Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
I rub the bridge of my nose and shake my head. “Too much information, Mack.”
“What, I thought we were sharing?” He chuckles, and then the music is muffled. “Listen, I’ve gotta go.”
“Okay but when you’re finished with whatever it is you’re choosing over your own flesh and blood, get your ass back to the city.”
“I miss you too,” he says before he ends the call.
“Am I the only responsible one?” I ask the empty car and then answer my own question. “Clearly.”
After I pull into our parking garage, I get out of my car and check my phone. There’s another security alert on the door to our offices, but it’s not unusual. The cleaning crew sometimes sets it off by accident, and I have to come in and reset it. It’s been going off for the past couple of hours, and I mistakenly thought Mack was there to take care of it.
It’s not as though I’ve got big plans tonight anyway. I was organizing some older files we had in storage at my house, and I was planning on getting takeout. That’s about the extent of my exciting life these days, and I remind myself that I’ve got to get out more. Maybe I should take a page out of Lawson’s book and go up to the lake house for a few days. Too bad I can’t kidnap the love of my life and take her with me.
When I get to the office, I see all the lights are off, so the cleaning crew must have left. The door is locked, and when I punch in my code, nothing happens.
“Huh?” I try it again, but the keypad must be dead. Digging in my pocket, I take out the emergency key we have as a backup.
When the door pops open, I can see right away that something is different. The first room to our floor is for our office administrator. She always has everything put away and perfectly neat. It’s one of the things I love most about Mrs. Ruth. Walking over to her desk, I see a few papers left out, and one of her pictures is sideways. Maybe the cleaning crew did this.
We keep all of our secure documents locked up, so I don’t worry about anyone stealing information, but there are still a few things that would fall under use discretion and not necessarily confidential. Her calendar has the names of our clients listed on it, and I can see Megan Delanito is at the top of it.
She’s one of the worst clients we’ve ever had, and I knew she was going to be trouble the moment Lawson took her on. We terminated her contract after we found out she planted drugs on her husband to get him arrested. She’s since tried to make our lives hell, but I’m hoping that after meeting with her almost-ex-husband, their divorce can come to an end with him as the victor.
I walk down the hall and peek inside Lawson’s office before going to Mack’s. Nothing looks out of place with their offices, but I wouldn’t exactly know if someone ransacked it because they’re both a mess. My office is at the end of the hall and where we keep the server. I’m going to check there just as a precaution, and then I can set the alarm and go home. I should be able to make it back in time to grab some ramen from my favorite place before it closes.
The moment I step in my office, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. There’s something off even though everything looks normal. Is there a change in the air? Is it the hint of something that smells like flowers? It’s strange, and it makes my heart beat faster.
When I walk over to my desk, I grab my chair to take a seat, and that’s when I hear a scream.
Chapter Three
SADIE
“Where am I? I think I’m lost.” I try to scramble out from under his desk, but his long legs and giant thighs are in the way. Eventually, he steps back and gives me room to get to my feet. “How’d I get here? Did you kidnap me or something?” I lie right through my perfectly straight teeth that took three years of braces.
The man reaches for the lamp that’s sitting on his desk, and for a second I’m blind when the light comes on.
“You don’t know exactly how you got under my desk?” His eyes go up and down my body. “And you’re dressed in all black?” He tugs on the back of my hood so it comes off and he can get a better look at my face. “You’re a fuckin’ kid.”
“Hey, I’m twenty one.” I brush away the curls that escaped my bun. I purposely pulled them up so they’d stay out of the way. It’s the freckles that are sprinkled across my nose that give people the impression I’m younger than I am.