“Why not?”
“I did come live with you once you started building this company, remember? Before I got smart and went away for college...There were a lot of women in and out of that condo...”
“No, there weren’t.” I sighed. “I never brought any woman near you and you know that.”
“I didn’t see them, but I found all their panties underneath the couch cushions—the little mementos they left behind so you could remember how amazing the night was. They even left little notes on the inside tags—‘Last night was the best night of my life,’ ‘You’re the best fuck I’ve ever had,’ and my personal favorite—Oohhh call me anytime, Jonathan. I’ll drop whatever I’m doing if it means I get to fuck you again.”
“Get out of my office, Hayley.”
She laughed. “I looked through the Berkstrom account earlier. I don’t think we should sign with them, but the board thinks differently so make sure you read over everything tonight. There’s also a meeting with the accounting division at three to discuss new ways to track executive spending, and oh yeah—you need to make sure you have that buyout file for your international call in a few hours.”
“Angela briefed me on all of this hours ago because you weren’t here on time today. For the fourth day in a row. Care to explain why?”
“I can be late.”
“You can be unemployed.”
She rolled her eyes. “Are you this strict with Ashley and Caroline? Do they get the overprotective treatment too?”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“I am.” She smiled and flipped her blond hair over her shoulder. “I’m also thinking about putting in a complaint to HR about the CEO being excessively hard on me, so watch it.”
“Can you at least make sure you’re on time for your dress fitting next week? Claire stresses out about anything wedding-related if it’s more than a second late.”
“I’ll be there early. I still can’t believe she asked me to be a bridesmaid! I am so honored to give you and your craziness away to someone else. Does she even know how crazy you are yet? Have you shown her your true colors or are you saving them for later?”
“Hayley...”
“Mr. Statham?” Angela’s voice came over the intercom.
“Yes?”
“One of your security advisors is here sir. He says it’s urgent. Should I tell him to wait until you’re done meeting with Hayley?”
“No.” I shook my head. “We’re more than done here. Send him in please. Oh and Angela?”
“Yes, Mr. Statham?”
“On little Miss Statham’s way out, could you please hand her the employee policy on tardiness and order her a Cartier watch—with the biggest numbers available please? Have it shipped overnight.”
“Yes sir.”
Hayley narrowed her eyes at me and pursed her lips. “You are the worst.”
“I love you too.”
I watched as she rushed out of my office, as she nearly collided with my second highest security chief—Clive.
“Where’s Greg?” I motioned for him to sit in front of my desk.
“He’s training a new member today. Would you like me to bring him up instead?”
“No, that’s okay. What’s going on?”
He removed a small brown box from the inside of his jacket and handed it to me. “We found this outside of Miss Gracen’s store this morning.”
“Mail?”
“No. It was found at six a.m. There’s no return address and mail doesn’t run overnight. We believe the small red initials of “R.H.” belong to Mr. Hayes, the man we’ve been keeping tabs on.”
“Have you found any new information?”
“No, but he knows we’re tailing him so he’s giving us the run-around. We do have a reservation at an executive condo building in his firm’s name though. I’ve seen him go inside a few times, but he never spends the night. It’s always in and out. He’s still paying the mortgage on a house in Pittsburgh, so we assume his visit here is temporary.”
“Thank you, Clive.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Statham. I’ll let you know the moment we find anything else.”
I nodded and waited until he left my office. I immediately let Angela know that I didn’t want to be bothered for the next thirty minutes.
I stared at the small brown box that was sitting in front of me, wondering why the fuck Ryan would attempt to give Claire anything, and then I ripped it open: A picture. And a letter.
The picture was a faded one of Claire, Ryan, and Amanda. It had to have been at least ten years old because they were all dressed in outdated clothing. One of Ryan’s arms was around each of them, and they were all smiling widely and holding their thumbs up.
At the bottom of the picture he’d written, “Remember this?”
Irritated, I unfolded the letter and read:
Dear Claire,
I’m sorry for showing up to your store unannounced last week, but I knew that if I contacted you in advance you wouldn’t agree to see me. It’s the same reason why I didn’t tell Ashley and Caroline about me moving here six months ago, why I told them we’d have to reschedule our last visit until this winter. (I know that even though they love us both equally, their loyalty lies with you.)
Like I said before, I really need to talk to you. Alone. One on one. It’s something I’d rather not put in a letter or say over the phone so I would appreciate it if you could just remember how things used to be between us—for just five minutes. If you could just remember how we used to be able to tell each other any and everything...I would really appreciate your time. I know deep down you still have some form of love for me.
Your first,
Ryan
I reread those last lines—“I know deep down you still have some form of love for me,” and “Your first”— and tried my hardest not to pick up the phone and put a hit out on this man’s life. My blood was heating to levels I never knew existed and I was seconds away from exploding.
I picked up my phone and called Greg.
“Mr. Statham,” he answered.
“Please tell me you know exactly where Claire’s ex-husband lives and you’re just keeping it away from me so I won’t murder him.”
“I do know sir.”
I thought so... “Do you know why he’s in town?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out. I will make you aware when I know. Is that all?”
“No. I want all of Claire’s mail screened from now on. Nothing from Ryan Hayes, R.H., or anything without a return address gets into her mailbox. And I want you to give all of those things to me so I can personally get rid of them.”
“Mail tampering is a federal crime, Mr. Statham.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Do it.” I hung up and glanced at Ryan’s letter one last time before stuffing it down my shredder.
I’m going to kill him...
My alarm for today’s board meeting started going off, but I was too lost to reach into my pocket and turn it off.
I sat still at my desk—stunned. Angry. Annoyed. I couldn’t believe her ex-husband’s nerve after all this time, couldn’t believe he would even attempt to contact Claire—my Claire.
I was about to cancel all my meetings for the day and go down to Corey’s office to do another round of investigating, but the special ringtone I had for Claire began to sound.
I pulled out my phone and read her text message: “I still can’t believe that you send me flowers EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! You are completely over the top, but I enjoy every second of it. The bouquets you sent today are absolutely amazing and I LOVE them. I love you so much, Jonathan...Your last, Claire. :-)”
And just like that, my blood temperature began to cool and the ache in my chest slowly gave way.
I’ll deal with Ryan later...