Chapter 180: Chillin’
Mark’s POV
Big bad Ryan Terrell, the man who made even the most powerful people in the world, tremble in their boots, was currently hiding out, at Mark’s place, because he was scared of two women.
"For the last time Mark, I am not scared, I have just decided to give Vivian and Amy some time alone. They have not hung out since everything went down,"
Even though he still did not believe his friend, Mark decided not to push the issue, and instead focused on lining up his next shot on the pool table. After taking it he straightened, letting Ryan have his turn. The other man immediately leaned over, and focused intently on the balls that were at different parts of the table.
"Are you currently interested in anyone?" Ryan asked out of nowhere, and Mark stilled. Part of it being due to the unexpected question, and the other part being because the moment his brain had processed Ryan’s words, he had found himself thinking of a certain woman. A woman who’d told people that she was his dom.
Taking his silence to be a no...thank goodness...Ryan continued speaking.
"If you had somebody that you were thinking of dating, I could give you some pretty solid advice," Rolling his eyes, Mark decided to give in and just ask the question that his friend very clearly wanted him to.
"What advice would you give me for my next relationship then?" After taking his shot, Ryan straightened, his pool stick in one hand, and with the other he began rubbing at his chin like someone about to impart sage wisdom.
"If you find a lady that you like, vet her exes, find the most troublesome ones and crush them to dust. Do not even give them the chance to try and ruin your happiness," Mark nodded as realization dawned on him. Despite doing his best to control it, Ryan was obviously still angry that he had not yet found Bryce.
"What if I just ignore them and they go away?" Mark asked, Ryan gripped his pool stick tight, his eyes going icy.
"That will never happen, Mark. Vindictive exes are a whole different breed, you cannot afford to let your guard down around them," Mark raised a brow at that, and Ryan seemed to take that to mean that he was not listening intently.
"I am serious man, destroy them before they get to you. Otherwise you will have to suffer through the pain of watching someone that you care for hurting. It is not a type of pain that you wish to experience," Putting his stick down, Mark walked over to his friend’s side of the table and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly.
"You do know that this whole Bryce thing is not your fault, right Ryan?" The other man nodded not shrugging off Mark’s touch.
" I know it is not, but the longer it takes for me to find the guy, the more I begin to wonder what I could have done beforehand to prevent all of this. I actually had a chance to rip him apart one time, but all I did was sprain his wrist,"
"Maybe if I had done more damage, he would never have dared to launch his smear campaign against Vivian," Letting go of his friend’s shoulder, Mark shook his head. "Maybe he would not have dared, or perhaps he would have been even more vindictive. You can never guess how a person would react,"
"The way that you acted at that time, was based on the situation back then. So don’t blame yourself for things that you could not have predicted," Ryan nodded, a bit of tension bleeding out of him, but as quickly as it left, it was back. A worried look on Ryan’s face, he stared off into the distance before he began speaking.
"You know, something has really been bothering me about all of this. Bryce is nothing more than a personal trainer, yet he is evading my best people with ease. How is he doing that?"
***
Now that Ryan mentioned it, Mark realized he was right. With the amount of money and power at his disposal, finding the leech that was Vivian Rose’s ex should have been easy. By now the man should have been in cuffs and facing years of real time, yet he was still out there. It made no sense.
Looking over at his friend, Mark realized something. "You suspect that somebody is helping him," Ryan nodded.
"For a time I was pretty certain that the person who helped him flee was Gwendolyn. But she actually left the city that day and came back only two days later. And no matter what I try, I cannot find any link between the two of them other than the fact that their exes are dating," Mark nodded. Gwendolyn being the one to help Vivian’s ex made a lot of sense. But he understood his friend’s dilemma. Without any proof, he could not go after Gwendolyn Stuart the fourth. Doing so would be opening a can of worms that Ryan and Vivian did not need in their lives, especially given everything else that was going on.
"How about you not focus too much on trying to find out who is helping him, but rather try to channel your efforts towards keeping an eye out. Surely the man has to mess up at some point. Stay calm, stay vigilant, and he will pop up eventually," Mark really hoped that that was the case, and from the look in Ryan’s eyes he could tell that the other man was hoping for that as well.
"All that you have to do is be ready to nab him when he does. And once he starts squealing only then will you know whether or not he had any outside help," It was not a solution to his friend’s problem, but his friend nodded like someone who had just been given a lifeline.
"Alright, no more talk of that man, let’s just focus on the game," Mark said, and Ryan readily agreed.
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