93. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter ninety-three
Carrie
“Reid, stop.”
His hands come down on my waist. “Carrie, this is not one of the many battles you will win with me. Not this one, baby.” He lifts me and literally sets me aside.
I wrap my arm around his body. “Stop!” I shout. “Stop now. You will listen to me first. You have to listen.”
He twists around and grabs my wrists, pulling me to him, but that’s okay. He’s not trying to walk out of the door. He’s right here with me. “Stop, woman. Stop and let me deal with this.”
“He’s crazy. Do not handle this yourself. Let Royce handle it. Let’s talk about calling the police. I need you to step back from what you were feeling last night. We both know that’s dictating how you’re reacting right now.”
“Damn straight it is. I’m not giving him a chance to hurt you.”
“I’m not giving him a chance to hurt you because he might not be bigger, smarter, or stronger, but the bullet in a gun would be. You don’t get to leave me, either. You don’t get to die.” Kesha starts meowing at our feet. “Now you have a wife and a furry daughter to stay around for.”
His lashes lower for several seconds, his expression all hard lines and torment before he looks at me. His hands go to my shoulders and he pulls me to him. “You aren’t my wife yet, but you will be. That’s the point. No one is taking you from me and we’re getting that dog, one with big fucking teeth.”
I’d laugh at that if he wasn’t so intense right now. “And no one is taking you from me. Can we please talk to Royce and find the right solution?”
His jaw sets hard and the next thing I know he’s kissing me, a deep slide of tongue before he says, “You really called them to protect me?”
“I love you. Of course I did.”
“God, woman. You have no idea what you make me feel.”
“I do because I know what you make me feel. Let’s talk to Royce. And Savage, Royce’s man who’s here. He came and got me while Royce came here to ensure you were safe.”
He nods and releases me. I pick up Kesha while he opens the door. “Royce,” he says. “Savage. Thank you both for taking care of Carrie,” he adds, backing up to let them both inside.
Royce and Savage enter the apartment and I suddenly feel like a midget surrounded by giants. “Let’s sit down,” Reid suggests, “away from the door. I’m fighting the urge to beat the shit out of Elijah.”
“As would I in your shoes,” Royce assures him. “But obviously, that’s not the best move, which I know you know. Let’s talk about what is.”
“Talk for now,” Reid agrees, and we all move to the living area where Reid and I sit on the couch and he and Savage claim a chair on either side of us.
Kesha darts from my arms and goes straight for Savage. He grins and picks her up. “A girl, right? Chicks like me.”
“Talk,” Reid says, focusing on Royce. “I need a solution and now.”
Royce leans forward, elbows on his knees. “You have ammunition to shut him down,” he says. “The question is, will that work? Considering his behavior today, I’m not certain he’s a stable person. You could send him into the deep end.”
“What ammunition?” I ask.
“Offshore accounts which means he’s hiding money,” Reid explains. “I had Royce dig up ammunition after our last encounter with him just in case he became a problem. If he was a stable person, that should be enough to shut this off.”
“He’s not,” I say. “I saw it in his eyes and I just felt it. The man is angry over something that happened years ago.” I give Reid a sideways look. “Do they know why?”
“No,” Reid says, turning his attention to Royce. “I fucked his wife, but I didn’t know she was his wife at the time. He thinks I did because at the time we were competing for the same deal. She used me to cut him.”
Savage whistles and sets Kesha down. “Ouch.”
Reid cuts him a hard look and before Reid speaks, Savage amends his statement. “Let me rephrase: What a bitch.”
“How long ago was this?” Royce asks.
“Years ago,” Reid replied. “Literally. I’ve stayed out of his path where possible, but something set him off again. He even tried to get me thrown off the board of West Enterprises.”
“Okay then,” I say. “His obsession with Reid after all this time is illogical. That doesn’t spell stable.”
“Nor does following you around,” Savage says. “That spells crazy person.”
“Then do we call the police?” I ask.
“You could,” Royce says, “but in my opinion, they will do nothing and you’ve poked the proverbial bear. We don’t know his state of mind or what triggered this new attention on Reid.” He looks at Reid. “Any ideas?”
“None. I don’t keep up with him.”
Royce looks at me. “What did he say to you?”
I open my mouth to share the details of what Elijah said but I’m not doing that in front of Royce and Savage. I know Elijah is lying. I fear Royce and Savage won’t. Instead, I summarize. “I don’t think he knew I was aware of what happened with him and Reid, so he told me Reid slept with his wife. He called him a liar and said Reid lies to me as well. Then I managed to get away from him.”
“Fuck,” Reid curses. “Carrie—”
“I’m fine. I knew the story. You’d told me. He couldn’t shock me, Reid. Worry about him, not me.”
“Where’s the wife now?” Savage asks. “Did he divorce her?”
“I didn’t keep up with his marital bliss,” Reid replies dryly.
“They’re still married,” Royce says. “Same wife for ten years. I know this from my prior research.”
“He stayed with her and yet he’s angry with Reid now, years later?” I frown. “Something doesn’t add up.”
“Let me do some digging around. There’s got to be a trigger, something that set this off.”
I think of the comments Elijah made to me. “I wonder if his wife taunted him with Reid in some way?”
“But again, why now?” Savage says.
“There has to be a trigger,” Reid says.
“Or he’s insane and finally went over the edge,” Savage suggests.
“Then I need to get to the solution part of this conversation,” Reid says. “If I tell him I know about his nefarious offshore accounts, what’s the potential blowback?”
“We need to know more about where trouble might lie for this man,” Royce says. “If he has nothing to lose, violence could feel like an option to him. Or he might tell the world you fucked his wife, just to hurt your reputation.”
“God, I feel like we’re living Cat and Reese’s hell,” I murmur and then quickly look at Reid. “This was before my time. Don’t worry that this is going to affect me or us if he goes public. And frankly, people don’t work with you because you’re a nice guy. You make them money.”
Savage snorts. “She tells it how it is, doesn’t she?”
Reid ignores Savage and focuses on Royce. “What if I hit him with the offshore accounts and then we get on a plane and leave town? That gives him space to act out without us as a target.”
“No,” I say. “Because a) it’s Christmas, b) we have the kitty now, and c) he could hurt someone else because we’re not around.”
“Staying close to family while a crazy man wants to hurt us only brings the crazy man to our family,” Reid argues. “And we’ll take Kesha with us.”
“Give me a day to dig,” Royce says. “We’ll have men with you at all times.”
“A day,” Reid agrees, and we take a few minutes to work out the security detail.
Royce and Savage head to the door and Reid and I see them off, but the minute we’re shut inside, Reid grabs me, and I’m quickly placed between his big body and the door. “What did Elijah really say to you?”
“That you knew you were sleeping with his wife and you did it in their bed.”
His jaw sets hard and he surprises me—no, shocks me—by pushing off the door and walking away. I think of my earlier words: something doesn’t add up. I think I was right. What don’t I know?