Holidays with the Billionaire

Chapter 33

Kelton

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A fter Adlee left, I grabbed my phone and spent fifteen minutes searching for Gabriel’s TikTok page. Of course he doesn’t use his real name; DenverBabeGabe is his handle.

I scrolled through and watched almost all his videos. At first, I was angry at the ones about Adlee and me. He’d even posted our conversation we’d had on Friday in my office where I told her I was going to quit. No, you couldn’t see our faces, and I tried to be logical about how harmless it was due to the fact that our identities were concealed. But now that our names are out there, he really needs to take this down.

I pull up the NDA from my work email and read it over carefully. It only said the photos were not to be shared or discussed outside of work. It didn’t say people couldn’t talk about us otherwise, which was a huge error on my attorney. He should have extended it, but I should not have been so hasty to get it sent over. Though, nobody could have predicted this mess. I’m watching the most recent video when a notification pops up at the top of my phone screen:

DenverBabeGabe posted a new video!

I refresh the page and immediately click on it. Gabriel’s face comes on the screen with a skating rink background behind him. “Y’all not gonna believe this shit! What is ol’ girl up to now, and more importantly— Where is Mr. Foxy?”

What the...

I squint at the phone when I see Adlee ice skating by herself. She seems content and I can tell she’s at the same Denver outdoor rink we went to a few weeks ago. It’s definitely recent because she’s wearing different clothes from when we ice skated in Aspen Peak. Suddenly, a man skates up and smiles at her. The camera pans in and she turns her head. My blood instantly heats when I see it’s Jet.

Does this motherfucker have a death wish?

They skate and talk for a while, but then she stops abruptly and they have a discussion that looks heated. The view is from the side so I can only see their profiles and not their expressions very well. Then, the fucker leans in and kisses her, and I almost throw my phone across the room.

“The fuck!” I stand up. “I’m going to kill him. Literally kill him.”

The scene freezes and Gabriel’s face pops up, his hand over his mouth in the shape of an O. “Ooh, now what is going on here? Did ol’ girl and Mr. Foxy break up? Has she moved on this fast already? But... let’s keep watching.”

I want to slap this kid honestly.

Adlee pulls back, raises her arm, and slaps Jet clean across the face.

I can’t help the smile that stretches my face. “That’s my girl.”

“Go fuck yourself, Jet Keystone!” It’s not hard to read her lips. Then, she skates off and he’s left standing with his hand to his face, but that infuriating smirk is still on it. He looks around and nods at passersby as if he wasn’t just publicly humiliated. And even more so now with this on the internet, which I’m sure will go viral.

Okay maybe I want to slap this kid a little bit less now.

The phone rings in my hand. It’s my brother.

“Hey, Seth.”

“What the holy hell have you been doing these past two days?” he cries. He sounds super overexcited like he did when we were kids and a new video game just got released.

However, I’m confused. How would he know about any of this social media drama? I’m fairly sure he doesn’t use the app nor does he have time, and he certainly wouldn’t be following some guy’s drama channel.

“What are you talking about?” I ask vaguely.

“Dude, hello? Who are you and what have you done with my brother? You know, the one who obsessively checks Fox Investments’ stock like every hour?”

Fuck. I hadn’t checked them at all since Friday morning. Guess I didn’t want to watch them plumet before my eyes.

“What are you talking about?” I already knew it was bad news, but I had to delay the inevitable a few seconds longer.

“We’re soaring, bro! Higher than we’ve ever gone. What happened? Seriously— What did you do?”

“Hold on.” I walk to my laptop and wake it up. It’s already on the website so I refresh it and gasp when I see we’ve sold a million shares in the past forty-eight hours. “What the fuck?”

“Kelt, what is going on?”

I sit before my knees give out. Then, I spill everything that’s happened. The TikTok posts. The drama with Jet just now. Everything.

“Holy hell,” he says, blowing out a breath. “Who knew social media drama could have this kind of impact?”

“We do now.” I chuckle.

“This is amazing though. Oh, and hey. Did your IT guy ever figure out who sent those photos to the office?”

“Yeah, I’ve been so busy I forgot to update you. The photos came from an IP address in Keystone. That’s all I needed to hear.”

“So it was him,” Seth states.

“Yep.”

He’s quiet for a moment, then says, “Hmm. I just had an idea. Hear me out.”

After listening to his idea, I realize it’s a great one. I pull up X, which I rarely post on, but I do maintain the company’s official account for, and click the plus sign to draft a tweet. I leave it in the drafts after it’s typed out, because before I send it, I have to talk to Adlee.

I walk into the office the following morning and Adlee is at her desk. She has her coffee and looks like she’s been here a while.

