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
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