Chapter 105: Chapter 105

A few days of strained silence with his brothers and the media blowing up about their fallout over their inheritance with Jackson seeing stringent of information about him on the internet that even though didn’t seem true, had some element of truth in them from his past life. He sat in his office at Hatton Tech that morning scrolling through his media feed, he didn’t want to look at it but yet his phone stayed transfixed to his hands. The different girls, the lies with the element of truth in them –

Jackson Hatton is an ultimate abuser – Jennifer Henz

One time at the club, he tried to run his hands up my skirt – Mia

Jackson took me to a hotel one time and he never called me back – Leah

He’s such an asshole, tried to sleep with me and then my best friend – he did though - Meryl

I would have never pegged Jackson Hatton to be an abuser but it all makes sense – he groped me at the club – Jane.

Jackson stared at his phone wide – eyed, his eyes sweeping through every comment on every post watching every POV made by girls he doesn’t even remember meeting. It was outrageous and it wasn’t all totally true. He never tried to run his hands up Mia’s skirt just like that, she approached him and seduced him and when he asked, she agreed – how’s that abuse? Then Meryl and her best friend whom he doesn’t even remember her name both wanted the threesome and he was just a happy participant, why is he suddenly placed in the bad light about all this?

Slowly, he dropped his phone on his large mahogany table that stretched out across the room, he knew his desk table was way too big for him but no, the bigger, the better and after all he was a billionaire now. He was in fact in charge of all Hatton enterprise. His mind wandered, suddenly thinking about Emily and hoping she hadn’t seen the hate media train that was suddenly following him and even if she did, he hoped she didn’t entirely believe them  and understood that was his past life.

Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door interrupting his thoughts and he murmured a ‘come in’, when Ethan emerged, a cocky smile on his face and Jackson knew that smile all too well, Ethan was up to something and something sinister. What exactly was he expecting? For Ethan to go down without a fight? If he was robbed of his inheritance, he wouldn’t take it so lightly.

Jackson watched Ethan walk in slowly and measured, in a crisp black suit, his hair slicked and combed with way too much gel, his perfume suddenly filling the room giving a villainous edge to his aura.

“Hello brother” Ethan smiled, taking his seat opposite Jackson and crossing his legs confidently.

“What do you want Ethan?” Jackson asked, exhausted but Ethan only deepened his smile. He looked from Jackson’s phone placed on the table to Jackson’s face, a smirk slowly creeping in.

“Well, I guess you’re getting your own share of bad publicity and I tell you brother, it’s not good for business”

Jackson scoffed “You’re not in the right position to give me any advice Ethan, so sit this one out”

Ethan shrugged, then standing up and pacing Jackson’s large office with his sleek black leather shoes sounding off the carpet “What are you going to do about the rumors brother?”

“What’s there to do?” Jackson sounded back “I’ll just let it phase out”

Ethan gave him a look, then strolled back to the table from which he had wandered far away from and looked Jackson in the eye this time “It’s one thing to trend for getting your brother’s wife pregnant and it’s an entirely different thing to trend for assaulting women, it’s bad for business and the board could throw you out”

“And then you get reinstated? You’ll like that brother, won’t you?” Jackson’s voice dripped with sarcasm and his face had a sneer to it but he went on “You have to understand something brother, Father chose me not you. Have you ever stopped to think why that happened? Why father only gave you a portion but he gave everything to me?” Jackson could see the anger rising in Ethan’s chest, the rage that was slowly taking over his face without his control, he knew the right buttons to push when it came to Jackson.

“I don’t know, care to tell my why?”

“You’re scheming little bastard Ethan and you only care about yourself and the things you tend to benefit from situations, you would run Hatton group of companies to the ground”

Ethan let out a slow laugh, dark and maniacal with his eyes squinting in the process until he stopped abruptly and then he plopped back on the seat “Right” he muttered.

Then he picked up a pen from the table and began fiddling with it before looking Jackson in the eye “A reporter met me yesterday with a case about you”

Jackson’s heart suddenly began to pound “What case?”

“A girl named Sally, she claimed you raped her and she came forward ready to talk about her story and expose you”

Jackson paused, his hands suddenly trembled but he managed to hide it, the last thing he wanted was to act weak in front of Ethan “Sally – ” he tried to put a name to the face.

“You don’t even remember” Ethan laughed now “I have always been painted as evil my whole life but guess who the actual devil is – you brother”

“I have never – ” Jackson tried to say when it suddenly hit him. Sally! He remembered Sally and it was a drunken one night if his memory was being correct, he never raped her.

“What are you on about? I never raped her” Jackson defended.

“Was she mentally okay to consent or was she intoxicated?” Ethan pressed on.

“What does it matter? I was intoxicated too”

Ethan smiled now “Sally is ready is come forward with her story and the reporter has scheduled an interview or whatever but it seemed like he wanted something more”

Jackson stayed quiet, urging Ethan to go on “Truly he doesn’t want to expose the story so I agreed to pay him off”

Jackson sighed now, in relief “Well, thanks brother” but Ethan only laughed.

“Give and take Jackson, I didn’t do it for free”

Jackson looked at him now, he didn’t expect anything less from his brother “What do you want?” he asked.

“My inheritance and my wife Emily”