Scandalous novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: Served
The first picture on my screen was the one from the porch.
The headline above it said CEO'S SECRET: HARTWELL AND THE RUDDOCK DAUGHTER.
Under it ran two lines I read twice.
Desmond Ruddock's daughter, hired under a false name, had spent two weeks in the bed of the man who ruined her father.
The same photograph sat in a dozen places.
A business blog, a local gossip page, and a post from an account with forty thousand followers, all sent at 11:48 the night before.
"Dad," I said.
He had sat down at the head of the table again.
He wasn't angry anymore.
He looked tired, and almost kind.
"You didn't think I sent you in there for the minutes," he said.
My mother made a small noise.
"The buy-out file is on Nolan's desk," my father went on. "I have owned a copy for three years."
"Then why?"
"Because a man like Hartwell doesn't lose to a lawsuit. He loses to a headline."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Scandalous are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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