AIDENAll for nothing. I walked out of another meeting without a single clue who was after our lives. I entered our suite only to find that Charlie was gone. She probably went for her third meeting with someone terrifyingly boring. I slumped my ass on the sofa and dragged my fingers through my face as frustration grew within me. I hated that feeling, this sickening unknowing, when someone was after me, after her."Sorry, man. I'm not risking my life to help you," said a guy whom I once saved from bankruptcy. He had good connections with the underground and kept collecting information about the recent conflicts. He knew who was after me, or at least he assumed who it was, but he kept his fucking mouth shut. I liked to tell myself that I was nothing like those shitheads I had been dealing with, but that didn't mean that I hadn't thought of resorting to violence and beating the truth out of him. Unfortunately, there were too many guards around for it to go unnoticed.Sighing, I went to t
CHARLIEHow long had it been? An hour? Longer than that? I couldn't tell because I constantly crawled through the tunnels without stopping. I was too scared to take a break, and I sure as hell needed one. My hands and feet were sweaty. My head was spinning from spending too much time in a dark and tiny space. Not to mention that I was bleeding. I wasn't certain how it happened, but I cut my foot when I was taking a turn and sliding through the narrow gate. To avoid leaving tracks, I tore my dress, shortening it by a few inches. Then I used the fabric to wrap it around the cut. Perfect, just freaking perfect. With my dress torn, shoeless feet, and one foot wrapped up with a black cloth, there was no way I could sneak to our suite unnoticed once I got out of those damn tunnels.My thoughts drifted to Aiden. Did he come back from his meeting? How long was it going to take him to find out that something had happened to me? Would he start looking for me? Was he trying to find me… now? God,
AIDENTwo Hours Earlier"There!" yelled one of Han's technicians monitoring the screens. "The cameras went out on the thirty-ninth floor." He pointed at the one black monitor in the row of countless others showing live footage from every corner of the hotel. Those cameras might have been turned off by those who were after Charlie, but I couldn't let myself rush there without making sure she wasn't in a completely different part of the hotel."Have you checked the thermal sensors in the ventilation systems?" I asked, stepping closer and glancing between him and three other technicians sitting in the room."Yes," another one answered, turning away from the computer screen and giving me a wry smile. "There's no sign of anyone in the parts of the tunnels we have access to."My irritation flared, and I hardly resisted punching something… or someone. "Are there parts you don't have access to?" I strained through my tightly clenched teeth.The tech guy cleared his throat. "Well, we currently
CHARLIEI stopped breathing. Landon was right behind the door while I stood barefoot on the floor. Dominique hadn't confirmed that Landon was the one who wanted me dead. I couldn't even prove that he had anything in common with Mr. Scar… aside from sharing strikingly similar features. I could either trust the confirmed facts and think of Landon as one of Aiden's friends, or I could trust my instincts and hide. I chose the latter.Cautiously stepping through the floor, I entered one of the cubicles and locked myself in from the inside. I managed to lift my feet and kneel on the closed toilet seat just as I heard the sound of opening the door and someone stepping inside."Fuck!" Landon's growl made me flinch.I clamped my hand over my mouth and forced myself not to move. I figured that he must have been talking on the phone with someone, and he clearly didn't like what he heard. Wait… I thought that all signals were jammed, so how could he make the call?A rough crashing sound pulled me
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
Six months later I shifted slightly and felt the pair of strong arms tighten around me. A smile formed on my lips, and I debated whether or not I should open my eyes. A gentle kiss caressed the nape of my neck, and another landed on the side, an inch away from my pulse. A pleasant shiver coursed through my body, and my smile widened. The plush lips moved lower, leaving a searing trail leading to the crook of my neck. I gasped and heard the deep chuckle rumbling in his chest. I would never get tired of this. It was my favorite way to wake up. Twisting my body slowly, I turned around without freeing myself from Aiden's embrace until I could dive into the perfect blue of his irises. "I love you," I whispered. His lips were on mine in less than a second. His tongue darted out, expertly entering me with lush licks. He pushed me to my back, knocking the air out of my lungs as he moved on top of me. "You wear too many clothes," he grunted, breaking the kiss. I raised a brow. "I wear a nig
CHARLIEThirty minutes earlierA series of scorching, shallow breaths scratched my throat and windpipe, barely touching my lungs. I definitely wasn't as strong as Kastor said I was. I felt as if I could break apart at any second, and it apparently didn't take much to break me. Leaving me alone, chained to the bed for hours, was more than enough for panic to burst out. I couldn't stand waiting for the unknown, waiting to be raped, beaten, strangled, or God knew what else with no way to defend myself, no way to escape...My mouth was dry, and my stomach growled. The adrenaline kept my system satiated, but now even the hormones weren't enough to restrain my body's natural needs. I was so damn tired and terrified, I could imagine myself begging to be freed. The helplessness I felt was able to easily drive me to insanity.The brief relief that came with Kastor leaving the room just after Christopher's corpse had been removed was long gone. Now I kept staring a
