Mid Life Love: At Last (Mid Life Love #2)(25)

“Can you at least make sure you’re on time for your dress fitting next week? Claire stresses out about anything wedding-related if it’s more than a second late.”

“I’ll be there early. I still can’t believe she asked me to be a bridesmaid! I am so honored to give you and your craziness away to someone else. Does she even know how crazy you are yet? Have you shown her your true colors or are you saving them for later?”

“Hayley...”

“Mr. Statham?” Angela’s voice came over the intercom.

“Yes?”

“One of your security advisors is here sir. He says it’s urgent. Should I tell him to wait until you’re done meeting with Hayley?”

“No.” I shook my head. “We’re more than done here. Send him in please. Oh and Angela?”

“Yes, Mr. Statham?”

“On little Miss Statham’s way out, could you please hand her the employee policy on tardiness and order her a Cartier watch—with the biggest numbers available please? Have it shipped overnight.”

“Yes sir.”

Hayley narrowed her eyes at me and pursed her lips. “You are the worst.”

“I love you too.”

I watched as she rushed out of my office, as she nearly collided with my second highest security chief—Clive.

“Where’s Greg?” I motioned for him to sit in front of my desk.

“He’s training a new member today. Would you like me to bring him up instead?”

“No, that’s okay. What’s going on?”

He removed a small brown box from the inside of his jacket and handed it to me. “We found this outside of Miss Gracen’s store this morning.”

“Mail?”

“No. It was found at six a.m. There’s no return address and mail doesn’t run overnight. We believe the small red initials of “R.H.” belong to Mr. Hayes, the man we’ve been keeping tabs on.”

“Have you found any new information?”

“No, but he knows we’re tailing him so he’s giving us the run-around. We do have a reservation at an executive condo building in his firm’s name though. I’ve seen him go inside a few times, but he never spends the night. It’s always in and out. He’s still paying the mortgage on a house in Pittsburgh, so we assume his visit here is temporary.”

“Thank you, Clive.”

“My pleasure, Mr. Statham. I’ll let you know the moment we find anything else.”

I nodded and waited until he left my office. I immediately let Angela know that I didn’t want to be bothered for the next thirty minutes.

I stared at the small brown box that was sitting in front of me, wondering why the f**k Ryan would attempt to give Claire anything, and then I ripped it open: A picture. And a letter.

The picture was a faded one of Claire, Ryan, and Amanda. It had to have been at least ten years old because they were all dressed in outdated clothing. One of Ryan’s arms was around each of them, and they were all smiling widely and holding their thumbs up.

At the bottom of the picture he’d written, “Remember this?”

Irritated, I unfolded the letter and read:

Dear Claire,

I’m sorry for showing up to your store unannounced last week, but I knew that if I contacted you in advance you wouldn’t agree to see me. It’s the same reason why I didn’t tell Ashley and Caroline about me moving here six months ago, why I told them we’d have to reschedule our last visit until this winter. (I know that even though they love us both equally, their loyalty lies with you.)

Like I said before, I really need to talk to you. Alone. One on one. It’s something I’d rather not put in a letter or say over the phone so I would appreciate it if you could just remember how things used to be between us—for just five minutes. If you could just remember how we used to be able to tell each other any and everything...I would really appreciate your time. I know deep down you still have some form of love for me.

Your first,

Ryan

I reread those last lines—“I know deep down you still have some form of love for me,” and “Your first”— and tried my hardest not to pick up the phone and put a hit out on this man’s life. My blood was heating to levels I never knew existed and I was seconds away from exploding.

I picked up my phone and called Greg.

“Mr. Statham,” he answered.

“Please tell me you know exactly where Claire’s ex-husband lives and you’re just keeping it away from me so I won’t murder him.”

“I do know sir.”

I thought so... “Do you know why he’s in town?”

“We’re still trying to figure that out. I will make you aware when I know. Is that all?”

“No. I want all of Claire’s mail screened from now on. Nothing from Ryan Hayes, R.H., or anything without a return address gets into her mailbox. And I want you to give all of those things to me so I can personally get rid of them.”

“Mail tampering is a federal crime, Mr. Statham.”

“I don’t give a f**k. Do it.” I hung up and glanced at Ryan’s letter one last time before stuffing it down my shredder.

I’m going to kill him...

My alarm for today’s board meeting started going off, but I was too lost to reach into my pocket and turn it off.