I was surprised and taken aback but that was it, literally. I had expected even a little bit of betrayal from Emma and this was it.

Let's move forward.

"What do you want, Daniel?" I asked.

He sat back. This was the part of the conversation he wanted.

“I want you to stay away from everything concerning my family. You no longer belong here so stay away.”

I wasn't the one making threats or moves on their lives?

"Your father's company failed because of your father's decisions," I said.

“Don't you dare do that.” Daniel said. “You can't sit in this building and say that you have nothing to do with the company and why it failed.

I said nothing. He can believe whatever he wants to.

“Stop whatever you are doing. Against me, my mother, my family, the company. Stop everything.” He held my gaze. “Or I'd make your life more miserable than it is, Ethan. I have people who have been watching you for months.” I knew that was a lie. “I have enough evidence to make the next year of your life very uncomfortable. Don't push me, Ethan.”

He said every single thing with the confidence of someone who already had everything figured out.

I looked across at him. Daniel still didn't know who he was dealing with. Yes, I had people around me who didn't like me. There were board members who would in a heartbeat choose that I fail but it didn't matter to me.

I was going to sit on that Blackwell seat and I was not going to be moved by anyone's opinion.

I was the one who had full evidence to make his life miserable.

This conversation was recorded. The full audio of Daniel Pierce sitting in my boardroom, threatening the Company's CEO with fabricated news stories in order for me to stop doing legitimate business.”

I am angry now. How dare he threaten me with things like that.

“You mean you have more pictures?”

“That's right.”

There were no more pictures of me and Emma but I knew Daniel and what he could do. He could easily get a picture photoshopped and the public would believe it.

“But there are no more pictures.” I responded intentionally.

“Well, the public doesn't know that and they also do not care.”

“So you are trying to say that you would do anything to tarnish my name.”

“You can call it whatever you want to but don't try to mess with me.”

"Daniel." I said his name the same way I said everything now, without heat, without performance. "You drove to my building this morning. You walked through my lobby. You sat in my meeting room. You told me, on a recorded line .. " I watched his face. "..that you would plant false stories about me in exchange for me allowing your family's fraud to continue."

When I said the word recorded, I watched him process it and even though he was trying so hard to hide it, he just couldn't.

“Yes. This building records all conversations that happen in our meeting rooms.” I nodded. “And that visitor agreement paper that Patricia asked you to sign? It's in it.”

I waited but he said nothing.

“Henry.” I called.

The door opened and it was Henry. He had his tablet in hand. He nodded at Daniel acknowledging his presence.

Daniel looked between us like a man who felt betrayed.

“I'm sure you didn't think about this, Daniel. What you just said is called extortion. You threatened me to make a business decision in my own company.” I paused. “Your father has a fraud investigation building around him that will become public within the month. And you have just walked into the Blackwell Corporation headquarters and handed me a recording of yourself committing a separate crime."

I saw as Daniel's face changed completely. That confidence and happiness I saw in his face had totally disappeared.

“You know that the picture won't affect my reputation and if Emma had any more decency in her, she would testify to that. She already wants to be honest even if you are forcing her not to be.” I watched his face change drastically. “But this recording of yourself blabbling will affect you totally.” I made sure my voice was loud enough so he could hear me.

He said nothing, just glared at me.

“Go home, Daniel.”

He didn't move immediately. He just waited..

“Daniel. I'm not interested in you or your business. I'm only interested in justice for my mother and my safety for my family. I don't care what happened in the past between us. You aren't entirely the cause of my misfortune in the past, it's just that your childhood turned you into a monster who walked into buildings like this to blackmail people while my childhood made me someone who was ready for it when you did.

Daniel looked at me.

For a moment, I could see through Daniel. He was just a young boy who wanted love so badly. He spent his entire childhood performing for everyone else that he couldn't live his own life.

He stood up. His chair scraped back against the floor.

“Do you think that you've won?”

“I think you should go home, Daniel.”

He straightened his clothes, then walked towards Henry who was standing at the door. They exchanged looks, Henry refusing to back down but then he stepped aside to let him walk past.

At the door Daniel stopped. He didn't turn around fully, just enough that his profile was visible.

“Emma never loved you in case you think I'm doing this because of her.”

I looked at the back of his head. "I know," I said. "I figured that out a while ago."

He left and Henry immediately closed the door behind him.

"The recording," I said. “Keep it safe.”

"Secured," Henry said. "Full audio, timestamped, building metadata attached." He set the tablet on the table. "Legally usable, pending review."

"Send it to the legal team today. I want them to assess the extortion angle and tell me what our options are."

"Already composing the message," Henry said, looking at his tablet.

I sat back in the chair.

That notification was still in my phone. I wondered how Emma was feeling about the whole stuff, not that I cared anyways.

When she was ar the bench that say, she looked sad. Was this what it was about?

Was she worried that Daniel would treat her this way or was she playing along with him.

Daniel had said she was.

I dialled Emma's number.

She picked up on the third ring.

"I've seen it," she said. Before I could speak. Her voice was flat and tired.

"Are you safe?" I asked.

A pause. "Daniel isn't home."

"I know. He was just here."

Another pause, longer. "What did he do?"

“Well, he said you were aware about the whole thing and that you planned it out with him.”

She said nothing but only took a deep breathe.

“I'm sorry Ethan. I wasn't in on this but I know you wouldn't believe me abd it's fine.”

It didn't matter if I believed her or not.

“Don't worry about anything.”

"I know." She was quiet for a moment. "He's been planning this for weeks. He had someone following me." Her voice was careful, the way voices get when someone is saying something in a room they're not sure is private. “I didn't know he knew about everything.”

“Alright.” I said. “Be safe. Don't try to confirm anything at all. Don't ask him anything. If anyone from the news contacts you, don't say anything.”

“Ethan, please be careful. This family is dangerous and I don't want you to be in danger.” A pause. "Victoria too. She doesn't understand that you don't care what she thinks of you."

"No," I said. "She doesn't."

I ended the call.

Henry was watching me from across the room. I knew he didn't understand why I still talked to Emma after everything.

"The tabloid story will run regardless," I said. "But if you want it deleted, then we can..”

“No. I want it to run.” I agreed. “But let's manage it. Ill make a brief statement as the CEO of Blackwell's business if need be. Let's also watch Daniel and see what he's up to. That recording will save us one day.”

He nodded.

Outside, everything was in chaos.

My name was on everyone's lips..

Trough the window of the thirty-eighth floor, the city didn't move in its ordinary way. It was only eleven in the morning but already chaotic.

Somewhere, Daniel Pierce was in a car going back to a house that was running out of money and a marriage that was running out of reasons. Somewhere in it, Victoria was waiting to hear whether her son's move had worked.

It hadn't.

Nothing they tried was working. And they were running out of things to try.

I had twelve days.

I picked up the internal communications review Henry had sent me the night before and went back to reading.

There was still work to do and I'd protect the lives of my loved ones.