Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 57891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“Nonconsensual dispersal of pornography is a gross misdemeanor, Ronan. You know as well as I do that there will be little to no consequences,” he adds.
“Legally, I am aware. But her father will be forced to resign in the process.”
“As will you,” Mr. Walker reminds me. “It may not be advisable to take a legal route with this.”
The lawyer in me knows exactly what they’re saying. If I pursue it civilly, I’ll spend hundreds of thousands to get nothing but a public shaming of the two of them while also putting a spotlight on what actually happened. Furthing the public shame Brooklyn’s been receiving. I may not even be able to file charges against her father, given the version he shared edited my likeness out.
The law is as crooked as the government. They go hand in hand. You have to be rich enough to enforce it or rich enough to fight it, but either way, laws aren’t made to keep the wealthy in line.
“The two of them will likely see no real consequence, is what we’re saying.”
“It will be more about the public backlash for you?” Mr. Walker assumes.
“It’s more about doing what’s right for Brook,” I tell them, and I’m hit with the devil’s advocate responses I should have guessed were coming.
“Is it going to be healthy for her? To drag this out publicly?” Mr. Walker questions.
“And what will it look like for you and your reputation? Especially given you’ve separated,” another lawyer adds.
“I pay you money, and you do what I ask,” I tell them with finality as my emotions get the best of me.
“Sleep on this, Ronan. Talk to Brook,” Mr. Walker advises.
“She won’t answer me,” I confess to them, then wish I hadn’t.
Fuck!
It’s quiet for a moment, and I steady myself before telling them I want them to start the paperwork. I will confer with Brooklyn and get back to them on Monday.
“In the meantime, I expect you all will come up with an alternative solution?” I inquire.
The four men nod, each doing a piss-poor job of maintaining a professional expression. Concern is etched into their faces.
I hang up the call without saying goodbye and check my phone again.
None of my messages are being read, so I email her again to call me. That’s it.
Just, “Call me.”
Thankfully, the email hasn’t bounced, so she hasn’t blocked me there yet. I run my hand down my face, hating how I let her go.
What the fuck was I even thinking?
I wanted to protect her.
I wanted to protect myself.
I basically lost for us both.
If I could go back, before I ended it, I would ask her if even a sliver of it was real for her.
I know it had to be.
It was for me.
I acted out of fear even though I knew what I was doing wasn’t right.
With that in mind, I look at the email I drafted while I waited for my lawyers to get on the call.
I almost don’t do it because I know my head is spinning. I almost resist, but I can’t.
It’s the right thing to do.
I read over the email one more time, and I send it to an advocate, my friend Mr. Michaels.
Along with my resignation and apology.
I tell him everything and attach the zip drive. I don’t give a fuck about the board or my job or my reputation. I have so much fucking money they could fire me and destroy my name, and it won’t make a lick of difference in my life or my finances. I don’t care about anything other than Brook.
When she finds out my father leaked the video first to destroy me and hers did it second to destroy her, I know it’ll wreck her. My poor Brook. She’s not as heartless as I am.
The moment my father mentioned the emails with the contract, I knew something was off. It wasn’t an accident that he received a random email with the contract Brook never even signed. He had me followed and had been searching for something to get on me. Just to control me and get me back in line.
He never could have known Brook would be there. She was a bystander in my father’s game. I told the PI to look into my father’s emails, and first they found the emails to the man he hired to stalk Brooklyn, and then the threads came undone. The calls between my father and her father. The timing was just too perfect.
All for what? Money and greed?
I just wish she’d answer me.
I wish she’d let me be there for her.
I email her again out of pure, utter desperation. She needs to know what happened. I’m hoping the ten million will at least earn me a message. Anything at all. She needs the money, and realistically, it’s what I stole from her father. So in some ways, it rights a wrong. But I’m hoping she will message even to just tell me to fuck off and leave her alone. I will take anything. Even if it’s a slap in the face. Hell, I deserve it.