Page 143 of Dirty Rival
“I’ll be right there!”
My phone beeps with a text and I walk into the extra room and sit on the sofa. I swallow hard and enlarge the document. I start reading and it’s all executed by Reid. “To satisfy the debt, and prevent the release of all negative documents, you will allow Maxwell to buy out your stock in the format of a hostile takeover.”
“Carrie.”
At the sound of Reid’s voice, I stand up and whirl around. “Did you force my father to give up his stock, or buy it out before someone else did, because the board was going to unseat him?”
He goes so very, very still. “I did not force your father to do anything. You know that. Where is this coming from? What did your brother say to you to make you question me again?”
I round the sofa and hand him my phone with the document on the screen. He barely looks at it and then hands my phone back to me. “That is not what it seems.”
“To satisfy a debt. Did you write this document?”
“Yes. It’s not what it seems.”
“I love you, Reid. I trust you. Please make me understand. I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
His hands come down on my shoulders. “I am not able to do anything but own up to that document and the contents. I can’t explain it beyond telling you that it’s not what it looks like.”
“Why? Why can’t you explain?”
“Because not only will my family lose everything, my father will come at you, and he won’t stop. He’ll destroy you and us. We both will have nothing, including each other.”
“I won’t say anything. I won’t let anyone know I know.”
“Carrie, you will. It will upset you too badly. You will and, baby, I’m protecting you, too.”
“Does Royce know what you can’t tell me?” I ask.
“He’s trying to find out, but it’s buried deep,” he says. “He hasn’t found anything.”
“I just realized that he hasn’t given me anything on my father.”
“Because he was trying to find this first.”
“You wanted him to?”
“Yes. It’s killed me not to tell you this.”
“My father can tell me?”
“He won’t, Carrie. He won’t. I tried to get him to. That’s why I went to Montana.”
“He’s going to tell me.”
“Or finally convince you I’m the devil.”
“Have more faith in me and us than that.”
He tangles fingers in my hair. “Go to Montana. I’ll be on the plane to Japan tomorrow. If you’re there, I’ll know you see me, not the lies. If you’re not, we’ll end this.”
“End this? That easily?”
“I’ve given you parts of me I swore I’d give no one. I need to know you trust me, Carrie, or we have nothing. Go to Montana. I’ll make your reservations.” He turns away and walks into the bedroom as I press my hands to my face. What does he think I’ll find out in Montana that he dreads? Because he is too certain I won’t be on that plane with him to Japan, and that terrifies me.
I force myself to walk into the bedroom, only to find Reid gone. I then force myself to finish packing. “I got you a private jet,” Reid says re-entering the room. “It’ll take you wherever you want, whenever you want.”
A few minutes later, he walks me downstairs to a hired car with directions to my father’s ranch in hand but before I climb inside, he pulls me to him. “I love you. Don’t forget that I love you.” He kisses me, a deep passionate, goodbye kiss that brings tears to my eyes, because it ends with him walking away.