Chapter 216
Chapter 215
LOGAN
By noon, six people had congratulated me but not on the quarter I had closed. It had nothing to do with the deal I had been chasing for two weeks. They were congratulating me because of Sedona.
It happened first in the boardroom. Aaron Fuller had come in three minutes late, coffee in hand mumbling some apologizes before he’d stopped beside his chair and laughed. “Jesus. You never mentioned your wife used to be famous p>
The room had followed immediately became alive as curiosity, delight and awe came off them. I looked up from the figures on my tablet with just enough confusion to make it believable. “Depends on your definition of famous p>
“Former junior champion?” David Mercer said. “She’s everywhere this morning. My daughter sent me the article p>
“Your daughter follows tennis?” I raised my brow.
“My wife follows tennis. Which means my daughter follows tennis p>
There was more laughter.
“You’ve been holding out on us p>
“Private life,” I replied easily.
And that had been enough because as far as they knew, nothing had changed. The divorce had been quiet. To the world, Sedona Preston was still Mrs. Hayes.
And as the congratulations continued around the table, I found my smiling. All the compliments she got boosted my ego.
Someone whistled softly. “She is one hell of a woman, Hayes p>
I inclined my head and beamed genuinely. “She is.” I accepted the admiration as naturally as breathing.
The smile disappeared twenty minutes later. The old article had been buried. It was an archived feature from a regional sports magazine.
I stared with a frown on my face. She had played tennis not to pass time but as a pro and was good enough to make the headlines. I stared at the shots of her in trainers, smiling with other teammates, celebrating a victory.
I sat back slowly as I tried to juggled my memory. Did she tell me? I got worked up as I tried to bring up that memory but failed. I would have recalled it.
I still remembered the exact wine she’d preferred during their second year of marriage, the perfume she’d worn at the charity gala, the shade of blue she’d chosen for Nick’s nursery. There was no way in hell I wasn’t going to remember something as big as playing tennis professionally.
14
(Logan is FuneUS-
My first call was to Marcus.
“Mr. Hayes p>
“Dante Moretti p>
Claim
He just breathed on the line. Marcus had been with me for years, long enough to know when I was pissed.
“What about him p>
I looked out over the skyline. “I want to know everything p>
“Already working on that p>
“No.” My voice remained calm. “Everything p>
A pause. “Meaning p>
“Who he sees, he talks to, places he goes. Habits, Weaknesses.” Marcus was quiet.
“I assume this is because of Mrs. Hayes p>
My brows were knitted together. “She’s spending a lot of time around him p>
“He is her coach p>
“He is more than her coach p>
Marcus chose his words carefully. “Logan, whatever you’re imagining, I’ve found nothing inappropriate p>
“Not yet p>
“Not at all p>
I ignored that. “He needs to be removed p>
Marcus went still. “What exactly are you mean by removed p>
“An accident.” The words came out simply, like I was discussing logistics.
“Nothing fatal p>
“Just enough to take him out of the picture p>
Then Marcus exhaled after being silent for a while.
“No p>
I blinked. “No p>
“No p>
“You’re overstepping p>
“I’m paying you p>
19
Logan is Fusetts-
Marcus’s voice remained level. “You’re paying me to investigate not to cripple people p>
Another pause. “Don’t ask me again p>
Claim
The line went dead and I stared at the phone. I gave a wry chuckle, apparently there was no such thing as blind loyalty.
Catherine answered on the third ring.
“What is it, Logan p>
“You knew p>
“That’s a new way of saying hello p>
“You knew she played p>
After some seconds, she found her voice. “Played what p>
“Tennis p>
“No p>
He frowned. “You didn’t p>
“No p>
Her voice carried genuine surprise. “Should I have p>
“Nick said you’ve been taking him to matches p>
“I have p>
“And she never came up p>
“Logan, I don’t spend my evenings discussing your ex-wife p>
My jaw tightened when she mentioned ex wife. Instinctively, I was about to correct it but I thought otherwise.
“No one knew?” he asked.
“Apparently not.” Papers shuffled on her end.
Then she said quietly. “Nick found videos p>
I straightened. “What are you talking about p>
“Old tournaments. He watched three of them before school. “He liked them p>
I don’t know why but I felt a knot in my stomach.
“He said she was really fast and he looked proud,” Catherine continued.
“He is six p>
Logan Is Furetis-
“He is your son.” Her words were mild which only made them worse.
“And p>
“And nothing p>
Another pause.
“I just thought you should know p>
Claim
By evening the congratulations had become irritatingly frequent. I got two more calls, a dozen more texts and even an investor joking that he expected courtside tickets.
No one knew yet and I realized I didn’t particularly want them to know.
Because hearing people speak about her beauty, comeback, talent produced something warm and possessive inside me. After all, she still bore his name and the world continued behaving accordingly.
Perhaps because the world understood something Sedona herself had forgotten.
By ten o’clock, I stood alone in my office on the forty-second floor with Chicago beneath me.
Grey lights and December was approaching. Sedona was coming, nothing would stop that now.
Trying to stop her from playing would be difficult, Impossible, even. There was too many people to do that. It would be far easier to push away everyone around her. I rested one hand against the window.
She would come for the hearing and the competition. The things she really wanted would bring her back to Chicago and once she was here…
I could fix things. Sedona exhausted herself when she focused which made her dependent on him and others around her.
The thought came quietly. It was a simple plan, a sedative in her drink or meal. It would knock her out for me to take her somewhere private away from everybody who had convinced her she was unhappy. It was going to be temporary of course but long enough for us to talk properly.
My fingers tapped against the glass. Outside, Chicago glittered below and my lips widened because she was coming home and this time I intended to keep her.
2
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Florence
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.