“What the fuck do you mean, her ex-boyfriend?”
“You know exactly what I mean,” I replied.“Turns out, he’s been that secret thorn in my side I could never seem to find.”
More silence as Daniel started to put everything together.I could hear him scratching his jaw and pacing the room.
“How?”he asked, his voice still heavily coated in disbelief.“He was a fucking nobody.How the fuck is that possible?”
Good.Fucking.Question.
“Apparently, he’s been doing a lot more than just hiding from me.The fucker has been very busy,” I replied.
How he’d been able to do it, I had no idea.But I would find out.
“Hold on,” Daniel snapped, taking in a sharp breath.“So you’re telling me, the ex-boyfriend, who you’ve been hunting for years, who has evaded you the entire time, is the reason we’ve lost decades worth of blackmail that has kept us on top since the 1990s?”
For the second time today, I almost crushed my phone in my hand.
“Careful, little brother,” I warned.“Now is not the time to piss me off any more than I already am.”
“Well, how the fuck is this possible, huh?Someone has to be helping him.There’s no way he’s been doing this alone.”
This was true.There was no way he could be acting alone.Unless he somehow won the lottery in Europe or was a trust fund baby this whole time, someone had to be funding his vendetta against me.
“He wasn’t alone.It seems he has quite a few new friends now,” I answered.
“Yeah?Well, what if thosefriendshappen to be someone on the inside?How the hell else would he know exactly where to strike?”
A rat on the inside was always possible.No matter what, money could easily find a way to suppress someone’s fear of my consequences for disloyalty.Money could act like a damn traumatic brain injury when presented with enough to sway you into doing something incredibly stupid.
“A rat is possible.I’ll have Scott look into it.”
Daniel scoffed, chuckling maniacally to himself.“Why bother having Scott look into it when you could just ask her yourself?”
I furrowed my brow in confusion.“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your wife, jackass.How the hell do you know she hasn’t been conspiring with this asshole this whole time?”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes, working to calm the rage building in my chest.Because that was ridiculousandimpossible.
“And how the hell could she possibly do that?She’s underconstantsurveillance.”
“I don’t know, Darren, why don’t you go ask her?”he snarled.“You can get the truth out of anyone.Your wife is no exception.”
I took a deep breath to calm my growing rage, lowering my voice to be absolutely clear.“Listen to me carefully, Daniel, and listen good,” I began, my voice fierce with warning.“Under no circumstances is Jaden ever to be aware of any of this shit involving Jason.Do you understand me?I do not want her knowing what he’s done or that he is still fighting for her.”
Daniel scoffed.“Why the fuck not?!”
“Because I fucking said so, you disrespectful little shit!”I roared into the phone.“Do you hear me?If she finds out, not only will it renew her hope of escape, but the emotional shitstorm it will create while her hormones are all over the fucking place is a headache I don’t fucking need right now!That fucker is probably even hoping I’ll tell her so she can start meddling too somehow.”
A vicious growl left Daniel’s throat, rasping into the phone.“You’re wasting the opportunity to see what she knows about this guy.She could give you the insight to predict his next move.”
I rolled my eyes.“She can’t tell me anything I can’t already find out for myself.”
“How the fuck would you even know if you’re not going to ask her yourself!?”
The agitation in my voice could not have been more clear.“I said no, Daniel.This is not a fucking debate.My wifewillremain ignorant of this,” I affirmed.
Daniel groaned as his footsteps from his obvious pacing echoed into the phone.“Well, what the fuck are we going to do about this, huh?”he scorned, the bitter tone in his voice making me wish I could strangle him through the phone.“We need to get all of this handled!”
