Chapter 32
Lily
“Ibrought you lunch.” Anna holds up a bag as she walks into my office.
“Did you get yourself some, too, like I told you?” Any time I’ve asked Anna to get me something since I’ve been on office arrest, I’ve insisted she buy something for herself as payment.
“Yep, I figured we could eat together.” She sets the bag on my desk and sits down. “I feel like it’s been too long since we’ve chatted.”
I smile and open the bag. After the disaster of a day I had yesterday, I’m happy to spend some time with Anna. I won’t burden her with everything, but it might be nice to talk to her about a few things.
“It has been a while. Everything’s been so crazy; I feel like I don’t even know up from down anymore.”
“Do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?”
I had to tell her enough to explain why I wouldn’t be back after lunch, but I didn’t go into detail. I take our food out of the bag and set each order in front of us.
“It wasn’t a big deal. Just a little break-in at the house. I got a notice on my phone when I was at lunch with Chris. Nothing was stolen, thankfully.”
She frowns as she unwraps her food. “They broke in and didn’t steal anything? That seems odd.”
Taking a deep breath, I decide to reveal a little more to her than I intended. “I’d prefer you not to share this, but I think Blake was into something bad. I don’t know what, exactly, but I think the break-in had to do with something shady he was doing before he died.”
Her eyes widen, and she glances over her shoulder, as if to make sure we’re alone in my office. When she’s satisfied we are, in fact, alone, she hisses, “Is that why he was killed?”
I swallow hard and shrug. “I don’t really know.”
“Wow…” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Well, not to be flippant about the dead, rest his soul, but good riddance.”
A strangled laugh drags out of my chest. “That seems to be a recurring sentiment.”
Lifting her sandwich, she wags her eyebrows. “You know who I wouldn’t say good riddance to if I were you?”
I press my lips together, having a feeling I know where she’s going with this. “Who?”
“Chris Rivers.”
Picking up a chip, I say, “I plead the fifth.”
Her giggle helps lighten the heaviness inside me that’s become a constant companion over the last few weeks.
By the time we finish lunch, I’m feeling infinitely better.
“Thanks, Anna. I needed that,” I tell my friend with a smile.
“You’re welcome. I know we see each other every day, but I miss you. Let’s make sure we talk more.”
My cell phone starts ringing, but I ignore it for a second to promise her we will. When she’s out of sight, I connect the call, not bothering to look at the name.
“Hello?”
“Lily, I need you to meet me at your house. I have some papers for you to sign for Blake’s estate.”
I haven’t heard from Vernon in weeks, so I’m a little annoyed that he’d be calling me randomly with papers to sign.
“Does it have to be today?” I check the time on my computer, seeing it’s a little past one.
“I’d prefer it to be today, yes. There are some time-sensitive ones that I need you to sign. Unfortunately, they slipped my mind until that last minute, what with me being old and forgetful.”
“Can you bring them by my office for me to sign here?”
“That’s all the way on the other side of town. It’d take me longer because I have to drive back to my office.”
He’s got a point there. His office is only a few minutes from my house.
Sighing, I relent, “Fine. I’ll be there as soon as I can. You still know the code for the door and security system?”
Blake insisted Vernon have those in case something happened, which made sense.
“I do.”
“Okay, go on in when you get there. Excuse the mess. There was a break-in yesterday.”
“See you soon, Lily. Thank you for doing this. I think we’ll both be happy when this is all over with.”
“Uh, okay, sure. No problem.”
I disconnect the call and grab my purse. As I reach in to grab my keys, I remember—I don’t have a car.
“Shit.”
I call Chris, hoping he isn’t busy, so he can give me a ride.
It goes straight to voicemail. I start to worry about him until I remember he told me he had court today, and he’s mentioned in the past that he turns off his phone sometimes and would call me back as soon as he got out of court if he ever missed a call from me.
I rush out to Anna’s desk. “I have a favor. Can I borrow your car? Chris dropped me off, and I have to go sign some papers for Blake’s estate. It shouldn’t take more than an hour.”
