80. Chapter Eleven
Reid
Chapter eighty
Carrie
“Mr. Maxwell,” I gasp. “What are you doing here?”
He holds up a bottle of booze that I suspect is as expensive as his blue suit. “I brought you an engagement gift,” he says, his blue eyes—eyes so like Reid’s—fixed on me. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“No, actually,” I say. “I don’t think that would please Reid, who I’m certain you know is not here.”
“And why would you say that?”
“Which are referring to? Why your son wouldn’t want me to invite you in or why I know you know he’s not here?” I hold up a hand. “I’ll answer both. ‘You’re an ass’ could be used in both cases, but you’re also calculating and do nothing without a manipulative reason.”
“I suppose your father told you this about me?”
“Your son told me. Actually, both of your sons and your daughter.”
He arches a brow. “You do know that your father called me, correct?”
“My father is going to suck it up and deal with Reid being his son-in-law,” I say, making darn sure I present my father as angry and reluctant. “And he’s doing so,” I add, “because he loves me more than he hates you. You won. He’s defeated and he gives up. I’d say that I’m upset I helped you beat him, but he played dirty, too. He lied. He wasn’t the man I thought he was and he deserves what he got, but it’s over.” Which is the truth. I’m making peace with my father, but those realities still exist.
“Then invite me in and prove it.”
“We both know you would hurt me to hurt my father so, no, I won’t invite you in.” I step forward and take the bottle from him. “You owe this to Reid for being such a shitty father. I feel sorry for you because you’re going to die old and alone.” I start to shut the door and hesitate only a moment before I add, “Unlike my father, I don’t blame you for breaking him and my mom up. She left and never looked back. She was beneath him and you two deserve each other. Maybe you should look her up.” Now I step inside the apartment, shut the door, and lock up.
I lean against the door and consider calling Reid, but he’s in hell right now. Okay, but he’s in hell over his father. I have to call him. I inhale, stare at the bottle of booze and then google it. It’s worth twenty-five-thousand dollars. I walk to the coffee table and set it down before I drop the damn thing and break it. Then I sit down on the couch, only I don’t have my phone. Great.
I stand up, rush to the bedroom and find it lying in a suitcase. I snatch it up, return to the living room and stare at that booze. What was the point in bringing that bottle? Maybe it means something to Reid? I dial my future husband. “Carrie,” he answers, sounding concerned, because of course, he knows I wouldn’t call while he’s in his meeting unless there was a problem. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. I had a situation, but it’s handled and I’m perfectly fine.”
“What does that mean?” he demands, his tone sharp in that way Reid can be sharp, not with anger but the need to gain control he doesn’t have and needs with some degree of urgency.
“Right after you left, there was a knock on the door and I thought you left your key because of course, none of your siblings would be visiting and only they had access.”
“Oh, fuck. My father.”
“Yes, your father.”
“Please tell me you didn’t let him in.”
“I didn’t, but I did take the twenty-five-thousand-dollar bottle of scotch he brought us as an engagement gift. Why would he bring you a bottle that expensive? Does it have some meaning to you?”
He’s silent a few long beats before he says, “He once told me the day I bought a bottle of twenty-five-thousand-dollar scotch and didn’t blink, I would know I’d hit the jackpot. I need to go, baby. Don’t go out and lock the door.”
“I’m confused. What was he telling you?”
“That I’ve given him the ultimate weapon in you, baby. That I’m finally successful enough with this move to deserve that scotch. I’ll handle it. Just stay there. Understand? Stay there. I need to know you’re safe.”
“I’m safe. I’m fine. He didn’t threaten me or make me feel threatened.”
“He wouldn’t. That’s not how he operates. I love you. I’ll be home soon.” He hangs up.
I drop the phone to the couch and stare at the bottle of scotch and I swear, now I want to drop it and break it the way Reid’s father is trying to break his family. I fight the urge to call Cat. I’d love to have someone to talk to that understands what Reid is facing with his father, but I decide Reid wouldn’t like that. He’s very private and he’s spent a lifetime hiding these things from his sister to protect her. This realization drives home how strong my bond is with Reid. He trusts me. He’s bared his soul to me. I need to wait and talk to him, not Cat. Perhaps that will change in time, as he dares to bare his soul to her, but for now, Reid needs me to just wait, and wait I will.
