Phillip was Lena’s brother-in-law and yet there was no love lost between the two.
“I received an interesting email,” I offered. “It came early this morning. I’ve been a little busy with the Wisconsin State Patrol.”
“Shit, what did you do?”
“Nothing…this time. Back to the email. Did you by chance get one?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific, Van.”
“GreenSphere.”
“Oh,” Lena said. “I told you, they’ve been courting me since I acquired my percent of Wade shares. And yes, they contacted me again this morning. I’d assume hoping to buy low.”
“I just spoke with the bank. The news of Wade’s devaluation is all talk. Wade’s credit rating hasn’t and won’t be affected.” I took a breath, looking out at the snow-covered bay. “Logan is coaching Phillip.”
“I told you that Logan mentioned him.”
“You called Julia the runaway bride. I’m assuming you read the latest?”
“I did. I also knew what you told me yesterday. I figured…”
“He pretended to be me,” I explained, getting right to the point. “We believe the plan was to get Julia to marry at her parents’ home, Phillip would bail at the last minute, and Skylar Butler would swoop in and save her from a second failed wedding.”
Lena’s laugh was halfhearted.
“I fail to see the humor.”
“It’s because you’re not looking. Come on. It could have worked.”
“To accomplish what? Getting me out of Julia’s life?”
“Out of Julia’s life,” Lena said, “equates to out of Wade. With you gone it removes the spotlight. Logan probably figured you’d walk away and sell your shares in the process.”
“Fuck no, I’d bury them all.”
“He may have underestimated you.”
“We’re even,” I admitted. “I underestimated them too. The busted attempt at the wedding wasn’t enough. Phillip took Julia’s phone from her. He contacted her parents as her and claimed she wanted to leave me and I wouldn’t let her. The texts said she was scared. I was threatening to keep her against her will…hell, you know the story.”
“You do have a history.”
Clenching my jaw, I ran my hand over my hair. “That information was never made public.”
“Phillip knows. That might mean Logan does too.”
I took a deep breath. “Julia isn’t being held prisoner.”
“Is that why thePaw Patrolvisited?”
“You lost me on that.”
“It’s a kids’ show. Ask Julia.”
I told myself to breathe. “Sometimes you can be a real bitch.”
“But you love me.”
“If you’re asking if the text messages are why the Wisconsin Patrol visited, yes.” I went back to the subject of the email. “Have you spoken to the woman from GreenSphere?”