Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 81

*Michael*

Shelby set a light green envelope down on the table in front of the FBI agents. At first, I thought it looked like a birthday card, but as Agent Gatlin pulled the card out, I noticed the big blocky letters on the front said get well soon.

“I’m done with this,” Shelby said, folding her arms in front of her.

I looked back at the card, confused, as a small polaroid picture slid out and landed face-up in front of me on the table. I saw Shelby’s face clearly, and my chest tightened to see a young man leaning down as though he was about to k**s her. They looked cozy together and comfortable.

Anger seared in my chest at the sight of the picture. I looked up at Shelby for an explanation, but she met my gaze firmly, revealing nothing.

I had to remind myself that I had no right to be angry with Shelby for spending time with other men. I had no one to blame but myself and my sorry excuse for a half-brother. I took a deep breath to gain my composure before I gazed back at the confused look on the FBI agents’ faces at the card.

“Can you explain the context of this card?” Agent Gatlin asked.

I found it amusing that Agent Gatlin was the only one to ever ask questions or even speak. The other agent never even bothered to give me his name.

“Someone mailed me this card. I received it today; my roommate brought it upstairs to our apartment after getting our stuff from the mailroom. It has no return address and isn’t signed. This isn’t the first time I’ve received an anonymous note to my residence. I’ve also received text messages too.”

The pit of my stomach burned at Shelby’s confession of being blackmailed as recently as this afternoon. Blaine hadn’t stopped going after Shelby, even after I cut ties with her. I’d tried to keep her safe, but yet again, I’d failed.

“Who’s the man in the photograph with you?” Agent Gatlin asked, pulling a notebook out of his bag and passing it to his partner.

“Jerrick Hastings,” she said hesitantly.

The name rang a bell, and I immediately remembered sitting at dinner with Shelby in Hawaii as Stewart Hastings told Shelby he had a son going to Harvard as well. There was no way that was just a coincidence. I did my best to hide my flaring temper from everyone at the table. I couldn’t help but look at Shelby, only to replace her staring openly back at me.

“And what did these threatening text messages say?” Gatlin asked as the other agent scribbled everything down.

“Do you really think you can hide from me? You are going to wish you had died in that car accident,” Shelby said without hesitation.

I wondered how many times those words replayed in her head. I wished she’d reached out to me and told me how bad things had gotten. I would’ve made sure there were more of my security team in Cambridge to make her feel safe. Of course, she might’ve had a new boyfriend hanging around to do just that. I clenched my fists under the table at the thought.

“Do you remember what day you received this text?” Gatlin continued questioning, completely oblivious to the torture it was causing me.

“You can just take my phone. All the messages are still there. I just want to be done with this whole thing. I’m so tired of feeling like I have to be watching over my shoulder all the time…” Shelby said.

“Michael, do you recognize this handwriting?” he turned his questioning to me, passing me the get well soon card. I quickly ran my eyes over the handwriting, immediately recognizing it as Blaine’s. Then what was actually written took hold of me.

*I was sorry to hear about your car ‘accident.’ I think we would work well together. If you were willing to help me out, I would keep this picture to myself.*

The thought of Blaine blackmailing Shelby to use her against me made feel like steam was blowing from my ears. I wanted to march out of that conference room and track him down so I could beat him with my own two hands.

However, Bruce had been tracking Blaine since the car accident and had come up with nothing. I knew then that this entire situation was way out of hand. Blaine really was going to do whatever it took to hurt me the most. And that put Shelby right in the middle of everything. Breaking up with her hadn’t protected her at all.

I took a brief second to look back at her. There was a pleading look in her eyes, and I couldn’t help but think back to all of the things I’d said to her as I was breaking her heart. She really had so much more to look forward to in life, and I was holding her back by letting Blaine get to her. There was no way I could replace him on my own. This was out of my hands.

“This is my half-brother Blaine’s handwriting. He has been blackmailing me for over a year, but in the last month, it seems as though his game has changed. He’s always been out for my family inheritance, but now, it feels a lot more personal. This time he’s going for b***d,” I finally admitted to the FBI agents.

