CHAPTER 4

Mark’s POV

When Susan Rivers had walked into the will hearing of my father my first thought was, how incredibly sexy. That was of course before her mother had opened her mouth and claimed that Susan was my sister. How was she my sister? In what way was the slender-looking woman of 5’7 standing in the middle of the room with impeccable looks related to me in any way? It was like God was playing a cruel joke on me.

Then she walked into my conference hall to disrupt my meeting only to inform me she was leaving town. And my first thought had been, who the hell permitted her to leave? And as she spouted her nonsense about not wishing to be caught in the ‘crossfire’ I had been irresistibly drawn to her red lips. It amazed me how they blazed like the sun, inviting me in like a moth to a flame. I knew I would burn if I were to taste them and yet, I craved to burn with the passion her lips on mine would evoke.

Until her mother crashed the door open and I realised she had played me for a fool. It had been all an act. She had only come into my office to set me up and that filled me with a rage that had never consumed me in my life.

And now I was listening to my lawyer repeat Elena’s demands.

“She says she will release evidence of rape if we do not start by giving her a hundred million dollars for emotional damages,” Peter said, avoiding my gaze.

He looked a little scared and that was not the kind of expression I liked to see in my own lawyer, especially when he was the best in New York.

“What is it, Peter?” I asked him, sensing something deeper was at stake.

“He… there’s a toxicology report,” he said, “it showed the presence of a rape drug in Miss Rivers blood.”

I cursed under my breath.

“It was a setup Peter,” I told him, “she and her mother set me up.”

“We can not prove that,” he countered.

“The conference hall has cameras…”

“They’ve all been wiped off,” he said, “there’s no footage for the time Miss Rivers was on your floor.”

My face blanched.

That was impossible.

I shook my head, “That’s not…”

“I’m sorry, Mark,” he said, “but with the toxicology report they have a strong case.”

“I am not giving those pathetic fools a hundred million dollars!”

“We can negotiate with…”

“I am not negotiating shit!” I yelled, “I did not try to rape Susan Rivers, and if she intends to sue me…”

“That is not the problem, Mark,” Peter said firmly, “investors are already uneasy about this Elena drama. They are wondering if there’s another successor and… Susan Rivers is unfortunately capable. She has a bachelor’s degree in business admin and a master’s degree too. From my background check, she is preparing to do a fellowship programme in Massachusetts.”

I frowned.

She had told me she was preparing to leave town.

Had she not been lying about that?

I looked at Peter, “So?”

“Stock prices will drop and Elena is a very persuasive woman,” Peter said, “she can use the rape allegation to sway shareholders from you, and if… if we are not careful…”

“I could lose the company to that slut,” I spat out angrily, “you’re telling me that those two actually have the capacity to upstage me?”

“It is not impossible is what I am saying,” he said, “and I have confirmed that your father and Elena did have an affair…”

“I don’t believe you,” I said. I would defend my father’s integrity even to my grave. He was loyal to my mother, fiercely loyal in fact.

“There are pictures and they had a daughter named Susan,” Peter continued, “it says on her birth certificate that Richard Cuban is her father and that the DNA test is real.”

“I want another test done,” I said, seething, “there is no way I am related to that bitch.”

Because if I were indeed related to her, it would mean that I had incestuous thoughts towards my own sister. Because I knew that if Elena had not walked in when she did I would have kissed those red lips until…

“We can order a court paternity test,” Peter said, “but I doubt that will change anything.”

“Order it,” I said, “and find a way to prove that I was not trying to harm Susan. I would never do such a thing.”

I stood up and walked out of my private suite, which I had chosen to meet with Peter. I had a seminar to attend at the same hotel, and I was already a couple of minutes late.

But as I walked down the hallway, I saw Susan and I froze. She looked like she was in a hurry as she bolted towards the elevator. Then a sight that made my blood boil happened in front of me. A bald man approached her and grabbed her hand roughly. He had some balls laying his finger on my…

I lurched forward as he tried to kiss her and punched his bald head. The singular motion had him passed out on the ground.

I looked at Susan and she appeared pretty shaken, her body trembling all over.