by Shaw, Vicki
“You made it with only five minutes to spare,” Matt said as he walks over and gives me a kiss on the cheek and a hug. I meet Matt at his family owned bar and night club when Roxie and two of my other friends went on a girls night out before Roxie got kidnapped. Ever since than he has been my rock. He was there the whole time when Roxie got kidnapped and we have become very close. He has never put the hard word on me for sex. He has always been the prefect gentleman. Both Martin and Jake stop talking when Matt walks away and look at me. I really don’t like to look of concern they both have on their faces. I get the felling this is bad. Really, really bad. My heart sinks to my stomach and a sick feeling washes over me.
“Hi Martin,” I say as I walk over and give him a quick peck on the cheek.
“You remember Jake don’t you?” Martin asks. I nod my head and say hi. Of course I remember who Jake is. In fact I meet him in this very penthouse when Roxie when missing a couple of months ago and the team he was in charge of, from the Australian Federal Police, had set up a command center here.
By the time I had finished saying hello to all the guys Roxie was at my side waiting for her turn. I pull her into the tightest hug I can. Of course, being careful not to hurt the small bump that is now her belly.
“I’m so sorry Roxie. You just wanted a quiet night in so we could catch up. I have probably over reacted and this is all a waste of time.” I try and keep my voice upbeat and as unconcerned as I can. We pull away from each other so I can look into her eyes. I don’t like what I see there. Concern, sadness, worry and stress. They all flash so fast I’m not sure if I am reading them right.
“I am over reacting aren’t I Jake?” Not wanting to really hear what the answer is, I bite my bottom lip and scrunch my eyes closed. When he doesn’t answer straight away I open one eye a little to look at him while holding my breath.
“Sorry Carly, things aren’t looking good. We were hoping that we would be further along in the investigation before we had to tell you and Roxie what is going on.
“On the file that we retrieved from Roxie’s parents house we found bank transactions which has lead us to a number of people. All these transactions have lead us to look into Max and his company. We have found that The Hindmarsh Corporation is all above board and he is using it as a front company, however, there are many others that the AFP forensic accountants are still tracing. They are trying to find where all the transactions have come from and who made them.” I can hear what Jake is saying but finding it hard to take it all in. “Can I have a look at the photos you took at the office?” I hand my phone over to Jake and go and sit down with Roxie at the dinning room table so the guys can look at the photos. I didn’t only take photos of the files on Roxie and myself, there were other files with numbers, names addressers and other things that I had no idea what they meant but thought they may be helpful to Jake.
After a while Jake, Matt and Martin come and sit at the table. “Okay just tell me whats going on Jake because I am really starting to freak the hell out,” I demand.
“I have sent some of the photos to our tech guy, Brad, who has been working with us on this. He ran some of the names and they match with the ones we are already investigating. I don’t think it is a good idea for you to go home right now or go into work. You may need to make up a story for why you aren’t at home or at work.” Jake tells me.
“It’s ok I have it covered. Before I left I told Michelle, the receptionist, that I was going home sick. If anyone asks why I didn’t go home I will tell them Roxie insisted I stay here with her so she could take me to the doctor. But I am going to have to go home because I need some stuff.” I tell him.
“I’ll take you,” Matt jumps in. “Than you can stay at my house until we work out what we are going to do.”
“Thanks Matt but it is probably better if I stay here. Martin has security and I don’t want to put you out,” I would love nothing more than to stay with Matt but right now I don’t feel safe. Matt and Jake exchange a look that I can’t read, than Jake shrugs his shoulders. I look between the two of them trying to work out what is going on. Matt takes a deep breath and starts talking.
“Well here’s the thing. I am ex Special forces and still work with the AFP on some cases. I use to work undercover. After I finished my last case twelve months ago I needed time off so I came home to help out at the bar. At the start I didn’t tell Jake who I was because at that stage I was only interested in getting to know you. However, after I found out how serious the whole thing was and some of the countries that are involved, I asked Jake if I could join his team. I wanted to do anything to help keep you safe.” I don’t know if I am furious because he has kept all this from me or glad he was around.
