Chapter 29 Annalise
Chapter twenty-nine
Annalise
There’s movement from the other side of the bed, and a sense of relief washes over me from seeing Aiden waking up, too. I was worried the anticipation of the day was going to keep him up the rest of the night.
“Good morning,” I mumble.
“Good morning.” His voice is stern, not the sweet lilt that I got yesterday, but calm, focused. “I’ll go make our coffees if you want to get ready and finish packing your stuff.”
I nod, trying to push away the little flutter of uncertainty in my stomach. “Yeah, I’m going to rinse off too. Should be ready in ten.”
“That’s fine,” he says, barely looking at me as he gets up. “No need to rush. We’ve got thirty minutes before we need to leave.”
I head into the bathroom, washing away the lingering sweat of my nightmare and trying to scrub the dark memories off my skin so they don’t cling to me today.
When I finish, I slip into leggings, a sports bra, and running shoes, my movements automatic. I pull my hair into a high ponytail and keep my makeup minimal—a little concealer to cover up the dark circles under my eyes, a swipe of mascara, and clear lip gloss to give a neutral, but pretty finish.
Once everything is packed up, I drop my bag by the door and join Aiden in the kitchen.
He spits his coffee back into his mug when I walk in. “That’s what you’re wearing for our mission?”
“Yes? I need to look the part to get us in, and then it’ll be easy for me to move around in once we’re inside.”
Aiden’s brows furrow slightly as he takes another sip, then lets out a quiet ‘hmmm’ but doesn’t say anything else.
I shrug and decide to take full advantage of the last few minutes of downtime we have before the hard part of the mission starts.
After thanking him for my coffee, I walk out to the porch and settle into a chair, letting the salty breeze hit my skin.
The sound of waves crashing against the shore fills the silence, and for a brief moment, I let myself relax.
Aiden doesn’t say another word to me after he tells me our bags are packed, and he’s ready to go whenever I am.
His lingering tension is evident in his posture the entire drive. Rather than trying to force him to talk to me, I let him process whatever is bothering him in silence while I focus on what I need to do today.
Mentally, I run through the plan again before instinctively pulling my hair tight in its ponytail.
“I’ll run from here,” I announce, the first sound other than his turn signals since we got into the car.
Aiden glances at me, then at the GPS on the dashboard. “We’re still another two miles away from his office.”
“Exactly." I bite back a smile. “If I’m going to sell that I’ve been out for a run, I should probably have the sweat to back it up. It’s been a few days since I’ve run, and it’s hotter here, so the sweat should come a little easier.”
He looks at me, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes, but he doesn’t argue. “Fine,” he mutters, slowing down and pulling over to the curb. “I’ll be waiting on the side of his building for your signal.”
“Sounds good,” I say as I climb out, “See you soon, Ace.”
I do a quick stretch on the sidewalk and pop in my headphones, drowning out the world as High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco sets my pace.
I thank yesterday’s mimosas for how quickly I break a sweat, perfectly glistening by the time I reach the high-rise where Greg works.
This is it. No time for nerves.
After putting my phone and headphones in my pocket, I sprint into the building, pretending to be more out of breath than I am.
“Excuse me!” I call to the security guard, lacing my voice with panic as I stand in the open doorway. “Have you seen a black lab run by here?”
I bend down to tie my shoe that I untied right before running in here. “I accidentally dropped his leash when I tripped, and he took off in this direction.”
“Sorry, ma’am. I haven’t noticed a dog run by. Are you sure he came this way?” The young man asks as he looks down my sports bra, blatantly checking out my boobs.
I flash him a smile, letting my eyelashes flutter. “I’m sure you’re busy,” I say, lowering my voice to sound more intimate. “But would you mind looking in the alley behind the building for me while I check the next block over? It’s so dark, I’m a bit scared to go back there.”
His eyes linger on me for a second too long, then he nods, eager to help. “Not at all. And once we find him, maybe you’ll give me your number so we can find ways for you to work up a sweat that you won’t trip during.”
