Chapter 60

Jadon was fuming. Actually, scratch that. He was murderous in his rage, and it was all targeted toward one person as he stormed into the office. He promptly ignored the shouts of Ms. Sitta, insisting she announce him first.

A small part of his brain felt bad for stressing his former secretary, who he had always respected, but he was too consumed with rage to actually stop and care.

Through the red haze that was draped over his vision and the blood pounding through his ears in sync with his thundering heartbeat, he barely heard the door bang against the wall or the rattle of glass. Even with his body heated, Jadon hardly felt the cool air pumped through the building's air-con system, or the smell of the clean lavender scent that he knew always hung in the air in his former office.

Everything, it seemed, took a back seat. What he didn't miss, however, was the startled, wide-eyed look on his father's face right before those same eyes narrowed, and the older man's upper lip curled in anger.

"Jadon! What is the meaning of this?" he demanded in a tone that would have made a drill sergeant tremble. Jadon just snarled back and slammed the door shut with extra force. He was almost surprised nothing broke off, but pushed the thought to the back of his mind along with all other irrelevant issues. He had other matters to concern himself with, and the durability of the office door wasn't one of them.

Lewis Paterson flinched at the sound of the door banging shut. Enraged, he went to stand, but Jadon wasn't going to allow that. "Sit down!" he bellowed as he approached the desk with as much fierceness as any predator, not caring in the least that he was addressing his father. Something Lewis didn't take kindly to.

"I beg your pardon!" Lewis shouted as he stood up. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

"No! But clearly, you have."

"Watch your tone, Jadon! Now. Before I do something that we will both regret Get out and don't come back until you remember your manners."

Jadon snorted. Far from intimidated by his father's aggression. Not willing to waste any time, he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and retrieved the printed papers he had felt burning a hole in his pants for the past hour and threw them on the desk in front of his father. Just looking at them made bile rise in the back of his throat and he fought the urge to jump over the large desk and punch the older man. How could he have done this? Jadon still couldn't wrap his head around it.

"What's this?" Lewis demanded, not bothering to pick up the papers.

"That," Jadon gritted out. "Is the evidence that you paid the man that has been stalking me and Tapiwa. The same man that tried to drown her to send a message on behalf of the blackmailer. And if I was a betting man, I would bet that this is the same man who drugged us at that party and took the pictures now plastered all over social media."

As he spoke, Jadon didn't take his eyes off his father, determined to catch every expression to confirm the guilt. Not that he needed Lewis to confirm it. The evidence was there in black and white and couldn't be denied.

They had been right about the phone Kaelo had picked up at the resort. It belonged to the man they'd chased, and it held the evidence to finally bring the entire nightmare to bed. But what Jadon hadn't expected was for the evidence to lead back to his own father.

A cocktail of anger, betrayal, and disappointment churned in his stomach even as he watched Lewis finally pick up the papers and read them. After several seconds, the man's face still gave away nothing except confusion and irritation, but Jadon wasn't buying it. Either his father was a very good actor or the older man simply didn't give a damn that Jadon now knew he had been behind the blackmail and everything else.

Either way, Jadon realized he was about to find out as his father lowered the papers and glared at him.

"What the hell are you playing at, Jadon? Is that your way of trying to get out of the mess you did? By falsifying information and accusing me of such a heinous crime?"

Jadon blinked. "Accusing you? Father, the evidence is right there in your hands. I don't need to accuse you when they speak for themselves."

"Just because you type my account number and name on some papers stating I paid a man doesn't make it evidence." Lewis snapped and threw the papers back on the desk. He pointed a finger at his son. "I will have you sued for every penny you have if you dare to drag my reputation through the mud with your lies. You have already caused the company enough damage. I will not let you destroy me!"

For a second, Jadon didn't know what to think. He hadn't expected his father to easily confess to what he'd done, but Jadon had at least thought something would give the man away. He wasn't seeing it.

Growing more frustrated by the second, he decided to change tactics. Jadon folded his arms across his chest and regarded the older man he had fought so hard to win approval from for years. "Fine. Let's say for a brief second that I believe you. Would you then mind explaining why those records exist? Because those papers are not fake or fabricated. We got those off the phone of the man who has been watching my house and following both me and Tapiwa around for days."

"I can't explain what I don't know. I would need to have my accountant look into it. Maybe my account was hacked."

"That excuse would just be very convenient, wouldn't it?" Jadon deadpanned.

Lewis's jaw clenched. He balled his hands into fists, planted them on the surface of the desk, and leaned forward. "If what you say is true, and this is the man who took those disgusting pictures and publicized them, why the hell would I be in bed with him? Why would I sabotage my own company? We have already lost three big contracts since this whole mess went public. Would I purposely do that to my own company!"

Unfazed, Jadon mirrored his father and snarled. "Well, somebody set me and Tapiwa up, and that somebody is being paid by your personal account according to those papers. I suggest you find out who is framing you or stealing from you, otherwise, you might go down for it."

The glare Jadon got from his father would have made him shake a week ago, not today. Today, he was too pissed to care about his father's temper. All Jadon wanted was answers and a way to end the mess that had consumed his and Tapiwa's lives.

"I said I would have my accountant look into it," Lewis sneered.

Jadon nodded, straightening. "Fine. But don't take too long to do it. Tapiwa and I are tired of living in a constant state of fear."

Lewis's eyes narrowed, clearly not liking the fact that his son was telling him what to do. "Don't blame me for the state of your life. You would have avoided all this if you just stayed away from that girl. But no you just had to think with your dick."

"What part of 'set-up' are you not getting?" Jadon snapped.

Lewis huffed, pulling himself away from the desk and adjusting the cuffs of his shirt. "Is it a set-up that you are now living under the same roof?"

Jadon wasn't surprised his father knew about that. "She needed somewhere to stay."

"Of course," Lewis deadpanned. He then stopped fussing with his cuffs and gave his son a hard stare. "You are not doing each other any favors with your current arrangement, though. Use your head, Jadon, and try to save what little reputation you have left. Either distance yourself from the girl or marry her, for goodness's sake."