Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

“You don’t know much about me, do you?” asked Sam, standing to his full height, which was almost a foot taller than Wayne.

“I know you’ve been fucking my wife. And now it’s time you paid for it.”

It took all of Sam’s self-control not to punch the self-righteous smirk off his face.

Sam took a step closer and slowly leaned down until he was an inch from Wayne’s face. Wayne blinked nervously but didn’t back away.

“If you knew anything about me, you’d know I don’t do blackmail.” He pulled out his phone, punched in a number, and glared at Wayne as he spoke.

“Security? Hi, it’s Sam MacDonald. There is a small, pathetic man here in the lobby who needs an escort out. He has brown hair and a horrible suit.” He hung up without looking. “Get out of my building and do not come back.” He spun on his heel and headed back toward the elevators.

“Wait! How ‘bout half a mil?” Wayne rushed after him, struggling to keep up with Sam’s long stride.

“Fuck. You.” Sam entered the waiting elevator and pushed the button, staring at Wayne in disgust while the doors closed. He heard Wayne mutter something about how Sam would be sorry as he stalked away. Guess that hadn’t gone as planned for him.

Once the doors shut, Sam let out the breath he’d been holding. He’d put up a tough front, but the conversation with Wayne had unnerved him.

He wasn’t worried about the blackmail. There was no way he was giving Wayne one red cent. What troubled him was what Wayne had said about Annie wanting to break up. Was that the reason she’d been avoiding him? Sam thought it had been about the baby, but maybe he’d misread the whole thing, and it was because she planned to reunite with Wayne.

Why would she go back to Wayne though? Not to seem conceited, but he felt like he was a much better option. On paper anyway. At least he had a job and wasn’t an ex-con.

Plus, his and Annie’s relationship had been going so well. That is, until a week ago it had been. Was that when Wayne had been released? What if Wayne was blackmailing her in some way? And that’s why she’d pulled away from him. This just kept getting more and more confusing.

He was still mad and still hashing it out when he arrived at Annie’s office. Their meeting wasn’t scheduled until the afternoon, but fuck that. He wasn’t waiting any longer for answers.

***

Annie’s phone buzzed again for the hundredth time that morning. The day before, she’d finally finished setting up the security cameras and had hooked into them through the app she’d downloaded on her phone. She hadn’t tested them though, and apparently, every time the flag she’d put up blew into the camera’s view an alert notification was sent via text and email. After the millionth alert, she’d finally turned off the notifications. She’d have to move the flag or narrow the camera’s view before turning them back on or be driven crazy with all the interruptions.

She’d just set her phone down and was booting up her computer when Sam entered her office.

“Hey, Sam. I thought we weren’t meeting until later,” she stammered as she stood.

“Didn’t want to give you a chance to bail and skip out on it,” he said bluntly.

Damn it, that was exactly what she’d planned to do. Conflict was her least favorite thing. He seemed pissed about something, but she’d just play it cool until he came out and said what. Turned out, he didn’t take long to bring up what was bothering him.

“Are you or are you not still married to Wayne?” He stood still and waited, arms folded across his broad chest. Even mad, he was a damn good-looking man. Shit. How had he found out about that?

“I mean, technically—”

“You lied to me,” he interrupted. “I don’t tolerate liars. I’m leaving for New York tomorrow. Pick another branch office, and we’ll have you transferred there within the month.”

“What? I’m not going anywhere!” She began to heat up. First, he wouldn’t let her explain about the divorce, and now he wanted to ship her off. How dare he?

“Well, I’m certainly not leaving, and we can’t work together. I don’t trust you.”

“If you’d let me explain—” She tried again.

“Explain what?” he interrupted. “That you’re done with me and don’t even have the decency to tell me yourself?”

“What are you talking about?” Now she was just confused.

“I ran into your husband, Annie. He told me everything.” The bitterness rolled off in waves.

No! She sat down hard. “He’s here? When? Where? What did he say?”

Her stomach roiled as complete dread took over. Wayne had found her, but rather than talk to her, he’d confronted Sam. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. How had Wayne found out she and Sam had any sort of relationship?

“That you were getting back together, and that you didn’t want me to contact you anymore.”

It took her a minute to process what he was saying. First, not understanding why Wayne would say such a thing. And second, why Sam would believe him so easily. “And you believed him? Without talking to me first?”

“Isn’t that why you’ve been avoiding me?”

“No! I haven’t talked to Wayne in almost three years.”

“He knew we were sleeping together, Annie. How would he know that unless you told him?”

That stopped her in her tracks. “I have no idea. But I swear I didn’t tell him and haven’t talked to him. Why would you believe anything he says? Do you really think I’d get back together with him and not say a word to you?”

His silence spoke volumes and told her everything she needed to know. He did believe it. Her heart cracked right up the middle.

She hung her head and whispered, “Get out.”

He turned to go but stopped for one more question. “Are you pregnant?”

She was confused by the question but answered honestly. “No,” she responded, wishing he would just go