Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Captain’s phone rings. “Justice,” he says, and I hear him rumble a few words before ending the call. He walks out to where I’m sitting and slips on his shoes. “I’ve got to run upstairs for a second. Miles wants me to look at the baby monitor. He said he’s having problems getting it hooked up. I swear that man is crazy. He wants his baby’s crib camera circuited to the building’s security feed.”
I smile at him as he leans down and gives me a quick kiss before he goes. I see the laptop beside me and decide that if I give him the information, then I’m doing some kind of good. This way he won’t have to take time digging on his own. I reach over and pull up the encrypted files. There could be a few things that Miles already dug up when he was closing his business deal, so it could save me some time starting here. No sense in looking up information Miles already found.
It takes me a few minutes to decode some of the folders, and after a few failed attempts I finally find one that’s marked AO. I take a guess that the initials stand for Alexander Owens and click on it. When it opens, I have to run another encryption. This must have something I need, otherwise why would it be so difficult to get to?
Once it’s unlocked, I see pages of documents on Alexander, and a lot of it is business related. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it could narrow down where he’s working and possibly staying. I make my way through a few of them, and then see that Miles has pages of notes to go with each document. Miles has always been thorough. I read through a few and then organize them by date. I search through everything until I find a phone number.
I do the search like Jordan showed me, locating his phone, then hacking into it. I start with his text messages. I stop cold when I see Ryan’s name. I start to read them.
My heartbeat quickens and my palms sweat. What the fuck am I reading? There’s another entry a few days later.
Ryan reporting in on what’s happening at Osborne Corp. Months and months of texts that stopped a little over a month ago when Captain stopped responding to my father.
“Hey, kitten. You miss me?” My whole world drops out from under me as he walks in and smiles. He sees the look on my face, and he knows something’s not right. “What’s wrong, Paige? You okay? Your face has gone solid white.”
I push my computer to the floor and run to the bathroom. I don’t make it to the toilet before I start throwing up. I hear him somewhere behind me, but the sounds of my retching are ringing in my ears. I’m sick. I’m physically ill from his betrayal.
He knew. He knew who I was before Miles did. He fucking worked for my father. The man I want dead. He betrayed me like no one ever has, and I loved him. I loved him.
I reach inside the cabinet by the toilet and slip my hand around the cool metal. I twist my body and put my back against the wall, aiming my gun straight at his heart.
He puts his hands up and takes a step back from me. “Paige, what the fuck?” The shock on his face would be comical if I wasn’t shattering into a million pieces.
“Get out of my house, you lying bastard. You knew who he was. You even did what he said.”
Understanding dawns on him, and he takes a step toward me. “Paige, it’s not—”
I point the gun at the wall and fire off a round. The noise silences him, and he takes a step back. I point the gun at his heart, wanting it to break like mine is breaking.
“Get. Out,” I grit through clenched teeth, and he nods.
“We are going to talk about this,” he says, slowly stepping out of the bathroom.
“There is no we. Not ever again.”
I keep the gun trained on him as I see hurt slice across his face. Good. He deserves this and so much more. He steps around the corner, his fists clenched at his sides, and I hear him walk through the living room, shutting the front door quietly behind him.
I stay on the floor of the bathroom. I don’t know how long I sit there, but every limb in my body falls asleep and my body goes numb. I want to keep throwing up, but there’s nothing left. I should probably get in the shower, but I’m starting to shake, and I can’t move.
Time passes, and my mind spaces out, like it’s unable to wrap around what’s happened, so it goes blank. I start to laugh, because this can’t be real. I fell in love with the devil. That’s when my hysterical laughter turns into sobs. I’m broken like my mother.