by Gina Whitney
I had gotten to know Sig’s MO over the past few months. If he was going to hurt Lilly, it would not be tonight; he would be more careful than that. So I decided to lie low for a few hours. I would scope out Sig’s house and monitor whether or not my attackers showed up. When everything was clear, I was going to get my woman.
Ever since I caught Becky at Cam’s house, I had made considerable progress moving on from him. I had accomplished this mainly by occupying my time with the arduous details of planning an exclusive wedding. The endless lists of caterers, florists, and musicians almost made me forget Cam even existed.
Though Sig was not the man I had envisioned my future with, I was resolved to my fate and decided to make the best of it. I mean what was so terrible about it? I had my dream job, a mansion here in the States as well as homes all over the world, and more money than I could spend in a lifetime. I chalked Cam up to experience and started a new chapter in my life.
As I perused yet another bridal magazine, I heard the chime of the intercom notifying me that someone was at the front gate. Who the hell is that? I asked myself as I walked over to answer. “Hello?”
All I heard was the breath of a man.
Really.
Occasionally some of Sig’s groupies would show up and do silly shit like that. “Please go away before I call the police,”
I said indifferently.
Then an urgent voice spoke up. “Lilly, don’t hang up. It’s Cam.”
I shook my head, in no way believing it was really him. I backed away while the intercom buzzed incessantly. After centering myself, I pressed the button again. “Cam, is that really you?”
“Yes, Lilly. It’s me. I have to talk to you.”
Full-body flutters filled me up as a wide smile enveloped my face. But as I was about to open the gate, I remembered something. Cam had been fucking Becky for a year and conveniently left out that detail. He was a piece of shit. This thing with Becky…well, I could not get past it.
“Did you bring your little girlfriend with you?”
“What? What are you talking about? You mean Becky? That’s what I’m here to explain along with something much more important.”
“Fuck you, Cam. I trusted you, and you fucked around behind my back. You let me down.”
There was a momentary silence, and then he let me have it. “Me! I let you down? You made me believe that we had a real connection, that you actually gave a good goddamn about me. The minute I turned my back on you, you got engaged to your puppeteer. All I did was love you. All you did was shit on me.”
Cam had some fucking nerve jumping on me. I disconnected from the intercom, giving him a metaphorical good riddance. The next thing I knew, I heard an incredibly loud crash. Cam, that fool, had rammed the front gate. I went to the phone to call 911 but thought, Fuck that. I would confront him myself.
I opened the front door and stormed outside to meet him. I heard the familiar rumble of his motorcycle rapidly approaching. Though I was pissed off, there was still no sweeter sound. My heart was beating out of my chest with tartness and anticipation.
Like an angry archangel materializing, Cam appeared out of the morning fog. He made an abrupt stop, sliding his bike right in front of me.
“You’ve got some damn nerve being here! And my gate? You know you’re going to pay for that, right?” I said, pointing my finger in his face.
“Fuck your goddamn gate. I came to tell you that I saw you with Becky on surveillance. After you got engaged, I needed something, anything to take my mind off you. Since you came by my apartment, I figured you may still feel something for me. That’s why I’m here. But fuck trying to make nice with you. I’m also here to warn you. Sig tried to have me killed last night. That means you may be fucked too.”
All of my bravado disappeared. “Sig told me that he wouldn’t bother you if I married him.”
“You’re only marrying him to protect me?” Cam asked, calming down.
“Yes. Why the hell else do you think I would do some stupid shit like that?”
Since Sig reneged on his promise not to kill Cam, all bets were off. Besides, it had been too long since Cam and I had seen or touched each other. We stood frozen, stunned by one another’s presence. Then, like magnets, we ran into a desperate embrace. Lightning pulsed through me, torching my soul. All my despair was cremated by Cam’s touch. I nearly forgot how good he smelled and took deep pulls of his heady scent. It did not bother me that he smelled like an atomic mixture of sweet sweat and alcohol.