“We have a record of the initial threats and blackmail that landed your half-brother in jail the first time. It looks like he was released on bail while he’s awaiting trial. Are you telling us that things have started back up since he was released?”

“Yes, they have. That’s why we went to Vale in the first place; I’d received news that Blaine was released on bail just a few days before Christmas. Blaine followed me, and my security team lead through a shopping center. Not wanting to deal with the confrontation right before the holidays, I changed my plans and took my cousin and Shelby to Vale. I figured that Blaine wouldn’t be able to follow us without breaking bail. I was careful about not leaving a trace so he couldn’t follow me there. However, I believe he was behind the break-in at my penthouse.”

Shelby turned and looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. Apparently, she hadn’t found out about the break-in yet. I continued explaining the past few weeks to the FBI agents, not wanting to lose my nerve about revealing everything.

“I’d purchased ski passes for the day, and the confirmation email was sitting in my inbox when Blaine, or whoever he hired, accessed my computers. That’s how he found out I was in Vale. Then, on Christmas Eve, I received a threatening call from an unknown number,” I said.

“And what did that person say,” Agent Gatlin asked.

“They said something like ‘You are going to… get what is coming to you….and she will too,'” I said, straining to remember.

I looked back at Shelby, and I could tell she was working to put the pieces together. Her eyebrows were knit together in concentration. Would she ever forgive me for all of this?

“Christmas Eve was the same night that Miss Hatton was involved in that car accident. Is that correct?”

“That is correct. However, I don’t believe that it was an accident. It was either Blaine or someone he hired that was purposely trying to hurt Shelby, and through Shelby, hurt me,” I ended my confession.

“Have you recieved any more threats since Christmas Eve?” Agent Gatlin asked.

I looked over at the other agent, who was writing on his notepad furiously, likely taking down my every word.

“Not directly; it sounds as though he’s been targeting Shelby directly, which I didn’t know about until now,” I answered, guilt twisting in my stomach.

“If you have any more information that may lead us to Blaine, now would be the time to share it. This is a serious investigation, and I need to remind you both that withholding information is a crime and will not be tolerated again,” Agent Gatlin said, his stony expression remaining.

Shelby shook her head softly, “That’s all I know. All of the text messages are on my phone. I haven’t deleted them.”

“That’s everything I know too. My security team has been trying to track Blaine’s whereabouts, but we keep coming up empty. I’ll have my security head send over everything we’ve found in case it’s of any use,” I said, standing from the table.

The two officers followed my lead, and with the same speech about possibly needing us to come in for questioning again, they let themselves out of my conference room. I turned to Shelby, and she looked back at me with a frustrated expression on her face.

“I want to go to the hotel now,” she said firmly.

I’d never seen her so upset with me, not even the night I ended things with her. This time, she wasn’t hurt by my words; I could tell she was incredibly angry with me.

“I think we should talk,” I said, softly trying to keep things calm.

“I don’t have anything left to say to you,” she said, standing from her chair and heading for the door.

My heart started beating faster, and I realized if I let her walk out that door without explaining myself, I would lose her forever. I crossed the room in a few steps and gently grasped her wrist.

“Shelby, please,” I said, exasperated. “I think we really need to talk this through.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said, shaking her wrist free.

Anger welled up in my chest, and I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. As soon as they were out in the open, I wished I could take them back.

“Is this because of that guy in the picture?”

“God, Michael. No, it’s not about him or anyone else. This is about what you did. Don’t think you can fix this, Michael,” Shelby said as angry tears spilled down each of her cheeks. “You can’t fix this mess you made.”

Her words stung, but I refused to believe them. I refused to believe that I couldn’t save this. Seeing her again only made me realize just how badly I needed her in my life. I was going to fight for her whether she liked it or not.

“We are going to go somewhere private and talk about this. I need you to understand before you just walk away.”