Chapter 324 - A Lot Of Speculation
When they made it back to the Hales' apartment building, Gray wanted to come up and chat with Aaron for a while. Keeley shot him down.
"It's after eight; the babies should be asleep right now and I don't want to risk waking them up. I'll tell Aaron you said hi though."
He frowned slightly. "When can I come visit you all again?"
She didn't think Aaron wanted to have him come visit at all but she couldn't exactly say that. Why was thinking of things on the spot so darn difficult?
"Why don't we set up a time to go out to dinner? Kaleb and Violet are pretty well-behaved for infants; we've taken them out to eat with us before. I always enjoy not having to cook."
It was the best excuse she could come up with to keep him out of her house. He seemed to buy it.
"I'll call Aaron and figure out scheduling later with how busy he is," Gray said as he stepped out of the car to open the door for Alice.
The insincere show of chivalry really grated on Keeley's nerves. So this was how he got so many women to fall for him. Pitiful.
"Sounds good. Thanks again!" she said with a bright smile as she headed toward the elevator.
Alice still stared back at the spot Gray's car vacated for a minute. Keeley had to nip this in the bud before it went anywhere.
"I know he's charming but he's really not a good person. I wouldn't let myself get interested if I were you."
She raised an eyebrow. "That's a nice way to talk about someone who just helped you out. You say he's not a good person and yet you still made dinner plans with him?"
Ah, this was hard to explain. The Hales had a fine line to walk where Gray was concerned. He could be vicious and they couldn't let him turn on them.
But from Alice's perspective, this would look like a simple case of ingratitude. Keeley couldn't let her go on thinking Gray would make a good rebound though!
"We have a bit of a complicated situation with him," she said meekly. "Ask Aaron though; he doesn't trust the man as far as he can throw him. Truthfully, he probably won't be happy we ran into his half-brother."
"What is this, a case of misplaced jealousy?" Alice asked, still not convinced.
"Not at all. Aaron knows what kind of person his father is. He just doesn't like insincere people. After a lifetime of dealing with them, he knows how to spot them a mile away. You'll see when we get upstairs."
The second the elevator doors opened, Aaron rushed at his wife and refused to let go.
"I saw the news and was worried you would get mobbed. I'm so glad you made it home okay."
Keeley craned her neck to look up at him. "We DID get mobbed. We wouldn't have made it out of there if we didn't run into Gray."
He stiffened at the mention of his half-brother. A thin layer of ice covered the room and it was noticeable enough that Alice felt the chill. Suddenly Keeley's words became a lot more believable.
"What did he want?" he asked flatly.
"He wanted to come over but I deflected him. He will be calling asking about dinner plans in the near future though, sorry."
Aaron sighed. "You did your best. I knew we would have to see him eventually but I didn't think it would be this soon."
"What exactly is your problem with him?" Alice asked cautiously, not wanting to provoke the ice beast further.
He turned to look at her as his arms were still around his wife. "It's not what you think it is. Graydon Meyer is a dangerous man. I don't like that he's taken an interest in my family."
It was easy for Alice to dismiss Keeley's thoughts on the matter but not as easy to dismiss Aaron's since she had known him much longer. Generally he had pretty sound judgment even if he did crazy things sometimes. After all, he had accomplished his goal much faster than she would have anticipated when she agreed to become a dummy shareholder.
In this country, even the youngest CEOs of Fortune 500 companies were usually in their 30s. At 25, Aaron was practically a legend. Which was why Keeley had been swarmed once people found out she was his wife.
Alice trusted her friend's judgment but wanted more of an explanation than that. "Why? What makes him so dangerous?"
Keeley and Aaron exchanged a glance. She would think they were too petty if they only used the example of his ability to quickly acquire shares. Gray was a giant spider sitting in the middle of a web of informants but that wasn't the most dangerous thing about him.
He hid his darkness well but it was barely discernible. He had no qualms about destroying or even killing people to get what he wanted. They had learned that through two lifetimes of dealing with him.
Aaron surprised her by telling the truth. "I have a strong suspicion he had a hand in Lacy's death even if he didn't kill her personally."
He did believe Gray killed her himself but it was better to water down the accusation a bit. It's a pretty big deal to accuse someone of murder.
Alice's jaw dropped. "What? Why on earth would you think that?!"
"Long story short, he was using her to get information on me a while back but ended up deciding he was on my side instead of hers. He claimed she was annoying and helped deflect her a few times so she wouldn't find out about my family. Eventually she figured it out and began stalking this building.
"I think he killed her because he specifically called me to ask if I wished she would disappear shortly before we went to Rochester for several days. She died while we were gone. It's a little too much of a coincidence, don't you think?"
"…that's a lot of speculation."
People could be so blind. They only saw what they wanted to. It wasn't like Aaron could explain that he knew Gray had no qualms about getting people out of the way because of a previous life either.