What the fuck is Spencer Winterfield up to?

That’s the question I keep asking myself over the next few days. When I get home to Everly, she seems totally fine. I scouted out the area around my apartment, but I didn’t find any sign of Spencer anywhere. I checked the park, but there were just the usual moms and nannies and kids running around.

Spencer is a rich kid. He’s used to getting everything he wants, because his father provides it for him. I don’t know why he wants that city land or what he thinks he can do with it, but he’s clearly pissed off that his father is selling it to me. I suspect he’ll do anything he can to get it from me, including some nefarious shit that should make me concerned.

Of course, now Everly thinks he sent that email, and I can obviously see why. If he’s out to get me, discrediting my relationship with Everly would be the best way to go about it. I just find it really hard to imagine that Spencer would go so far as to blackmail Everly while stalking her.

Still, she says she saw him, and I believe her. I don’t think she’s a liar or dramatic at all. From what I can tell, Everly is as solid and dependable as they come, and it’s just this guy Spencer that really rattles her.

Regardless of whether he sent the email or whether he was in that park or not, I need to be careful of him. Everly doesn’t like him, thinks he’s a real creep, and I know he hates me. He wants to destroy this deal for whatever reason. I may never find out exactly why. Maybe he just doesn’t like me.

It doesn’t matter, though. I’ve come so far already and I’m not turning back. I’m not letting some spoiled rich boy ruin my plans. He thinks he can have whatever he wants just because his father is rich, but he has no clue what hard work really means. I built my company from my own genius and labor, and I’m going to beat him now.

Fortunately, after that one incident, nothing happens for a few days. I spend as much time with Alexa and Everly as I can before the next workweek starts, which comes sooner than it should every single week. Monday rolls around, and Everly and I go back to the job, while the nanny comes and watches Alexa during the day.

Around noon on Tuesday, I get a call on my personal cell from a number that I don’t recognize. It’s been a normal day, though I haven’t seen Everly as much as I maybe want to. I’ve just been insanely busy with work, staying up late and leaving as early as possible. I barely have time to see Alexa, and she’s my first priority, of course.

But the call comes just as I’m thinking about having an early lunch. I take out my phone and check the screen but I don’t recognize the number. Usually, I wouldn’t answer, since it’s normally a telemarketer. But this time I decide to pick it up anyway.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Logan!” Instantly, I recognize Chester’s voice, though he sounds like he’s far away. “Can you hear me, my boy?”

“I can hear you, Chester. Are you on a landline right now?”

“How could you tell?”

“The connection isn’t great. Sounds like you’re far away.”

“Well, you guessed right. I’m in Dubai!”

I smile to myself. “What are you doing in Dubai?”

“Business, of course,” he says. “Can’t say more, since you know they’re listening in on this right now. Aren’t you, ya nosy bastards?”

I grin and shake my head. He’s not wrong, though. Most foreign governments listen in on prominent Americans when they make calls or use the Internet in their country. It’s pretty much standard practice to assume that you’re bugged and being watched at all points during a trip to any foreign country, including European allies.

“What can I do for you, Chester?” I ask. “Let’s skip to that, since I don’t want you to insult your hosts.”

“They wouldn’t do a thing,” he says. “Can’t admit that they’re listening, can they?”

“Good point,” I say, smiling to myself.

“But okay, the reason I’m calling. I have a cabin on the Saint Lawrence River, actually a whole string of cabins. I practically own a town there.”

“Sounds nice,” I say to him, not sure why he’s telling me.

“I’m going there with the family this weekend, and I want you to come. Bring the wife and kid.”

I hesitate. Obviously Spencer will be on this little trip, and the last thing I want to do is to bring Alexa and Everly anywhere near him. But this is the sort of thing you have to do with Chester.

He’s the sort of man that thinks family is more important than business, or at least he pretends that it is. I know I have to win over his family before I can get him to sign on the damn dotted line.

“Okay, Chester,” I say. “That sounds great.”

“Great! My secretary will fax over the details. It’ll be a grand time.”

I wince a little bit. I don’t even know if we have a fax machine, but that doesn’t matter. “Sounds great. Thanks for the invite. I’m sure Alexa and Everly will be excited.”

“Of course they will! The Saint Lawrence is beautiful this time of year. The fish practically leap out and onto your boat!”

“Well, I’ll make sure to bring a fishing rod, then.”

“Good! Okay, I’m going before these damn spies think they’re invited on this trip, too. See you soon.”

“See you.”

