Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
“Says the woman who fucked me to fuck with her husband,” I growl.
Carrie turns around to face me and twists my T-shirt in her hands. “Let her go. The security guard started to come over here. Savage had to stop him.” There’s anger and panic in her voice and I let the little bitch go. For now, and for Carrie.
Carrie lets out a breath of air and faces Tabitha, her back to my front as if she’s blocking me from grabbing Tabitha again. If I want to grab her, I will, and next time I won’t let go until she talks or I’m arrested, or both. “I’m waiting, Tabitha,” I say. “Elijah came at Carrie today. He followed her. He put his hands on her. Why is he obsessed with me and my woman after all of these years?”
“I’ve been seeing Mick Sands, who I know you know. He hates Elijah. Elijah burned him on a money deal in a big way. I made the mistake of telling him about you. You know, we were just talking about ways I made Elijah pay for being so damn brutal over the years. Mick decided he wanted to take Elijah down and get his money back and that you were poetic justice. He’d get Elijah’s woman and his money. There was a plan. We’d cash out and leave.”
“How did he get fixated on us as the true villains?” Carrie asks. “I mean I get you used Reid, but he’s fixed on us like Reid was in Mick’s role. Does he think Reid knew and helped with active intent?”
“Elijah found out I was cheating and Mick’s name floated around,” Tabitha says, “I’ll spare you the details of how. They don’t matter. Bottom line, he knew Mick did that deal that you brokered, and that deal hurt Elijah in ways that aren’t obvious. He had huge money and business partnerships riding on that deal. It connected dots. He lost all of it with the deal Reid brokered. He went at Mick, confronted him and Mick turned into a little bitch that couldn’t own his own bad deeds. He said you brought the deal to him and he wasn’t with me. I told Elijah no one had an affair because what else could I do? He’s losing his mind and he hates you. He wants to believe it’s you.”
“This is nuts,” Carrie says. “Reid is with me. Elijah knows that.”
“He’s fixated on Reid,” she says. “And come on, Mick couldn’t do that deal without Reid. Reid was the brains.”
Carrie turns to face me. “Wouldn’t Elijah have known you brokered it before this affair talk?”
“I broker deals all the time and he and I have crossed paths casually as was the case in this deal,” I say. “I have no financial stake in the company in question. I just registered my standard fee and frankly, I don’t know why this deal wasn’t a throwaway to Elijah. It was big money to Mick, but not to Elijah.”
“I told you,” Tabitha snaps, sounding irritated. “It’s about a bigger picture. A full package he was putting together.”
“Bottom line,” I say, flicking her a look and then refocusing on Carrie. “This is an issue, not because he lost the bid, but because the person who outbid him was fucking his wife. And thanks to Mick, and Tabitha who didn’t own it, he thinks I burned him.” I turn Carrie to face Tabitha, my hands on her shoulders as I demand, “Where is Mick now, Tabitha?”
“Europe,” she says. “If that’s even the truth. He decided to take an extended vacation without me. He doesn’t want any chance of Elijah turning on him again. Look, Elijah can be vicious and this isn’t about me as much as that deal you took from him. He really thinks you somehow know the ramifications it had on him.”
“Because he thinks you told him,” Carrie assumes.
“Yes, and I’m trying to make him see reason, but it’s not working. He kicked me out. I’m in a rental. He’s never kicked me out.”
“You sleep around,” Carrie snaps. “You deserve to be in a rental. You used Reid.”
Tabitha glares at Carrie. “Don’t be a bitch. Elijah is volatile. You don’t know what I go through.”
“So you fuck Reid and make sure he finds out?” she challenges. “You made this happen, didn’t you? You play head games. You enjoy the power.”
Tabitha’s lips quirk. “You don’t understand powerful rich men yet, I see. One day you will. Or not. Because Elijah will ruin you to ruin him if he can.” She starts walking away and Carrie actually tries to go after her, my woman protecting me, but it’s me who is going to protect her.
I catch her and turn her to face me. “Easy, baby. It’s not worth it. I’ll handle this.”