I slam my office door closed after I walk through it.
Ryder and Alester have been waiting in here since we got off the phone hours ago, I’m sure.
“Tell me where we are?” I throw my coat on the couch in my office and make my way to the desk, powering on the computer. Ryder sits in the chair across from me while Alester leans in the corner of the room with his arms crossed, awaiting a command.
“Why don’t you tell me how the cabin was?” Ryder is definitely hiding something trying to change the subject. That was always his tell ever since we were little.
I can’t play this game, not with the last part of my dad on the line. The part of the company that he helped create. Yeah, sure I have plenty of money and this won’t end us by a long shot, but that’s not the point. This is personal. This is a piece of him that I refuse to let go of, no matter what.
“I’m not in the mood. Where are we? Now,” I say, glaring at him until he finally drops it.
Alester coughs into his sleeve, throwing a look at Ryder that I choose to ignore. “His name is TaylorMcAllister. He was apparently promised a large promotional position if he was successful in securing multiple contracts. So far, I can only see correspondence between him and the two idiot sons of Collins and Sons. Also, he used to date Alexandra Lewis.” His body language doesn’t change, always the one to deliver facts without emotion. Ryder, on the other hand…
I lean back, pressing my fingers together. “Taylor?” Alester nods. “AndmyAlex?” Alester raises an eyebrow but nods. “Fuck.” I spit my words at the ground. Why in the fuck?
“We can get the companies to stay. We just need to contact them and make our offer more attractive before they sign any contracts.” Alester says.
I crack my neck. “There’s only one company I care about. I will talk to them myself, but first I need to figure out why. Why Taylor and why my clients?”
“James, our clients are desirable because of our reputation.” Ryder stands. “We don’t know how Taylor got through to contact any of them, or why they’re giving him the time of day. It doesn’t look like he’s made any real strides in the marketing world. Just an average nobody. But there’s the link to Alex…” He shrugs. His eyes are pleading with me to stay calm, but I don’t even know how this happened.
I glare at him. “Yeah, I get it. She was never near my laptop, but I get what you’re throwing out there.”
I get up and grab my coat again, shouldn’t have taken it off in the first place.
“But you did bring it to the cabin?” Ryder asks. “This involves all of us, and we don’t want to see you get hurt again. Rebecca did enough damage.”
I groan. “There was literally no time for Alex to get into it, crack my password, and forward concealed documents. I’ll figure it out. Alex isn’t Rebecca, so you can remove that from your brain right now. Leave your phones on. We start making calls first thing in the morning. This has to get fixed.”
I head back out the door, trying to calm myself down and reassure myself that there’s no way Alex knew. If she did, this weekend wouldn’t have happened…right? I can’t be getting fucked over again by a woman. No, not Alex. She’s nothing like Rebecca, and she was certainly shocked when I told her who I ‘work’ for. Rebecca…I should have seen the red flags from the beginning.
Rebecca was at one of our first events to celebrate the new up-and-coming company flourishing in design and marketing, The Edward Corporation. She was dressed in a blue gown, her blonde hair curled to perfection falling down her shoulders, and her black heels clicked all the way to our table.
“Congratulations, gentlemen.” She leaned over the table, her blue eyes shining as she took me in. I had dropped out of my college program when our company had taken off. I just buried my dad a week ago. Everything was raw.
She pulled out the chair next to mine and slid in close. She asked questions about the company and how we got to where we were. I thought she genuinely liked me, but I wasalso just an idiot college kid who didn’t have a clue about the real world. I was coming into big money with big dreams and the grief of watching my dad die. I trusted easily and fell hard.
Rebecca was pushing for an engagement ring pretty early in our relationship, wanting to make sure she was at every event we were invited to, and pulled me to take photos with the paparazzi every chance she got. I thought she was proud of our success, but it turned out she just wanted in on the cash and fame.
Alester was the one who found the bank statements of her syphoning money from our accounts. She had access to my computer whenever we stayed at my place. Thousands of dollars gone, which at the beginning was a lot. Now, it’s nothing. I’m sure I would have kept it going, maybe even married her, had I not caught on. Then she would have had her hands in everything.
I shake my head. These goddamn memories won’t leave me alone. Alex isn’t Rebecca. And I’m going to have to prove it to myself.
James: Pull up Taylor’s location and send it to me.
I make my way through the front lobby. Thomas is already waiting with the SUV parked outside the front door. My phone buzzes as I reach the vehicle and slide through the door Thomas has waiting open. I pull my phone out of my pocket and glance at the response from Alester.
Alester: I’ll get it. Give me five minutes.
I tap my fingers against the window.
“Where to, James?” Thomas asks. His worried eyes bore into me from the rearview mirror.
“We have to wait for Alester to send us the location. Just go to the Coffee Shop. I haven’t eaten anything all day. I’m going to need caffeine to get through this mess.”
Thomas takes off at the request. It’s only a couple blocks away, so as Thomas orders for us, I pull out my phone to send another message to Alester.
James: I also need Alex’s number.
