Boost by Vi Summers
Chapter 36
-Greer-
Standing in front of the press was never daunting for me, and today—a week after my chat with Tian—was no different.
I thrived off the buzz in the room created by new announcements. The anticipation heightened the energy surging through my entire body and left me giddy. Although Christian had attended the multiple Boost Foundation meetings, he hovered inconspicuously at the back of the room and while I ran the show this morning, before our official handover later today.
While Colton was his ever-present vision of composure and confidence, Arlo shifted nervously beside me. For all his ego, the press sure as hell stripped away those layers to reveal his core insecurities.
“You’ll get used to it,” Colton reassured him with a smile.
Arlo leaned closer and murmured out of the corner of his mouth. “I feel like I’m sweating through my clothes. Is it normally this hot?”
I let out a little laugh. “I can assure you it’s not hot; I even had the air conditioning lowered for you.”
He let out a hiss through his teeth and fidgeted again in his sports jacket with his sponsor logo proudly displayed across the breast. The matching cap sat low on his brow and hid his dismayed blue eyes from direct sight of the cameras.
I glanced at the clock on the rear wall and then checked back in with Colton and Arlo.
“Good to go?”
They both nodded, and Arlo puffed out a breath. “Let’s get this over with.”
I’d already gone over the plan with him and assured him I’d step in if any questions were inappropriate or out of his scope. Moving to the microphone immediately created a wave of hush to fall over the Landon-Michaels conference room.
I recited the pre-prepared speech and introduced Arlo before practically throwing him to the wolves. He needed some gentle guidance, but overall handled the media with professionalism and natural confidence that would only grow the more he got used to the attention.
After ten grueling minutes, one question triggered the downward spiral of the entire release.
“Arlo, can you confirm that you were street racing with Rafael Ortiz?”
I froze at the mention of Raf’s name. After various booty-calls over the past week and having spent most of the weekend together again, I was now incredibly thankful that Raf was out of State on business.
Arlo hedged and glanced at me before answering warily. “I don’t see why that’s relevant, but yes.”
“Were you arrested with Rafael Ortiz after a street racing bust three months ago?”
He immediately looked to me with frantic eyes that all but confirmed—in the media’s eyes—that the allegation was correct. I glanced at Colton to see his expression had darkened.
Despite the storm of uncertainty turning my once-settled nerves wild, I smiled and resumed my place at the podium. Once there, the air shifted. While they had gone reasonably easy on Arlo, I sensed a ruthlessness that hadn’t been present until now.
“Miss Landon, can you confirm that Rafael Ortiz was arrested, and took Arlo Linetti down with him?”
My pulse thumped erratically as I tried to perform damage control before things got out-of-hand.
I kept it short, giving them enough to hopefully satisfy their hunger while keeping the details strategically vague.
“Yes, Rafael Ortiz was arrested some time ago, but no, Arlo Linetti was not.”
“So, Colton, did you know Rafael Ortiz was a criminal when you became involved with him?”
Colton angled toward the microphone and gave a clipped reply. “Rafael was released on bail and charges have been dropped. No further questions on that subject.”
I barely had time to take a single breath before the floodgates opened and swallowed us whole. The room erupted in a barrage of questions being asked all at once, and the noise-level rose as reporters started yelling to be heard over-top of each other.
“Colton, have you taken too much of a risk with Ortiz?”
“What other illegal activities is Rafael involved in?”
“Colton, are you encouraging criminal activity?”
“How can Rafael Ortiz be considered a role model for our youth when he killed his own father?”
That question, spoken from a deep, male voice near the front, stopped me dead in my tracks.
A bolt of heated dread speared through my stomach. I couldn’t have heard right. Against my better judgement, I hastily hushed the room and asked for clarification.
A victorious gleam entered the older man’s eyes. He waited until complete silence fell before repeating the question that ripped the solid ground out from under my black stilettos.
“Explain to me how the morals of this foundation for youth condone the employment of a man who murdered his own father,” the reporter enunciated for all to hear.
Gasps and questions ignited throughout the room as the press scrambled to feed on the juicy details this man had intentionally dropped.
“I have no knowledge of Rafael Ortiz being involved in his father’s death,” I replied on autopilot, while my brain worked overtime to process the allegation.
I was blindsided and reeling, and it left me in the position I hated to be; uninformed and scrambling. My gaze found Christian’s across the sea of heads, and his expression said what I couldn’t voice out loud. Oh, fuck!
As if the allegations couldn’t get worse, the man raised his voice. “That’s because he wasn’t Rafael Ortiz as a child; his name was Rafferty Delgado. His juvenile record is rather colorful, but you’d already know that, right?” he added smugly, knowing that at this moment he held all the power.
“This conference is over,” I declared, and started to push my way through the throes of cameras and microphones thrust into my face.
Colton shoved Arlo toward the door as Logan—one of our security guards—propelled me after them.
Having escaped from the melee of reporters, we hurried along the corridor and didn’t stop until Logan had safely deposited the three of us in my office.
My hammering pulse wouldn’t calm as I paced the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roxiee standing at my closed glass door, hand on the handle in silent question to enter. I shook my head. Not yet. I couldn’t talk about this revelation while my head whirled and spun violently.
Rafael murdered his father? Under what circumstances? And the change of name from Rafferty Delgado? None of it made sense.