I pulled back to take a closer look at him. That’s when I noticed that Cam’s nose was smeared with dried blood and his eye was blackened. “What happened?” I asked as I stroked his face.
“Xander,” Cam replied.
“I know what kind of cretin he is. He got me too.”
“He hurt you? Why didn’t you tell me? If I had known that, I would have made sure to kill him last night. I will destroy anything or anyone who hurts you. I love you that much.”
“I love you too.”
Then it happened. The kiss. The kiss that I had been denied for weeks. An inner quake broke the parched earth inside of me. I was so overwhelmed that I went totally limp in Cam’s muscular arms. Lightheadedness resulted from the blood rushing from my brain to my pussy. It welled up, a juicy fount of love that waited for Cam to take a drink. Reuniting not only got me going. It aroused Cam also. I could feel that luscious dick swelling against me. I ran my hand along its long shaft and took the head, which I worked like a snake. I could see the steam of Cam’s deep breaths leaving his nostrils as he gripped my ass.
All of a sudden he grabbed my hands. “As much as I want to take you, we don’t have time for that. We are now in the fight for our lives. I promise that I’m not going to lose you again. The only way we can be together is to get Sig out of the way. We’ve got to do that right now. There’s no more time to waste.”
“How the hell are we going to do that? Sig has bought and paid for cops all over this city and then some. We can’t trust anybody. And let’s not even get into Xander.”
I could see Cam thinking. I knew he came up with an answer when a mischievous smile crossed his face. “I’ve been working on Sig’s financials. There is some fucked-up shit in there that you have no clue about. Do you know anyone with the initial Z?”
“No.”
“Well, Sig has some shady arrangements concerning this Z. There’s a secret file in Wotherspoon’s office. I have a feeling it has some incriminating evidence that we could use against Sig. That way, he would leave us alone. The problem is that security at Wotherspoon and Associates is about as tight as Fort Knox. Those guards actually have orders to shoot to kill.”
“So what are you going to do? Are you going to get those files?”
“It’s the only way.”
“Cam, I don’t know about that. I already lost you once. I don’t want to lose you permanently.”
“Don’t worry. I promise I’ll be back. What I need you to do is hang tight. If Sig calls, pretend that everything is copasetic. Don’t make him suspicious in any way.”
I had the sinking feeling that I was looking at a dead man. I had to hug Cam so I could take my pained eyes off of him. “Please be careful and come back to me.”
He gave me one last kiss before he got on his bike and rode away. I turned around and saw Lin standing at the door. Apparently, she had seen the whole thing. I thought she would judge me. However, she gave me a supportive nod like she agreed with the actions I was taking. She went back to sweeping the floor as if nothing had happened and she was there merely doing her job.
Lin respectfully opened the door for me when I walked back in. I gave her a hug. I know it was off-putting to her, but that was my way of saying thanks. She hesitated and then returned the favor.
Chapter Twenty-One
I braved going back to my apartment so that I could get a quick shower and shave and put on one of my finest suits. If I was going to infiltrate Mr. Wotherspoon’s offi
ce, I had to at least look like I belonged on the twenty-sixth floor.
My apartment was a mess. Not only from the fight but because someone had come back and ransacked it, looking for Xander’s gun. They were not going to find it. It was in my possession now.
I rifled through some of the shit that was strewn all over the floor. I picked up my childhood photo album and my mother’s old cookbook and headed to the door. I looked back one more time at my home. It would no longer be the same; it was violated and contaminated with too many terrible memories now. After today, I could never come back to it.
Good-bye, buddy.
I closed the door on my old life and headed to Wotherspoon and Associates. With my knapsack on my back filled with my few precious possessions, I breezed through traffic, getting my game plan together. It was simple enough: do whatever it took to get that file.
