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Without hesitating, she advanced up the stairs as well, arriving on the balcony level just as the three men headed into a nearby room and the door closed behind them. Trying to keep the rustling of her skirts to a minimum, she quietly made her way to where they’d disappeared and did the only thing she could do without making her presence known . . . she pressed her ear to the door to hear the conversation on the other side and to find out what horrible fate awaited her father.
CHAPTER FIVE
The fear that Maddux witnessed on Theodore’s face the second the man realized he was trapped in a room with his greatest adversary was one of the most gratifying moments of Maddux’s adult life. This moment of reckoning was fourteen long years in the making, and he was going to enjoy every fucking minute of it.
He planned to savor Theodore’s panic and despair. The same panic and despair his parents undoubtedly had felt at the end of their lives. Maddux wasn’t going to kill Theodore . . . but he was going to decimate his life as he currently knew it.
“Gentleman, have a seat,” Maddux drawled cordially from his chair behind the massive mahogany desk dominating the room.
Two of his trusted men from his security team stood flanking the closed door behind Theodore and Gavin. In front of where Maddux was positioned were four comfortable leather chairs and one extra he’d situated next to his own so that Vincent could sit beside him and across from the two men who’d made most of their living by extorting money from too trusting citizens and small businesses that could barely make ends meet as it was. Maddux’s parents being two of those people who’d suffered, and died, as a result of Theodore’s and Gavin’s greed.
Theodore huffed out an indignant breath that did little to disguise his rising apprehension as he glared from Maddux to Vincent. “What the hell kind of setup is this?”
Maddux leaned casually back in his chair and gave the other man a contemptuous smile. “Come on, Theodore,” he mocked. “Did you really think you were invited to a very exclusive ball because you’re the pillar of society? You clearly have a very large outstanding debt as a result of your gambling habit that’s gotten out of control, and according to Vincent, your repayment, and accumulating interest, is past due. If you’re unable to pay what you owe Vincent, then I’ll be taking over the note and you’ll be forced to meet my demands for compensation, and I can guarantee that by the time I’m done with you, you’ll wish that you’d never crossed paths with me or my family.”
“This is complete and utter bullshit,” Gavin snarled like a rabid pit bull. “This is extortion and you won’t get away with it.”
Maddux laughed at the accusation. “That is fucking rich, coming from two men who’ve made a living extorting and killing innocent people who are barely able to make ends meet. Now sit. The. Fuck. Down.” Each enunciated word reverberated in the room, angry and imposing enough that both Gavin and Theodore did as they were told, albeit begrudgingly.
An odd noise sounded on the other side of the door, and Maddux didn’t hesitate to get up to make sure no one else was on the balcony level, which he’d made strictly off-limits tonight for this private meeting. One of his security guys stepped forward as a precaution, and as soon as Maddux opened the door, he was shocked to see Arabella standing on the other side.
The stricken look in her wide blue eyes told him that she’d heard what he’d said about her father being a criminal . . . and worse. Maddux clenched his jaw at this unexpected turn of events. He didn’t want her here. She didn’t belong here, where corruption was about to take place, where Maddux himself would be ruthless in his vengeance. Yet . . . didn’t she deserve to know what a piece of shit her father really was?
And humiliating Theodore in front of his daughter was just another layer of revenge Maddux couldn’t pass up.
“Bella,” he murmured, deliberately softening the hatred and rage from his voice for her. “Since you’ve already been privy to our private conversation, why don’t you come in and join us and hear the rest of it?”
Wringing her hands, she tentatively stepped inside, her gaze immediately darting to Theodore. Pain and confusion etched across her pretty features and she swallowed hard before speaking. “Father . . . what have you done?” It came out as an aching whisper.
“I don’t want her here,” Theodore said through clenched teeth, ignoring the question and refusing to make eye contact with Arabella. “This has nothing to do with her.”
“I’m your daughter,” she said, more firmly now. “Whatever is going on with you, I have a right to know what it is.”
“Stay out of this, Arabella,” Gavin interjected, his tone condescending. “None of this concerns you.”
She strode the few steps it took to stand in front of where the other man was sitting, her animosity toward Gavin nearly palpable. Her fingers flexed in front of her, as if she were holding back the temptation to slap him across the face for the superior way he talked to her. “If it concerns my father, then it concerns me. I’m not leaving.”
With that, she settled into one of the vacant chairs, while Maddux returned to his seat behind his desk, resisting the urge to applaud her gumption.
“Let’s get back to business,” Maddux stated, leaning forward in his chair and clasping his hands on his desk.
He glanced at Vincent, indicating he had the floor. He’d been good friends with the man sitting beside him for years. It had actually been Vincent’s father, Christopher, who’d been a mentor to Maddux and had offered both financial advice and the capital to build his tech business. Unlike Theodore, Maddux had paid off his debt a long time ago. He didn’t like owing anyone anything, and never would.
“As of tonight, I’m calling in your loan, Theodore,” Vincent said without preamble.
“You can’t do that.” Theodore’s voice was just short of begging.
“According to the contract you signed, I can,” Vincent replied smugly, and slid a piece of paper across Maddux’s desk that showed the other man’s signature at the bottom. “I just did.”
“I need more time.” Sweat beaded at Theodore’s receding hairline and trickled down the sides of his face, even though it was a cool sixty-eight degrees in the r
oom. “It’s not like I have one and a half million dollars sitting around at home!”
Arabella gasped at that revelation, her mouth gaping open at the staggering amount. She stared at Theodore in shock as the first of many truths started to unfold about her father.
“Let’s be honest here,” Vincent said calmly, even though Maddux knew, beneath that cool composure, his friend was a shark. “Because of your gambling habit, you barely have two dollars to rub together and every line of credit you own is maxed out. That’s a problem for a businessman like me, especially with the interest you’re accruing at a rapid pace based on the principal you owe me.”
Theodore started to breathe a little bit harder as he dabbed a handkerchief across his sweaty forehead. “I’ve already signed over everything of value to you as collateral and a show of good faith,” he said angrily.