Holy shit. I was not expecting that bold of game from his boyish face.
I let out a little laugh and slowly run my hand down his arm, “Sounds like a date.”
I follow him out the door, and as he turns toward the alleyway, I call after him, “His name is Carter!”
As he disappears, Aiden casually strolls up to the front door and walks in. I follow closely behind.
We climb all eight flights of stairs, and I thank the gods that Greg’s office isn’t any higher as my legs start to burn.
The office is only two doors down from the stairwell, but it’s clear that no one else is here, which makes sense on a Sunday.
Aiden reaches for his lock picks, but when he grabs the handle, it opens easily. I guess Greg thought the armed security guard would be enough.
The office is everything I pictured after meeting Greg yesterday.
Clean. Organized. Only a single photo of him and Tara, showing him as the loving husband he tries to portray, while the rest of the frames are of him driving a boat, shaking hands with what I assume are important people, and golfing with some of his friends who were at brunch yesterday.
We split up to search his office. Aiden checks his desk drawers while I look behind the paintings hanging on the wall and through the tall grey filing cabinet.
“I’m not seeing anything,” I whisper to Aiden right as the fire alarm starts blaring through the building.
“Fuck! I checked all over here, but I don’t see anything either.” Aiden shouts over the alarm.
“Maybe we got it all wrong, and it is at his house? Or in his car?” I’m panicking, but we need a direction to move.
“I don’t know, but we need to get out of here.” He says, and we both turn toward the door.
“Wait!” his voice pulls me back, and he runs to the bookshelf. “Help me look behind these books really quick.
We both start pulling handfuls of books out, checking behind them, and putting them back exactly how we found them. We’re almost done when I spot it: a small, concealed safe, nearly blending into the dark wood. My pulse picks up, but I keep my breathing steady. “I think I got it!”
Aiden takes no time picking the lock and pulling the hard drive out.
“Let’s go. We have to hurry. The lobby will be swarming with first responders any minute. We’re going to have to take the emergency exit out the back.”
We take the stairs two at a time until we get to ground level.
“Shit, the emergency door didn’t unlock with the safety measure like it should have! It still needs a keycard,” Aiden says. “We’re going to have to hide and try to get out when they start checking every floor.”
“Or, we could use this keycard I found,” I say, passing him the card I swiped off of—dang, I didn’t even catch the guard's name for when I tell Sasha and Matt this story later.
“You’re brilliant,” he grabs the card and swipes it, letting us step out into the dark alleyway.
“Let’s move,” Aiden says, but I hesitate, my eyes scanning the alley for a split second. I stop dead in my tracks, making him halt beside me.
“Keep going, I’ll catch up in a second,” I whisper, already turning back.
“What? Where are you going?” he asks, voice low but laced with confusion.
I jog halfway up the alley before dropping the keycard on the ground, ensuring it’s in plain sight. I know the smooth talker will come back here, hoping he dropped it when he was looking for Carter. And since he was willing to help me find my fake dog, I don’t want him to lose his job over this.
Aiden shakes his head in frustration as I run back to him, but he's settled down by the time we’re in the car, and he’s putting the location of our drop into the navigation system.
Of all places for a spy drop, we pull up to an ice cream shop. Aiden takes my hand when he opens my car door, putting on the ‘newlywed’ mask once more.
Inside, there’s a family of four, a couple, and two people sitting individually. Unfortunately, no one is holding a sign that reads, “Drop your hard drive here,” so we need to figure out which one is our contact.
Not wanting to draw any attention our way, we get in line and start looking at their ice cream flavors.
“What looks good to you, Sweetheart?” Aiden asks.
“I’m stuck between rocky road and strawberry. Ooo, or maybe mint chocolate chip.” I laugh. “What are you thinking?”
His lips twitch slightly, “How about you get a scoop of two of them, and I’ll get the third and the cookies and cream? Then we can share.”
This feels like us again. Or at least the us we’ve been pretending to be, but I can’t help but smile regardless.
“You’re too good to me.” I sigh and kiss his cheek.
