Page 19 of The Facilitator: Part 2
“Not really. She did that to upset you and I won’t haveit.”
“Gabriella’s mother told her we were living together,” Isaid.
“I know and I don’t care that she knows. I’ll have the number changed tomorrow. If she wants to contact me, she knows to contact theoffice.”
“She doesn’t have your mobilenumber?”
“No, and I’ll be fucking pissed if she finds it out,” he replied. “There is no reason for her to contact me. I have my spies back home, they keep me informed on anything I need to know, but that’s mainly to do with herfather.”
“Do you think she’s up to something?” Iasked.
“I know she is.” He turned towards me. “And I know who with…Jerry.”
“What do mean,Jerry?”
“Jerry wasn’t going to meet you because he was withAddison.”
“And you knew this? Why didn’t you say? I might not have made a fool of myself sitting in a bar on myown.”
“I didn’t expect him to stand you up. Addison makes a point of being seen, Lauren. She was sure to send a photograph of her and Jerry to Daniel and copied Gabriella in!” His voice rose inanger.
“When wasthis?”
“Earlier, late afternoon, Ithink.”
“Why would she want to send a picture toDaniel?”
“She likes to make him jealous by using other men, obviously, and as for copying Gabriella, which she claims was an accident, that was so we’d all know aswell.”
“Why is she withJerry?”
“That is the part I don’t know. But I have a horrible thought she is trying to rope him into some business venture, because she knows he has the money. She’ll take him for everything she can, Lauren, if he’s notcareful.”
“I need to warn him,” Isaid.
“You need to be careful with that. I know her; I know how her mind works. She’ll have done everything she can to discredit me, us. She’ll have him believe that you’ll come running, warning him off her, and because he would be expecting that, he won’t believeyou.”
“So what do I do? I won’t sit back and let her do that,Mackenzie.”
“I don’t expect you to. I’m working on a plan already, but you need to trust me. Jerry isn’t stupid; he won’t rush into anything. It took a year of negotiations before I bought his company,remember?”
I wasn’t as confident as Mackenzie. Jerry had changed of late. He wasn’t the funny, humble, hard-working man he used to be. Maybe his wealth had gone to his head. I wasn’t sure, but at that moment, I was deciding who to be mad at, Mackenzie for knowing and not telling me, or Jerry for ditching me forAddison!
Jerry, or more so, Addison, took firstplace.
“Will you let me in on your plan as soon as you know it? I’ve known something has been off with you for days. Is it Addison?” Iasked.
“Of course I’ll let you know. And no, it’s not Addison, as such. Her father is making moves to get back into business. I’m just keeping my eyes on what andwhere.”
“Why is that stressing you so much? He can’t do you any damage, canhe?”
“Not to my business, no. But he can make things awkward for me with some knowledge hehas.”
I stared at him. He sighed a couple of times. “I killed someone, Lauren. When I was young and stupid. I crashed a car, killing my best friend, Gabriella’s first love. I was high. I should never have been behind the wheel, but I was angry at the world and I didn’t care. Tate tried to get the keys from me, he tried to drag me from the car, and when I started to drive away, he jumped in. I guess he thought if he was with me, he might be able to convince me to pull over. I didn’t, I put my foot on the gas, lost control of the car, it hit a barrier, and we flipped over. He was thrown from the car and died at the scene. I was knocked unconscious. I had internal injuries, some of which rendered me infertile. My punishment for what I did, I guess. Anyway, that’s the gory details, but it gets worse. Addison’s father arranged it so that I didn’t face trial. I don’t know how and I was extremely grateful, even though the remorse was killing me. So, you see, he has something over me that he could use if he wantedto.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew about the accident, I’d Googled Mackenzie once. Gabriella had mentioned that a boyfriend had been killed, but I hadn’t connected thedots.
“Could he? It was so long ago, Mackenzie. Surely there is a statute of limitations orsomething?”