He hangs up the phone and I sigh. Chester is such an odd man. I like him, but he makes this deal as difficult and as complicated as possible.

As soon as we’re off the phone, I buzz my secretary and tell her to expect word from Chester. After that, I call up Richard.

“You busy?” I ask him.

“Always,” he grunts. “What’s up?”

“Meet me at Good Dog. Twenty minutes.”

He hesitates. “Yeah, okay. Why not? Nothing makes the work day go faster than having lunch in a bar.”

I grin and hang up the phone. Twenty minutes later, I’m strolling into one of my favorite bars in the city. Richard is already there and sipping a beer, of course, with one waiting for me. I sit down in the empty seat next to him.

The bar is called Good Dog because the walls are literally covered in framed pictures of dogs. They cover the walls entirely. The food is pretty damn good too, and their drink menu is great, but there’s something funny about being surrounded by so many dog pictures.

“What’s so urgent that you dragged my ass from my office?” Richard asks as I sit down.

I sip the beer and shrug. “Wanted to ask about the email.”

He shakes his head. “I thought that was it.”

“Anything yet? I’m starting to worry about her.”

“Nothing,” he says. “I talked to my guy last night. He says whoever did this knew what they were doing. He’s asking around, but it’s not looking good.”

“Shit,” I say. “I was afraid of that.”

“It’s not over just yet. He’s still looking.”

“Thanks.” I take a long sip of the beer, watching the condensation slowly roll down the pint glass. “Listen, what do you know about Spencer Winterfield?”

Richard shrugs. “Son of Chester. I think he’s trying to get into the real estate business like his father. That’s pretty much it.”

“Interesting,” I say. “I didn’t know he was in the business.”

“I did a little research on all of the Winterfields when you started up this deal, and I found a little land LLC in Spencer’s name. Doesn’t look like he’s done many deals, though. The kid definitely isn’t his father.”

I nod my head thoughtfully. “That could make sense.”

“What does?”

I hesitate. I normally tell Richard everything. But this thing about Spencer and Everly, well… it sounds bad. It’s a serious accusation. I have to tread lightly.

“Spencer hates me,” I say. “Knew that from the start.”

“Sure. You mentioned that a while ago.” He cocks his head at me.

“Recently though, Everly’s been saying some things about him.” I pause for a second. “She’s very uncomfortable around him.”

Richard raises an eyebrow. “She’s getting creeper vibes?”

“Big time,” I say.

“Can’t say I’m surprised. Growing up rich like that, it’s got to do something to your brain.”

I grin at him. “How’s that?”

“You know plenty of people that grew up rich. How many of them are normal people?”

I think for a second. “Two,” I say, and laugh. “That’s not a good percentage, is it?”

“Not at all.” Richard shrugs. “I don’t know if that just means we know weird people or if rich kids are messed up or what, but it’s a correlation I’ve seen.”

I stroke my chin for a second before sipping my beer. “Thanks for looking into this for me. You know I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, you better.”

“One more thing. Chester invited us on a little weekend retreat with him and his family.”

Richard sighs. “You get all the exciting invites.”

“Please. It’s going to be a weekend of doing outdoor crap with the weirdest people I know. Not something I’m looking forward to.”

“You’re going to go, right?”

“Of course,” I say, sighing. “I don’t want to. Last thing I want is to put Everly or Alexa anywhere near Spencer.”

“I can see what you mean,” he says. “But that’s the game with guys like Chester.”

“Oh, I know it.” I finish my beer and drop a twenty on the bar. “Thanks for the talk.”

“That’s it? You drink and run?”

“You know me, Richard. Got to get back to work.”

He sighs, shaking his head, but he’s smiling. “At least you’re paying for the drinks.”

“See you later.” I pat his shoulder as I walk past him.

I wish he had better news about that hacker, but at least he did give me one interesting piece of information. If Spencer is trying to break into the real estate world, that might explain why he wants that land. Maybe he has some kind of development project in mind for it or something.

I hate to drag Everly and Alexa on this trip, but I have to. And I know Everly is going to be fine with it. She’s been as accommodating as possible during all of this. I feel guilty dragging her into it, but she’s not backing down. She’s strong and she’s fucking gorgeous. I keep thinking about that night on the roof, and I can’t get it out of my head.

The way she feels, the way she moans, everything was fucking perfect. She drove me wild, and now I just need another taste. But I’ve been so fucking busy lately with work and with Alexa, I haven’t had a chance to take what I really need.

Maybe this weekend is exactly what I want. Although we’ll be stuck with the Winterfields, at least we’ll be stuck together.