“Good morning,” she greets cautiously. “Coffee’s on your desk.”

“Come join me,” I say, waving toward my office.

She nods and grabs her cup with both hands wrapped around it, following me.

My phone had blown up with texts and calls from board members most of the night, absolutely thrilled with our numbers. I briefly explained the social media situation, and while most of them didn’t really understand, I basically described that sometimes there’s no such thing as bad publicity. That people were now searching for Fox Investments on the internet and using hashtags that brought us attention. I also told them I might have proof of Jet admitting guilt for the photos, and they all agreed I should blast him on X.

Adlee closes the door behind her.

“I need to ask you—”

“I need to tell you—”

We both talk at once after I’ve set my briefcase down.

“You first,” I tell her with a wave.

“I ran into Jet Keystone yesterday,” she admits.

I nod. “I know.”

She furrows her brow. “How?”

“The whole internet knows,” I reply. “I took a look at Gabriel’s TikTok. Was he filming you?”

She shakes her head. “No. Now that my—our—names are out there, someone recognized me at the rink and started filming. Made Gabe pay five hundred bucks for the video for his page.” She rolls her eyes.

I suck in a breath through my teeth. “Ouch. What did Jet say to you?”

“Basically admitted that he was trying to ‘steal’ me away from you, and that it was him who sent the photos to everyone. He didn’t even seem sorry.” She scowls.

“So you simply asked him and he admitted it?” I ask incredulously.

“Sort of. I asked him if he was denying sending the pics and trying to discredit us and screw with our stocks, and he smiled and asked, ‘Did it work?’” Her back teeth grind together. “Then, he tried to kiss me. I slapped him. But I guess you saw all that.”

“Yes, then you told him to go fuck himself.” I pull my phone from my pocket. “I want you to read this tweet before I send it.” I hand her the phone.

She looks at me cautiously then down at the phone, reading aloud: “We at Fox Investments take our investors seriously and have great respect for our employees. Because of a strained relationship with @KeystoneIndustries, @JetKeystone, CEO, took it upon himself to take and leak personal photos of myself and my girlfriend, Adlee Phillips. If you have investments with Keystone, I would implore you to reevaluate your relationship with this immoral and corrupt company who do iniquitous things to their competitors. We at Fox Investments are happy to help you switch over to a trustworthy investment firm when you’re ready. ~Kelton Fox.”

“As long as he can’t sue you for slander or anything, send it.” She shrugs and hands it back to me.

“My attorney said he can’t. Since you told me he admitted to you that he did it. Not that we have it in writing but it’s on video and I’m sure I could get some expert lip-readers to confirm it. I also got confirmation the photos were sent from and IP address in Keystone, Colorado.” I shrug and hit send .

“I love that you tagged him. He’ll be furious,” she says with a smile.

“I have good news,” I say, opening my laptop and putting in the password. I open the stocks page and turn the laptop around. “I know you’re smart enough to know what you’re looking at.”

She sets the coffee down and leans forward to study the page. Then, her eyes widen and she looks at me. “A million ?”

“More than that, actually. I guess I have Gabriel and social media to thank. And in a way, Lea, I suppose. Not that she did it with good intentions.”

“No, I don’t think she had any intentions at all. Just typed before she thought. Not that she has much going on up there.” She points at her head.

“Come here,” I say, standing and opening my arms.

She melts into them and I kiss the top of her head. “I’m sorry I kicked you out Saturday morning. I spent the rest of the weekend regretting it. I shouldn’t have been so harsh.”

“I was a little hurt but I understood. Having your privacy violated like that. Gabe feels bad too,” she admits.

“It’s out now. What’s done is done. He might as well continue to make some money from it. And us, too.”

She pulls back slightly and looks up at me, brushing some of my hair back. “He thinks you’re gonna fire him.”

I chuckle. “Nah, I wouldn’t. In fact, if I can get Mr. Cranky Pants to retire, I might just promote him. He’s very smart and good with numbers. That hasn’t gone unnoticed by me. I hired him for a reason. Maybe he can take over our social media campaigns, too.”

“Wow,” she says with a smile. “You’d really do that?”

I nod. “Yes, and then Lea will be his personal assistant. Maybe he can whip some sense into her.”

“So you’re keeping me on even after she gets back next week?” she asks, hopeful.

“Yes, but I’d like to see you move into a position with more responsibility. Like we talked about.”

Smiling, she says, “I’d like that. I’m also going to be helping pick out your next secretary.”

“Oh, yeah?” I grin.

“Old, or male. Those will be your choices.” She reaches up and pinches my cheek uncharacteristically, and I lean down and kiss her.