Chapter 48 Harper
forty-eight
Harper
SECRET DEALS IN SHADY ROOMS.
The hotel room was paid for two more days, and I had enough stolen food to last a couple of days as well.
Then I had no money, no place to go, and no way to get there. Jonah had taken the car with him.
I should have used my time until now trying everything I could to find a job. Instead, I was lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, and feeling every bit of the situation I’d put myself in.
I was alone.
I’d abandoned Benny, abandoned Matthew and my family, abandoned my snakes. All to keep them safe.
I’d sent Jonah away, and Dex along with him.
Now I had nothing, and no one.
Rock bottom.
It all piled on until the weight of it crushed me. I was so overwhelmed with everything that I felt nothing at all.
I needed to do something.
I didn’t care.
Everything mattered, and nothing did.
All I wanted was Benny. I wanted him to do as he’d said, to hold me and keep me safe while I rested.
It was my fault. Everything. I deserved this.
The room grew darker, but I remained on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as silent tears dampened the sides of my face, dispersing into my hair.
What was I supposed to do?
I couldn’t fix this.
I wanted Benny.
Would he even take me back after all of this was over? I’d understand it if he didn’t. I’d pushed him away so many times, maybe this would be the time I was successful.
Maybe that was a good thing. He’d be better off without me.
He could find someone who’d love him the way he deserved.
I cried harder.
Shadows swallowed me, and I let them. Submitted to them. Longing for them to devour me whole.
I wasn’t going to sleep tonight, so why even bother trying to get myself off the floor and into the bed?
A distant scream caught my attention over the low buzz of electricity. Not of a person, but of a machine. A familiar one. The scream of a supercharger. Even more out of place here than the city where I’d first heard it.
Louder. Louder. Until the rumble of a bike I knew was pulling into the motel lot.
I sighed, wiped my face on my sleeves, and sat up.
My head ached. Possibly from crying. Possibly from a lack of water, or food. It didn’t matter.
I forced myself up to my feet and opened the motel door.
Shady was already standing there, helmet still on.
I stepped to the side, and he came inside as he pulled it off, running his fingers through his peach-colored hair.
“How did you find me?” I asked, voice tired.
“I have eyes wherever there are shadows.” He smirked and then gestured to the dark room we were standing in.
It wasn’t an answer, but I suspected he wasn’t going to give me a truthful one of those. It didn’t matter anyway. “What do you want?”
“To help you.”
I frowned. “Why?”
He smiled. “Because we’re friends.”
Were we? I stared at him.
He huffed. “Because you have something I want, and I have methods of getting you what you want.”
How much had Benny told him? I didn’t know a lot about Shady, but I knew enough to know that he wasn’t the kind of person you wanted to owe anything to. Maybe he could help us, but I didn’t trust he wouldn’t put us in another impossible situation.
“What is it I want?” I asked him, because I wasn’t giving up any information until I had an idea of what his motives were.
“You want your father to die.”
I swallowed.
He continued. “And more importantly, I’m betting you don’t want your boyfriend to kill him, as he intends to, just three days from now.”
“How would you know that?”
He smiled wider. “Well, I set it up for him.”
Panic clawed at my chest. “No. You can’t let him do that. It’s too dangerous.”
“I think he’ll do it with or without my help. Leon’s a very powerful man, though, isn’t he? I’d say he has much better chances of success and getting away with it if I help him.”
My mouth was dry. Because Benny had already accepted a deal with Shady, but he didn’t have anything Shady wanted as payment. That was why he was here.
“I don’t have anything you want.”
“Oh, but you do. You’re still the legal heir to Lorens Industries. Once dear old dad kicks it, you’ll be sitting pretty in that big glass tower. Question is, will Benny be sitting with you?”
My palms ached from clenched fists. “Leon will have officially removed me as his successor by now.”
“He hasn’t.”
“How would you know?”
He smiled, pointing at his eye, then gesturing to the shadows surrounding us again as he wiggled his fingers.
If he was telling the truth, and if Leon died, I was set to inherit everything. The company, the money, all of it.
“You want the money?”
He shook his head.
“You want the company?”
He smiled wider and fluttered his eyelids at me. “You’re offering me your father’s empire? Why, that’s so generous, I couldn’t possibly.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.
“Well, okay, you’ve convinced me. Such a negotiator.”
“Why do you want Lorens Industries?”
“Does it matter?”
It didn’t. I wanted Leon gone. I wanted Benny safe. I didn’t give a fuck about that company, even if it had consumed my entire life for as long as I could remember.
“So,” Shady continued. “I will help you and your lovely puppy murder your father and get away with it. You inherit the company, and then you sell it dirt cheap to Noctis Tech, and we all live happily ever after.”
“Noctis Tech?” My brow furrowed at the mention of our biggest competitor. “Wait, you own Noctis Tech?”
He shrugged. “I own a lot of things.”
My mind spun. I knew I should take my time to consider it, but beyond this, I had nothing. He was holding all the cards.
“I have conditions,” I said, and he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “When you take over, you give Rachel Forrester her own lab and team, and you’ll pay her twice what she was making at Lorens Industries.”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Anything else?”
“If Matthew Kimberly wants a job, you’ll give him whatever position he wants there too.”
“And am I to make you head of human resources while I’m at it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to work for you.”
“Well, that hurts my feelings. I’m a lovely boss. Ask anyone. Except Reggie. And Ivan. Or any of the Shadows.” He grinned and winked playfully. “Now for my conditions.”
I inhaled, completely unsure what else he’d ask for.
“You’ll say nothing of this deal to Benny, or to that vermin Henrik Kovats. Or his vile little family. Understood?”
“Why can’t I tell Benny?”
“Because I don’t trust him not to talk to his dear bestie about it. Those are my terms. Will you accept, or is the puppy facing the wolf on his own?” He pouted.
As if I had a choice.
“Fine.”
“You agree? Say the terms out loud, in full, all in one go. Swear it. I accept verbal contracts only. Paper trails are such pesky things.”
I really didn’t know what to make of Shady. All I knew was, somewhat ironically, he was the only light I could see in the shadows that enveloped me. I was desperate. And he could help. So I didn’t question him.
“I swear… if you help Benny and me to kill Leon and get away with it, I will sell Lorens Industries to Noctis Tech… provided you give Rachel Forrester and Matthew Kimberly a job.”
His finger twirled to keep me talking.
“I will not discuss any of these terms with anyone belonging to the Kovats family.”
He twirled his finger again.
“Or… Benny.”
“Marvelous. We have ourselves a deal, friend. Now, I expect you’d very much like to go home.”
Home. I wanted it more than anything. I just didn’t know what would be waiting for me there.