Page 10 of The Ring Thief
“Declan—”
“A name, Carter.”
He looks downright petulant. “Annabeth.”
I let that sit for a moment, keeping my eyes firmly locked on him while he tries to look anywhere else. “And that would be the same Annabeth who?—”
“Do we really need to drag it all back up?” he interrupts in a grumble.
I raise my voice to speak over him, “—pricked holes in your condoms and then told you she was pregnant?ThatAnnabeth? The one who then had a very convenient miscarriage, and then got engaged to her personal trainer?” I smile tightly. “I just want to be really clear that we’re talking about the same person.”
“Fucking hell,” he snarls. “Yes, asshole, that Annabeth. She’s grown up a lot since then.”
“Has she?” I murmur, faux surprise widening my eyes. “You see her a bit, then?”
His own eyes get big with panic. “No, no, I don’t see her at all. We’re just… we’re friends on social media. And we keep up, you know, as you do with acquaintances.”
“Can’t say I’ve spent time with women who’ve tried to baby trap me,” I counter.
“No, you just spend time with viperous bitches instead,” he snaps back.
I slice him with a furious stare. “Don’t fucking push me, Carter.”
“I’m not saying anything that’s not true,” he argues stubbornly. “You think Silvia’s on your side, but she’s not. She just knows exactly what to say to manipulate you.”
“I know exactly who Silvia is,” I say flatly. “Enough. Tell me who my father has been meeting with.”
He looks like he might argue, but shakes it off. “Donald’s been meeting on the sly with all of Hi-Tech’s suppliers. Going off the evidence I’ve gathered, I would guess he’s planning on investing or obtaining all future contracts.”
I scowl. Hi-Tech was a research and development company specializing in the development of next-generation microchips. They were used globally across the health and medical sector, and the company was years ahead of anyone else in the market. With the CEO looking toretire, I’d been working on a deal to acquire the company for well over a year.
“You think he’s gonna destroy their supply chain,” I muse with no small amount of anger.
“He wants to isolate Hi-Tech, giving Grant Foster no choice but to go into negotiations with him.” He narrows his eyes. “He’s tanking Hi-Tech’s value before the sale goes through, because you never told him that the deal changed, and thatyouwere buying Hi-Tech outright from Grant.”
“Goddammit,” I curse, scrubbing a hand through my hair.
Carter makes a noise of agreement, his mouth pursed. “Exactly. You’re out to buy Foster’s company, and your father’s decided to basically pour gasoline all over the place, ready to light it up.”
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” I say sarcastically. “When did he start this campaign?”
Carter grimaces. “According to the dates on the email, a week before the wedding.”
I sit back, pressing two fingers to my lips as I think back. “That fits,” I mutter. “He showed up here, demanding a meeting. Told me if I didn’t cancel the wedding, I was gonna regret it.” Carter curses and I nod. “Has he actually got any of the contracts yet?”
He lifts his hands, palms up. “My contacts?—”
“Annabeth.”
“My contacts—” he repeats firmly, “aren’t that informed. But the board of Nexus Capital has heard some rumors, and they’re nervous.”
I slap my palms against my desk, leaning forward with a furious glower. “How the fuck did they find out? You just said my father was doing this on the sly!”
“I don’t know, man.” He shrugs helplessly. “I wish I could tell you, but something smells fishy.” His phone beeps in his pocket and he pulls it out, glancing down with a disinterested look. “I’ve got a meeting. I’ll get my assistant to bring all the files down for you. I kept everything off the company servers, knowing Donald still has access.” He stands up, shaking his head. “I just don’t get his reasoning. If he didn’t trust you to handle this, why did he hand over the reins of Nexus?”
I sigh tiredly, running a hand through my hair. “It’s not abouttrusting me,” I say. “It’s about getting revenge on Foster for something that happened twenty goddamn years ago.” And smack in the middle of it all, with no idea about any of it…was Lily. “I’ll need to push the meeting forward with Foster, to get ahead of my father. I’ll see if he has time tomorrow.”
The intercom sitting on the corner of my desk lights up, and I press the button connecting me to Adam. “Yes?”
