Page 76 of Crimson Heart

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Byron barged into Jude’s office and slammed the door behind him. Jude stared at him, though he didn’t appear to be surprised.

“What the fuck, Jude!” Byron cursed. “After what happened with Steve Leon yesterday, you couldn’t leave well enough alone. No, you had to dig through security footage just to find something that incriminates me and makes me look like a heartless asshole!”

“Sit down, Byron, we’ve gotta talk.”

Byron scoffed. He had no intention of sitting down. He was enraged.

“Because you showed Charlotte a clip where I aired my grievances, she broke it off with me. How could you?”

Jude let out a slow breath. “I didn’t.”

“You what? Of course, you did. You showed that clip to Charlotte.”

“Will you give me a few seconds so I can explain what really happened?”

Byron grunted.

“I didn’t dig in the security footage to find something that shows you in a bad light. Neither did any of my men. The only reason we found the clip was because Francisco caught Flora deleting it. Francisco was able to restore it because Flora didn’t know that deleting a file only puts it in the trash but doesn’t wipe it from the hard drive.”

He tried to digest the information, but Jude already continued.

“I hadn’t planned on showing it to Charlotte, but she surprised Francisco and me and forced me to show it to her.”

“Hmm. So what were you planning to do with it?”

“To talk to you first and find out if you really did what you were planning to do that night. So, wanna tell me now?”

Byron ran a hand through his hair. “Ah, fuck! I was angry that night. And yeah, maybe in that moment I thought it would be a good idea to do to you what you did to our family. I know it was immature to think that. But when I met your sister, I’d already forgotten about it. Besides, I didn’t even know that she was your sister. I was already in love with her when she suddenly showed up here at the estate, and you introduced her. I couldn’t undo that. I didn’t want to. And I sure as hell have no intention of giving her up.”

“I’m sorry, man. I wish that Francisco had never noticed that Flora tried to delete the file.”

Byron took a couple of breaths, his mind working overtime. Jude’s words had triggered another thought. It all made sense now.

“Oh, fuck!” Byron cursed.

“What?”

“Flora had no intention of deleting the file.”

“But she did.”

Byron shook his head. “No, Flora knows enough about computers to know that you have to empty the trash in order to delete a file for good. Instead, she pointed Francisco in the direction she wanted him to look.”

“But why?”

“Because my dear aunt was pissed when she found out about Charlotte and me. She called me a traitor to my family for wanting Charlotte. She did this on purpose. She wanted to split us up. That’s why she arranged for you and your team to become aware of that conversation. She probably figured it was incriminating enough, particularly since you and I never got on. She thought that this clip would poison my relationship with Charlotte and, in turn, with you.”

“Fuck!” Jude cursed. “I should have seen this right when Francisco brought it to me.”

“How could you? You’ve only known her for three months. Flora still pines for her old life, where she ruled the house with an iron hand.”

“We’ll fix this with Charlotte. In many ways, she’s like you. She gets upset in less than a second, but she’ll forgive just as easily. I’ll talk to her. I owe you that much. You saved Danielle.”

Byron felt his entire body shake off the tension that had built up from the moment Charlotte had confronted him in the cellar.

“Does that mean you approve of my relationship with Charlotte now?”