Roxiee backed down with a subtle nod, but continued to send me concerned glances from her station.
My attention turned to Colton pacing the opposite side of the room with his hands laced on his cap.
“Did you know about this?” I asked.
“No, I didn’t. I knew he had a rough upbringing, but fuck… not that.” His voice broke in disbelief and he looked visibly sickened.
I numbly offered him the decanter of scotch, then turned to Arlo. “Arlo, this is extremely important; do not repeat anything you heard in there.”
“I understand, but what does that mean for the program?”
“That’s something Colton and I need to discuss. In the meantime, I need you to head straight home and not engage with the media. No comment. Nada.”
“I get it, Greer. Fuck.”
Roxiee sat alert and ready for orders when I opened my office door. “Get security to escort Arlo to his car. As soon as you can.”
Without a word, she lifted the phone to work her magic. Eamon arrived soon after, giving me just enough time to reiterate to Arlo how important it was to not engage with anyone until I’d talked to both Colton and Rafael.
Outside I was calm and collected, inside I was scattered and torn between my head and my heart.
Only, once Arlo was gone and Colton was making calls, did I acknowledge the tremor running through my hands.
I blindly reached for my cell phone and typed in Rafferty Delgado. My breath stilled out of fear for what the results would show. A shuddering exhale released as my eyes skipped over the search results, seeing words but not comprehending them through the daze of disbelief.
I sank into my leather armchair and pressed a trembling hand to my mouth when the first photo appeared.
A mugshot.
Or more specifically, Raf’s mugshot.
The face of a young man, no more than a boy, yet so much like the man I’d grown to love, stared directly at the camera with the same jaw clench and vacant void in his eyes I’d caught glimpses of. So broken. So hollow. The image captured how lost he was and exposed that for all the world to see.
Cracks formed through my heart. Over and over again every time I looked at the photo. I scrolled down to another photo with the caption ‘Fourteen-year-old arrested and charged with his father’s murder’.
Hearing Colton sit on the adjacent couch, I looked up to see his face cloaked in an unreadable mask as he read from his phone. He briefly met my eyes, then looked away with a heavy swallow. We stayed silent and within our own heads as more little parts of us died with each new article we opened.
“What the fuck?” I whispered in disbelief.
Words here and there stood out; family violence, child abuse, self defense, multiple weapons on property, multiple shots in the back, bled out, mother in critical condition and not expected to live, sister missing.
My stomach twisted further as I read on. They’d painted Raf as a cold-hearted killer that held no remorse purely because he refused to speak after the incident.
I was torn between shattering for him and what he went through, and seething inside for the way I’d found out about his hidden past. I had an inkling he’d kept something from me, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would be something like this. Something so horrific.
I startled when Christian burst into my office. “The fuck, Greer!”
My hands noticeably shook as I held out my phone. “It’s true.”
He spluttered a couple of times, then fell silent as his eyes skimmed the article.
“Of all the things, I never expected…” I shook my head, feeling as if I’d been blindfolded, spun in circles, and then stabbed in the back.
Tian sat on the arm of my chair and reached for the crystal decanter of scotch. After haphazardly pouring one for himself and one for me, he offered a third to Colton.
Colton held up a hand. “I can’t stay. My independent publicist is losing her shit. Plus I need to meet with my attorney A.S.A.P. Christian, get Elvia to set up a meeting for tomorrow.”
Tian and I rose to shake Colton’s hand, and I stole a quiet word before he left my office.
“Colton, I’m so sorry; I feel like this is all my fault.”
His green eyes seared into me as he shook his head. “It’s not your fault at all. Shit, none of us saw this coming. It’s fucking blown my mind. I’m pissed, but not at you, or him for keeping this to himself. I’m pissed at the media for doing what they just did.”
“You’ll file for defamation?”
Colton twisted his lips in thought. “Undecided yet. As for now, we continue as we were and push ahead. Let’s hope this all blows over real fucking fast.”
With that and a final nod, his broad shoulders angled as he pushed through the glass door and headed for the elevator.
I turned back to Tian, now seated on the couch and jiggling his knee restlessly. He took another large sip of scotch.
“We’re going to dig up every last bone of this skeleton, Greer. You and me, starting now. Roxiee!” he then shouted. She appeared in a beat to receive his instruction. “Bring in my laptop, please.”
Her eyes darted to me before she hastened to Tian’s office, returning at record speed with his laptop. “Can I help with anything else?”
I nodded while forcing my brain to function properly. “I need you to field all calls apart from ones from Colton or Rafael, and don’t engage with the media. Tell security that no-one without swipe access is allowed in, and for meetings already scheduled, they must be escorted through the building.”
“Got it, babe.”
I shut the door and turned back to Christian to find his icy glare trained me. “I fucking knew he was trouble.”
Sitting across from him, I lifted my own liquor to my lips. “Can we just get to the bottom of this before we start throwing stones in glasshouses?”
Tian was impulsive and quick to ignite, whereas I liked to have all the information before I unleashed the needed wrath. With that in mind, I dialed Rafael’s number. We had things to discuss, him and I; starting with who the fuck Rafferty Delgado was. It went straight to voicemail, so I left a message, completely forgetting that he was currently in Portland.
“Rafael, your ass, my office, now!”
If he wasn’t already aware of the fallout happening around us, it was only a matter of time.