Four sets of eyes turned to him. Shepherd's jaw was still clenched tight enough to crack teeth, and Asher could practically feel the waves of protective fury radiating from him.
"What do you mean, a bluff?" Edward stopped his pacing mid-stride. "He's threatening to take Ollie. That sounds pretty damn serious to me."
Asher considered the letter again, scanning the carefully worded phrases. "Look at the language. 'Considering my options.' 'May need to revisit the custody arrangement.' 'Concerned about stability.' It's all conditional. Vague. There's not a single concrete action stated here… except for his demand for money."
"So what?" Gabe's voice was rough. "He's still threatening to take Ollie away from her."
"He's testing her. Blackmailing her almost.” Asher tapped the paper. “If he was truly worried about Ollie, he’d be taking decisive action to remove him from Evie’s care. Not saying the entire situation could be swept away if she pays him off.”
Gabe looked at Asher in stunned disbelief. “Did you miss the bit where it says, ‘Adrian Montgomery is filing for primary custody of Ollie because Evie is engaged in ‘morally questionable cohabitation’ which is creating an ‘unstable environment’ for him?’
Asher held Gabe’s gaze and threw the question back at him. “And did you miss the part where it said he’d forgo a custody battle, if she pays him and…”
He paused for effect.
“Makes appropriate changes to her living situation by ceasing her relationship with Gabriel Thatcher.”
Asher waited for the words to sink in, but they still looked confused, so he spelled it out for them.
“You, Gabe. Just you. No word about me or Shepherd. Only you.”
Gabe looked taken aback, then a deep hurt settled over his features. “I should go then…”
“No!” Asher exclaimed. “You're missing the point.”
Shepherd looked up, sharply, from where he’d been tapping away on his phone, then narrowed his eyes. “You’re saying if Adrian truly believed this was about morally questionable habitation, he’d have specified all of us.”
Gabe sucked in a shocked breath. “If she’s still living with you two, then essentially that hasn’t changed, but he’s saying he won’t care as long as he gets the money.”
Evie’s father sat down, rubbing his hands across his face. “Okay, say that’s true. Why Gabe? What does he gain from singling him out?”
“Where do you imagine Adrian got this information from? Who’s the only person he has any contact with around here?”
“Sonofabitch!” Shepherd swore, slamming his fist on the coffee table hard enough to make the empty mugs on it rattle.
“Oh my god! Victoria,” Gabe murmured like he didn’t want to say her name too loud in case it allowed her mean spirit into the room.
Asher clapped his hands together, just once and pointed a finger at Gabe. “Give the man a prize.”
Gabe looked stunned.
Shepherd still looked like he wanted to murder someone.
Asher continued. “Not only does Victoria work with Adrian, but she’s also close friends with Brandi. I’d put money onthat being how they met. Where else would Adrian meet an ‘Instagram Influencer’? He punctuated the last two words with air commas. “And it’s no secret that she wants you back.”
“So you’re saying,” Edward reviewed slowly. “That Victoria Sterling told Adrian about Evie’s windfall in return for him making sure Gabe and Evie split up, so he’d be free again.”
“Exactly.”
Gabe shook his head. “But surely she can’t imagine I’d take up with her again after something like that?”
“Women can be evil bitches,” Shepherd grunted. “Could be if she couldn’t have you, she’d make sure Evie couldn’t either.”
There was quiet for a moment as they all digested things, and Shepherd’s phone pinged in the ensuing silence.
“Hmph! And here’s another piece of the puzzle,” he commented, after reading from his messages. “It seems Adrian has managed to get himself into rather a lot of debt. Over $100,000 owed to some rather nasty people who like to shatter kneecaps just for starters.”
“What!” Edward exclaimed, his eyes wide. “How has he managed that in such a short space of time? He had savings, the proceeds from the sale of the apartment, and a high-paying job. He didn’t even purchase another property.”
