The Resilient Lady Collins

Chapter 92: Leech (1)

"For all that I am paying you, you can’t find anything about the man hovering around my wife?" Jack yelled, throwing the papers not long given to him back at the man before him. "Explain to me, what the hell am I paying you so much money for? I know the same as I did before I paid you."

"His background is a little bit difficult. No one knows where he went after he ran away from home. How he got out of Lockwood-"

"I don’t want to hear your excuses. I am paying you to dig around and bring me some news. Anything so I can warn her or wake her up. Do you not have anything worth sharing?" Jack questioned, angered by the incompetent fools working for him.

Jack missed all the people he had at his fingertips when he used to live with Scarlet. The maids were perfect with setting up just what he needed for his day and the guards didn’t allow for just anyone to bother him. freewebnøvel.coɱ

Had he needed to find out something about anyone in town, Scarlet would’ve been able to find it fast for him.

Kevin, one of Jack’s newest employees, tried to think of what Jack might like to hear. "We’ve been following him around. He was at her estate yesterday and now he’s there again."

"What is that woman thinking?" Jack wondered as this wasn’t the woman he was once married to.

Scarlet didn’t allow strangers in her estate and believing that she couldn’t have known Ian for long, Jack saw him as nothing more than a stranger. A dangerous stranger as no one could trace where he had been before Lockwood.

Ian just popped up one day and had already found his way to Scarlet’s side. Something was strange about Ian and he was going to uncover the truth to get Scarlet away from him.

"Has he ever stayed the night there? Tell me," Jack said, balling up his fist as he thought of Scarlet laying with another man.

He refused to believe that she was so welcoming to another man after their intimacy was strained last year.

"He has never spent the night there but he has been there for long hours-"

"That woman has lost her mind. What happened to her not wanting anyone on that estate? And she’s been visiting that lowly business of his. Serving alcohol to drunk men," said Jack.

"His business is quite popular. He’s managed to get his hands on bottles that are hard to get here in town and there are private rooms for you to drink without being seen. He has a few like this one in other towns. I’m sorry," Kevin apologised.

Jack wished to throw the large book on his desk at Kevin for being so foolish as to compliment Ian before him. He didn’t care how many businesses Ian had. The man was nothing. Scarlet had set her sights on someone too low for her, especially after having a man like Jack by her side.

Jack leaned back on his chair as he thought about what to do. He didn’t go ahead with the divorce so easily to have Scarlet be with a simple man. "Had I known this bastard would have come around, I would have held onto her a little longer. The timing was bad."

Had Beth not announced that she was pregnant as good as she was at caring for him, she would have been out of his life. Beth had nothing to offer him more than her body. He was a businessman and with that, he should have a woman who benefitted his business.

"What is Beth doing now?" Jack asked, rubbing his temple as he knew a headache would come. freēwēbnovel.com

"I’m told the lady has been shopping. For herself, the baby, and the new mansion," Kevin answered.

"I need to find her something else to do instead of shopping," Jack considered.

Beth couldn’t spend every day wasting his money on clothes she wouldn’t wear because she had too many. He was so used to not spending a lot of money on Scarlet because she had her own money. He couldn’t claim to have bought many of her expensive jewels.

Something Jack greatly disliked about his marriage was Scarlet not needing to depend on him. If she had come from a family with less wealth then he would be the one in control. Scarlet would have no choice but to obey what he wanted. Allowing him to touch her as he pleased. Then they would still be married.

Yet now he wanted Beth to find a way to not always depend on him.

"Inform me right away when he is back at that place for the drunk. I need to have a word with him," Jack decided.

Ian needed to have allies in town if he was planning to fight to become Hank’s heir. Everyone in town was familiar with Victor Kingsley and would stay with him. Who would want to be seen supporting a bastard?

"Keep looking into where he went, where he ran away, where he stayed, who he stayed with, and how he was able to open a business. Whatever money he received from his father couldn’t have lasted so long to have him open businesses. He’s a leech," Jack concluded.

Men like Ian liked to attach themselves to someone wealthy to fund their lives. It made perfect sense why Ian didn’t care that Scarlet was a divorced woman who couldn’t have a child. Scarlet should have been smarter to realise this sooner.

"May I suggest something?" Kevin asked, having a better idea than Jack. "It would be easy to learn more about him if you get close to Victor Kingsley. The ones who may know most about him are the Kingsleys. I’ve been overhearing that there might be a small party hosted in honour of Victor."

"Honour? What has he done to deserve such a party? His foolish mother is always parading him around like he’s the best man in town when he can’t even stay at parties long because he looks sick. Still, I could show up," Jack decided.

The Kingsley must have some sort of news about Ian. At the moment, only Hank seemed welcoming of him.

A knock at the door interrupted Jack’s planning, angering as he had made it clear that he was not to be disturbed. His anger only settled a little when the door opened and Beth poked her head inside.

"Am I disturbing you?" Beth asked, holding up the food she had packed for him.

"No. We were just finishing up. Get back to me with what I have told you to do," Jack ordered Kevin. "You didn’t need to bring me food, Beth. There are people here who do that for me and you shouldn’t be travelling so much with your condition. When will you be meeting with that doctor again?"

"Tomorrow. I was so lonely at home so I took a trip to do a bit of shopping and to bring you food. I will stay a little with you," Beth said, going around the desk to sit on his lap. She hugged him, enjoying being near him.

"If you are bored at home, why not make yourself busy with work?" Jack asked.

Beth’s smile disappeared as what he suggested was ridiculous. Why should she work when he had money?