Chapter 3
The moment the door was kicked open, David was quicker to react than I was.
Almost on instinct, he yanked me behind him, shielding me with his body.
Two men in black suits were standing in the doorway. They were tall and broad-shouldered, their faces completely blank, looking like two statues guarding the entrance.
One of them glanced past David and locked eyes with me. His gaze was cold, unsettling, and almost oily.
"Mr. Harper, our boss would like to invite you and Mrs. Harper over for a chat." His voice matched his gaze, utterly devoid of emotion.
I could feel that David's whole body was trembling.
"Tell your boss I've got nothing to say to him," David said. "I already sent the money. We're square now."
The lead guy flashed a smile that was more disturbing than comforting. "Mr. Harper, I think you're mistaken. Our boss says that the money was a down payment.
"Since the job was handled so cleanly, there's still some aftercare to take care of."
He practically spat out the word "cleanly".
My heart sank. As I suspected, David really was involved with these people.
A down payment? When did he make a down payment? Did he really hire them to kill someone?
David opened his mouth, about to say something, but the other man was already losing his patience.
He stepped forward and grabbed David by the collar. "Shut the fuck up. Come with us."
David might've been six feet tall, but in that guy's grip, he was powerless.
I watched as David was hauled away, feeling very calm, even a little satisfied.
The lead guy turned his gaze back to me as he gestured for me to follow. "Mrs. Harper, please."
I didn't move. "Why should I go with you? Who the hell are you guys? You know kidnapping's illegal, right? I could call the cops."
The guy looked thrown off by how calm I was. He froze for a moment, then cracked a smile. "Mrs. Harper, you're pretty sharp. But you know, being too clever isn't always a good thing."
He pulled a small object from his pocket and dangled it in front of my face. It was a tiny, silver USB stick. "It has some footage of your husband. I think you'll find it very interesting."
My heart skipped a beat. Footage of David? What could it be?
I followed them downstairs and got into a black SUV. The inside was so dark that I couldn't see the driver's face at all. David was shoved into the back row, already out cold.
The car drove through the city streets and pulled up in front of a secluded warehouse on the outskirts of town. I was led inside.
The warehouse was huge and empty. There was only one man sitting in a chair, his back to us.
He was dressed in a perfectly tailored gray suit, sitting upright with a straight, imposing posture. When he heard our footsteps, he slowly turned around.
He had a strikingly handsome face, but I'd never seen him before.
He looked to be in his early thirties, with deep-set eyes, a high, straight nose, and a mouth that naturally held a faint, ambiguous smile, giving him a somewhat cynical air.
But there was a chill in his gaze that made it impossible to meet his eyes.
He spotted me and raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. "Oh? So, you're Mrs. Harper? Much more intriguing than your pictures."
He rose from his chair and started walking toward me. His leather shoes echoed crisply on the concrete floor, each step seeming to land directly on my heart.
He stopped in front of me and looked down at me from above.
There was a faint scent of cologne lingering on him, matching his vibe perfectly, sharp, almost dangerous.
"Riley, right?" He called my name precisely.
I didn't say a word, and he didn't seem to mind. He kept talking, not caring if I answered or not. "I'm Victor Quinn, David's business partner."
He gave another smile. "I bet you're really curious about what your husband actually did, aren't you?"
He handed me the silver USB stick. "See for yourself."
One of his men already had a laptop ready beside me.
I took a deep breath and plugged the USB stick in. A video appeared on the screen almost instantly.
The footage was shaky, looking like it had been filmed in secret. It was our living room. And the timestamp was the night of the murders.
In the video, David was talking to another man. The guy was facing away from the camera, and I couldn't make out his face at all.
"Is everything set?" David's voice was tight with nerves.
"Relax," the man replied. "We're professionals."
"You only need to get rid of the King family. Don't let any innocents get caught up in this, especially the folks next door. They're distant relatives of mine," David added.
"Going to cost you extra," the man replied, blunt as ever.
"Yeah, yeah," David agreed quickly. "As long as you do it cleanly, money's not an issue."
And that was where the video cut off. It was short, but the amount of information it dropped was insane.
The King family lived right across the hall from us. The man of the house was David's boss.
In other words, David had actually put a hit out on his boss and his entire family.
And we survived only because David lied, saying we were his distant relatives. He wanted us off their target list, not to save us. What a sick joke.
I shut the laptop, and my face stayed totally blank.
Victor looked at me, clearly entertained. "So, any thoughts after watching that?"
I looked up at him. "I've got one more question. Why did you want me to see this?"
Victor smirked, "Because I'm interested in you. A woman who can make it out of a mess like that and still keep her cool is either born fearless or cold-hearted enough.
"I like working with smart people, especially the ones who are cold-hearted about it."
"Work with me?" I repeated, as if I'd heard the most ridiculous joke ever. "What could I possibly have that makes me worth working with?"
Victor glanced at David, who was passed out in the corner of the warehouse. "Your husband skimmed off a hefty amount from us. A huge sum, I mean. He used part of it to pay for his boss's death.
"And he thought he could quietly stash the rest away in an offshore account, thinking no one would ever find out. That account is all under your name."