Over the years, I’d had weird things happen before, and they were mostly chalked up to coincidences and other very lame reasons. Most people around me thought the worst of situations and I had paid them to think that way. My executives at my company had to always be planning for the worst and preparing for how they would handle things. Their preparation made it easier for me to look for the positives in situations, which was my job as the CEO.
Now things were different, though, and this was personal. Someone was clearly attacking me personally and possibly going after my financial accounts, as well. As much as I hated to think the worst, that message directed at Del had me thinking all sorts of crazy things.
“I’ve had my friend looking into things and he’s not finding much – which is both a good thing and a bad thing, I guess. He said there is no investigation into you, at least none that he could find.” Josh looked disappointed at the revelation.
“So, what does this all mean?”
“It means that you’ve pissed someone off who’s capable of some serious shit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Either you really aren’t under investigation and that was a real life bad guy who showed up at your door, or you are under investigation and it’s under some sort of clearance.”
Josh had a point, and it was exactly what I had been thinking. I’d been replayi
ng my last few relationships, thinking about the women who I might have wronged and even thinking about the business partnerships I’d been part of. Nothing came to my mind. Was it possible I was so out of touch that I actually didn’t even realize who I had hurt? It was looking more and more like that was the case.
I only trusted Josh and a few other very close people in my life. It shouldn’t be too hard to find who was doing these things because I kept my circle of friends rather close and didn’t let new people in very often.
Many of the wealthy, young guys I knew did a horrible job of keeping their lifestyle quiet. They were throwing parties every weekend and buying bottles of champagne when they went to the clubs. I wasn’t like that. I didn’t live my life like that.
Whether I was poor like I had been growing up, or rich like I was now, I liked my semi-quiet lifestyle and wasn’t too flashy about it. Yes, sometimes I went out with the guys and got a VIP room and splurged, but I wasn’t being plastered across the tabloids like the others, and I was pretty damn proud of that.
“Del said something to me that made a lot of sense. Whoever is doing this has some seriously hurt feelings and that means it has to be a woman I’ve had a relationship with. There’s not a dude out there who would go to this level of trouble if I pissed him off. Guys are much more likely to just punch me in the face.”
“What about a guy who was with the girl you hurt?”
“Like a new boyfriend? Why would any self-respecting guy bother? No, it’s got to be a woman. Maybe she’s capable of manipulating a man into doing what she wants him to, but it’s a woman behind all of this.”
“What about your ex-wife?” he asked.
It was a reasonable question, but Josh didn’t know Rose like I knew her. She and I got along much better now that we were divorced than we ever got along while married. Rose didn’t have anything to be upset with me about, either; we had decided to separate mutually. Sure, she was hurt and angry because our dreams of a happily ever after life ended, but it was so long before that I couldn’t imagine that she would still be angry enough to mess with my life.
Rose and I had been separated for several years by this point; it didn’t seem likely that she would suddenly start trying to chase after me or cause trouble in my life. My gut was saying the person causing issues was highly skilled in computers, and that wasn’t Rose – she could barely log into her cell phone without help.
“No way. We get along fine. I don’t see a reason for it.”
“How about that you sold your company for over a billion dollars and didn’t give her any of it? If I was an ex-wife, I’d be pretty pissed off that my husband sold his company only a few years after our divorce and didn’t give me any of that money. She supported you when you were poor and then you waited until the divorce to run off with all the money,” Josh said dramatically as he waved his hands around and pretended to be an upset ex-wife.
“No, that’s not what happened. I was still running my company when we divorced. I hadn’t even imagined I would sell the company. She’s not angry about that. Anyways, she’s getting remarried soon, so there’s nothing to worry about with her.”
“I don’t know, man. That new guy of hers seems shady to me. I definitely don’t think he works for the government. He reminds me a lot more of that thick-necked thug who showed up here than of a professional who has a government job.”
“She said he does undercover work. Who am I to argue about what he does? I don’t really care, as long as he treats her right. I don’t like the guy, but he doesn’t seem interested in revenge.”
“And, you don’t think an ass wipe like him couldn’t cook all of this up to get back at you? I’ve seen guys do some pretty crazy things for the women they love.”
“Josh, there’s no point in it. There has to be a strong motivation, and as much as I don’t like Carlos, there’s nothing between the two of us. He is moving on with my ex-wife and I’m happy for them. What purpose would any of this have for him? I just don’t see it.
“I think we need to look up that girl Kimberly I picked up last month. She tried calling me at least a dozen times after my night with her. You should have heard the nasty voicemail messages she left.”
“A one-night stand isn’t going to go to this sort of trouble for you, though, dude. I mean, you might be a good catch, but would she really freak out this much?”
“There could be others. I’ve pissed off a lot of girls, I’m sure. They hide it well and not many go to the trouble of leaving nasty voicemails, but I know there are some angry women out there.”
The truth was, I knew there were some hurt feelings in my relationships recently. I didn’t want to think about how I’d hurt these girls, but if I was being honest with myself, I knew I had. Some of the women I’d brought home would talk about going on dates with me in the future, they’d laugh about how their family would freak out if they met me; I ignored all that talk. When our night of fun was over, I moved on and expected that eventually they would, as well. I stayed oblivious to the knowledge of how any of the women actually moved on. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to feel bad.
“Okay, I’m going to get my buddy working on it some more. Did you end up going to the police or your lawyer?”