“Who is after you this time?” Last time it was a gang from Hong Kong. They dumped him near the trash behind the building here with a paper pinned to his shirt that said Property of Con Weathers. The building management wanted to call the police but I managed to buy them off with generous donations to their kids’ college fund. It took a week of private nursing for Teddy to heal up. I wonder if his knee still aches. They bashed it in hard, although not with enough force to break it. Enforcers these days use torture rather than death to get their point across. It’s harder to squeeze money from a dead man.
Teddy is unfazed by his past beatings. He grins and folds his hands behind his head. “I’m not here because I have gambling debts. I told you after the Tang incident that I was going to turn over a new leaf. Instead, I’m doing you a favor.”
That’s chilling. “I’m not interested.” I reach into my desk and pull out Teddy’s ledger and the checkbook I have reserved just for him. “How much do you need this time?”
“It’s not like that, brother. There’s this massive opportunity for me to invest in a new cryptocurrency. It’s going to make bitcoin look like a dirt mining scheme. The returns are going to be hundreds of millions of dollars. All I need is a little seed money.” He scratches his neck. “I wouldn’t have come here if I had other resources, but you told me to stay away from Abby. If you won’t help me, then I have nowhere else to turn.”
And this is how he gets me every time because there’s nothing I won’t do for my wife. I’m basically paying him to stay away from Abigail. I take the vow to love, honor, and protect my wife very seriously and if that means keeping a lowlife like Teddy on my payroll till the end of time, so be it, but I don’t have to like it.
“How much?”
“Five million should do it.”
I freeze in the process of scribbling Teddy’s name in the payee section. A quick look at the ledger confirms my suspicion. The price of Teddy’s absence has been increasing every visit and the payouts are coming closer together. “I gave you two hundred grand three months ago.”
“Man’s got expenses.”
I don’t miss the Rolex on his wrist that he wasn’t wearing during his last meeting with me. “I’ll give you fifty thousand today.”
“No. I need five million.”
The specificity of the number spins up the alarms. I close the ledger book and shove it into the bottom drawer. “I guess we’re done here.”
Teddy’s easy grin fades and is replaced by a canny, knowing smile. “Like I said, I’d hate to go to my sister.”
“Go ahead. She doesn’t have the money and I’m not giving it to you.”
“What do you mean she doesn’t have the money?”
“We don’t have joint accounts and I have a prenup. Abigail gets an allowance for her basic necessities and the Weathers Corporation pays for anything else she wants. There’s no need for her to have millions sitting in an account. You wouldn’t know this because you’re a financial idiot, but it’s dumb to have that kind of cash not in the market stream.” I wave my hand. “You can go now.”
Teddy doesn’t move. I press the intercom on my phone. “Helen, please call security. Mr. Case needs an escort out of the building.”
“Three million.”
I remain silent. Teddy fidgets for a minute and then says, “Just look at the damn prospectus, will you? It’s a solid deal. We could both make money and I’ll be out of your hair forever.”
“I’d love that to be true.” The double doors to my office open and my black-suited security team strolls in.
Teddy curls his hands around the armrests and refuses to budge. ”I’m telling you—”
“Fine. Send me the prospectus.” In the meantime, I need to find out the best way to get rid of him for good.
Teddy claps his hands together. “I knew you’d come around.”
“Stay away from Abigail,” I remind him.
“Yeah. Yeah.” He gets to his feet and waves at the security team. “No need for force, boys. We’re all friends here.” When he gets to the door, he stops and turns back. “You say you know my sister, but sometimes I wonder. I don’t think she’s always honest with you, so maybe your marriage isn’t as good as you think it is.”
He disappears through the opening before I can launch the paperweight on my desk at his head. Abigail? Not honest with me? I don’t think so.
Chapter 4
Abigail
I pick at the chipped table waiting for Teddy to get here. I am running out of time. I don’t know why he texted me in such a rush, asking me to meet him if he was only going to show up late. It’s typical of him, but still I wait, knowing that if I leave, he’ll only call again. The server comes by, dropping off my coffee.