Page 6 of Bitter Secrets

Just like her calls to Thea, her calls to her reinstated mother-in-law had gone straight to voicemail. Why wasn’t Kaia answering her phone? Had Roth gone to Colorado to see his mother? He wouldn’t do anything to her, would he? Her insides felt as if they were in a vice. She considered calling the cops for a wellness check, but what reason could she give?

Kaia had been so certain Roth wouldn’t come when she had her heart attack. But he had so. What did that mean? That Kaia had misjudged her son’s level of compassion? Although he’d done it with bad grace, Roth hired a nurse to care for his mother and brought her with him to New York to recover from surgery. Whatever happened between them, Roth didn’t seem to share the same animosity toward his mother that she did for him. How was she supposed to take that?

The fact that Kaia wanted him institutionalized meant his ruthless streak manifested in his youth. Had he been a wild, rebellious youth? Maybe he got involved with a local gang? But, if he had a record, Dad would have tossed that in her face right from the start. He wasn’t a juvenile delinquent, so what was with all the secrecy? What had he done that was so horrible that his mother called him a monster and couldn’t bring herself to love him?

Muttering under her breath, she flipped to a fresh page in her notebook and wrote:REASONS FOR BLACKMAIL.

She was so out of her depth on this topic that she had turned to the internet for help and Googled the top reasons people were blackmailed. The reasons were incredibly varied, but there were some common themes she couldn’t ignore. Her fingers trembled as she went for the worst-case scenario.

Murder

She stared at the ugly word, unable to believe she was contemplating such a thing, but what was she supposed to think? What secret was so terrible that he would go to such extreme lengths to keep it quiet?

There was a giant hole in that theory, though. If the disc was concrete evidence, her father would have gladly turned it over to the cops and put Roth behind the bars. So, did that mean that whatever on the disc was damning but not enough to convict him?

Illegal business practices

Had Roth strong-armed someone into a deal? A rumor of bad business practices could make people avoid him like the plague, but… it wasn’t like Roth had a stellar reputation to begin with. Neither did her father. Their ruthlessness was well-known and revered. As far as she knew, her father had never done anything illegal… except blackmail Roth, of course. She downed the rest of her tea and winced as it sloshed around in her tender tummy. These men were going to give her an ulcer.

She assumed Roth used his money and connections to get what he wanted, but maybe he had gone a step further and gotten physical with someone? After what she had witnessed at Tuxedo Park, that was a definite possibility.

Dirty association

Maybe it wasn't how he did business, but who he did it with? Roth was a mathematical genius, but perhaps there was a reason her father hadn’t been able to take him down? Maybe he had contacts in the underworld that even her father couldn’t smother. But, again, her father would have gathered evidence and handed it over to the authorities. Maybe the disc held a confession of a man incriminating Roth, but there was nothing to back up those claims? Which led her right back to the beginning. The evidence had to be bulletproof for Roth to be blackmailed.

Blackmailer becomes the blackmailed?

This was a strong possibility. Maybe her father found out Roth blackmailed someone and in turn used that against him?

She tipped her pen back and forth like a seesaw as she contemplated the number one reason why (according to Google) people were blackmailed.

Sex

Even today, in an age where sex was out in the open, there were still some who paid to cover up affairs, sexual orientation, kink. Did Roth indulge in a high-profile affair? That wasn’t far-fetched, since he had one with her. The engaged daughter of a man he was eager to do business with… Roth gave no fucks. Nothing was off-limits to him. Maybe he slept with the wife of a business partner? Mob boss? Gotten on the wrong side of a dangerous woman who caught him in a compromising position? Was the disc a sex tape?

She pursed her lips. An affair seemed too tepid for his response at Tuxedo Park. What she witnessed was pure rage. Whatever Maximus had over Roth, it was personal. What could prompt a man like Roth who was so coolheaded under excruciating pressure to lose control to the point that he forgot where he was, with whom, and would do anything to keep that information from being exposed? She had no idea what could elicit such an extreme response from him.

One possibility niggled at the back of her mind. It was simple, yet brilliant. Was her father ballsy enough to guess what Roth had done and threatened to show evidence he didn’t really have? That sounded like something her father would do. However, Roth would have checked that Maximus had proof before he allowed himself to be blackmailed. Unless it was so damning that just the possibility of it getting out was enough for him to comply with her father’s demands…

Her head felt like it was going to split open from all these mental gymnastics. She thought she had a wild imagination, but Roth and her father had her beat. She had no idea what could be used to blackmail someone, or how to go about making a deal of that sort. How could they simultaneously run empires while also making time to investigate, blackmail, and destroy enemies?

Also, she was assuming Roth’s secret was business related, but what if it wasn't? Was he protecting someone? A mentor? Business partner? Relative? The only problem was, in the time she had known him, he had never mentioned a connection to anyone from high school, college, a grandparent, cousin, or aunt either. No one. She hadn’t thought it was strange because she, too, had a small circle, but shedidhave people. Roth? She didn’t even know if he had friends.

She flipped to a fresh page with such force that it ripped. Taking a deep breath, she resisted the urge to hurl the notebook across the room to expend her pent-up frustration. There was no getting around the fact that no matter how worldly or experienced she thought she was, she was no match for him. Roth had manipulated and tricked her.Again.How he must have laughed at her when she surrendered to him in Colorado. She’d given in so easily.

One year as Mrs. James Roth would end this saga. She survived him once; she could do it again. If the past three days were any indicator, he planned to follow the same pattern he introduced during their first marriage. That was a good thing. The less interaction between them, the better. She had no idea how she fit into his plans, but she agreed with Lyle. He may desire her, but she wasn’t a big enough incentive for him to give up his plans for revenge. It was more likely that he realized an alliance with her family would be more lucrative than going to war with them. Once again, she was just a piece in his game.

She slumped against the glass and wondered how she had made such a mess of her life in two months. She buried her father, slept with her ex-husband the first time she saw him since the divorce, bartered her body and dignity for her family company, and discovered that she knew nothing about the man she had now married twice. She had naively signed on the dotted line, believing he was telling her all, but when had he ever been honest with her? She thought she was going into this marriage of convenience with both eyes open this time around. That belief had shattered when she’d read Dad’s letter. His warning from the grave turned her world upside down and rattled her doll house until every piece was wrenched from the foundation. She was in free fall. She had no anchor, no safety net, no protective gear. It was just her and her wits against a man she had once loved and now realized was a complete stranger. What did she really know about James Roth?

Lyle was right. The only way to control Roth was to uncover his secret and use it against him, but she had no doubt he had security measures in place that would trip if any of them tread too close. She didn’t want to know what he would do, then.

The hiss was so quiet, she barely registered it. She turned her head and froze as Roth stepped off the elevator, into the penthouse. He was over six feet tall and while most of his peers were stylishly lean, he was built like a wrestler. No matter how tailored his suits were, it didn’t look right on a man of his size. The harsh lines of his face were more suited to a general than a business tycoon.

He paused by the couch to shrug off his coat and jacket. He took his time loosening his tie, seemingly impervious to the tension saturating the room. When he started toward her, she clutched the pen in her fist. He stopped beside her. The bright light made no impact on his eyes, which were pitch-black with no hint of brown. When he raised his hand, she stiffened, but all he did was trail the tips of his fingers down her cheek. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or alarmed by the gentle touch. She hadn’t decided how to react when two fingers dipped under her chin and tilted her face up to his.

“Kiss me,” he ordered.

CHAPTER2

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