Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Nothing,” I say. “Not one damn little thing. And as for the Allen family and your assumptions, Gavin, why would I need to nose around if I had that file? I don’t think anyone but Withers has any ideas what is really going on right now.”
“Maybe,” Dash concludes, “but Dierk’s good. I knew that about three minutes into my call with him. I don’t think he’d get busted nosing around. Maybe the Allen family doesn’t even know we’re nosing around, but rather believes that you inherited that file, and they want it back.”
“Back to Withers,” Gavin interjects. “The man works with the Allen family. He has a direct conflict of interest. I don’t think he’d go down the path we’re assuming he’s traveling, no matter the money involved. He’d risk losing his license.”
“He handed me the letter that my father made part of the will threatening me with the Allen family.”
“Was it sealed?” he challenges. “If it was, he may not have even known what was inside. What if your father is just playing you all around?” He taps the table. “Before you reply to that, I’m swinging back to the partner meeting and how it was timed to be held right when Bella was taken.”
“Meaning what?” Dash asks.
“If we’re looking for motive, the content of that meeting proves motive.” His attention shifts to me. “Who benefits if you don’t inherit that stock?”
“The partners,” I answer easily, because it’s nothing that hasn’t crossed my mind, though I still think my father is ultimately behind this.
“Right,” he says, “and you just told them, all of them, that Bella is the ticket to you securing your role long term. They must have already known that. You walked out of that boardroom, and your ability to claim your rightful inheritance was immediately threatened because you no longer have Bella. She’s gone and I’m betting one of the partners made her gone.”
It’s all I can do not to launch myself at him.
Did he really just suggest one of the partners had Bella killed?
Chapter Seventeen
Tyler
Gavin takes one look at me, his eyes going wide as he clearly reads the thunder in my expression. His hands fly up. “Okay, I went to a bad place just now and I did not mean to do that. They probably want to scare you and her.”
Dash’s lips set grimly. “We have to think through all possibilities, but I have to reject any idea she’s not coming home. That’s not how this works. That’s not how we get her back. That said, the partners’ involvement is a logical takeaway under the circumstances. I need to call my guys and I’ll loop in Dierk as well, and make sure they’re looking at this as well.” He drags himself to his feet, a heaviness to his body, as he walks away. He is cool and calm on the outside, but inside, he’s coming unglued.
“I’m not involved, Tyler,” Gavin repeats, drawing my attention back to him. “I might come at you with a stubborn, hard attitude, but it’s the only way to work with a true leader who holds firm to his beliefs, and that’s you.”
“Don’t suck up, Gavin,” I snap. “I’m not in the mood.”
“I’m not sucking up. I’m letting you know where I’m coming from with you, because that’s clearly made you feel I wasn’t on your side. And I’m not suggesting Bella is dead. Yes, I’m repeating myself, but I need you to hear me. I think they want to scare you both. Think about it. They forced you to declare Bella’s importance to you in the meeting.”
“And if we break up,” I follow, “and I suddenly present someone else, it leaves room for the partners to challenge the validity of the relationship and my inheritance.”
“Yes. Exactly. Though from what I read, there’s no stipulation of love in the will.”
“Then you just destroyed your own theory.”
“No,” he argues. “I think a challenge is a challenge, and the right judge, or the wrong judge, depending on how you look at it, could allow your power to be questioned. You should have called me the minute you got called into that meeting. You used to trust me.”
He’s not wrong, but he’s not back inside my trust circle by a long shot. “Someone told the partners about the will.”
“And you think it was me? Seriously, Tyler? I could lose my law license for breaking attorney/client privilege. What we discuss has that attorney/client privilege. For all we know, your father had Withers deliver each partner the terms of your inheritance upon his death. He could have done the same with the Allen family. Was there a clear leader in the meeting?”
“The short guy with the fucked-up name.”
“Raiden?”
“Yeah. Him. There were two others, Jack and Terrance, who seemed to be with him. The rest of the partners were quick to want to stand with me, though loyalty can be deceptive.”