Chapter 35 #2
“At that new bar . . . Off the Rails,” Aiden jumps in, then wiggles his eyebrows. “He’s a handful, isn’t he, Hannah?”
“Shut up, Aiden,” she says between clinched teeth. “Can’t you find someone other than me to antagonize? Where’s your date?”
Aiden looks at me and winks. “She’s back in Arizona, isn’t that right, Carter?”
I roll my eyes. Like my sister would ever entertain the likes of Aiden Fucking Brodie.
“I think I made a mistake,” River says to me before taking a bite of her salad.
“You think?”
“Yeah. I do.” She wipes her mouth. “Dinner pairs so much better with this entertainment than popcorn.”
Oh, my wife is something else.
“So, who do you think is gonna win tonight, the Bruins or Utah?” I ask.
And that’s all it takes to diffuse the conversation.
After dinner and the auction, music begins to play, and people start making their way onto the dance floor.
“Okay, us girls are going to dance,” Hannah says to Spencer, then she grabs River and Aspen by the hand, leading them onto the dance floor and leaving Spencer with us. Sean and Aiden make an excuse to slip away from the table.
Cal and I sit there for a while, watching the girls dance while Spencer continues to drone on and on about investments, leading me to believe that he only came here to use Hannah as a financial opportunity.
Which pisses me off because Hannah is like family.
She’s got a heart of gold and deserves better than that.
Also, this is an event that my best friend has deep emotional ties to. This isn’t the time nor the place.
What a dick.
River saunters over and takes my hand. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”
I trail behind her as we make our way out of the ballroom and down a hallway where we pass by Hannah and Sean, standing close and arguing. Squeals come from behind us, and I turn my head just as Sean tosses Hannah over his shoulder.
“Put me the fuck down!” she yells.
A crack echoes down the hall as he lands a slap to her ass, then carries her out a side door. River and I stop and look at each other in shock. I look around to see who else saw that, hoping Coach isn’t anywhere around.
“Should we go save her?” I ask.
“Nah. Let them figure their shit out,” River says with a wink. “Look how well it worked for us.”
She ducks into the ladies’ room to handle her business, and I pull out my phone to mindlessly scroll through the sports app to see who’s winning tonight between the Bruins and Utah.
Tony, Diesel, and Hector catch my attention out of the corner of my eye. I lift my head as they walk toward me with another man trailing behind them.
“Boss, this man needs to talk to you.”
River steps out of the bathroom and glances over. A look of surprise crosses her face, and a smile curves her lips.
“Oh, look, the fourth minion is here,” she says. “Now you can introduce us.”
Her words don’t really register with me at first as I study the man standing in front of us, but once they do, my first instinct is to pull her behind me.
Keeping my untrusting eyes pinned on him, I do just that and ask, “What do you mean by fourth minion, River?”
Her brows furrow in confusion. “What do you mean? The night we got in that huge fight . . . he was the one who told me you hired him.”
I jerk my head toward her. “I didn’t hire this man.”
The stranger holds up a hand and cranes his neck. Addressing River he says, “I apologize for the misunderstanding. At the time that I spoke to you, Mrs. Graham, I wasn’t aware you were remarried to Mr. Graham. Can we maybe take this somewhere more private so I can explain?”
Oh, he’s going to explain. My eyes narrow as I take him in.
The man looks to be about my age, maybe mid-thirties.
Light brown hair, clean cut, and sharp blue eyes.
He’s broad and built, wearing gray dress pants and a crisp light blue button-up.
There’s nothing about him that leads me to believe he’s a threat, but I don’t want to chance anything.
“Baby, go back to the ballroom with Diesel while I talk to . . .” I trail off waiting for his name.
“Ryder Vance,” he offers.
“Oh, no you don’t.” River cuts in, sliding in front of me and forcing me to face her. She jabs the air between us with her red, manicured fingernail in my face. “You promised. You said that you would include me in everything from here on out. I’m not going back into that ballroom without you.”
She’s right. I did promise her that, and I’ve already broken one promise to her.
I don’t know this Ryder guy, and I haven’t quite pegged him yet, but there’s five of us and only one of him.
He won’t get very far if he tries something.
Huffing out a sigh, I concede and turn toward security, giving them a nod.
We make our way down the hallway, Diesel leading Ryder, Tony walking ahead of us, and Hector at our backs.
The muffled bass from the Gala trails behind us, the music fading lower and lower the further we walk.
Diesel tries a couple of doors, only to find them locked.
Rounding a corner to the left, we follow down another hallway, trying every door we pass, until midway down, we find a door unlocked and step into an office.
The office is bare. Empty walls. No trace of any personal belongings.
Just a single oak desk with a black swivel chair behind it, and two chairs pushed against the wall beside the door.
I motion Ryder toward the desk chair, but he shakes his head and remains standing.
Each of the guys takes a corner, watching intently.
Smart move.
Leaning back against the wall, I pull River to my side, then release her hand just in case this guy tries anything. “We’re all here,” I point out. “Let’s talk.”
Ryder clears his throat, his eyes flicking to me before settling on River.
