If anything happened to Douglas, his wife, Maria, would have me killed.
I reach out to my security team and Declan, grabbing everything imaginable on Zander. There isn’t much that’s intriguing. No record. No warrants out for his arrest. Too bad. The guy is clean. His bank account is considerably low, and the incoming deposits aren’t that big. A nice windfall from me and demanding that he leave the city might actually work.
I reach out to my corporate attorney and have him draft the paperwork we will send to Zander. I should probably run it by Clare before going through with the offer. She knows him best and how he’ll react.
Seated at my desk at the office, I text her on her new phone with a new number.
What are you wearing?
I imagine her smiling at the text. I prefer her to think that I’m bold and not cheesy.
She texts me back, and I swear the grin can’t get any bigger.Nothing but a smile.
Can I call you? Business stuff.
Sure. I’ll put on my big girl panties. I mean your panties. I mean boxers. We’ll blame autocorrect.
Smiling, I click on her contact and hit the phone button on my cell phone. I should have opted for a video call. However, that wouldn’t have helped me settle down any with the flirting.
“Hey, what’s up?” Clare asks. There’s a hint of concern in her tone.
“Nothing bad. I wanted to run an idea by you.”
“Shoot.”
I smile and lean back in my leather chair. “I spoke with Declan and the Eagle Tactical team. There’s nothing damning on Zander.”
“I didn’t think there would be. He does more emotional damage than physical,” Clare says. “He’s a typical narcissist.”
My stomach tightens at her remark. “We did a bit of a digging, and it definitely seems like he’s stretched pretty thin, living paycheck to paycheck.”
“Aren’t we all?” There’s a heavy silence on the line. “Sorry, I just mean that, yeah, his job barely pays the bills on its own. When he made me quit my job, it was tough paying the mortgage and utilities on time. What’s your point?”
“We draw up a contract with my attorney and offer to pay Zander to go away.”
“Go away?” Clare asks. “I don’t understand. Where is he going to go? He’s not living across the street. He’s harassing me.”
“I know. And in the contract, it will stipulate no contact with you, Amelia, or myself. That includes phone, internet, texting, emails, snail mail, all of it. He can’t live in the state of New York or within seventy-five miles of New York City.”
“And do you really think that will work?” she asks. “He would have to move. His job and apartment are in the city.”
“That’s why I’m calling you,” I say. “If I offered him one million dollars, do you think he’d take it?”
Clare exhales a heavy breath. “I know that I would.”
My brow tightens at her remark. I don’t like hearing that for a million dollars, she’d leave Amelia and me behind.
“You’d take a million dollars and never see me again?” I ask. I shouldn’t go there. I should drop the question before it spirals out of control.
“I—that’s a lot of money, Levi. I don’t think you realize how much that is, what I could do with one million dollars.”
I exhale a heavy breath and grimace. “Wow.” Now isn’t the time to start a fight or argue with her.
“You do realize that no amount of money would be enough to keep me away from your daughter.”
“That sounds stalkerish,” I playfully warn.
“Well, it wasn’t intended that way. But the more I think about it, I do think Zander will accept your terms. But you should lay out specifically the consequences if he breaks the rules.”