Fraud

Gabriel

“I hear congratulations are in order. When’s the wedding? I think I’ll get you a nice gravy boat, or maybe some silver-coated salad tongs you can use to pull your head out of your ass for doing something so fucking stupid.”

Ta

Laughing at the anger I hear in his voice, I drop my weight into a seat opposite him and cross an ankle over a knee.

“Problem?”

He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.

“We’ve done a lot of shit to people for a lot of years, Gabe, but this takes the fucking cake. Is there a reason you didn’t mention it before you took off for Miami? A heads up might have been nice.”

“Part of the reason I didn’t is because I was excited for the surprise. You’re taking it much better than expected.”

Lips tugging into a thin line, he tosses a pen at me that I barely dodge, the damn thing like a mini missile for how angry he is.

This is actually pretty great. I’d looked forward to his reaction as much as I do Ivy’s when she figures it out.

“Warbucks is going to kill you. I hope you know that. Those assholes do not take kindly to being left out of the loop when one of their puppets is about to be front and center on the front page of every news and gossip site.”

While I agree I may have taken this a bit far, it’s worked out beautifully for what I hoped to achieve.

“Warbucks has already called several times. I’ve yet to answer.”

“Which means they’ll be showing up here at some point. Fucking great.”

Shrugging a shoulder, I relax against my seat.

“He asked me to handle her. That’s what I’m doing.”

Ta

“Make it pink with sparkles, and I’ll haunt you from the grave.”

Laughing at that, he taps a few buttons on his keyboard and scowls at whatever he’s reading.

“You’re such a dick. I’m shocked you went that far. I know you’ve had it out for Ivy, I just didn’t realize how heavy that chip is on your shoulder. This goes above and beyond getting someone under control.”

“Says the guy who literally tricked a woman he loves into marrying another man just so he could eventually have something over her.”

Ta

“Good point. The pictures came out nice, though. Have you seen them?”

“Actually, no, I haven’t.”

Pushing up to my feet, I walk around his desk to stand behind him, laughter bursting from my lips as soon as he scrolls to the first picture that is plastered all over a well-known celebrity magazine.

Taylor did a remarkable job creating fake images of Ivy and me together, the headline above reading Millionaire Bachelor Now Off the Market.

The article is laid out like a grand feat of investigative reporting, when the sad truth is we handed them the information.

“How did you fuckers even do all of this?”

Laughing again when he scrolls down to the shot of me proposing, I answer, “It wasn’t all that difficult. Technology makes just about anything possible these days.”

“They look real,” he comments. “But that still doesn’t explain why you would do something so fucking stupid.”

Returning to my seat across the desk, I drop down and stretch the muscles in my neck.

“Ivy would just keep ru

“Is she here?” he asks.

“Of course. He cut off her credit cards, took away his private plane and pretty much disowned her just like I thought he would. Honestly, I can’t be blamed. She’s the one who gave me the idea when she played the helpless, spoiled daughter routine.”

Ta

I don’t bother arguing or agreeing because it doesn’t need to be said.

“But she wasn’t helpless.” I grin. “She is now.”

Pulling his legs down from the desk, Ta

“So what’s the safety net to set her life straight again when she gives us what we want?”

When I don’t answer, he leans back in his seat and scowls.

“Fuck, Gabe. You didn’t set one up?”

I didn’t see a need for it when my goal is to wreck her life.

Warbucks and the rest of our fathers might be after information, but I want more than that. This is the cherry on top of the fuck you sundae, the final prank that ends the war.

Should I feel bad?

Probably.

But there are no rules when it comes to just how far I’m willing to go.

“This is beyond gauntlet shit.”

“Of course, it is. This is a vendetta. She had it coming.”

Ta

“I think you’re targeting her because you can’t touch the person you really want to bring down.”

Pursing my lips, I shrug a shoulder. “It’s more than that.”

“Sure it is.”

He sighs and taps a pen on the desk. Ta

Glancing at me again, he asks, “Does she know what you’ve done?”

“What the fuck? Goddamn it, Gabriel! You son of a fucking bitch!”

The timing of Ivy’s outburst downstairs couldn’t have been better.

My lips twitch to hear the shriek, my eyes locking with Ta

“She does now.”

He scrubs a hand down his face, softly cursing beneath his breath.

“I take it this means you’re not making it back to the office today?”

My spine straightens at that. “Why? Who did you fire? Who quit? Is Lacey still an employee?”

I swear to God this asshole can’t be trusted with anything that requires even the tiniest amount of finesse and social etiquette. It’s not that Ta

Since boarding the plane in Miami, I haven’t checked my phone, but I thought the two hours that Ta

Slipping my phone from my pocket, I tap the screen and scroll to my email app.

There are no threatening subject lines in all caps usually sent by Lacey, or sad face snivel-nosed resignation letters from the associate attorneys thanking me for the opportunity, but expressing their regret that they are quitting.

Everything I’ve received since I last checked is the usual correspondence and other crap having to do with our big money cases.

“I didn’t do anything,” Ta

Cocking a brow at that, I laugh.

“Unlike you, I don’t need to hide from-“

The door slams open behind me so hard I can hear the plaster wall crack from the impact of the doorknob.