I get some napkins and grab a table in the corner while he orders and pays. From here, we have a clear view of everyone and a little privacy to talk.
“What have you noticed?” he asks as he passes me my cone.
“The girl closest to us is out, she’s been smoking her weed vape, and I don’t think they are letting us do drugs for a mission.”
“Doubt it.”
“That leaves the couple, the guy sitting by himself, and the family of four,” I say, taking in details for each of them, looking for any signs.
The man in question gets up, throws away his trash, and leaves.
“Scratch that, it’s down to the family of four and the couple since we had a set drop point.”
“Wait, say that again.”
“Say what? That we had a set drop point?”
“That’s it! The family can’t be our contacts because there is no way they could sit here all day with two small kids, but the employee who has a set shift would already know he’s going to be here the full drop-off window without raising suspicion!
” I’m whispering, but internally, I am screaming from the rooftop.
I lick my ice cream in an attempt to act casually, but I can’t help but watch him now. He’s average height, with short hair and a nice customer service smile, but it’s the way he keeps glancing at us, checking if we’re looking his way, that gives him away.
“He’s the one,” I mutter under my breath. “But now what? Do we just walk over there?”
Aiden keeps his voice low, but there’s a confident edge to it now. “No. We wait. He’ll do something, I’m sure of it. If he’s the contact, he knows how this works.”
We’re silent for a few minutes, eating our ice cream and watching the employee as he wipes down the glass cases and chats with the couple. Nothing too unusual, but there’s a constant flicker in his eyes—always scanning the room.
Then, finally, after what feels like an eternity, he walks over to us, “How’s your ice cream? Oh, here, let me clean that up for you.”
He grabs a towel from his apron and pretends to wipe up a mess while Aiden sets the hard drive between him and the table. Immediately, the towel is covering the drive, and the employee is moving it into his apron pocket.
“Thanks for coming in today. Hopefully you’ll come back next time you’re in town,” he says as he walks back behind the counter.
We don’t say anything else; we take our time finishing our ice cream before standing up to leave.
Aiden doesn’t take my hand this time; instead, his hand drops to my lower back in the protective way he does, and he gently guides me outside. My heart is still racing, adrenaline surging as we approach my car door. Before he bends to open it, I pop up on my toes and kiss him.
Aiden freezes, and for a split second, I think he might pull me closer, but instead, he steps away from me, his hand reaching for the handle and his expression unreadable.
He clears his throat, his voice almost too controlled when he speaks. “We did it. Mission’s over.”
I pull back, my heart sinking a little. I should’ve known better. I should’ve expected it, but the rush of relief, of everything finally being over, made me forget who I was working with.
I force a smile, though it feels hollow now. “Yeah. We did.”
The drive back to Scion should be filled with excited energy. We got the hard drive. We made the drop early. We completed our mission and will be getting back with time to spare.
But it’s not.
We’ve been in the car for over an hour, and I can’t get Aiden to say more than two or three words at a time.
It’s like when the sun rose this morning, it burned away the warmth we’d found from the roles we’d been playing all weekend. The teasing stopped. The easy companionship we’d shared during our “newlywed” charade turned abruptly professional.
I thought his behavior change was his way of coping with us preparing to break the law and complete the mission, which was understandable; I was nervous and needed to focus too, but now it’s all done, and he’s still distant.
I don’t know if I upset him when I tried to kiss him after we made the drop. Or maybe none of it was real.
I’ve tried bringing up anything I thought that might get him talking: Sports, his family, dragons, hell—I even tried asking how he and Lucas met. His response was a grumbled, “Scion,” and nothing more.
The high of the mission and the adrenaline that came with it have worn off, and I have woken up from the dreamworld I’ve been living in all weekend, where, stupid me, I thought Aiden and I could have something real, yet again.
So now I’m sitting here, staring out the window at fields I’d been too distracted by Aiden’s charm to notice on our way here, as I try to ignore the tears that want to fall.
“I can’t do this anymore!” Aiden shouts as he abruptly swerves off the highway and onto a gravel road.