Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
I’m officially irritated. He’s playing games again, trying to unnerve me. “I prefer a clear head for negotiations. If you do not, that’s your preference.”
His lips quirk and he fills a glass, recapping the bottle before he moves in my direction with a predatory swagger that makes me want to back away but I don’t. Show strength, I tell myself. He rounds the couch and motions for me to sit in the chair to his right while he claims the couch, making no effort to be near me.
Maybe he does just want to talk?
It might be me and my wishful thinking, but at this moment, I dare to think he might, and either way, all I can do is go with the flow. I sit. He sips his drink and glances over at me. “Now we’ve removed the distractions. I don’t have to look over my shoulder. You aren’t constantly looking for the person who’s going to swoop in and rescue you.” He sets his glass down. “Let’s get to it.”
“All right,” I say. “What is it you want?” It’s a loaded question, but it’s the one I need answered.
“You know what’s interesting to me?” he asks. “I thought your relationship with Tyler was a business deal, but it doesn’t quite compute. You’re loaded. You’re as rich as him, if not richer.”
Alarm bells go off. “Do you want money? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“I don’t want or need your money, nor do my clients. My point is you’re with him by choice. You care about him. From what I can see, he cares about you.”
Which makes me leverage, I think. It makes me Tyler’s weakness.
“What’s his intent with the Allen family?” he asks.
“He has no intent at all but to leave them alone.”
“His father didn’t,” he comments. “And he’s the heir to his father’s empire.”
“He is nothing like his father or I wouldn’t be marrying him,” I counter.
“His father was a brutal bastard who killed a woman. That has to worry you. How much of his father is in him?”
I bristle in Tyler’s defense. “He’s not his father. He proves that every day of his life, and if you ask anyone who works for Hawk Legal, they’d agree. You should be talking to him, not me.”
“My client and your future husband can meet and greet any which way they so wish, but not until Tyler hands over the files he inherited.”
“And I’m the leverage to make that happen,” I assume, my pulse kicking up a beat.
“Obviously.”
“Well then, we have a problem. I know for a fact that Tyler doesn’t have any documents pertaining to the Allen family.”
“And you know that how?”
“I know.”
Amusement lights his eyes. “A man like Tyler Hawk has secrets. That’s not a maybe, that’s reality.”
In other words, he believes Tyler lied to me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Bella
He’s wrong.
Tyler is not lying to me, and whatever secrets he possesses are mine now, too.
Which leaves me in an awkward position on top of an already dangerous situation.
I debate what I can or cannot say and decide there’s really no other way to do this but go all in. “I know because his father’s will used the Allen family as a threat against Tyler. He’s searched high and low for any documentation that could set him free.”
Oliver lifts his glass and sips. “I’ll bite,” he says, but he sounds bored, like he doesn’t really feel I have anything to offer. I’m merely a means to make Tyler talk. Still, he adds, “Explain.”
I tell him everything—about the will, the marriage, Tyler and me falling in love, and how that makes beating his father feel too easy to him. I tell him about the Allen family trial. When I’m done, he stares at me with a hooded gaze, time ticking by in eternal moments before he finally says, “I believe you, but I’m back to my original question. Where’s the file?”
“Tyler barely remembers the case. He doesn’t even know if there was wrongdoing attached. We can’t find the records. So, we have to ask, does it even exist?”
“Yes.” That’s all he offers.
“You can’t just say ‘yes’ with no justification for that answer. Tyler wants the threat of the file removed as much as you do.”
“Who’s handling the will?”
“Dan Withers, who’s done work for your client as well, which makes this entire situation a conflict of interest for him. That said, it’s possible Tyler’s father gave him nothing more than a sealed folder with the information. He may not know what he’s involved in at all.”
“Then Withers has the file,” he assumes.
“Maybe.” My brows dip. “Though the will states that he’d release the information to the press should Tyler dispute the marriage. That means he’d see the information and realize the conflict of interest and be forced to step aside.” My spine stiffens. “That could get the stipulations in the will thrown out.”