by Tasha Fawkes
Forced to Forget
Blackmailing the Billionaire - Book 3
Tasha Fawkes
Safira Press LLC
Contents
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Reading Order
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The Playboy’s Secret Virgin
Craving My Boss
Other books from Safira Publishing
About Tasha Fawkes
Copyright © 2018 by Tasha Fawkes
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Reading Order
Thank you so much for reading the second book in the Blackmailing the Billionaire series. All the books in the series can be read standalone, but if you’d like to read the entire series, I recommend reading them in the following order:
Forced to Love
Forced to Yield
Forced to Forget
Chapter 1
Nate
To say I’m shitting himself as I sit here in this conference room would be the understatement of the century. Shitting myself doesn’t even begin to cover the dread I’m feeling over what I know is coming. I barely slept last night, worrying about it, which is making my ability to handle this situation even more doubtful.
I glance around the room and frown. How many of them think that I’m next?
It’s an obvious conclusion to draw that it’s my turn. First Matt, then Rex…where else can this go, other than me? I catch Matt’s gaze as he stares at me, his usual frown etched on his lips. I know exactly what he’s thinking. Can I handle this? At the moment, I’m leaning toward no. Then, in total contradiction to that thought, I tense, because I’m sick of Matt underestimating what I can do, just because I’m younger than him.
God, I’m already falling apart, and I don’t even know what I have to do yet.
I exhale slowly, trying my hardest to regain control of myself. What scares me the most is knowing what my grandfather is capable of. He forced Matt into marriage and used Rex to ruin a family’s life. And neither of those things come close to some of the things I know he’s done in the past. That’s the scary part. But it doesn’t matter, because whatever is written in that will, I have to do it. Not for my grandfather, or my brothers, and certainly not for my mother.
I’ll do this for Dad.
It’s fourteen years next month, and I still miss him every day. He was the only person in this family who loved me unconditionally. Neither Rex or Matt understand the extent of the relationship I had with him, because they didn’t experience it themselves, thanks to lies our grandfather told them. Dad cursed himself for not being able to save Rex and Matt from his corruptive influence, so he put everything he had into protecting me, and thank god he did. We had a special bond, something nobody else could possibly understand.
Grandfather used to ridicule our close relationship. He hated that he couldn’t influence me the way he had influenced my brothers. I think that bothered him more than anything else. He was vindictive, and boy, could he hold a grudge. He’d clutch onto that for as long as he needed to, in order to get revenge. Even beyond the grave. This was the perfect example of that.
He wanted to destroy any faith that Matt might have been harboring in the institute of marriage, by locking him into an empty relationship without any hope of love, just in case there was any lingering doubt that there might be someone out there for him.
Then, if that wasn’t enough, he wanted to corrupt Rex by giving him a taste of what his life would be if he had the power and stature of his brother. He wanted to suck Rex into a fantasy that would eventually destroy him.
If it wasn’t for the love of Charlene and Shana, I have no doubt that his plan would have worked. This was his way of ensuring his legacy would be carried on. And now it's my turn. The only problem is, there’s nobody waiting in the wings to save me. I’m on my own, more than I ever have been before.
I focus my attention on Henry as he rambles on about pointless shit that has no meaning to me. Why won’t he just come out and say it? All of this side stepping around the real reason we’re all here is only fueling my anxiety. I slam my fist down on the table. Matt looks over at me in surprise, and Henry stops talking. He turns to me and frowns.
“Henry.” I snap. I take a deep breath and swallow, trying to control my anger. “For fucks sake, can you please just get on with it. What is the final stipulation? What do I need to do?”
I shake my head, disappointed in myself for my outburst of anger. I’m usually better at keeping my emotions in check. I place my hands in my lap, clasping them together, then I resume staring at Henry. He nods. He glances down at his notes.
“The final stipulation that needs to be met, in order to free the inheritance, is this.” He clears his throat before continuing. “Nate must show a two hundred percent increase in profitability, for the Harris Foundation, over the course of the next financial year.”
Well, fuck me.
I stare at him, stunned. I shake my head and laugh, but nobody is laughing with me. I stare at Henry, confused. I must've heard that wrong, because he can't expect that of me, surely? That is literally impossible. There is no way in hell I can achieve that.
“What, are you kidding me?” I gasp.
I stand up and run my hands through my hair. I've got to increase profitability by two hundred percent or it will be shut down? It’s an impossible task for any business, let alone a charity. My heart pounds out of control as I struggle to breathe.
God, I can’t believe this is happening.
