Chapter Fourteen #2
“So let’s assume that finding the flight plans and linking Toby Sanderson to Scott’s plans alerted Scott in some way, leading him to force Mitchell to marry Eve—though, I’d like to point out we aren’t sure that’s what happened because the motive there is unclear,” Darius started.
“Meeting with the family lawyer only for him to be killed right after seems like too much of a coincidence given our original assumption. I think that either Gary knew something about Scott that he shouldn’t have known, or Scott believed that Mitchell told Gary something he shouldn’t have known.
And then suddenly two guns-for-hire come for me and Eve the next day? ”
Darius shook his head.
“I think there’s a disconnect between the two sides of what we all assume is connected to the White Knight of Small-town Living,” he continued. “Scott doesn’t know what Mitchell has found out and, like us, is probably only making guesses and reacting to opportunities as fast as he can.”
He paused long enough to jab the tabletop once, but that was enough to make what he said next the star of the show.
“So I want us to make an opportunity of our own that will make him so nervous he’ll be forced to react,” he said. “Then he’s ours.”
THE PLAN TO entrap a millionaire savior by using his best friend to admit to a conspiracy that had been at least ten years in the making wasn’t all that complicated.
The sleeping arrangements that night, however, were.
At least they felt that way to Darius, who’d spent more minutes than he should have staring at his closet before his shower.
He chose a full outfit for his sleepwear, a black T-shirt and some sweatpants, and took care to make sure each piece was perfectly in place after slipping into bed once his bandages had been changed and his medicine had been taken.
Theo helped with the latter part of the routine, hanging around in Darius’s bedroom until he was satisfied that he had helped enough.
Then he went to the living room and, Darius had no doubt, instantly went to sleep on the couch.
Apparently, he hadn’t been getting that much sleep while Darius was in the hospital.
Darius made note that, once everything was said and done, he would have to do something for the boy.
Winnie too. They might have been young, but they could give most of the adults he’d met in his life a run for their money when it came to being considerate.
A good example of that was Theo giving his room to Eve for the night.
Something she had lightly huffed about.
“I don’t want to put you out,” she’d told Theo after Winnie had left and Mitchell was wrapping up to go too.
Theo had waved the thought off. Mitchell had offered to get him a room at the hotel where he was staying—and where Eve had, in name, also been staying—but Theo had refused to leave Darius, still hurt, alone.
Though, there was never any real danger in that worry.
He’d made it clear that Eve wasn’t going to leave his side and she had been just as vocal about staying put. Her suitcase had already been in his room when he’d come back from the hospital.
Now that suitcase was down the hall in his childhood bedroom.
And Darius was staring up at the ceiling, wondering if the anxiousness he was feeling in him was warranted or not.
Half an hour after the house quieted and he was searching for the sleep that was trying to elude him, Darius was silently grateful for his thinking ahead about his sleepwear choice.
The bedroom door didn’t squeak, but the floorboard just outside of it did.
Darius kept his eyes closed as the soft clicks of the door opening and closing preceded the soft shuffles of feet wrapped in socks.
He still didn’t open his eyes when the mattress sank lightly beside him a few moments later.
Eve took care not to touch him this time, though she did speak.
“Let me stay for a bit,” she whispered at his shoulder. “It feels weird to sleep in this house without you.”
Because he knew Eve, Darius understood the statement was innocent in nature. She had, after all, spent most of her nights asleep in the same house with him next to her on the floor as kids.
But also because he knew Eve, Darius understood something else the moment she made the comment.
He hadn’t just guessed that Eve would climb into his bed that night.
Darius realized he had been hoping that she would.
MITCHELL NEVER WENT to his hotel. Everyone inside thought he had—and he certainly thought he was going to as well—but the second he made it to his rental’s driver-side door, something heavy hit his back.
The pain was a lot to handle and, in trying to suppress it, his yell internalized. All that came out of his mouth before the woman attempted the hit again was a gasp. Not even an impressive one. The cicadas in the summer would have been louder.
Regardless of his initial reaction, the second hit was enough to make the lights go out.
When he opened his eyes again, head throbbing and stomach ready to be sick, he was in a room with a woman sitting across from him in an upholstered chair.
She was young, but confidence made her feel much older than him.
Mitchell’s voice wobbled as he spoke.
“Wh-who are you?”
The woman had a gun on her lap, gloves on her hands and a clear look of annoyance on her face.
Her voice was as smooth as silk.
“Someone who was starting to get worried that I might have hit you a little too hard,” she said. “The second time. The first I misjudged how tall you were. Don’t worry, I have your number now.”
She wasn’t holding the gun, and as she crossed her legs, it moved over her thighs like a ship at sea. Mitchell couldn’t help but watch the movement with a stomach that felt more than motion sickness.
The woman caught his concerned gaze and glanced down at the weapon too.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to use this.” She pointed down at the terrifying black metal. “I’m actually here so I don’t have to use it at all. Because, believe me, it would be easier if I could, but, well, that’s now how this plays out tonight.”
“What do you mean?” Mitchell asked, voice still wobbling but at least loud enough to not be ignored. “Wh-where am I?”
He knew he was in a house, a living room, but there was nothing in his surroundings that led him to believe someone had been living in it.
The furniture that was around was hidden by dust covers, the walls around them were bare, and despite the cold outside, the heater was obviously turned off and had been for a while.
Even the chair he was splayed across felt rigid and cold.
However, despite the lack of life around him, Mitchell couldn’t help but feel it was familiar.
The only person who knew the answer for sure smiled at him.
“I’d be less worried about where you are now and more concerned about where you’re going next.” That smile didn’t change, but her gloved hand moved just enough that she could point down at the gun in her lap. “Because this gun?”
Pain was radiating across Mitchell’s body, his stomach felt ready to empty at any moment, and neither could compete with the rising fear in his chest.
However, when the woman spoke again, every fiber of his attention attached to her words.
“It’s not mine, Mr. Keys,” she said. “It’s yours. And I’m here to make sure you use it. So why don’t we go ahead and get this job going.”