I hang up with Carrie as Gabe and Royce sit across from me in a booth in the coffee shop not far from our house. “I caught enough of that to know dad visited Carrie,” Gabe says.
“And brought her a twenty-five-thousand-dollar bottle of scotch.”
“I caught that as well,” Gabe says. “And what you think it means, which I agree on, by the way.”
I look at Royce. “He sees her as a weapon against her father. I need a weapon against my father to shut this down and so far, you haven’t given me anything.”
“I gave you a laundry list of bad deeds the man has done,” Royce proclaims.
“Nothing that will faze him,” I say. “Because most of it is tied to me or Gabe. He knows we have to protect ourselves and each other which is why he keeps us both in the mix.” My lips thin. “Me more than Gabe.”
Gabe narrows his eyes on me. “What does that mean?”
I lower my voice and tell them both everything there is to tell about the accusations of murder and the dead private investigator. Gabe looks stunned because, like me, he’s always wanted to believe some good existed underneath all the bad that is our father. Royce doesn’t react, remaining his normal, stoic self. “No wonder you were worried about him showing up to see Carrie alone,” Gabe says softly. “I don’t even want him with Cat alone anymore.”
“He knew she was alone,” I say. “I’m certain of it and the minute he chose to play with Carrie’s head was the moment he pushed me too far.” I look at Royce. “I need to shut him down once and for all, and I’m sure you now understand that the laundry list of sins you found on my father are not enough.”
Royce leans in closer. “I have friends in the right places. What if I can get one of them to work a plea deal with you that never gets turned in? It’s just on file. Should your father make a move, it’s put into play. You can show it to him and use it to control him.”
“Why would anyone on that level of law enforcement do that for me?” I ask.
“Because when you do big favors, you get big favors in return, and my team is intimately involved with the right people to make this happen.”
Gabe and I share a look. “What do you think?” Gabe asks. “Will he believe you’ll turn on him?”
“It needs to be both of us,” I say. “Just like when we shut him out of the company.”
“Can we ship him to another country already?” Gabe grumbles. “But yes, of course, I’m in.”
I glance at Royce. “I have a board meeting Friday and I need him on a leash by then. Can you do it or do I need to push the meeting?”
“I can do it.” He glances at his watch. “But let me go make some calls now.” He stands up. “I’ll be in touch.” He leans on the table and looks between us. “You can’t bluff with this. He has to know you’ll turn evidence on him.”
“We will,” Gabe and I say at the same time.
Royce studies us both and then shoves off the table. “More soon,” he says before he turns and leaves. Gabe leans in close. “You think he’s going to make a play against Carrie at the meeting?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point, but he will be. Carrie wants to merge the companies. It’s a good move for us and her. How do you feel about it?”
“I’ve seen the numbers. I feel fucking amazing about it, but does she really want to give up part of her company?”
“She brought it up to me. She wants to do this.”
“Dad is going to lose it if we merge.”
“I’m going to need you at the meeting,” I say. “Most likely ready to fight.”
He holds up his hands. “MMA, baby. Let’s do it.” He laughs but sobers quickly. “Friday is a little fast coming. We need to crunch the numbers and put together a presentation for the board. I need to talk to the partners. We need to talk to the partners. Push it back.”
“That gives dad time to position himself. We need to move on this Friday and fuck the partners. This is making everyone money.”
We go back and forth for a good hour on what has to be done, and then I cut us off. “We need to include Carrie in this and right now, she’s waiting on me. We’re going to get a Christmas tree.”
Gabe arches a brow. “You’re getting a tree?”
“I am, indeed, getting a tree, and looking forward to it, in fact. I’m a changed man, brother. Wait until it happens to you.”
“Never,” Gabe says. “Never happening.”
I laugh and get up. “You won’t know it’s happening until it’s too late.”
I head for the door, eager to get home to my woman and put this crap with my father aside for now. Carrie and I have a tree to buy and lots of fucking to do underneath it, which I plan to enjoy. My father, on the other hand, will not enjoy being fucked the way we’re about to fuck him. I will though, completely and thoroughly and with a smile on my face.