Page 109 of Stripping Bare
“Appreciateit.”
Like many bank offices, Cartwright’s was surrounded by windows from the waist up. Jonah walked inside and closed the door behindhim.
Without looking up, Cartwright waved a distracted hand toward a visitor’s chair. “Have a seat, and I’ll be with youin—”
“Now,Cartwheel,” Jonah said pleasantly, clenching his hands to keep from jumping over the fucker’s desk and killing him in front of everyone in thisbank.
Like an animal that had caught a predator’s scent, Charlie lifted his headslowly.
“Recognize me?” Jonah asked, casually picking up apaperweight.
“I…ah…”
“Don’t bother lying, because I saw you at Tucci’s the other night. You were staring at Tessa Martin. Surely you rememberher.”
Cartwright went to reach for something under his desk, but Jonah was faster, slamming the paperweight across the guy’sknuckles.
“Keep the other hand on the desk,too.”
“Who the fuck areyou?”
“You know exactly who the fuck Iam.”
“I don’t want any trouble from you,Steele.”
“Then why did you bring it to my frontdoor?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cartwright said. Jonah was pleased to see sweat circles forming under the arms of Cartwright’s snappy white button-upshirt.
“Who did you follow into Tucci’s—Tessa orme?”
“I went in there to have a fucking martini before I went home to my fuckingwife.”
“Does she know you’re arapist?”
The color in Cartwright’s face leached out. “You’re insane. Inever—”
“Harrison Shaw’s house. December before you graduated high school.” Jonah glanced around the nondescript office. “Bet this wasn’t the future you expected to have. The first Cartwright in four generations who didn’t get into law school and eventually pursue a career in politics. Mommy and Daddy must be sodisappointed.”
“How the hell did you know I…” His words trailed off as his mouth opened wider. “You set me up. I thought you made videogames.”
Jonah’s laugh was low and decidedly unfriendly. “Dude, fucking up your life took me less than tenminutes.”
“I’m calling the pol—” Cartwright reached for his phone, but Jonah slammed him with the paperweightagain.
“You could call the cops,” Jonah told him. “But you couldn’t prove anything to save your life. And the statute of limitations for some things iswayshorter than the one for rape. Now, were you followingTessa?”
“I had no idea she would be in thatrestaurant.”
“So you were watchingme.”
He actually looked as if he didn’t know what Jonah was talking about. “Why would I have done that if I didn’t know you were the one who blew my shot at law school?”Ding, ding, ding.Understanding dawned in Cartwright’s eyes. “You did it to all of us, didn’tyou?”
Jonah dug the weight into Cartwright’s hand and enjoyed the sound of bones grinding against oneanother.
“Son of a bitch,” Cartwright breathed. “You fucked usall.”
What Jonah couldn’t bring himself to say was that how he’d fucked them over was nothing compared to the way they’d hurt Tessa. But Cartwright was pretty damn convincing. Had he really not known that Jonah had manipulated his life behind the scenes? “Then what about the others—Levine, Johnson, and Bledsoe? Maybe one of them decided to come afterme.”
“Believe me, if anyone had figured out you were the one behind all our bad luck, he would’ve let the others know. You screwed up our lives, probably cost us millions ofdollars.”
“Boo-fucking-hoo. You’re lucky I didn’t use a morepermanentsolution.” With a smile, he lifted the paperweight and rammed it down across three of Cartwright’s knuckles. The guy made a sick gurgling sound. “I want you to think about this real hard. See if you remember anything. I’m taking one of your business cards, so you can expect my call in an hour. Between now and then, get on the phone with your buddies and ask them who’s been coming for Tessa and me. If I find out any of you lied, your lives won’t be worthliving.”
And with that, he tossed the paperweight into Cartwright’s lap and walkedout.
Fuck.He thought he had it all figured out, but if Cartwright was telling the truth, it meant Jonah had jackshit, and this modder was still playing thegame.
