Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
Eric
I ’d never felt so exhausted and miserable as I did now. I stared out the window of the posh New York hotel suite I’d been living in the past six weeks, finishing my morning cup of coffee before I headed to the Wellington Later Life Care Facility to see my parents and spend some time with them—which had been my routine since arriving in the city weeks ago, right after my life had imploded in Florida, right along with my carefully constructed control.
As soon as the article in The Affluent Collective had spread across Coral Gables and had people gossiping about my once sterling reputation, the first thing I did was issue the society page a defamation of character lawsuit, which promptly made the article disappear, even though all damage had already been done.
The second thing I did was pack a bag and leave for New York. As much to put distance between myself and the scrutiny, but to also make sure that none of the scandal touched my parents in any way. And, at the time, I wanted as much space as possible between myself and Jasmine, who’d I’d been furious with. Her betrayal had cut so deep, shattering pieces of my heart and leaving me numb after the fallout.
Initially, I was adamant that I never wanted to see her again. Didn’t want to talk to her. Didn’t even want to chance running into her because that initial anger I’d felt after being blind-sided by the article had been all-consuming. To the point that it had clouded my judgement and good sense when I was normally a man who took a step back from chaos so I could look at the situation logically and rationally.
I didn’t give Jasmine that same consideration. I’d just taken my rage to New York with me and let it simmer.
At least seeing my parents truly healthy and happy in their environment assuaged the guilt I’d carried with me since putting them in the facility to begin with. I found it bittersweet, how some days they had the ability to remember me and wanted to know where my wife was and reminisced about the past, and other days they saw me as a nice stranger who brought them lunch or sweet treats and did puzzles with them to pass the time. Sometimes, it was a heart-breaking mixture of both.
They wove in and out of the present and the past, but spending time with them on almost a daily basis made me realize, and accept, that they were exactly where they needed to be. They were well cared for, and so far, nothing of the scandal that had broken in Florida had reached New York, and for that I was grateful.
But it was the evenings when I was alone in the hotel room that were the most difficult. At first, because I couldn’t stop thinking of Jasmine’s betrayal, and then, eventually, as my anger ebbed and my rational mind gradually returned, I realized…how much I missed her. That despite how things looked for her—and admittedly they looked bad—I couldn’t believe that Jasmine was responsible for doing something so heinous. I couldn’t believe, didn’t want to believe, that she’d ever manipulate my emotions in that way, when she’d been the only woman who’d ever given me the safe space to be open and vulnerable with her, while she did the same with me.
As time went by, I wanted to pick up the phone and reach out, but I didn’t know what to say. What to do. I felt a complete loss of control over everything. My life, but especially my emotions where Jasmine was concerned, which were so tangled up I didn’t know how to unravel all the threads. All because I’d fallen in love with her…and I had no clue how to process those feelings.
A few days after arriving in New York, I contacted the same security firm that had given me the information about James’ debt that I was still holding on to, after issuing him an ultimatum to stay away from myself, and Jasmine. Considering he’d violated that order, I had every reason to expose him when there was no doubt in my mind that he’d provided The Affluent Collective with the information on my parents, most likely as a form of revenge after my threat toward him.
But other than my extreme reaction with Jasmine—which had been a purely emotional one—I wasn’t a man who acted in haste and I wanted all the pieces of the puzzle together before making that move. Because I still didn’t know what James had been doing at Jasmine’s apartment that day. I had originally assumed that it had been an exchange of money for information, but I knew in my heart, in the depths of my soul, that Jasmine was not the kind of woman to sell me out.
But I still needed to know how James had found out about the facility, and the fact that I had used women to pretend to be my wife to placate my parents. I wanted, needed, proof of his involvement so I could utterly destroy his standing in the community and make him persona non grata in Coral Gables, which was no less than he deserved.
Unfortunately, according to the security firm, The Affluent Collective remained tight-lipped about who their source was. I told the security firm to keep digging, because even if James was responsible for the leak, where had he gotten those details if not from Jasmine? I needed that connection, that evidence, to confront James with irrefutable proof he couldn’t deny.
Those were some of the questions that plagued my nights, but this morning I had a moment of clarity. It was time to return to Coral Gables. It was time to give Jasmine the opportunity to explain the situation with James and why he was at her apartment that day…if she would even talk to me at this point, considering how I probably devastated her with my disbelief. My gut feeling told me that James had used her as a pawn in this game between the two of us, because that was his MO, and I was determined to figure all this out, somehow, someway.
Regardless, I needed to speak with Jasmine, all the while hoping and praying I hadn’t annihilated the one woman who meant everything to me.
I booked the two-hour flight home for noon that day, which gave me the time to swing by and see my parents before I left New York. After a brief visit, as I was walking out to the car I’d rented, I received an email from Chuck, my main contact at the security firm.
We received an anonymous phone call today after our initial contact with Wellington Later Life Care Facility, inquiring on your behalf if James Duponte had either been to the facility, or had called to talk to anyone there about your parents. During that initial call with Wellington, we had been assured that there was no record of James doing either. However, this source gave us the name of Paula Reynolds, who is no longer working at the facility. We were told that Ms. Reynolds had revealed to this anonymous source how much she’d been paid for ‘easy information’. We contacted Ms. Reynolds, and after some…strong arming, she admitted that she talked to someone named James, in exchange for money.
Also, you asked us to inform you when James returned to Florida from London and have confirmed that a flight from London Heathrow with his name on the manifest arrived at Miami International Airport last night.
My blood went cold in my veins as I read their recent update. Paula, the receptionist who normally checked me in when I arrived at the facility, who’d been there when Jasmine had come with me. Interestingly, Paula hadn’t been there since my arrival back in New York six weeks ago, and I just assumed she’d quit and moved on to a different job, as many people did.
