Family Man

Your backers there were in danger of taking heavy losses. You were desperate. So you phonied up some credit reports in order to get more loans. It worked. You salvaged High Ridge Springs. After that it got easier to use fake paper, didn't it?”
    “Goddammit, that's not true. I only did it the one time, and it saved a lot of people a great deal of money.”
    “Are you a betting man, Atwood? I am. And I'm willing to gamble that the report I put together is going to cause your backers to check out your true financial situation. Even if you're white as snow, it will take months to prove it.”
    “You can't do this to me, Gilchrist.”
    “It's done.” Luke turned away from the window and looked at him. “Consider yourself lucky. You know what the sentence is for blackmail?”
    “You can't prove I ever tried to blackmail anyone, you son of a bitch.”
    “We're even. You can't prove I put together that report on your financial picture. But your backers won't care where the information came from. They'll just be grateful they got it in time to cut their losses.” Luke started for the door. “In the future, stay away from my family.”
    Atwood leapt to his feet behind the desk. “I don't believe this. What the hell do you care about the other Gilchrists? Everyone knows you're only back for revenge.”
    Luke paused at the door and looked back. “Everyone?”
    “Don't forget I was married to your bitch of a cousin. I know a little family history.” Atwood's eyes slitted. “There's something else going on here.”
    “Don't waste any time trying to figure it out,” Luke advised. “You've got enough trouble as it is.” He opened the door.
    “Christ, it's Katy, isn't it? Hell, it all fits now. You don't give a damn about Eden or her family. You're doing this on account of Katy.”
    Luke started through the door.
    “What do you want with her?” Atwood snarled. “Katy's hardly your type.”
    “Yeah? Well, she wasn't your type either, was she? You used her to get to Eden.”
    “At least I didn't sleep with Katy before I moved on,” Atwood said softly. “Something tells me you're not being quite so noble. I'll bet you're screwing her. What does that make you? You know damn well you're not going to marry her. Gilchrists go for the more dramatic type.”
    Luke turned around, closed the door, and walked back toward Atwood. “You know something, Atwood? You're getting to be a real pain in the ass. By the way, I almost forgot. I want a check on my desk by the end of the week for the total amount you squeezed out of Eden. If it's not there, I'll do a lot more than kill one deal. I'll rip your entire house of cards to shreds.”
    Atwood lost what was left of his self-control at that point and launched himself at Luke. Luke stepped aside. He reached out, caught hold of Atwood's shoulder, and added momentum and spin to Nate's lunge. Then he stuck out his left foot.
    Atwood yelled as he tripped over Luke's foot and fetched up against the office wall. The framed picture of a successful Atwood development that was hanging there shuddered, fell off its hook, and landed on Atwood's head. The glass shattered and dropped out of the frame, forming a sparkling ring around the stunned Atwood.
    Luke looked down at his victim. “Katy keeps telling me I have to find nonviolent problem-solving techniques. I guess I'm a slow learner.”
    He walked out of the office past the nervous-looking secretary and went down the hall to the elevator.
    His mission had been accomplished, he told himself. So why did he have an uneasy feeling that something was very wrong?
    Even as he asked the question Luke knew the answer. Katy was right. Atwood did not need money. The amount he had pried out of Eden during the past few months was no more than what he could have made in a couple of successful real estate deals. Furthermore, Atwood had only been married to Eden for three short months, and he had never really loved her. He had only married her to get his hands on Gilchrist, Inc.
    Any normal businessman would have seen the unsuccessful attempt to get a controlling interest in the company as just another deal that had not worked out.
    But Atwood was enraged. His reaction to the loss was out of proportion to the situation.
    Atwood's actions did not make sense. The only other logical explanation was that he had a screw loose. But nothing in the research Luke had done indicated the man was crazy.
    There had to be more to this than was apparent. The