Chapter 518

I didn’t answer right away. I walked to the table, pulled out my cigarette pack, and lit one. The others slowly gathered around, all of them watching me.

"Nala and I had a fight," I said finally. "You all know about the K situation, right?"

"Yeah," Jasmine said, sitting down. "You fought over that?"

"It turns out Jack Kuinn is her ex," I said. "And she knew the whole time. She hid it from me. On top of that, he’s blackmailing her into sending him her nudes."

Tessa’s expression hardened. "That creep. She can’t seriously be considering that."

"She is," I said. "She said she’d do it for the company."

"For the company?" Tessa scoffed. "That’s insane."

"She also fired me," I added. "And I told her she’s not allowed in the penthouse anymore."

"Damn," Kim muttered. "You two really went at it."

"Mrs. Nolin is... gone?" Minne asked quietly.

"Yeah," I said. "It got bad."

"So what are you going to do?" Kim asked.

"I’m not letting Jack get what he wants," I said. "I’ll find him first. After that... I’ll figure it out."

"How?" Jasmine asked.

"I’ll think of something," I said. "For now, I need you guys to talk to her. Try to stop her from doing something stupid."

Kim crossed her arms. "Desperation makes people do stupid things. I get why she’s doing it."

Yeah, that sounded like Kim. She had done the same thing before, thinking she was protecting everyone.

"This is still stupid," Tessa said, shaking her head. "Sending nudes to some blackmailing freak? Come on."

Jasmine nodded. "And firing you on top of that? That makes no sense."

"I’d say fuck her." Tessa continued. "And let her do what she wants. You basically put her in that CEO position, Evan. She cannot fire you. Like, what’s it called, biting the hand that feeds you?"

Jasmine exhaled. "I agree."

"No," Kim said firmly. "We’re not giving up on her. She’s our friend."

"W-we can’t give up on Mrs. Nolin," Minne added. "Please..."

Kim looked at me. "We’re helping her, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. We are. But this doesn’t fix everything. We stop her from making a mistake, and that’s it. Things between us aren’t magically going back to normal."

Tessa shrugged. "I’m just saying, man."

I crushed the cigarette into the ashtray and stood up, walking toward the window. The rain was still falling, streaking down the glass.

Not a single day went by without something going wrong. I couldn’t even relax anymore. I missed the days when my biggest problem was a boring shift at the gas station. Now everything felt like one mess after another.

Guess this was what people meant when they said success came with problems.

Yeah.

Lucky me.

⟁ ⟁ ⟁

I swear, Carrie Beldenwar had some sort of radar in her noggin or something. Just when the shit hit the fan and my reputation hit the lowest point possible, she came crawling back. She texted me that she was back from her vacation like she hadn’t been gone for weeks.

I stared at the message on my screen while sitting on the sunbed, the glow of the phone the only light on the balcony. It had been a day since that blow-up with Nala. She’d actually listened to me—she hadn’t even come back to the penthouse to grab her things. Seeing that minus reputation notification from the system earlier really stung. I really said all those things to her, huh? I was a complete idiot. I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut for once.

But I couldn’t just sit there and watch while she sent those nudes to some random guy. There was no way I was letting that slide. I had to intervene, but I guess my choice of words was as bad as it gets.

"Fuck."

Carrie... she was rich. She had pull, right? Maybe she could actually help me track down Jack Kuinn. It was worth a shot, if not for one small, messy problem.

I’d hate-fucked her more times than I could count. I’d treated her like a dog, maybe worse, and she’d loved every second of it. But asking for a favor after that? It felt off. Still, I was running out of options. At the dinner table, I’d acted all tough and told the girls I’d handle Jack. In reality, I didn’t have a single clue how to find him.

"Evan?"

I turned my head and saw Jasmine standing in the doorway. She was wearing a crimson silk nightgown that left very little to the imagination. The thin straps looked like they might snap if she breathed too hard, and the deep V-neck dipped almost to her navel. The fabric was so sheer and light that her nipples had gone hard instantly from the cold air, poking through the red silk like two sharp points. The hem was short, barely covering her hips, showing off those long, toned legs she’d been working so hard on.

"Hey," I said, offering a tired smile.

"It’s two in the morning. What are you doing out here?" she asked, walking over and taking a seat on the edge of the sunbed.

"Dunno. Thinking, I guess," I shrugged, shifting over to make room. "What about you? You’re usually dead to the world by now."

"Kayla’s stupid gym app," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Apparently, I need to eat two whole bananas at this exact hour for some ’metabolic window’ bullshit."

"What? You’re joking."

"Don’t ask me," she said, looking annoyed. "Stupid app. It keeps buzzing until I log the snack."

"You’re taking that way too seriously, Jas," I said with a soft laugh. "Why not just delete it? It sounds like a massive hassle."

"Hey, wanting to be healthy and look good for you isn’t a hassle, you old man," she teased, though her voice was soft.

"Eh. Maybe you’re right."

I reached out, putting my arm over her shoulder and pulling her down. I lay back on the sunbed, taking her with me. She settled in easily, resting her head on my shoulder while hooking one leg over mine. Even though the glass panels were closed, the balcony still held a winter chill. She shivered slightly and slid her hands under my t-shirt, her palms warm as she rubbed them gently over my abs.

I could feel her hard nipples pressing right against my chest through the thin silk. Her breath smelled like mint, a sharp, clean contrast to the faint scent of old cigarettes that always lingered out here.

"I know you’re worrying about Nala," she whispered, her hand stilled over my stomach for a second.

I kept quiet, staring out at the city lights.

"You could use a distraction, handsome," she murmured.

I looked down at her and smiled. "You think so?"