Page 18 of Papers Don't Lie

I look out of the window, trying to shake the feeling of her off me. There’s a meeting I need to attend in twenty minutes, and the last thing I need to do is worry about someone who doesn’t want to be helped.

She’ll come around eventually, and until that happens, my hands are tied.

In the past four weeks,Esmeray’s blackmailer has turned more and more aggravated, and I have a feeling he’ll run out of patience soon.

When the red envelopes doubled in number and the severity of the threats escalated, I hoped it would make her reach out for help, but it had the opposite effect on her.

Esmeray cut any contact with Kendrick and moved to a small town next to New York, where she got a job as a waitress close to the house she rented for a few months in advance.

As much as things like that work in movies, there’s a lot more one needs to do to make herself disappear.

She might be in a happy bubble now, but whoever is behind this already knows her location or else he wouldn’t know where to send the envelopes.

The notes are only a game, just a way of toying with her.

Tonight, our family is invited to a networking event that happens once a year, where we meet our business partners and meet some promising others.

Dad can’t join us because of his condition. For six years now, our brothers and I have attended these events to hide anyweak spots. Our competitors won’t hesitate to take advantage of any little slip, and that’s exactly why we never made the reason behind Dad’s retirement public.

Ryker isn’t with us since he hasn’t joined the business world yet, and Lacey is at home with our father to keep him company. Only Tristan, Kiaran, and I are in the car on our way to the party.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I take it out, Kendrick’s name flashing on the screen.

“Mr. Graves." He gives me his usual salute. “We got our blackmailer’s name.”

An inexplicable wave of relief swims through me, and my shoulders drop back onto the seat. “Who is it?”

“Carter Wanderson, sir,” Kendrick says.

My blood stops rushing in my veins as I grip the device tighter.

Fucking Carter Wanderson.

I hang up the phone, pinching my chin with my fingers.

Esmeray is Carter’s running wife?

But how? She’s eighteen, and he’s thirty-five years old.

Why would he want to marry a girl seventeen years younger than him? It sure as hell isn’t because of love because if that were the case, she would’ve been next to him.

The last time I saw him was a month ago at one of our meetings, and he seemed quieter than usual. He’s the kind of person who always argues and always has something to say or change after a plan is fully created, so it was unusual to see him that way, but I didn’t care to ask. The fucker is good at what he does.

“What happened?” Tristan asks, and Kiaran watches me with curious eyes as we step out of the car.

My eyes skim over their curious glances before I walk away towards the entrance.

“What the fuck is wrong with him?” I hear Kiaran behind me, clearly not giving a shit if I hear or not.

We enter the museum where the event is hosted, familiar faces smiling or nodding at us, but my eyes are discreetly looking for someone else.

“Kai Graves.” I hear a female voice and feel her nail on my shoulder while my brothers are quickly dragged into discussions.

“Not now,” I mutter and stride further, catching sight of Carter.

I don’t know if it’s the way he squints at me or if there’s something in the air, but I realize something. And it’s fucking bad.

No more than two seconds later, I’m dialing Kendrick’s number.

---