By the time I arrived at Wotherspoon and Associates, I felt surprisingly calm. They had not disabled my iris recognition, so I was able to walk through the lobby undetected. I took the elevator up to my office as if nothing was amiss. However, that was not the case for everyone else there. When I stepped out onto the fifth floor, I noticed a thick tension in the air, and everyone was looking at me. Robert rushed over.
“Dude, not a good day to be here,” he said, looking around all jittery.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Wotherspoon, that Krok asshole, and their monkey, Xander, were all in a tizzy this morning. They were questioning everyone about your whereabouts. They left, but before they did, they went into your office. What’s up with that?”
“Beats me. I’ll go up to the twenty-sixth floor to see what’s going on.”
“And your fucking eye? What happened? Xander had a bandage on his head too. What, you two had a fight?” Robert joked.
“Yeah, right.”
Robert was still talking and laughing at his own joke when I started walking away. He even made reference to Xander’s painful gait, like he had been fiercely kicked in the balls. That tidbit of information put a devilish smirk on my face. But it also made it clear that Xander was nearly unstoppable.
When Robert finally realized that I was no longer listening to him and was halfway across the room, he went back to his desk to catch up on busy work. I went into my office and got my name plate. Though I knew I would not work for the firm any longer, I was determined to get it. I earned that motherfucker.
I proceeded to the twenty-sixth floor, where I saw Linda stationed in front of Mr. Wotherspoon’s office. Shit, that fucking cloven-hooved bitch was the only thing standing between me and that file. I tried to disappear into the wallpaper without her noticing me. I caught a break when one of the associates asked her to accompany him to the copy room.
That was my chance. I ghosted my way into Wotherspoon’s office and shut the door. Thankfully, the blinds were already closed. I wasted no time going to the wall safe. I remembered back to when I saw Mr. Wotherspoon open it with the numbers of his birth date. However, I still did not have the last digit… the wildcard.
I could hear the old hag’s voice in the distance as she was coming back. I had to hurry. I failed to open the safe with every combination, one through eight. With each twist of the dial, I could hear Linda’s voice growing closer. If she caught me, she would immediately call security, and there would be no telling how they would dispose of me. I finally cracked the combination with the number nine. I grabbed all the files I could fit into my hands. Then I slipped out of the office just in the nick of time, with Linda barely missing me.
I walked as fast as I could without drawing suspicion and took the back stairs. My escape did not go off without a hitch, though. Jacob caught sight of me just as I exited the door. That little rectum immediately notified security. I was almost to the sixth floor when I heard the alarms blaring. I could hear all the doors leading from the central staircase to the rest of the floors starting to lock down. I dipped through one of them right before it locked and trapped me in the stairwell. I was on a floor that was being renovated.
Through clear plastic, I saw that a window cleaner had parked his suspended platform in front of the glassless opening. That was my way out. He nearly had a heart attack when I suddenly ripped the plastic off the window hole and poked my head out like a madman. I read his nametag—Johnnie.
“Johnnie, I could really use a ride down,” I said, flashing a one-hundred-dollar bill.
That bologna-and-cheese sandwich he was holding no longer interested Johnnie as he snatched the money out of my hand. I climbed out the window, and he lowered me down. As we descended, I peeked into the windows on each floor. I could see an army of security guards frantically looking for me with guns drawn. They had orders to kill on sight.
“Could you hurry it along a bit?” I asked Johnnie.
He looked at me like he could not be bothered but quickened his pace anyway.
As I stepped off the platform on ground level, my stomach lashed out and growled at the world. I grabbed Johnnie’s sandwich and took a bite.
“Sorry, man. It’s been one of those days.” I handed the sandwich back to Johnnie and sprinted off the platform, eager to make my way back to Lilly.
The head of security had made a phone call to Mr. Wotherspoon and informed him of the happenings. Sig was still with him and had a feeling that a search of the building was futile. He knew I was headed to the mansion to retrieve Lilly and had ordered his henchmen to greet us there.