She spins her chair and grabs her purse. “Of course. I won’t be using it. Will you be back for your three o’clock?”
“Yeah, I should be. I hope this won’t take that long. But I’ll call you if anything changes.”
Smiling, she drops her keys in my palm. “Sounds good. Drive safe.”
“Thank you!” I yell out as I hurry to the front door.
It isn’t lost on me that Chris is probably going to be frustrated with me for leaving. But the way I look at it, my house is probably the safest place to go. Who would be stupid enough to go back to a house you broke into the day before?
As I’m turning into my driveway, a thought occurs to me. Why didn’t Vernon ask me about the break-in?
That seems like what most people would do when some tells them their house was broken into. Maybe he just has too much on his mind to concern himself with my problems. Or maybe he doesn’t really care about me, and the less he has to feign concern about my misfortune, the better.
After today, hopefully, that can be the last of interactions, and I won’t have to worry about whether he truly cares. I park behind his car and jog up the stairs to the door. The smell of freshly brewed coffee greets me, and I follow it to the kitchen, finding Vernon sipping a cup and staring off.
When his eyes shift to me, alarm bells go off in my head. There’s something in his gaze that terrifies me to my core.
“Lily, thank you for coming.” He sounds pleasant enough, even if his eyes don’t convey that.
I swallow down my fear, but my heart beats faster. Maybe I’m just on edge after everything. “Uh, yeah, sure. Can we hurry this along? I have to get back to work.”
His hand not holding his coffee cup raises, and he places it on the island with a thud. The sound it makes confuses me until I glance down, and every muscle in my body seizes in fear because clutched in the hand resting on the kitchen island is a gun.
My stomach twists as I hold up a hand, as if that would stop a bullet. “Vernon, what are you doing?”
He shakes his head, like I’ve disappointed him. “Lily, you just don’t get it. This is bigger than both of us.”
Sweat starts to form on my hairline. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Vernon.”
“Blake made some really bad choices. He stole something from someone very dangerous. And now that person wants it back. Or the money for it. And because Blake is gone, he’s now coming after me.”
My brain is working overtime to figure out what Vernon is talking about. I highly doubt Bob would do this, even if Blake did steal money from the company. “Did they break in here to look for whatever he stole?”
“Drugs, Lily. Blake stole drugs, and a lot of them. Because he was fucking desperate for money. He knew Bob would figure out soon enough that Blake was siphoning money from the firm to himself.”
Drugs? How the hell did Blake get wrapped up with a drug dealer?
He takes a step toward me, and my blood runs cold as I take a step back.
“Stop! Don’t move, Lily.”
I hold up my trembling hands. “Okay, sorry. Please, Vernon. You don’t have to kill me. I have some money that I can give you.”
“See, you know what’s funny? Killing you was supposed to solve our problems. Or so Blake claimed.”
“The life insurance policy.” It’s not a question, because I already know.
“Policies,” he explains, emphasizing that there are multiple. “With both of you dead, I get it all.”
My pulse skyrockets, pounding so loudly, I’m surprised I can still hear Vernon. “So you’re just going to kill me? Aren’t you worried about being caught? I told my assistant I was meeting you.”
That isn’t entirely true. I just said I was signing papers for Blake’s estate, but everyone would figure out who I was meeting with from that statement.
“No, I’m going to make it look like you committed suicide.” He mocks sadness. “And I’ll be so devastated to find you and a suicide note admitting your guilt in killing Blake. You just couldn’t take it anymore.”
Shaking my head, I remind him, “They won’t pay if it’s suicide. You should know that.”
He clicks his tongue. “This is something people don’t understand. There’s a suicide clause on most insurance policies that will still pay if the suicide occurs outside the time period stated. And guess what?”
He sounds way too excited while discussing my death. I don’t want to know, but I ask anyway, “What?”
“The clause ended years ago. So we’re good to go.” His voice is chipper, as if he’s telling me the rain stopped so we can still go to the park.
I nod, trying to buy time until I can figure out how to get out of this. “But the security system. It’ll show you got here first.”
