Chapter 49
forty-nine
Tris
Ohmygodohmygodohmygoddddd
Aliceeeeee
ALICE LILLIAN MOORE
Alice
WHAT?!
Tris
Ok. So I just got a text from a friend of a friend and GUESS WHO GOT ARRESTED
Hint: starts with a T
Ends with —ony the Insufferable Piece of Shit
Alice
Wait… are you serious??
Tris
Yep! I guess they did a random search of his work computer and found a ton of evidence of insider trading?
They perp-walked him out of his office in front of all of Wall Street.
Alice
…a *random* search?
Is that normal?
Tris
I guess?
I mean, who would have had the right connections and wanted him to get caught?
Alice
…
I can only think of one person.
Tris
Probably the same guy watching you walk around his apartment all day every day.
Alice
He does not.
Tris
Wanna bet, Alley Cat?
“Have we checked the—”
Brad and I both interrupt Pierce, “Yes.”
“But what about the—”
“Yes,” we say again.
“And the—”
“Yes,” I grit a third time. Sometimes, it feels like we have combed footage from every camera in the damn city. I have hundreds of files from dozens of street cams, all ripped from the night of the ill-fated engagement party.
None of them has been helpful. Every time I think about how many man hours we’ve wasted going through it all, only to come up empty, I want to put my fist through my office wall.
Every other pod on Stryker & Sons’ executive floor boasts floor-to-ceiling windows at the front and back. I insisted on taking the one office that was built into the cylindrical floor’s only solid segment, beside the elevators.
Without a front wall and door made of glass, no one can peer in, and I don’t have to worry about employees seeing things above their pay grade. Or watching me punch drywall.
I do, however, have to worry about my annoying baby cousin sneaking up on me.
Juliet breezes into the room like she owns it, not even bothering to look up as she flicks a hand over her dark red dress and starts speaking.
Not that she’s interrupting anyone—once the boys get a look at her, both of them fall silent. Pierce’s mouth hangs ajar, while Brad runs his eyes over Jules on a loop.
It has been this way since we were kids. Friends, colleagues, and neighbors all pant after my cousin, and she laughs in their faces. Thankfully, there’s no need for that, now that she has Graham Everett’s enormous engagement ring on her finger.
“Primo.” Jules smiles, her expression sly as she glances at her phone screen and then presses it into her chest.
I wonder what she’s hiding. Probably just dirty texts from her fiancé.
I really need to kick that guy’s ass.
“I just came from Grayson’s office, and he wants to see you,” she carries on. “Walk with me?”
Her gold-brown eyes flash over to my crack team, who both still look like they’ve never seen a woman before. She pins me with an amused, slightly derisive look. “Unless you’re busy?”
Clearly, they look about as competent as they actually are. I sigh, scrubbing at my face. “Yeah. Hold on.”
I rattle off a few directives to the guys.
Barnes is on Ella Duty. Which means I need Pierce to go through all of Ted Stryker’s bank records.
I dispatch Brad to do one final run-through of the security measures in place for Grayson’s bachelor party, knowing I will check Ella’s handful of destinations myself, since I’ll be the one escorting her and her friends.
And Alice, who will be out with her.
Anxiety knots my gut every time I think about my shy, sweet girl going out with Ella. Paparazzi will be rabid for pictures of their party.
The whole plan feels wrong to me. Just like the engagement party that ended in disaster… I can’t explain why, but I can’t shake the feeling that the worst is yet to come.
Honestly, three weeks have passed since I made Alice my girlfriend… and she is just about the only thing going right in my life.
We spend most evenings together, debating philosophy, reading her smut books, making love all over my apartment. Sometimes, we don’t feel the need to talk. With Alice tucked next to me, even silence is a joy.
The Wedding of the Century is only six weeks away, and Ella has handed the reins over to my sweet girl completely.
She spends her days working nonstop, often groaning in frustration over the safety measures I’ve kept firmly in place.
Although I know I’m going to have to lighten up soon—she and Ella have final meetings all over town, next week.
I still don’t like it.
The pieces of this puzzle don’t fit together yet, but each feels vitally important. Paparazzi finding Alice in the first place. Daniel bleeding out underneath me. Ted’s bloated corpse. The bullet holes in his body—two in the heart, one in the head.
And then there’s the one memory that bothers me more than the others: Alice’s apartment door, hanging wide open. Everything inside untouched.
I’ve checked every bit of footage pulled from nearby street cameras a dozen times. I never see anyone go up her stairs or come down them. She has to be right about Tris leaving the door ajar, given her roommate’s general thoughtlessness and the fact that no one else even approached their stairs.
The roommate in question gives me an over-the-top wink as Jules and I exit my office and pass by her glass cubicle. Juliet waves at her before leaning closer to me and muttering, “So. Anything you want to tell me?”
My teeth grind together again. “Such as?”
Juliet snorts at me. “You haven’t been to Abuelita’s in a month.
You called Graham to ask for flower shop suggestions.
All your goons are giggling about you watching endless surveillance footage of a certain woman.
And Ella told me she helped you set up your apartment for a date. Are you hiding your new girlfriend?”
My cousin grins, sensing an easy victory. “Perfect. Family dinner next Saturday. Try to be on time, and maybe take the stick out of your ass beforehand.”
Having gotten what she wanted, she abandons the premise of walking with me to Grayson’s office, flouncing back toward the legal department. But not before shooting Tris Dunn a wink.
Honestly, the fact that they planned this whole thing doesn’t even surprise me.
And it certainly isn’t enough to distract me from the alert that pops up on my screen.
Holy fuck.
I stand frozen, watching the black-and-white video streaming from a surveillance camera. My entire plan for the afternoon disintegrates. Hours of work and checking up on a certain special project I’m working on in the background… It’s all impossible to focus on, now.
Holy. Fuck.
I turn on my heel, heading for the exit.
And I don’t look back.