AIDENMy father had another stroke. He heard about Christopher's betrayal and his crimes. It surely must have been a massive blow for him. My mother spent most of the time by his bed, and for the first time, I regretted that I couldn't be there too, but there were other, important issues I needed to take care of first.Hart Global Corporation was going down. The news about our warehouses being basically robbed and the frequent shipment to the sponsoring terrorism countries spread faster than a bolt of lightning. The bankruptcy was unavoidable, but I had no time to explain to the shareholders why my half-brother decided to screw them all over and disappear. The fact that people expected me to stand before them and apologize seriously pissed me off, but as the still-acting CEO of the dying company, I was obligated to make an official statement.I should have been elsewhere. I should have been looking for Charlie, but currently, I was about to become a source of entertainment for a large
I spent several hours alone in that windowless room, chained to the wall. Perhaps it was nighttime, but since I had no way to check, I could only judge by the fewer sounds coming through the steel door. Dominique's body had been taken away, but the sickening puddle of his blood on the concrete remained. I could only see the place where I was locked properly once Landon was gone, and even if this place was terrifying, I was relieved when everyone left, locking me in here alone. My prison was a hall, resembling the middle-sized space of an empty warehouse. Since everything inside smelled like a decaying basement, I guessed I had to be somewhere underground. My disgusting space was illuminated by several loosely hanging lightbulbs, giving merely a dim light in a few seemingly random parts of the room, leaving more than a couple of square feet sunk in the darkness. It didn't take long for my mind to craft all kinds of horrifying scenarios as I imagined what or who could be lur
*TRIGGER WARNING* The final paragraphs of this chapter contain a description of violence and physical torture.CHARLIEMy head hurt so much that I was afraid that if I opened my eyes, it might explode. My consciousness returned slowly, and a new wave of different pain reached me just several heartbeats later. I was lying on something hard. There were rough and heavy cuffs around my wrists and ankles. My feet were bare, and I was shivering from the cold. As I inhaled through my nose, I sensed something moist and rotting in the air, which made me scared to open my eyes even more.A not-so-distant rustling sound signaled someone's presence. Someone was watching me. I squeezed in a breath that came out more audible than I expected and opened my eyes. The dark, rusty-metal-like ceiling was the first thing I saw. My "bed" was made of wooden boxes that formed a row next to a dirty, black wall. The thick cuffs on my wrists and ankles were chained to a large ring, sticking out a few inches abo
AIDEN I was making my fourth mental note to punch that Murray fucker as soon as this was all over. He insisted on keeping my detainee status, so I was currently cuffed and sitting in the backseat of his car instead of driving mine at full speed. "You're OK in there?" Murray asked, and I could clearly see the smug smirk in the rearview mirror. Deller was sitting in the front passenger's seat, and, fortunately, he turned out to be more rational than his asshole partner. "Not OK at all," I hissed. "You're too slow, and perhaps you're still not aware, but there are lives on the line!" "We're doing our best, Mr. Hart." Deller glanced at me, twisting his head over his shoulder. "We still need to follow the rules, and we can't just—" "Screw the rules!" I snapped. "Those people we're against follow no rules except for the ones they create! If something happened to Charlie because we were too slow, then I swear to God—" "Shut your mouth, Hart!" Murray roared. "Don't you dare say a word ab
CHARLIESixty minutes earlierI forced myself to stop crying. I had no time to shed more tears. I needed to focus. Forcing air into my lungs, I stretched my tightened ribcage. Every inch of my insides burned, but I ground my teeth and willed my hand to lower over Kevin's cold body.I closed his lifeless eyes. It might have been the hardest thing I had ever done, but I had to. I felt like he died because of me. I brought this upon him. I pulled him into this mess. He agreed to be a part of it, but he didn't have to. It was my war, and this time I couldn't save him. I wasn't his super-girl; I was the one who had come too late and let him die.I sucked another breath that seemed too shallow and groaned. "Focus, Charlie, focus!" I pulled the phone out of my jeans pocket and cursed. The battery died. I was too absorbed in everything that had happened to notice it...I looked around and saw Kevin's cell phone lying on the floor. Faint slivers of rationality seeped through, causing me to be
AIDEN I had spent three hours in custody before that asshole, Murray, decided to bring me into the interrogation room. My hands were cuffed, and I was left in those cute bracelets for another hour before my lawyer showed up and demanded to take them off my hands. For the next fifteen or more minutes, Chandler and I were left in that room alone. Fuckers. So much for client-lawyer confidentiality. Luckily, I had nothing to hide, well, almost nothing to hide. Chandler scanned the room, a displeased grimace forming on his mouth. I couldn't blame him. Two cameras were hanging from the ceiling, gaping at us from two opposite corners with their red lights. The large one-way mirror also carried the promise of no privacy. "If anything you did is questionably legal, I suggest you keep your mouth shut," he grunted. I gave him a look. "If you want to know whether you're about to defend a guilty man, then my answer is no. Truthfully, I have no idea what the FBI was looking for or why. And yes,
CHARLIE Feeling a little paranoid, I hid in the toilet until the truck was gone, as if the driver could recognize me and drag me back into that box with machine guns. As soon as I assured myself that the coast was clear, I began to analyze my situation. I was at the gas station right outside Greenwich, Connecticut. My phone was dead—not like battery-dead but literally dead-gone-dead. It seemed like all its circuits had burned out, just like it had happened to my earpiece. Luckily, my wallet didn't suffer, and my credit cards were still in place. I drew a deep breath and stared at the mirror. I looked like I had run a marathon on heels during a desert storm. It took me fifteen or more minutes before I resembled a human being. I washed the dirt off my face and combed my hair using my fingers. I still looked like shit, but I had more urgent matters than improving my looks. I asked the clerk at the station if I could use his phone and called Kevin. He didn't answer. My stomach twisted s