Empire of Lies - Whitney G. Page 0,31
my head hurts.”
Of course, the girl never gets home. Instead, she wakes up in an abandoned alley hours later—bleeding and confused. By the time she pieces together the night, his Tinder profile is deactivated and he’s crossing state lines to play his twisted game with someone else.
I can’t believe how many times he’s gotten away with this shit…
Blushing and wide-eyed, Meredith suddenly steps closer to the curb. She holds her phone up to her face and her smile falters.
Jameson has rescheduled her date at the last minute, promising to make it up to her on New Year’s Eve.
She mouths, “Ugh!” and her stunning silver stilettos almost give way as she waves to her Uber driver.
I take one last drag of my Cuban cigar, and steal a long and hard look at her sinfully red, sexy lips. My brain races with thoughts of how perfect they would look wrapped around my cock, how my hands would easily grip her almond-colored hair and guide her greedy mouth up and down my length.
Don’t even think about it…She’s just a job. Just a job.
A grey Nissan pulls over, and I tap my steering wheel. I’ll wait a few minutes before heading home and calling it a day.
I promise myself that after tonight, I won’t intervene in her life anymore—even if it’s for her own good. I’ll have to treat her like any other assignment. Otherwise, I’ll fuck up and get attached.
When the Uber is out of sight, I step out of my car and pop the trunk. Everything inside is exactly how I left it this afternoon. Connor Ryan is tied up in wires, his mouth shut with duct tape. His eyes are wide and he looks scared shitless, but he’s only getting a small dose of how all of his victims have felt.
Grabbing the edge of the duct tape, I tug hard and pull it off.
“Fuckkkkk!” He yelps. “Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me. I did what you said. I texted her and asked her to reschedule.”
“No, I asked her to reschedule.” I pull his cell phone out of my pocket and hold it up. “She’s not very happy about it, but she’ll get over it when you stand her up on New Year’s Eve, and she’ll never know how big of a bullet she dodged.”
“Bullet?” His eyes go even wider. “Don’t shoot me, please...”
“I’m not going to waste any of my bullets on you,” I say, offended that he would even think he meant that much to me. “Each one of them costs ten times more than what your life is worth.”
He nods, continuing to shake.
“I’m going to drive you to the Greyhound Station,” I say, pulling a boarding pass out of my pocket and tossing it into the trunk. “From there, you’re going to catch the 3201 bus, and you’re not going to mention me to anyone. You’re going to ride home to your pathetic, coddled life that your parents continue to pay for, and you’re going to confess to breaking house arrest and crossing state lines.”
His eyes widen, and he looks as if that punishment is somehow worse than me shooting him.
“If I print out the news forty-eight hours from now and see that you’re not being sent to prison for violating your parole, I’ll be very disappointed. But then you’ll give me the perfect excuse to take a nice drive to Pennsylvania, where I’ll show up to your house, your vacation home, and any of your family’s private estate addresses where you might be dumb enough to think you can hide from me. Then and only then, will I consider wasting one of my best bullets on you. Are we clear?”
“Yes …” Tears fall from his eyes. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” I tape his mouth once more and slam the trunk shut. Then I look at my watch.
His trip isn’t for another three hours, and I still have more than enough time to do some research for another job.
I start to throw his phone into the trash, but I can’t for some reason. I open his inbox and text Meredith, knowing that I should leave her alone, but I want to be sure this is put to bed.
Jameson (Me): I’m really sorry I had to reschedule on you. What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?
Meredith: Moving on to a guy who won’t cancel on me at the last minute. Delete my number.
I smile. Good girl.
I start to toss the phone, but it vibrates in my hand once more.