Chapter 51: Blackmail (2)
Carmen’s POV
The problem was, with Nico’s blue eyes similar to mine, no one would care about the truth.
Something my father had and his mother didn’t have. The backlash in the media would be terrible both for Nico and me.
Somehow more for me, hard to imagine that there was something Nico couldn’t fix.
"You know I’m right," Bianca continued to speak as she sipped from the wine glass in her hand, and I half hoped it was poison.
Releasing a long sigh of satisfaction as she continued to speak, her gaze fixed on the podium, but we both knew she wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to whatever was going on.
"What do you want?" I directly asked her, aware that she wouldn’t be threatening me if there wasn’t something she wanted and she thought I would concede to it.
My gaze set ahead, and I folded the pictures back into the envelope but didn’t hand it back to her, aware that she definitely hadn’t given me the only copy.
Bianca didn’t immediately speak, allowing a dramatic pause to pass like she usually did, taking a sip of her wine with a relish in her eyes that showed that she was enjoying herself.
Rolling the wine around as the contents swiveled slowly as she stared at it before she finally opened her mouth to speak with a sigh.
"Relax! I won’t ask you to give up the other 50% because we both know you’ll rather die than let me have it," Bianca said, and she was right. It went way beyond my father’s inheritance and more about ensuring that it didn’t get into her hands.
"...but I will ask you to leave Nico’s estate. Live somewhere else," she said, and I instantly shook my head.
"That’s impossible! Nico won’t allow it," I said, even though a small part of me was glad. With the hidden enemy still around, the last thing I wanted was to be burned alive on my bed.
"Then make him allow it!"
"You think anyone can make Nico do what he doesn’t want to?" I asked, sending an incredulous look her way that showed that I expected her to be smarter than the words she spoke.
"Ask for something I can actually give," I told her, meeting her gaze. "You get it and you’ll never bring this up," I told her, hating that I was allowing myself to get blackmailed, but there was no other way.
Not if I didn’t want everyone to think I was sleeping with my half brother, like the story would read if Bianca had anything to say about it.
Bianca didn’t immediately speak after that. She took another sip of her wine as a deep frown crept onto her face, turning her head to fix her eyes on me firmly before she spoke again.
"I want the financial statements of his businesses closer to the northern shore," she said with a note of finality that said that was what she wanted or nothing.
What she wanted was obvious. Financial statements showed what brought the highest profits to a business, and with that information she could crush Nico’s businesses closest to her since she was still in charge of the Northern Territory of the city.
It was a good plan, one I would have approved of if it was being done to someone else.
"You really think taking over his businesses is the right thing to do at this moment?" I asked, realizing that even if she didn’t know about the enemy, then she was likely strapped for cash now that half of father’s businesses were under my control.
Mostly anyways.
But I had just spoken when she snapped at me in anger, a faint edge to her voice, "What I choose to do is none of your business! Do you agree or not?" She asked, and I slowly nodded my head, but she didn’t seem satisfied, sliding closer to me with her gaze fixed back on the podium as the host continued to speak while taking donations.
Her voice low but harsh, "...if you go behind me, inform Nico about this or try any funny business, I will ruin you before he can stop it. No one will ever want to partner with you and people will be disgusted simply from hearing your name," she said with so much hate in her voice that I knew that she meant it.
She wanted me so far beneath her that even my ashes would be far beneath her foot. I didn’t blame her, I could understand her anger especially since I felt the same way.
Bianca had been a menace to me as long as I knew her, beating me as long as she knew she could get away with it, and she got away with it.
The thought that she could possibly have been a mistress to my father when my mother was alive only made me hate her more as I smiled and dipped my head.
"You want the financial statements of his business. I can get you one or two," I directly told her, making sure she understood that I wasn’t a miracle worker. A struggle in her eyes to ask for more, one she quenched as she drank the rest of the wine in her glass before moving to leave, but not before saying one last thing.
"Nico doesn’t care about anyone but himself! That’s the kind of man he is. Whatever arrangement you have, it’ll be better for you to pay your debts and leave," she said, a genuine tone in her voice that made me almost chuckle.
"Nico is much colder and crueler than you’ll ever know. Calculating... sly... he’ll always be one step ahead of you, using you for his designs. If you think he doesn’t want your father’s territory then you’re a bigger fool than I thought," she said, an almost bitter tinge in her voice.
"...so what? I should join you against him?" I asked, the thought ludicrous enough for me to shake my head as I fully turned to look at her only for her to scoff.
"...No! You should give up. You never stood a chance in this game from the very beginning. You don’t even know what you’re getting into," she whispered back, meeting my gaze for a split second before she finally walked away, and I watched her.
It was the fierceness in her tone that had unsettled me. Worse when it sounded like she had truly meant the words she said.
But I knew Bianca, balling my hands into fists. Even what she asked for wasn’t simply because she needed the financial statements. That she could get from a well bribed person in Nico’s inner circle if she put the work into it.
The main goal was to cause a rift. One, I would go against Nico, and two, she would have leverage that I did it, something that would have devastating effects for me more than for her.
Bianca wasn’t stupid. Nico was a greater support system than even I expected, and getting him out of the way would render me completely powerless in terms of connections.
Something I would need if I was to catch my father’s killer and rip the 50% she controlled from her before it permanently became hers, and then I would have to kill her.
No doubt in my mind that she would make it her goal in life to kill me the moment she thought she had it, since it would mean that the rest would immediately become hers.
"Uurgh!" Groaning under my breath as I glanced around the podium, not surprised to see her move towards a separate group of people where she beamed and smiled.
I shifted my gaze elsewhere only to meet Aran’s eyes as he stared right at me with a smile on his face, not trying to hide where his focus had been.
I smiled back, especially since it felt flattering for such a dark, handsome man to look right at you and show vivid interest.
He turned his gaze back to the podium, and I did the same, only to glance right back at him. He was definitely about 6’1, his stature was muscled, which his suit accentuated. He had a low cut on, and the small scar on the lower part of his jaw only made him seem more exciting than dangerous.
’Him I could sleep with and nothing would happen,’ thinking back to Nico, who I hated to admit I found way more attractive, especially his blue eyes, which were striking.
I was tired, my focus on my glass, reminding myself that romance was the last thing that should be on my mind.
And yet, sometimes I found myself thinking of Nico’s muscled and wet chest as I slid my fingers down his torso as we stood in the shower.
I could lie and lie even more, but the truth was, a part of me wanted to touch Nico again in that exact way.
’Fuck,’ swearing under my breath as I turned around and headed out of the hall, I was tired and done. If I couldn’t find Nico then I would simply head back to the estate.