He smiles wide. “You know, I was worried about that.” Then he shrugs. “But it wasn’t even on. And I’ve already logged into the system on my phone. I can just take care of the video later.”
Panic grows. I didn’t even think about the fact that Chris and I left first last night, and the cops wouldn’t have set the alarm system. And why did I not change the password? I knew Vernon had the panel’s codes, but I didn’t think Blake had given him the password to log in to the system.
Vernon moves closer, and my body tells me to run.
Self-preservation starts an internal debate about whether he would ruin his plan by shooting me in the back if I ran, but fear has me not wanting to risk it.
I already know too much, so there’s no way he’ll just let me get away, even if that would make the suicide claim impossible.
Maybe there’s another way. There has to be. I can’t die after everything. I’ve worked so hard to live. I’ve done things I never thought I’d ever do to live. I met a man whom I love more than anything, who says he loves me too.
I can’t die. Not here. Not today.
“Please, Vernon. I thought you cared about me. Let’s talk about this. We can figure it out.”
His face morphs into an expression of annoyance.
“Lily, I did. But we’ve moved past that.
Sadly, I have to worry about myself now.
” He points at a piece of paper and a pen I hadn’t noticed on the island in front of one of the stools.
“Now, please sit down so we can get this note written. I have things to do this afternoon. I don’t want to waste any more time. ”
My legs quake as I take the few steps over to where he indicated. Sinking into the seat, my hands tremble harder as I pick up the pen. Vernon moves so he’s standing next to me.
“Alright, so I think you should start the letter by saying how much guilt you’re carrying…”
I stop listening as an idea starts to bloom. He has the gun by his side, so it’s not pointed directly at me, which seems like a dumb choice on his part. If I can somehow knock him off balance, it would give me just enough time to run.
“And then, you can write something about…”
He continues to ramble on, and I take some deep breaths to calm myself.
Okay, Lily, it’s now or never.
After my little pep talk, I suck in one last breath before ramming my elbow straight into his stomach.
His grunt is loud, and I leap up, knocking over the stool in the process as I start sprinting toward the door.
I hear his footsteps thudding behind me, along with cursing and more threats, and I worry I might pass out from terror at what will come if I can’t pull this off.
It hits me that I can’t remember if I locked the front door or not when I’m a foot away, and that could be the end of me.
Reaching out, panting and desperate, I whip the door open, flying down the stairs and directly into the large group of… police?
Shouting echoes, disorienting me, but I can’t make out anything that is being said. Someone wraps their arms around my shaking body and pulls me through the crowd.
I don’t even realize I’m crying until a familiar voice says, “Lily, please calm down.”
My head whips up and sees Barrington watching me, concern lining his face. “What is… I don’t understand. How… But Vernon…”
Barrington awkwardly rubs my back at my failed attempts at forming a coherent sentence. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. I’ll explain everything soon enough. But we need to secure this scene first.”
My chest burns as my heart works to calm down, and my breathing starts to return to normal, even as my mind is racing to make sense of what just happened and the scene that now surrounds me. How are they here? How did they know I would need help? Are they here for me or for Vernon?
He guides me over to a waiting SUV. “Have a seat in here. I need to go help. I’m assuming you’ll want to call Rivers?”
I blink a few times and nod. “But my phone…” I trail off and point vaguely toward the house, shock still trilling through my body.
Barrington smiles, but it looks more like a grimace. “Like he said yesterday, I do have his number, unfortunately. I’ll give him a call.”
It seems Barrington isn’t the only one having a problem smiling as I attempt to force one on my face and fail. I opt to nod and whisper a thank you.
He walks away as I take in the chaotic scene in front of me. A few dozen law enforcement officials are standing around. Some with guns pointed at Vernon, who’s now kneeling at the base of the porch stairs, being handcuffed, and others just waiting in the background to step in if needed.
Fresh tears slip down my cheeks and nausea rolls through me as the adrenaline drops and reality swoops in to take its place.
Chris is all I need right now.