“Mrs. Graham, I’m a third-party private investigator, based here in New York.
I not only work with the NYPD, FBI, and various law firms, I also work with private clients.
Mr. Martin hired me under the pretense that you were still his wife who was having an affair, but after doing some digging, the things that he told me didn’t add up.
His stories became contradictory, and I became concerned for your safety, especially when I saw Mr. Martin following you even though he had hired me. That’s why—”
“Wait.” I cut him off, dragging a hand over my jaw. “I hired a private investigator, and he told me that Jaxon was in Oklahoma.”
“Well, Mr. Graham—”
“Please, call me Carter.”
“Certainly. I can assure you, Carter, that isn’t the case.
” He focuses back on River. “I sat behind you at the game to warn you. I thought you and Mr. Martin were maybe separated and he was having issues with letting go. That is, until I discovered records of your divorce. At that time, I didn’t realize you were remarried.
Imagine my surprise when Detective Matthews contacted me to investigate you, Carter. ”
I hold up my hand and interject. “Hold on. The NYPD hired you to investigate me? Why don’t they do that themselves?”
“The force is stretched thin. You’re high profile. And let’s just say, Detective Matthews is driven with a personal motivation to solve this case.”
That’s what I gathered from our run in.
“Don’t worry. I’ve turned everything I have over to Detective Matthews, and your name has been cleared.
Now he has me investigating Mr. Martin. We just need more evidence so the DA can build her case against him for the attack.
I’ll admit the son of a bitch is smart, tenacious, and unhinged.
There’s not enough evidence to put him away because we can’t prove he was in your penthouse.
Are you aware that he’s frequently in and out of your building? ”
My blood runs cold, and my body stiffens.
“Can you give me one minute?” I ask, digging my phone out of my pocket.
I pull up the contact for my private investigator and press the call button, then put the phone on speaker.
“This is Lee,” he answers.
A sharp gasp escapes River’s mouth as she drops to her knees, tremors racking her body. I begin to end the call, but Ryder places a finger to his mouth and shakes his head, then gestures for me to continue.
“Lee, sorry to call you so late, man. Any word on Jaxon?”
Car horns blare in the background, and I hear a crosswalk sign repeating, “Wait. Wait. Wait,” as he says, “Still the same as I told you this morning. I have him tracked in Oklahoma.”
“Thanks. I’ll touch base tomorrow.”
“Yep.”
Three beeps sound as he hangs up.
“Carter, that was Jaxon. H—How the fuck? Who gave you that number?”
The walls close in around me and taking a breath feels damn near impossible.
My hands thread through my hair, tugging hard as the realization of what I’ve done slams into me.
I’ve been talking to Jaxon this entire time.
Trusting him. He’s been leading me to believe that he was in Oklahoma, and I’ve been leading him to her.
Fuck!
“This is a good thing.” Ryder points out, crouching down to talk to River. “Carter just ensured that Mr. Martin doesn’t know we’re onto him. That buys us some time. Carter, how did you get the number?”
His words fall on deaf ears as my mind reels. What the fuck was I thinking? I didn’t even vet him. I blindly trusted Brian.
“Carter?” Ryder stands, his hand clamping down on my shoulder and eyes locking with mine. “How did you get the number?”
I look down, finding River looking up at me with teary eyes.
Seeing her like this rips me apart. Sliding down the wall, I sit beside her and hang my head.
“I um . . . I asked one of the security guards in our building if he knew of someone. He said he didn’t, but that he would ask around.
Lee . . . I mean Jaxon called me and said Brian had given him my number.
I just thought . . .” I trail off in disbelief.
“The good news is now we’re all a step ahead of him.
I’ll pass this on to Detective Matthews.
He’ll question Brian and trace the connection.
I didn’t get a chance to mention that he followed you here tonight but was turned away at the door.
That’s when I felt it was time to go ahead and step in.
With the situation escalating, is there somewhere you two can stay? ”
“Yes.” River croaks, her voice hoarse.
I pull her into my lap, and she lets out a sob. Taking her face between both hands, I wipe her tears with my thumbs. “I’m so sorry, baby. If I had met him in person, I would’ve known, but we did everything over the phone. I should’ve vetted him. I should’ve—”
“Shhh.” She places a finger to my lips. “It’s not your fault.”
Shoving his hand into his pocket, and pulling out his cell, Ryder says, “I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances. I’ll call the detective when I leave. Do you mind exchanging contact information with me?”
River stands to her feet, and I follow suit, heaving myself off the ground. We exchange numbers with Ryder, then I extend a hand tell him, “Thank you . . . for everything.”
He gives my hand a firm shake, then directs a pointed look at River.
“I mean no disrespect by this, Mrs. Graham, but I know how stubborn strong women can be, so this needs to be said: under no circumstances are you to step foot into that building until this case has been wrapped up and we have Mr. Martin in custody. Do you understand?”
“But I need to grab my things—”
“You can make a list,” I cut in. “I’ll handle it.”
Ryder dips his head, giving a stiff nod. “You two stay safe.”
With that, he slips out of the room.
I drag a hand down my face.
What the actual fuck is going on?