I started the foundation in my father's honor. It was my way of keeping his memory alive. It means everything to me and my grandfather damn well knew it. Helping people has become my whole life and he’s taking that away from me? What about all the people who are going to miss out on what the foundation can do for them? No way. He can’t do this to me. I can't let him. There has to be a way around this.
“What the fuck…” Matt mumbles. He shakes his head and laughs. I snap my head around and glare at him.
“You think this is funny?” I growl at him.
I know he’s laughing out of disbelief, but I can’t help but react. Hell, I’d been laughing seconds earlier.
“You’re amused about the hundred thousand people a year who are going to miss out on our healthcare program, or the sick children who won’t be able to get lifesaving surgery because the foundation couldn’t spin a two hundred percent increase in profit? That’s fucking funny to you?” I say. Once I start, I can’t stop.
“No. I think this is fucked up and something you’re never going to be able to achieve. I’m laughing because the bastard has us right where he wants us,” he mutters. He sits back in his seat, his expression more angry than I think I’ve ever seen him. “He fucked us over, Nate. I’m as angry as you are.
Trust me.”
He mutters a few more choice words under his breath and then stands up. He stalks out of the room, leaving the door wide open. I kick back my own seat and go after him, but he's not outside. I stand there for a moment, frozen on the spot. I have to find him, so he can figure this out. He always knows what to do.
I head over to Matt’s office, determined to sit down with him until we come up with a solution to this mess. I walk there, using the time to try and work out a way out of this. Achieving it isn’t going to happen, so my only hope is to find a loophole. Every idea I have, I dismiss right away, until there’s nothing left inside me.
This is impossible. There is no solution to this.
But I guess that's the whole point, isn't it? He set this stipulation knowing there was no way I’d to be able to do it. Anxiety races through me. This foundation means everything to me. I don’t give a shit about the inheritance. Most of mine was going to go right into the foundation, anyway, but thinking about all those people that we’ve been able to help, and all the ones I won't be over to help anymore…
God, I feel sick.
It bothered him so much that he couldn’t turn me, that he resorted to this?
I laugh, because he really was just a bitter, vindictive old man incapable of loving anyone. The tasks he set Matt and Rex were at least achievable. Granted, they weren’t easy or fun, but they could at least be done. He set them up, so they would be the way he wanted them to be. But with me, he knew I’d find a way around it, so he just set me up to fail outright.
I walk into the building and stalk over to the elevator, banging on the button impatiently until the doors open. I walk inside and pace the small carriage, angry and upset. I’m feeling a hundred other emotions, too. I glance up and see my reflection in the mirror. I stare at myself in shock, because I don't recognize this person. Who am I? Five minutes into this and he's already managed to turn me into someone that I don't even know.
I've got no hope of surviving this.
The doors open on Matt's level. I smile stiffly as I walk past his receptionist, then I knock on his door, impatiently waiting for him to answer.
“Come in, Nate.” Matt’s voice booms through the door.
“How did you know it was me?” I ask, frowning at him.
“It was either going to be you or Rex, and Rex doesn’t knock,” he says dryly.
I shrug, accepting that as probably true and sink down into a chair. I feel winded, like I can barely take a breath. What the fuck am I going to do? I run my hand through my hair, the panic really beginning to set in. This is such a mess. How the fuck can I possibly turn a two hundred percent profit? It’s a charity. Who would do this to a fucking charity?
“So, what do we do now?” I ask Matt anxiously.
Matt will know where to go from here.
He always has the answers. I relax for a moment, until Matt shakes his head and laughs. Just like that, my confidence plummets. If he doesn’t have a plan, then I’m screwed.
“I have no fucking idea.”
I shake my head, my breathing shallow.
“What am I going to do?” I mutter.
Matt walks over to his small bar and pours us both a drink. He hands me a glass and sits on the edge of his desk, facing me. His dark eyes are clouded with sympathy.
“I need your help, Matt. Tell me what to do?” I beg him quietly. “I can’t lose the foundation. It would be like losing Dad all over again.”
Matt frowns at me. “Nate, I want to help you. I wish I had the answers, I really do, but I don’t. There’s no plan, because there’s no winning this. He set you a task that’s impossible to achieve. This failed when he signed that Will.”
Rex stalks into the office, not bothering to knock or announce himself. Matt glances at me and smirks. I smile back, in spite of how shitty I feel. Rex frowns as he looks from Matt to me. He throws himself down in the seat next to me.
“So, what's the plan?” he asks, looking at both of us.
Matt shrugs. “There is none,” he admits.
“Fuck that as an answer,” Rex retorts, his voice rising. “I didn’t go through the last few weeks for nothing, you know.”