“Fine I will go home with you Matt, but just so you know I am processing what you have just told me. Me going home with you may just be the biggest mistake you have ever made,” I stand up, go and give Roxie a kiss on the cheek, say goodbye to Martin and Jake and walk to the door. “Well are you coming or not” I say over my shoulder to Matt.
“Good luck with that” I hear Roxie say to Matt while she is laughing at him. Then she yells out to me “I’ll call you tomorrow to see how your going Carly. If you need me just ring.” I don’t even turn around I just keep walking to the door and wave over my shoulder to signal I heard her.
The car ride over to my place is one made in silence. I am still processing everything that has happened today. It is going to take a while to work out what to do. It looks like I will not be able to go back to work so I’m going to have to find another job and because I’m no longer working at The Hindmarsh Corporation I am going to have to find somewhere else to live and a new car. And, do all this so Max doesn’t get suspicious. The last thing I want is for Max to go under ground and never be found. With his money and connections I know he is capable of doing just that.
When we arrive at my house, I tell Matt to stay in the car because we still are not sure if there are cameras, installed and if there is, if they are video with sound recording. I throw a few things into a bag as quick as I can so I can get out of here as quick as possible. The whole time I’m packing I am trying to come up with plausible reasons to give to Max as to why I can’t work for him and end our relationship. In some ways he really shouldn’t be surprised that I leave him and work. He hasn’t been around the least couple of months so we don’t even really have a relationship left, there is also not much work for me to do while he is away so much. I just have to come up with a new job to tell him about. He knows I wouldn’t just leave with no job to go to. I am still pondering my options as I reach Matt’s car. He has the back door already open waiting for my bag to be placed in there. He no sooner closes that door and is making his way around to the front passenger door to open for me.
“You do know that by being a gentleman and opening my door is not going to help you if I decide that I’m pissed because you hid stuff from me, right?” I say as I slide into the car. “But it can’t hurt, can it?” He asked with a sexy grin before he closed my door . He really is one very hot specimen of the male form. All lean with just the right amount of muscle. Brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. If I wasn’t already involved with Max, Matt would defiantly be a guy I would want to be my boyfriend. It is a shame that boat has sailed and we are now best friends. I would never do anything to jeopardize that.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wow, I never thought I would get to the stage to be writing acknowledgments. It has been a long road to get here.
I need to thank my family. Without your understanding I would never have finished. If you didn’t keep asking me how my book was coming it would still be sitting half finished. So thank you.
Thank you, Author, Jaye Cox. If it wasn’t for you I would still be fumbling around in the dark trying to figure out how to set everything up to be an Indie author. Please look her up on Facebook.
Tracey Soxie Weston, thank you for my amazing cover. I have had so much positive feed back. Everyone loves it.
Laura Tepedion Hampton from Editing For You/Wrap Your Words. Thank you for answering all my questions and finding me some beta readers.
To everyone else who has helped me along the way, you know who you are, thank you for your help.
And lastly to you, my amazing readers. Thank you for taking the chance on an unknown author. I hope you have enjoyed my first novel and are looking forward to reading the next to books in this 3 part series about Carly, Max and Matt. Both to be released in 2016. Also keep yur eyes out for my side project to be released in 2016.
You can find all the latest news about my novels on my Facebook page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vicki’s love of books and reading started when she was in high school. She had struggled with speech, spelling and reading her whole life until she turned 15 and an English teacher introduced her to the world of books and reading. From there, there was no stopping her. She started reading Mills and Boon books but soon moved on to historical romances. She now reads just about anything.
She started writing plays in high school but no one knew or ever read them. She then moved onto writing poetry when a life-changing event happened in her life. It was her way of dealing with it. After reading hundreds of books she decided that she had untold stories to tell and that is when she started writing books.
She is now living in Brisbane Australia with her husband and five of her six children (the eldest of the six is living on campus at a college not far away), a cat, and the baby of the family Pixie Diva, the much loved family dog.