He shook his head and bit at the corner of his mouth. “I really don’t.”
I couldn’t say why, but I believed him and didn’t think he was playing me. He was nervous, but he’d been on edge since I put him in my car this morning. “They’re the other men who have private equity in the Divine Conglomerate.” Across the room Archie Alfson glanced up from the conversation he was in, and I nodded at him. Tall, sickly thin, and blond, he was worth probably half of what I was, but that was still impressive because like me, he’d earned every penny himself. He nodded back, and his mouth fell open when he shifted his gaze to Noah beside me. He should’ve already gotten an invite to my wedding tomorrow, but maybe he hadn’t understood what was going on.
“Uh, okay?” Noah said softly.
“See, I found out a few months back that your father lied to a group of us who invested with him. He talks a good game. Do you know anything about private equity versus stocks?”
Noah pursed his lips and shook his head, skin paling. His hand trembled in mine.
“Your father owns his conglomerate. That’s unusual for a business of his size.”
“You said something like that this morning.” He raised his eyebrows.
The sweet thing still seemed confused. Tugging Noah closer, I lowered my mouth so it was almost pressed against his ear. No one else could hear this. “Divine’s conglomerate has no oversight. The board is made up of his cherry-picked cronies. I thought he was playing it smart, fundraising for a new project privately. He sold a bunch of us on a housing development, but he never built it. Seemed like a surefire moneymaker. He committed some good old-fashioned fraud.” Anger churned in me all over again and I nipped at Noah’s ear. He squirmed and made a sad sound, so I kissed it. “I don’t mind a fair try of a project that fails, when it comes to a startup idea. Shit happens. People give their best and sometimes a great notion flops. But he never tried at all. He used the money we invested to rob Peter—namely us—and pay Paul—creditors that were already frothing at the mouth. Do you know what that means?”
“No,” he said quietly. He tried to lean away, but I didn’t let him.
“Hestolefrom me. I’m Texan, precious. We don’t truck with that shit. Can’t put a bullet in him because then I’d never get my cash back. It was the principle of the thing. He expected that those men over there would write off the money without checking his bullshit. They did.I didn’t.I found out about the fraud because I went out to what was supposed to be a construction site, only to find a pine forest. I told the other investors what I’d discovered. They were angry as a nest of hornets. I started watching him. And you.”
“Is that why I’m really here, then? So you can get back at my dad?” Noah’s chin trembled as he turned to stare at me with wide, scared eyes.
Part of me loved his fear. I wasn’t a good man when it came to getting my own pound of flesh. I laughed and put my arm around him, but he was stiff at my side. “Not entirely. You’re a nice bonus. He has no idea that shit’s about to rain down on him. Right now he’s only worried I’ll take about nineteen million dollars’ worth of pain out of your pretty behind. And it is a nice one.”
He gasped and glanced at the men across the way. “Are you telling me Dad stole nineteen million dollars?” He seemed to be doing a quick headcount.
“Probably more like sixty million. I didn’t know all the investors,” I said with a shrug.
He turned toward me, chest rising and falling too fast. “Why didn’t you hire a lawyer and take him to court?”
“And let him try to declare bankruptcy and get out of this? Hell no. Where’s the fun in that? I decided I wanted to take the whole fuckin’ company as payment, one way or another. At the end of this, he won’t be the person in control of that conglomerate, even if Divine stays on all the stationery. He’s sunk for life. No one will get suckered by him again when I’m finished.”
“I don’t understand,” Noah said, but he quivered against me and I thought maybe he did.
“Your father done pissed off the wrong man, and a few others who are even worse than me. And it was dead clear when I saw you for the first time that you weren’t the man to steer the ship of the Divine Conglomerate. You didn’t have a hope in hell of getting our money back. I’m fine, but some of the men gave your father more than they should’ve, which was stupid, but he was a smooth, slimy fuck.”
“How could you know from looking at me if I would be good for the company or not?” he asked, glaring.
“Tell me I’m wrong?”
He huffed. “You’re abysmal.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Derek Uhlig strode out in a sleek black suit toward the glass box. He was tall with styled salt-and-pepper hair that wanted to curl onto his forehead but had been forced back by product. His Roman nose and the tasteful stubble on his strong chin made him almost rugged, even in the nice clothes. As he studied the crowd a wide smile brightened his face. Two twitchy men followed behind him. One guy, with a cute button nose, was plump and sweating through his white undershirt. He had two black eyes. The other man was balding, skinny, shirtless, and covered in bruises.
“Oh, the game’s starting. Pay attention.”
“What is this?” Noah asked, but I didn’t bother to fill him in. There were shouts and a round of applause from the audience. One of Derek’s security men strode out to stand at his side holding a pistol, and Noah burrowed against my body as if he was worried the gun would jump up and bite him. They weren’t more than five feet from us. I held Noah closer and didn’t hate that he sought comfort from me, even if it was simply because I was the only man here that he knew.
Derek cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Bets are all finalized!” He stopped as a deafening cheer went up, but then everyone quieted down, shushing one another and laughing as Derek flashed a smile. “Would someone from the audience like to inspect the weapon?”
I raised my hand, and Derek laughed as I hopped to my feet. Noah moaned and let go of me. I went up to Derek and casually took the pistol from him. It was an old silver six-shooter with a pearl handle, and I held it up, opened the cylinder, and gave it a good whirl. The smell of gun oil had my blood pumping faster.
“Looks to be in working order,” I shouted.
Derek handed me a bullet and I dropped it into a chamber, holding the gun up so the folks in front of me could see there was only one. Derek then took the pistol back and walked it around the perimeter of the room. The people closest to the floor all nodded that they’d seen it was one bullet and five empty chambers.
“Would anyone else care to inspect the weapon? Now is your chance,” Derek bellowed, to be heard over the casual chatter that had roared back to life. There was a bloodthirsty gleam in his blue eyes that had me holding my breath. No one took him up on his offer. When Derek was back at my side, he flicked his wrist and the cylinder snapped into place. The skinny man at Derek’s other side shuddered.