I paced nervously, waiting for Cam to return. This was it—the day I was leaving all the money and glamour behind. I didn’t bother to take down my prepacked suitcase. It was not so much because there would be no way to carry it on the back of Cam’s bike. It had more to do with me saying “fuck you” to all the bullshit Sig had put me through. I was leaving anything connected to him behind. I was leaving with what I had come with, just the clothes on my back. And that was fine with me.
The house phone rang. I knew it could only be one person. I took a deep breath and answered, making sure I sounded like everything was just fine. “Hello, Sig.”
I could detect tension on the other end of the line.
“What are you doing?” he asked. I could tell he was making sure I was not with Cam.
“Nothing. Just looking over bridal magazines. What’s going on with you?”
Sig hung up in my face. He had no interest in how my day was going. He was only concerned that I was playing the obedient dupe and that Cam was not here with me.
More importantly, Sig’s call meant that Cam had breached the inner lair of Mr. Wotherspoon’s office, and they were now hunting him down. This also let me know that Cam was still alive because if they had killed him, Sig would not have had a reason to call.
Yes!
It didn’t take long for Cam to finally show up with the mysterious files. I greeted him at the door with the most exuberant hug, jumping into his arms and nearly knocking him to the ground. Cam, in turn, gave me a boggling kiss that was about to send both of us to the bedroom. Even in this life-and-death situation, I wouldn’t have minded a quick fuck. However, Cam came to his senses and pulled his lips from mine. He immediately returned to the task at hand.
“Lilly, as much as I would like to indulge in the wonderments of your body, we really don’t have much time. They’re after me…us. I barely got out of the office alive. I hope you’re ready because we’ve got to get out of here now.”
“Let’s rock,” I said as I grabbed my coat. As I sleeved my arms, I looked around at the house and could not help but shiver at the thought that I wasted so much of my life there. Cam could see me quake and comforted me by taking my hand.
Looking deep into my eyes, he said, “I know it’s scary to give up the only thing you have known, even if it sucked your soul out of you. Change never comes easy. But a whole new life is waiting for you. A life that you’ll share with me. So don’t look back. Staying tethered to the past will do nothing but plunge a dagger through your heart. It�
�s time to go.”
As Cam led me across the front door’s threshold, I had a realization. Sig was a slippery worm, and I knew that Cam and I would only have one shot to get this right. We needed all the evidence we could get to destroy Sig once and for all. I stopped Cam in his tracks.
“We can’t leave yet,” I said.
“What? There are murderers on their way here right now. They’re not coming to negotiate or spend quality time with us. They’re coming to kill us, and they will if we don’t go.”
“I know it sounds crazy. And it is dangerous. But there might be some more incriminating evidence on Sig’s computer. He’s on that thing all the time and acts suspicious when I come around it. I just have a feeling that there’s something that can be used against him in court. At the very least I think he has another woman. Maybe that woman is Z. If so, Z may be able to help us.”
Cam let out a sigh; he knew I was right. He looked around at the property, scoping it out for any hidden dangers. All was quiet…for now.
“It’s worth a shot, but we’ve got to hurry,” he said. “Where’s the computer?”
I took Cam to Sig’s private office and shut the door behind us.
“What did you do that for? We need to be able to see what’s going on in the rest of the house at all times,” he said as he kept watch at the window.
I closed doors behind me out of habit. Sig had terrorized me for the past few years. Whenever he was frustrated at the world, he would use me as a surrogate punching bag. I learned early on to lock the doors behind me after a particularly brutal set of sneak attacks. But there would be no more of that. Cam had emancipated me from Sig’s slavery, and I opened the door without giving it another thought.
Cam waved a DVD imprinted with the letter Z in front of him. “I got this from Mr. Wotherspoon’s office today along with the paperwork. Do you have a DVD player?” he asked with total sincerity.
I laughed. “Really? Sig is one of the wealthiest men in the universe, and you actually ask me if we have a DVD player. He could buy a million DVD players. But you only need one, and it’s right behind you.”