Aren and I left the Wintons' mansion soon after I had promised to meet with Augustus after the weekend."You did an excellent job, my beautiful wife," he commented as we were going back to the penthouse."You knew that your grandfather would approach me, didn't you? Was that why you suddenly chose to leave me alone in that hall?" I narrowed my eyes at him.He chuckled and kissed my forehead. "Of course. I knew that my grandfather would naturally assume that you are naïve. That was why he waited for the moment I wasn't around you. He was afraid that if I was listening to your conversation, I would make the choices for you, and I would make you refuse his offer.""Now, he thinks that I am willing to listen to him and use the diamond as an investment. What do we do next?" I asked.Aren sighed. "We would have to use the fact that you're going to meet my grandfather in his office, but the plan that I'm thinking of is a risky one…""What do you mean?" I asked, my heart speeding as I saw his
The clock was ticking. It wouldn't be so much better if Augustus gave me the real five minutes, but we all knew that he could come back at any time. Nevertheless, we had to proceed methodically."OK, we took over the surveillance cameras in the mansion." I heard Alan's voice in my ear. "We need to record a loop to play it while you look around the office. Cora, sit behind the old man's desk and pretend that you are reading the contract. You need to sit motionlessly and count to fifteen, then flip the page and count to fifteen one more time."I did everything according to Alan's instructions. By the time the look was prepared to fool any potential security guard watching, I was left with no more than four minutes. I pulled out my phone and turned on my super-scanner apps. The guys, sitting with their computers in the car right outside the gates of the mansion, could see everything I saw on their screens. That way, there were five of us, including Aren and Neil, trying to spot anything
We decided to be cautious and check what was on that flash drive once everyone left the company. It was a little after 10 PM, and since we weren't certain if the drive was password-protected, Aren and Neil met us in our full of equipment computer office. We locked the doors after making sure that all the other employees were gone from that floor, and ceremoniously plugged the USB into my computer. I checked if the flash drive wasn't infected before I opened its content, holding my breath. There was a single audio file on it. Aren, Norton, Alan, and Neil sat around me as I opened it. The recording started with some cracks and distorted sounds, which lasted about a minute. It felt discouraging. I skipped the record on fast-forward until finally, we heard two male voices. "The police want to reopen the case. Someone must have tipped them off," the first man said in a low-pitched hoarse voice. "What do you mean, someone?! It was your fucking job to make sure that no one ever digs in Lil
I couldn't cry even though I wanted to. For some sick reason, my body decided that it would be better if I kept all my intense emotions rotting inside me instead of crying them out. I lay on my bed, thinking about how this could happen. I was so engaged in his war that I poured my heart and soul into it, but he decided to crush it. Even if it was a twisted way of his to protect me, it destroyed everything and all the trust between us. I was certain of him, to the point where I wanted to risk my life for him because I thought that he would do the same... Was I only fooling myself?I stared at the ceiling, analyzing the situation of my kidnapping with a brand-new filter. What would have happened if I hadn't found my way out of there? Would Aren have risked his life to save mine, or perhaps it was merely my foolish assumption? Maybe he had never planned to enter that building in the first place. Maybe his sole purpose had always been to catch the one who wanted him dead? I felt that my h
I leaned back in my seat, my head spinning as I couldn't process what Jack had just told us. Anger buzzed within me as I thought that Callan was messing with us even after he died."This is absurd! You told us before that the pathologist couldn't find any evidence that Callan's death was a murder, and now you can be accused of killing him?!" My frustration went beyond the limits I could handle.Aren placed his hand on top of mine. "Calm down, Cora. We will find a solution; we just need to think carefully."I inwardly slapped myself for enjoying Aren's touch and then slipped my hand away from his. As I did, he glanced at me with a hint of odd sadness flashing in his expression. Was he surprised that I was going to avoid his touch? Well, too bad he hadn't thought about it before degrading everything we had to casual sex.Jack noticed our change in behavior right away. "You two had a fight?"My "yes" came simultaneously with Aren's "no." We looked at each other slightly awkwardly.Jack c
Aren wasn't fond of the idea even after an hour of convincing by Jack, but eventually, he gave up as he realized that it truly might have been our only chance. Of course, I suggested that I could also try to hack his email account or his phone, but then I heard a loud and firm "no" coming from Aren and Jack simultaneously. "Even if we are doing it for the right reasons, we are still committing a crime here. We are going to plant a bug in a federal agent's office, and if something goes wrong, we are all going to prison for it," Jack warned. I knew that Aren was prepared to risk his own future for the sake of getting his revenge, but he was also unwilling to risk mine. But I chose to join his war willingly, and if there was a tiny chance that I could help, then I was going to do it. Our entire conversation ended up in planning how to put a tap in Lester Packton's office. We merely mentioned the recording that I had found in the Wintons' mansion, indicating that Aren's father had plann
"Now, let's get started, shall we?" The demonic grin on Aren's face wasn't encouraging at all. I responded with a slight nod. Even though I was the one who suggested learning self-defense from Aren, I was beginning to regret that decision more by the second. "You should warm up first," he said, taking my hand and leading me to the center of the mats. We did a bit of stretching, which I found close to unbearable, and it wasn't because of my stiff body. Every single ounce of my willpower was aimed at restraining myself from looking at Aren's body. It's been two days since we hadn't slept together, and I was starting to behave like a junky at the beginning of rehab. I whimpered inwardly and bit my lip when he wasn't looking, but I could proudly say that I managed to keep my serious face throughout the warm-up. Unfortunately, my struggle had barely begun. "My, let's start with something easy," Aren said, standing some distance in front of me. "I will attack you, and you will try to def
I didn't mishear him, right? He was going to take responsibility for making me fall in love with him. But what kind of responsibility would it be? I knew that I was the one who asked for it, but I had never thought about what this responsibility should be like. Was he going to turn our contractual marriage into a permanent one, even if he didn't love me? No one can force a heart to love, but what if he'd already had feelings for me and kept denying them? My feverish thoughts quickly dissolved in the shower of his kisses, which I returned with equal passion. I wasn't sure what kind of new terms I had just agreed on, but if he was ready to take a risk and walk into the unknown, then so was I. I couldn't tell when I found myself lying on the mat with him on top of me. I bit my lip, watching him take his shirt off, and reveal those rigid chest and stomach muscles carved into perfection. Yet a shudder spread across my body as his hand slid down my sweated skin. I grabbed his hand with an a