Page 186 of Dirty Rival
“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?”