Matt stands, up his fists clenched by his side. He glares at Rex, his eyes flashing.
“You?” he says with a laugh. “What about me? I fucking got married, Rex. I had a kid, for Christ's sake and it was all for nothing.” He glances over and curses when he sees Charlene and Shana standing in the doorway of his office.
The look on Charlene's face…I shudder. I wouldn’t want to be in Matt’s shoes right now.
She races out. Matt curses and chases after her, calling her name, but she doesn't stop. Rex shakes his head and chuckles as he lets out a low whistle.
“I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now,” he mutters, echoing my thoughts.
Shana narrows her eyes at him. “No, you wouldn't.”
He flinches and walks over to her, taking her hand.
“Call me when you’ve figured out what you’re doing,” he says to me as they walk off.
I sit there, alone in Matt's office, feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of tears. I stand up and walk around the office, not sure what to do. I definitely can’t go back to work, not until I have some sort of plan in my mind.
All the hard work I did to build that foundation…
I shake my head, because I can’t think about that right now. Matt will be back after he's had time to think and he’ll have a plan. He always has a plan. I walk along his bookcase, studying the few pictures he has of Charlene and their son scattered around. I smile, because I can see how much he loves them.
Sighing, I walk back over to his desk and sink down into Matt’s chair. I lean back and spin around, feeling defeated. It doesn’t matter if Matt comes back with a plan, or not, because he’s right. There is no winning this. We are fucked. Like he always did, grandfather played his hand close to his chest and came out with his bombshell right at the end. I slam my fists down on the desk, angry at everyone. At myself, at grandfather, at Rex and Matt, because my job is bigger than theirs were, put together. How is that fair?
They’re annoyed and upset, but for them, it’s all about the money. They don’t care about losing the foundation, because it means nothing to them. I frown, remembering how close Matt and I used to be. Despite how different we were, we used to get along well. He always tried to do the right thing and he considered things before he acted, and I respected him for that. Not like Rex. The old Rex was the epitome of everything I despised. Thank God for Shana, because the change in him has made him almost tolerable. I sit forward and rest my head in my hands, rubbing my face. I glance at my watch, shocked to see that it’s not even three in the afternoon.
I wait another hour until, it becomes clear that Matt isn’t coming back. There’s no point hanging around here any longer, so I stand up and walk out of his office. This whole thing is a nightmare.
With any luck, I’ll wake up soon and realize it was all exactly that.
Parking my car in the basement of my apartment complex, I make my way up to the tenth floor, to my apartment. I get changed into my running gear, then I head outside. I glance up at the angry black clouds, and then decide to still risk it. A little rain isn’t going to hurt me.
Unless my grandfather is controlling it.
I cut through the park, my heart pounding in my chest as I pick up speed. There’s no better way to burn off tension than running, which is why I do it a lot. It doesn’t only alleviate some of the tension, but it also clears my mind. It’s relaxing, and comforting. Something I can do for me, because everything else I do is with other people in mind.
Plugging my earphones into my phone, I play some music as loud as my ears can handle it. I run for miles, putting one foot in front of the other, until I physically can’t run anymore. I collapse onto the grass, my heart pounding as I struggle to catch my breath. I sit forward, hunching over myself as my blood pumps through my veins. I’m h
urting like fuck, but God, do I feel alive. I’ve never felt more energized than I do when I’m running. Leaning back against my hands, with my palms flat to the ground, I watch as people move through the park. Dogs on leashes, kids riding bikes, it’s a hive of activity at this time of day. Slowly, I get to my feet and walk back in the direction of home. I wipe the back of my neck, taking a thick layer of sweat with me, as I breathe in and out, the cold air burning my lungs.
I walk into my apartment and head straight for the bathroom to have a shower. I feel marginally better, right up to the point where I start thinking about things again, then I’m right back to where I was. When I run out of things around my apartment to distract myself with, I decide to walk the few blocks down to the bar. I’m being proactive and trying something by reaching out to some of my top donators. Who knows, together they might actually come close to pulling this off.
Two people into my list and I stop, because it just feels wrong. I shake my head. What the hell am I thinking, asking people who have already been way too generous to double or triple their donations?
I’d rather fail than stoop that low.
I call Matt, but he doesn’t answer, which either means he doesn’t want to talk to me or Charlene is still really annoyed about what he said. I don’t believe he meant it for a second, because he loves her more than anything and she knows that.
I order another scotch and then scroll through my contacts, trying to pluck an idea out of nowhere. There has to be someone I can reach out to for help on this. Matt’s gone AWOL and Rex is useless. There’s nobody. At least, nobody with that kind of cash.
