IN BED WITH THE BOSS

Not waiting for his confirmation, she strode toward the rear of the house.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Anger bristled under her skin, poking her like thousands of tiny needles. When she entered her brother’s domain, she could barely look at him.

“How dare you bring that asshole into my house?” Bruce ground out through clenched teeth as soon as he closed the study door behind them.

“Your house?” She crossed her arms.

“You were right when you told Scott that I chose to leave. Chose. Because this is our home, Bruce. I can bring whoever I want here, and you have no say. I don’t need to ask your permission.”

“I would’ve never thought you were a traitor,” he snarled. “Mom and Dad wouldn’t recognize you right now.”

She absorbed the power of that blow and fought not to stagger from it. But the pain ebbed and flowed inside her.

Stand tall. He can’t hurt you. Inhaling a deep breath, she pushed past it.

“You’re such a hypocrite,” she said, surprised at her even tone. “So righteous and high-and-mighty. And to think I defended you. Believed in you. Trusted you. But you didn’t deserve any of it.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Bruce?” he demanded. “I’ve done nothing but honor this family, the Bennet name, you. You, baby sister, betrayed me.”

“By thinking for myself, wanting something for myself? For daring to defy you? I’m not a sheep, Bruce. I have a mind. I have feelings. I have a heart, but there’s only one Bennet who can claim to possess the last two.

Because somewhere along the way, you lost them to jealousy, pettiness and hate. No, big brother,” she said, throwing his taunt back at him. “I’ve done nothing but stand by this family. I’ve protected it when you would’ve destroyed it with your greed and ambition.”

“You need to stop right there,” he warned in a dark growl, taking a step forward. But he didn’t intimidate her. Didn’t control her. Not anymore. She didn’t wait for him to advance, but marched forward and met him halfway.

“No, you stop. And listen. I know what you and your precious senator are up to,” she said. “Insider information. Fixing contracts. Kickbacks. Illegal cam-paign contributions. And that’s just the tip of it.” When he rocked back in shock, his eyes flaring wide, she nodded. “Yes, Bruce, I know about it all. Because Scott McCall has a file on you, inches thick. I’ve seen it, read it. I’m aware of all your dirty dealings, which if made public could topple Bennet Inc, ruin the Bennet name and send you and Paul to jail.”

“How long have you…?” His voice trailed off, but she understood his question.

“Weeks. Since before the fund-raiser. I made a deal with the devil to save you. I agreed to pretend to be in a fake relationship with him so he wouldn’t expose you. That’s why I couldn’t break things off with him. Because if I did, you would’ve been destroyed. But that’s not all,” she whispered, eliminating the small space between her and the man who wore her brother’s face, but was a stranger. “He did all this because of Sara. You remember her, don’t you?” At his stony expression, she nodded again. “Of course you do. The woman you seduced, used to get back at her brother, impregnated, then tossed aside. All for your petty hatred and resentment. Now, who wouldn’t Dad and Mom recognize?”

“You don’t understand,” he spat, but the anger in his eyes had been overshadowed by worry. By fear.

Because he understood that his greatest enemy had the dirt on him, no doubt. “You could never understand…”

“Not understand what? How hard it is to live up to our name? To live under the yoke of it for so long that sometimes you feel like your back’s going to break from the burden? Yes, Bruce, I do. The difference between you and me is that I’m choosing not to let it poison me until I make unconscionable decisions that hurt other people. I decided to help people rather than harm them. But just to get your way, you would steal that from me, too.”

For too long, she’d allowed him and the duty of being a Bennetto dictate her life, her behavior, her decisions. No longer. She might have been quiet, but she’d learned from the best. Not him. Scott.

“I love you, Bruce. For the brother and man you were, I’m giving you a choice now. Come after Margie Investments or any of the businesses I’ve invested in, or my trust fund, and Scott won’t have to leak any of that information to the press and SEC. I will. He gave me a copy of the file, and right now, it’s tucked away safe. But if you dare touch anything that’s mine-and when I say mine, that includes Scott McCall and everything he loves-I’ll take you down. And I won’t lose sleep over it.”

Bruce stared at her, shocked. But she didn’t wait for his response. He couldn’t say anything that would fix what he’d broken. She would just have to accept that some men changed for the worse instead of the better, and as much as it tore her heart apart, Bruce was one of them.

_________

Scott stood at the party, waiting for Jennifer to show up. He was worried about what Bruce might do to her and how their conversation was going. Jennifer might trust him not to hurt him because he was her brother, but he didn’t trust the bastard one bit. He was about to go look for her, when he saw her rush out from the rear of the house.

He watched her walk hurriedly towards him, ignoring everyone who tried to speak to her. He also noticed Bruce walk in too, and he didn’t like the look on his face.

“Let’s go, Scott” Jennifer said in a shaky voice as she reached him and as he took her hand in his, he saw that she was sobbing. She looked so hurt and could barely speak when he blurted out angrily,

“What happened, Jennifer? Did he touch you?”

When she didn’t reply, he cursed underneath his breath and headed straight to where Bruce now stood with Emily and her father. That fake smile was on his face, and he was going to wipe it off. He ignored Jennifer’s call and brushed past people as he moved towards Bruce. Some of the guests moved out of his way when they saw the intensity in his eyes.

“Are you still here, Sco…” Bruce began, but he couldn’t finish his sentence before Scott’s balled fist connected with his jaw, sending him straight to the floor. There was a gasp from the people around and Scott watched with a smirk on his face as Bruce was helped back to his feet by Emily’s father and another man.

“That….” he said stiffly, “was for Vivian…. And whatever the hell you said to Jennifer back there, you asshole”

Without waiting for Bruce to recover and come up with a reply, he turned around and headed back to Jennifer, who looked just as shocked as everyone else. Taking her hand, he walked out with her, feeling much better now that he’d done something to avenge Vivian.

They got into the car and the as soon as it began to move, Jennifer turned to him. “What the hell was that for Scott?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, Jennifer but I had to. He upset you.” Scott replied, although there was nothing to show that he was indeed sorry for his actions. In fact he looked quite satisfied.

Jennifer didn’t look like she believed him. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“What did he say to you?” Scott demanded. “Why were you so upset when you came out?”

“Nothing I haven’t heard before, but for some reason it hurt so much tonight” Jennifer replied. “Just standing there watching him and realizing that my brother has become someone I don’t even recognize anymore. I knew my dad really messed him up, but I didn’t know that he’d become this, and after I spoke to your sister, Sara. I didn’t want to believe that he’d done the things she told me. I think a part of me was hoping that it wasn’t true. That he’d give me an explanation, but he couldn’t even deny it. I felt like I had lost my brother… and that realization hurt me so much.”

Scott said nothing. He couldn’t. Everytime he thought about what Bruce did to his sister he felt nothing but rage and blame.

“I know it’s hard,” Jennifer continued, “But you have to know, Scott, that I truly do care about you. This thing between us might have started as a ruse, but it’s not anymore, and I do care about you. So I’m going to say this…. No matter how hard I know it must be, you have to try to let go of what my brother did. I know you blame yourself but you shouldn’t.”