Chapter 2
Chapter Two
ARI
“What do you mean you’re stuck in Seaport? You were supposed to get the photos and come back.” I unlock my car and put my phone on speaker before I back out of the garage. “Mack, are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here,” he whispers into the phone. “Listen, things got complicated, okay? I’m going to be here for a few days.”
“Lawson is on his honeymoon, and now you take off. I guess I’ll just run the entire company on my own!”
Mack sighs dramatically, and I can hear his eye roll. “Or you could get the stick out of your ass and take a vacation for the first time ever.”
“You take enough vacation for the three of us.” I turn into traffic and check my watch. “There’s enough going on that one of us needs to be there.”
“There’s nothing going on that can’t wait.” There’s loud music in the background, and I have a sneaking suspicion my brother is partying.
“Are you at a strip club?”
“I thought we were talking about you taking a vacation?” He tries to change the subject.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Seriously, Ari. I checked the schedule, and I’m working our only active case.
The rest of it is paperwork, and none of us need to be in the office to do that.
We cleared the schedule so that Lawson could get married.
Why not take advantage of it this week and do something fun? Like organizing your socks.”
“Asshole,” I murmur.
Lawson met his bride Vanna in a not-so-conventional way after he saw her in a wedding dress and then decided to do some light kidnapping.
Thankfully, they both fell ass over feet in love within seconds and tied the knot as fast as they could afterwards.
We’re all pretty sure Vanna is already pregnant, but I think they’re going to wait until they come home from the honeymoon before they announce it.
I’m thrilled for my brother, and I’ve never seen him like this before.
There’s something about Vanna that brings out the best in him, and I love seeing both of them so content.
Maybe there’s a tiny piece of me that feels like he’s moving on, but the bigger part of me recognizes that he’s truly happy for the first time.
Okay, maybe if I’m being honest, that tiny piece is jealousy.
Sometimes when they look at one another, I have to turn away because it feels too intimate.
I never wondered what that felt like before now.
“Hey, can I get this in one-dollar bills?” I hear Mack say to someone.
“Please don’t spend all your money in a strip club. I don’t want to explain to Mom that your fortune went in someone's ass crack.”
“It’s okay, big bro, I’m hoping it’s my dick getting in someone’s ass crack.”
I rub the bridge of my nose and shake my head. “Too much information, Mack.”
“What, I thought we were sharing?” He chuckles, and then the music is muffled. “Listen, I’ve gotta go.”
“Okay but when you’re finished with whatever it is you’re choosing over your own flesh and blood, get your ass back to the city.”
“I miss you too,” he says before he ends the call.
“Am I the only responsible one?” I ask the empty car and then answer my own question. “Clearly.”
After I pull into our parking garage, I get out of my car and check my phone.
There’s another security alert on the door to our offices, but it’s not unusual.
The cleaning crew sometimes sets it off by accident, and I have to come in and reset it.
It’s been going off for the past couple of hours, and I mistakenly thought Mack was there to take care of it.
It’s not as though I’ve got big plans tonight anyway.
I was organizing some older files we had in storage at my house, and I was planning on getting takeout.
That’s about the extent of my exciting life these days, and I remind myself that I’ve got to get out more.
Maybe I should take a page out of Lawson’s book and go up to the lake house for a few days.
Too bad I can’t kidnap the love of my life and take her with me.
When I get to the office, I see all the lights are off, so the cleaning crew must have left. The door is locked, and when I punch in my code, nothing happens.
“Huh?” I try it again, but the keypad must be dead. Digging in my pocket, I take out the emergency key we have as a backup.
When the door pops open, I can see right away that something is different.
The first room to our floor is for our office administrator.
She always has everything put away and perfectly neat.
It’s one of the things I love most about Mrs. Ruth.
Walking over to her desk, I see a few papers left out, and one of her pictures is sideways. Maybe the cleaning crew did this.
We keep all of our secure documents locked up, so I don’t worry about anyone stealing information, but there are still a few things that would fall under use discretion and not necessarily confidential.
Her calendar has the names of our clients listed on it, and I can see Megan Delanito is at the top of it.
She’s one of the worst clients we’ve ever had, and I knew she was going to be trouble the moment Lawson took her on.
We terminated her contract after we found out she planted drugs on her husband to get him arrested.
She’s since tried to make our lives hell, but I’m hoping that after meeting with her almost-ex-husband, their divorce can come to an end with him as the victor.
I walk down the hall and peek inside Lawson’s office before going to Mack’s.
Nothing looks out of place with their offices, but I wouldn’t exactly know if someone ransacked it because they’re both a mess.
My office is at the end of the hall and where we keep the server.
I’m going to check there just as a precaution, and then I can set the alarm and go home.
I should be able to make it back in time to grab some ramen from my favorite place before it closes.
The moment I step in my office, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. There’s something off even though everything looks normal. Is there a change in the air? Is it the hint of something that smells like flowers? It’s strange, and it makes my heart beat faster.
When I walk over to my desk, I grab my chair to take a seat, and that’s when I hear a scream.