36

Chapter Thirty Six

On the evening of the day after Christmas, Amanda’s doorbell rang. When she went over to check the monitor, she was surprised to find Keith standing outside the building, awaiting her clearance.

Sighing, she pressed the intercom button. “What do you want?”

“Let me up, Amanda. I have something important for you.”

She rubbed her fingers on her temple. “Look, Keith. This is a bad time.”

No time would have been a good time for him to show up at her apartment, but she had no energy to get into that. The day was drawing to a close, and she had just negotiated with the blackmailer to accept just half of what they were asking, then give her another day to put it together.

Their parting shot had been—‘If I don’t get the money by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll release the video.’

“Trust me, there couldn’t be a better time,” Keith said. Then he lifted his hand. He was holding a flash drive between his fingers. “I have a video of interest.”

Amanda’s eyes zeroed in on the drive, and she couldn’t breathe for a while. Was that… Was that the video?

Was he her blackmailer?

Jaw tightening, she buzzed him in. “Come on up.”

After a minute or so, Keith showed up at her door, and she let him in instantly.

“What is that? What video are you talking about?” she asked after closing the door and he walked into the apartment.

Keith turned around to face her. “This morning, someone came to Rebecca with an interesting proposition. She wanted to sell her a video. Of you. And Erikson.”

Blood rushed from Amanda’s face. And head, because she suddenly felt lightheaded. “What?”

“Given the look on your face, it appears that you already knew such a video was out here.”

“I had no idea it was being peddled to the highest bidder!” She hurried over to him. To imagine the asshole was doing that while asking her for ten million dollars to ensure it never leaked! “Who was it? Did Rebecca pay for it?”

“I cannot tell you who it was. And no, Rebecca did not pay.” Keith met her gaze. “I did.”

That dizzy feeling hit again, and she found herself supporting herself against the back of a nearby couch. “What?”

“Rebecca didn’t want to buy it, so I did.”

Her jaws clenched as she stared at him. “What do you want, Keith?” The last time they had a conversation, he was wooing her. She refuted his advances. Was he planning to use the video to force her into giving in to him?

He gave a dry laugh. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“Do you?”

He nodded. “Yes. But you’re wrong. I don’t want anything from you, Amanda.”

She stared at him, not believing a word he said.

“I just want to make it up to you,” he claimed.

“Make it up to me?”

“Consider it my way of making amends for all the times I’ve offended you. Whether you believe it or not, I genuinely care about you. It took me too long to realise, and I’ve never gone the right way about it. I also get that I may never get another chance. But I hope that one day, we can be civil with each other.” He reached into his inner jacket and retrieved the flash drive. “When I first found out about the video, all I knew was that I wanted to protect you.”

Amanda was speechless. Was he for real? Was Keith really going to give her the video for nothing in return?

“This is the only copy,” Keith told her, holding it toward her. “I made sure there was nothing else.”

She looked from the flash drive to him. “You’re telling me that you bought the video to bring it to me?”

“Yes.”

“And that you want nothing in return?” she asked, suspicious.

“Come on, Amanda. Time changes people, you know.”

“Not all people. The last time we talked, you wanted to cheat on your wife, who’s my sister, with me.”

“I know, that made me sound like a first-class jerk. I probably am one. But I’ve never wanted to harm you. And, if I wanted something from you, I wouldn’t be offering you the video, would I?”

Swallowing, she reached forward and took the drive. She wrapped her fingers around it, as if worried it would fly out of her grip and onto the nearest public screen.

“I didn’t watch the video,” he told her. Cleared his throat. “I mean, nothing past the little bit it took to ascertain I was getting what was promised.”

Now that she had the thing in her hand, Amanda felt her anger rising. The feeling overwhelmed any sort of embarrassment she would have felt at the idea of Keith watching a video of her and Lucas having sex. “Who is she?”

He shook his head. “I’ll let you find that out on your own. I’m sure you’ll figure things out once you see where it was shot.”

She nodded, taking a deep breath. “Thank you, Keith.”

A small smile touched his lips. “Be careful, Amanda.”

“How much did you pay for it? I’ll pay you back.”

“I won’t accept anything from you. I told you, this is my way of making up for being a douche in the past.” He nodded towards the door. “I’ll leave now. Take care.”

After Keith left, Amanda rushed to the coffee table where her laptop was lying. Inserting the drive into a port, she looked for the video. She found the file right away. It was labelled, ‘AMANDA’.

Heart beating wildly, she opened it. A moment later, the sound of sex permeated the room. Quickly, she muted the laptop as her eyes widened at the scene playing in front of her.

Lucas’s office! The video was shot at Lucas’s office, through the open door!

She remembered the day very well. It was their second day at work after the trip to New York. And it was their first time having sex in the office.

Rising to her feet, she went into her bedroom to fetch her coat and bag.

Five minutes later, she drove towards her office.

All she had to do was check the security camera footage from that evening to know who showed up at Lucas’s office that evening.

She couldn’t believe the nightmare was coming to an end.

***

At around the same time Keith was leaving Amanda’s place, Lucas Erikson was sitting in his father’s study. It wasn’t somewhere he had thought he would be coming back to after the argument he had with his parents about Amanda.

But he also hadn’t thought he would be needing their help.

“Five years,” Peter Erikson repeated.

Five years.

That’s how long he wanted Lucas to work in the family business in exchange for five million dollars. He had refused to loan Lucas the money unless he paid it back by joining the family business.

Lucas didn’t have much choice. Amanda was running out of time. He couldn’t sit back and watch someone ruin her life. He was part of the reason things ended up that way, and he would never forgive himself if someone humiliated her like that.

If putting up with his family for five years was the price he had to pay, he was willing to do it.

“Fine.”

“I’ll have my lawyer draw up an agreement first thing tomorrow morning,” Peter said.

Lucas shot to his feet and headed for the door. He had never hated himself so much for not having ten million dollars lying around.

Getting into his car outside the house, he called Amanda, meaning to tell her he had a solution and was heading over to her place. He wasn’t going to tell her about giving in to his father’s demands. He had a feeling she wouldn’t agree with his plan. So, once they got that video and caught the culprit—he wasn’t planning on letting them get away—he would tell her how he got the money.

She didn’t pick up, but he figured she would call back soon.

Five minutes into the drive, he received a message from her.

“It's Tyra. She’s the one blackmailing me.”

He called her right away.

“It’s a long story,” she said when he picked up. “I’ll tell you everything when I get back. Just know I have the video now and she can’t release it.”

“Get back? Where are you?”

“I need to know why she did it.”

“Let me come with you.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll call you when I get back.”

She hung up.

When he tried calling her again, she didn’t pick up.

After two more futile tries, he tried another number on his phone. Amanda’s driver.

“Tom, send me Tyra Okello’s address. ASAP!”