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Chapter 42
Alisha’s hand hadn’t even left her cheek before the fury caught up with the shock.“You hit me.” She said, voice shaking, loud enough that the whole bar turned back toward them a second time in the same night. “Do you have any idea who my family is? I will have your badge for this. I will have your entire career.”Rachel reached into her coat without hurrying and flipped open a leather case, holding it steady under Alisha’s nose long enough for the gold shield to catch the light.“Detective Rachel Okoye.” She said. “Precinct seven. You’re welcome to file a complaint. I’ll make sure the report includes the part where you assaulted me with a cocktail first.”The color drained out of Alisha’s face in one smooth, visible wave. The room, still watching, seemed to lean in a little closer, sensing the shift before she’d even finished swallowing.“I didn’t — I mean, I wasn’t aiming for you, it was an accident, I—”“You were aiming for him.” Rachel nodded toward Rhys, unbothered. “Which doesn’
Chapter 41
The bar was the same one from the champagne incident, which told Rhys exactly how limited Alisha’s imagination for venues really was. She’d texted him an address like it was an invitation to something, and curiosity, more than anything else, had put him in the cab.He found her already two drinks in, perched on a stool like she’d arranged the lighting around herself before he’d even arrived. She watched him cross the room with the particular satisfaction of a woman who’d already decided how this conversation would end.“I knew you’d come.” Alisha said, not bothering with hello. She slid a drink toward the empty seat beside her without asking if he wanted it. “Took you long enough to work up the nerve, though. Must be humbling, watching another man’s company burn down around you and realizing you still can’t stop thinking about me.”“That’s not why I’m here.”“Sure it isn’t.” She laughed, the sound pitched for an audience that wasn’t paying any attention to either of them. “You can adm
Chapter 40
When Rhys got downstairs, it was Adam who had drove in.He didn’t look up right away. Instead, he stared at his own hands, like the words he was about to utter had to pass through them before it could reach his mouth.“I killed him. The man in the footage. But it wasn’t murder, Rhys. He came to that warehouse to kill me.”Rhys didn’t move.“It was six years ago.” Adam continued. “I’d gone to meet a supplier, alone, against my own security’s advice. The meeting was a setup. The man pulled a gun the moment the doors closed, and it was him or me. I still remember the sound the gun made when it hit the floor after I got it away from him. I still remember his face.”“So it was Self-defense.” Rhys said.He asked as Adam settled into a chair.“Legally, probably. I never reported it. I buriedthe body, paid the right people to make the warehouse disappear from every record, and told myself it was over. I thought it was over.”“Until someone found the footage.”“Until someone found the footage
Chapter 38
Alisha had picked a bar.Anna arrived first, which annoyed her more than it should have, and by the time Alisha finally swept in fifteen minutes late, Anna had already decided this entire meeting was a mistake she intended to end quickly.“You’re late.” Anna said.“Traffic.” Alisha said breezily, sliding into the booth and immediately flagging down a server. “We’ll take a bottle of the Dom. And the caviar service, the good one, not whatever trash they’re trying to pass off as premium this month.”“I didn’t come here to feed you.” Anna protested.“Consider it a courtesy.” Alisha smiled, settling back against the velvet. “This is your tab, isn’t it? Longwater account. I’m sure you can handle a little champagne.”Anna’s jaw tightened, but she let it go, mostly because she wanted this finished fast.“You said you had a solution. So give it to me. I don’t have the patience for anything else tonight.”Alisha took her time, sipping the champagne the moment it arrived, savoring the pause wit
Chapter 37
Alisha nearly dropped her wine glass laughing when the headline scrolled across her television screen.“Mom, look at this.” She called out, already pulling up the clip on her phone for a second viewing, delight spreading across her face like she’d just been handed a gift. “Longwater Holdings. Scandal of the year. And guess whose precious little heiress is caught right in the middle of it.”Fiona drifted in from the kitchen, reading glasses perched on her nose, peering at the screen with open satisfaction. “Oh, this is delicious. The Longwater girl? The one your ex-husband’s been parading around like some kind of trophy?”“That’s the one.” Alisha said, grinning. “I told you, Mom. Didn’t I tell you? Rhys doesn’t bring anything but ruin wherever he goes. Took him one month to drag an entire empire into the mud.”“Poor girl has no idea what she’s gotten herself into.” Fiona said, settling onto the couch, clearly enjoying herself. “Falling for a man straight out of prison. What did she exp
Chapter thirty six
The mansion was chaos by the time Rhys arrived, staff clustered in corners whispering, phones pressed to ears, the air thick with a particular kind of panic that only came from watching something irreversible unfold in real time.He found the family in the main sitting room, a television mounted above the fireplace playing the same clip on a sickening loop.Grainy security footage. A dim warehouse. Adam Longwater, unmistakable even through the poor resolution, standing over a man slumped against a crate, motionless.The feed cut before anything more explicit played out, but the implication sat in the room like a physical weight.“It’s fake.” Adam said, for what was clearly not the first time, pacing in front of the television like he could will the footage into reversing itself. “I don’t know who manufactured this, or how, but I was nowhere near that warehouse. I’ve never seen that man in my life.”“Then explain the date stamp.” Sera’s voice cracked, raw with something that had clearl
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