The next few hours were quite hectic. With the police crowding inside Han's hotel, there was no room for peace and quiet. Fortunately, I had only been questioned once, and the whole procedure was quite unnaturally brief. The main parts of the story were told by Soon Han and his security team members, although I was more than certain that the whole case was handled in a "special" way, and that was certainly because of Han's "unique" connections with Singapore's police.I had a few hours to regenerate before Aiden and I went on board his private jet. I still felt as if I got run over by a truck—twice—and while all my bones were in place, the bruises and strains reminded me of the hell I had gone through with every step I took. The restlessness hadn't left me, not even for a minute, not even knowing that I had Aiden next to me. He kept telling me that Dominique would get caught and that he had no chance to escape the authorities and sneak through Singapore's airport. But there was also t
I could only describe the next few days as frantic. Aiden was either locked in his office or talking to the police. The Hart family used every means necessary to keep the case of Caesar's death as quiet as possible. Since a few valuable objects were missing from Caesar's apartment, the police qualified his murder as a burglary gone wrong. I didn't think Aiden told the police about the message he received from his brother, and I wasn't even questioned. After a week, the police received an anonymous tip and found three men who were trying to sell Caesar's belongings… They confessed to breaking into the house and murdering the house owner.The case was closed.Superficially, nothing had changed. Aiden was still the busy CEO of Hart Global Corporation, and I spent my days working as one of his four secretaries. But every detail of my life felt different. Instead of waking up in my sofa bed and staring at the gray wall, I was opening my eyes to see the sun rising over the vast area of Manh
Was it wise to talk to an angry young man? Probably not. Had I earnestly thought this through? Definitely no! But here I was, sitting with Marc—because that was his first name—Mathews in a café less than a block away from Hart Global.I called Michelle, letting her know that I would be in the office later than usual. Once she learned who I was meeting with, she promised she would cover for me and told me to take my time to find out whatever I needed.I drew in a ragged breath, glancing through the window and knowing that Jason and Ryan were probably somewhere close, keeping an eye on me. I wasn't sure if their protection of me included spying on me, but I knew that I needed to be careful. I had only a not-so-convincing explanation for why I wanted to meet with someone who held an obvious grudge against Hart Global. But this was my chance to learn more about the first case of a Hart Global employee's suicide. I needed to know what caused it and if it could somehow be related to Julienn
I might have been nervous before I received a text from Marc, but it was nothing compared to what I felt right before playing the first video file on my laptop. The moment I clicked the play button, I wasn't breathing. My heart halted as well, while my eyes widened, prepared to devour every frame of the footage. Then I remembered that all the files were coded…Groaning in frustration, I stared at the blurry images, hoping to distinguish, well, anything at all. Of course, I didn't have the super sight to do that. A foolish kind of hope told me to play another file, only to watch more distorted and pixilated images of God knows what.I closed the laptop and leaned back in my chair. I knew that I could have sent those files straight to Bastian. I was positive that his tech friends would have cleared the footage in less than a few hours. But I also knew it would have been like giving him a loaded gun without knowing if I truly wanted him to take that shot. I couldn't give him that much po
It was two in the morning. I was sitting in Emily's new apartment, a wine glass in my shaking hand. My eyelids were swollen and opened to bloodshot eyes, while my face drained of any color. My legs were curled up as I sat in the corner of the sofa, constantly reminding myself how to breathe. Emily was sitting beside me. Bastian observed us from the armchair. All three of us sat in silence. It had been like this since we watched together the decoded footage I got from Kevin on my laptop.We had all faced crimes and seen gruesome videos before. I had seen it as a reporter, and Emily as a lawyer. Not to mention how many monstrosities Bastian had witnessed since he had become an FBI agent. But this… This was different. We all knew Julienne, and the image of her body being thrown out of the window was going to stay with us, most likely forever.I lifted the wineglass to my mouth and took another slow and quiet sip, as if I believed a tiny bit of liquor would help quiet the raging storm ins
AIDEN The last few days became a blur. I couldn't recall the last time I had a meal other than coffee or slept more than three hours. I could see that Charlie wanted to help, but this was something I had to do myself. The whole case around Caesar's death came as a blow, but not because of my brotherly love; he killed any chance for a solid half-sibling relationship between us when I was around eight, and it stayed that way ever since. For years, we merely took short breaks from hating each other and switched from hatred to fragile tolerance. But his last message? That was different. That was NOT the Caesar I had known my whole life. The bully who tried to drown me in the pool when I was seven and who stabbed me with the kitchen knife when I was twelve was terrified. There was a wicked part of me that thought that he got what he deserved, but the circumstances of his death left too many questions. Perhaps that was the only reason why I promised my father that I would get to the bottom
Air escaped my lungs as I stared at her. The color on her cheeks deepened, and those lips that had just spoken formed the most gorgeous smile. A bubble of warmth formed in my chest, melting every screwed-up inch of me. She was the cause of it. She had given me a taste of something unimaginable and insanely addictive. Something I wasn't sure I deserved...She studied me—studied and waited—but I wasn't ready to give her the reply she wanted. I wanted her in my life. I didn't want to lose her. I cared about her. But those words had never been in my dictionary, and I was certain that letting them sound out would not make them real.I didn't think that pronouncing empty syllables would do any good, and they sounded exactly that way—empty—when I heard them in my head. Nonetheless, they were on the tip of my tongue, and, for the first time in my life, I seriously considered saying them out loud.I didn't want to hurt her. It wasn't her fault that she had fallen in love with a bastard who had
CHARLIE"This cannot be happening," I muttered as my world fell apart.I stepped back against the wall, facing three men who looked at me with rage, disdain, or heart-shattering disappointment. My body rattled, tears kept falling down my cheeks, and aching heart warned that it might crash against my ribcage. My eyes locked with Aiden's. His were darkened with anger. He knew. He knew it was my fault the FBI was here…"You and Julienne were friends," he bit out, his cold voice sending another jolt of pain through me."Yes," I rasped between swallowing my tears. "I came here to find proof that her death wasn't a suicide." There was no point in denying or hiding anything, not anymore.Christopher burst out laughing. "So the FBI came here because of her? Perfect! That bitch"—he pointed at me as if I wasn't the only woman in the room—"has just destroyed the whole company!""Charlie, is that true?" Logan stepped closer, his large fingers curling around my arms in a firm grip. "Are they here