Claim (A Dangerous Man 3)

Her eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”

I shrug. I don’t intend to tell her of the desperate fitness instructor’s attempt to blackmail me with a very explicit video of him and Carole. He hadn’t seen her in months, and

she wasn’t taking his calls. So he came to me, making the mistaken assumption that I and Carole were still together.

She watches me in silence. When I don’t offer any elaboration, she sighs. “I have an offer I thought you might be interested in.”

Finally. I let her stew for a bit before I respond. “Which is?”

“I don’t know... you’re so mean and distant. I’m beginning to think you don’t deserve my help.” She frowns. “Maybe I’d prefer for you to lose your company.” She continues musingly, “I do hate you for leaving me, you know. Plus I’ve made a lot of silly investments with the money Daddy left me, and I need to sell my shares in Preston Corp to the highest bidder.”

“Or maybe you just want something from me Carole.” I say wryly, “Tell me what it is.”

“David...” She breathes, her voice lowering to an intimate whisper, “You already know what I want.”

I raise a brow. “No. I must confess that I don’t.”

“Don’t act obtuse David. Think about it,” Her voice is eager. “We were so good together, socially we’re a perfect couple. I have a perfect education, a perfect family, friends, and connections. I can navigate any society we ever find ourselves. I would be an asset to you David, and you know it.”

While you screw the fitness instructor, and anybody else you choose to play your games with, because every male within panting distance has to be crazy about you and no one else, I think silently. Thanks but no thanks.

“What I’m saying David, is that we should get married.” She smiles, as if she hasn’t just made the most ridiculous proposal ever. “You know it’s what Daddy always wanted. I’d give you my shares then. Think about it, nobody could ever take Preston Corp from you.”

I stare coldly at her, “I’d rather just buy your shares Carole. Everything else you’re offering means nothing to me.”

Her eyes narrow. “Thinks about what I’ve said, Toby Felt is offering me a lot, and he doesn’t have the disadvantage of having dumped me before.”

Toby Felt.

She’s watching my face for my reaction. When I don’t give her any, she shrugs again. “He has a huge vision of adding Preston Corp to his conglomerate. It’s like India to his Alexander.”

I don’t remind her that Alexander died trying to take India. “You’re not going to sell him your shares, Carole.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re going to sell them to me.”

“Well David,” She gives me a sidelong glance, “You know exactly how to make me do that.” She gets up. “I have to leave now.” She says sweetly. “Thanks for lunch.”

I watch her leave, my mind on overdrive, I will find a thousand ways to get what I want, but there’s no way in hell I’ll succumb to anyone’s blackmail.

~§~§~§~§~

I have to find a way to deal with Carole. I should have known she wouldn’t make it easy, but who could have anticipated such an unreasonable demand, even from Carole?

And Toby Felt, I need to find out everything possible about him, the companies he’s acquired in the past and his strategies for his acquisitions. Then I’ll prepare a new strategy for retaining control of my company.

I could make it easy, I think, as I dismiss the meeting I’ve called in my office. I could make it easy on myself, save company time and resources, and get the results I want in one easy step.

In the hidden drawer under my desk, there’s a flash drive, and it contains one video file.

While Carole’s fitness instructor and sometime lover Enrique had been in my office trying to convince me to pay him an inordinately large amount of money so he wouldn’t release his video of Carole on the internet. I made a few calls. In minutes, there was a team was at his apartment retrieving every trace of the file from his computer, and tracing every device to which he had ever copied it. Luckily, they’d found everything and brought them to me.

Then I told Enrique that if he brought me every copy he had, I would consider paying him. When he called me an hour later, swearing and cursing, I knew for sure that we had found every copy. I had them all destroyed, except for the copy in the flash drive, the one he’d given me himself. I kept it as proof.

Then I let him know that if he ever tried to blackmail me again, he would die in jail.

That’s how much I detest blackmail.