Now, it seemed James had greased her palm for information, and she either now had enough money to do something different or had quit before anyone discovered she’d been the one to leak confidential patient information.
That rage sparked inside of me again, all directed at one single person: James.
I typed out a quick email to Chuck. I’m heading back to Florida from New York immediately. I will be there by three this afternoon. Turn every stone in the fucking vicinity until you locate exactly where James is, then keep tabs on him until I arrive in Coral Gables.
That done, I headed to the airport to catch my plane, which seemed to be the longest flight of my life.
By the time I touched down in Miami, Chuck had provided me with James’ current and exact location, and other pertinent information, like who he was with. The fact that James had spent the day playing a leisurely round of golf at the Coral Gables Golf and Country Club, and was now lounging in the bar with some investors—as if he could just return to the community and resume his life after shattering mine—only spurred my anger into full fledge fury as Jeff, who’d picked me up from the airport, drove me straight to the country club.
I strode in and found James exactly where Chuck said he’d be. He was sitting at a table with three other men, enjoying a drink and laughing at something one of them said. But his expression quickly sobered when he saw me walk in, a flash of uncertainty passing across his features that was quickly hidden behind a mask of cocky bravado.
I stopped beside their table, ignoring the other men for now. “James, a word,” I said, and it wasn’t a polite request, but a direct command. “Outside. Now.”
He had the stupidity to sneer up at me. “I really don’t think you and I have anything to discuss.”
“You’d be very wrong about that.” Clearly, James had no idea I’d discovered the truth, and he was arrogant enough to believe he’d never get caught.
Since James seemed to need more of an incentive to have a conversation with me, I turned to the men sitting around him, who I recognized as investors from Spaniel Global Management. “Gentlemen, I’d think twice before handing off any of your money to James Duponte, since he currently has a personal financial debt of over five million and has been a part of some shady business practices you should look into before partnering up with him on anything.”
James jumped up from his seat, panic and anger flashing across his features. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I gave him a cold, chilled-to-the-bone smile. “Exactly what I said I would do the last time we spoke, so do not fuck with me, James, because there is plenty more I can share with your investor friends that would pique their interest. Now, would you like me to continue our discussion here, or would you like a word with me privately?”
His jaw clenched, but instead of defying me again, he glanced back at the men at the table, who now where watching our exchange with extreme interest after that bomb I’d just drop on them.
“This man is certifiably insane,” James said in a shockingly calm voice, even though I knew I’d shaken him up inside—with my sudden appearance and for sharing his dirty laundry. The slight quiver in his lip gave him away. “Excuse me while I take care of this issue so you don’t have to hear his vitriol and lies.”
I turned around and walked out of the bar. James followed me until we were outside and I faced him again. By then, his complexion was bright red, indignation rippling off him in waves. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing—"
I immediately cut him off. “I warned you that if you fuck with me or Jasmine, that I would expose you for the fraud you are,” I said, grateful to have my calm and control back in this situation. “And I intend to do exactly that since you didn’t keep your end of the bargain. The fact that you brought my parents into this turf war between us changes the playing field completely, in that I plan to fucking destroy you.”
He scoffed, trying to maintain his haughty demeanor. “Oh, please. It was your precious Jasmine who sold you out. I know your driver saw me at her apartment and undoubtedly told you. But what you don’t know is that Jasmine asked me to find out who killed her parents, which admittedly wasn’t easy information to dig up, and in exchange she offered me some very salacious information about you and the appalling conditions of the facility where you’ve sequestered your parents. I just thought the patrons of Coral Gables ought to know that the revered Eric Maxim is not nearly as credible as you want everyone to believe.”
Hearing James’ version of events straight from his mouth, and me finally processing it with a clear head…it all sounded implausible and ridiculous because Jasmine never would have approached James for anything . Except, his comment about finding out who killed Jasmine’s parents caught my attention.
“Is that what you were doing that day in her apartment?” I asked, putting the pieces together in my mind, certain that it was James who’d instigated the plan to make Jasmine look culpable. “Giving her whatever you discovered about her parents’ deaths and who was responsible?”
“Yes, and she was very grateful.” He smirked. “I have to say, your little slut is all about a little quid pro quo,” he said in a very lewd tone, his words meant to get under my skin and make me believe the worst of her.
The only thing it did was bring out the protective beast in me when it came to Jasmine, considering what this man had already taken from her. Done with the conversation, and done with James, I shoved him against the brick wall and braced my forearm at his throat with enough pressure to make his eyes bulge and a wheeze eek past his lips.
I bared my teeth at him, feeling feral. “This is your only warning, you fucker. If I ever hear Jasmine’s name, or any other slander about her, coming from your mouth, you will regret every goddamn word.”
James choked and clawed at the arm I still pressed to his windpipe, restricting his airflow. “ She’s the one who betrayed you,” he rasped, still trying to twist things around.
“No, Paula, the receptionist at the facility, betrayed me because of your filthy money.” Shock flashed in his eyes when he realized I knew the truth. “Now I’m going to systematically destroy your life, James. Make you a fucking pariah in Coral Gables that no one will do business with or socialize with. You fuck with me and what’s mine—both my parents and Jasmine—and you will pay the price, ten-fold.”
Certain I’d made my point, I released him. He grabbed his throat and choked, even glared at me, but with nothing more to say, I turned around and headed back to the car waiting for me at the curb.
Now, I desperately needed to see the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. If I hadn’t already fucked up my chance with her.
“Jeff, take me directly to Jasmine’s apartment, please.”