Empire of Lies - Whitney G. Page 0,96

to do to her the next time they have sex. And it’s exactly one hour after she sends a flirty message to her neighbor who gets up for work as early as she does.”

A slow smile spreads across his face, but he doesn’t say anything. He just stares at me, slowly looks me up and down.

“Are you going to tell me that you’re impressed and we can get back to the gun training?”

“No.” He sets the gun on the table, grabs my hand. “I’m going to tell you that you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met and we’re going to end this day in my bedroom. You’re more than ready to take them both down…”

Michael

Now

The day of the gala

“We’ll never get that deal with Nike off the ground if he keeps dragging his feet,” Meredith’s Aunt Catherine is currently taking a call outside her office door.

She’s been standing out there for over twenty minutes, berating one of her highest-paid agents over the phone. According to her staff, she prefers to take her early morning calls in the hallway, hours before the first team member arrives.

She’s told them that she does this because it’s the time of the day that’s most “quiet and humbling,” the time when she and her “beloved” sister used to chat on the phone. In reality, it’s the guilt.

She called the hit on Meredith’s mother from her office phone at exactly seven thirty-eight in the morning, and she hasn’t been able to step into the room a minute before that, ever since.

“So, can you please tell him that twenty million is a damn good offer, and when he makes it to Tiger Woods’ level, I’ll happily return to the table and renegotiate on his behalf?” She ends the call before getting a response.

She pushes the unlocked door open and hits the lights, and the moment her heels clack against the marble floor, I swivel around in her desk chair to face her.

“Good morning, Catherine,” I say. “How are you today?”

“I’d be a lot better if you weren’t in my office without permission, Michael.” She sips from her coffee mug. “Then again, are you here because you need someone to talk to about Meredith?”

“Not in the slightest.” I smile. “I talked to Meredith a few minutes ago…She looks pretty good for a woman who’s supposed to be dead. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about her dad paying someone to get that done, would you?”

Her face immediately turns white, and she drops her coffee mug to the floor, shattering it to pieces. She starts to head to the door, but it shuts and locks before she can reach it.

“She’s alive and well,” I say. “Just in case you want to pretend to give a fuck for five seconds.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Michael,” she says, looking at me. “And I’m not sure what ‘sick and twisted’ game you’re trying to play, but I’m not here for it at all.”

“Okay, then.” I lean back in the chair. “Well, perhaps you’re here for the hit you took out on your own sister two years ago, then? Now that I think about it, Trevor didn’t give you the discounted referral rate for bringing Mr. Thatchwood to us. I’ll have to cut you a late check for that. We appreciate our repeat customers.”

“What? How did you—are you? I mean…No, it’s…” She turns around and pulls at the doorknob again, trying and failing to yank the door open.

“It’s locked,” I say, as she pulls a set of keys out of her pocket. “And the locks were changed last night. Hence, why I left the door unlocked for you, your keys won’t work.”

“I can…” She takes forever to face me, and her eyes immediately go to the gun that’s now sitting at the center of her desk. “I can explain all of this. It’s not what you think it is.”

“I would hope not.” I cross my arms. “I’m listening.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way…I just—It’s hard to explain. I didn’t mean her mother any harm.”

“That’s the entire purpose behind hiring someone like me, is it not?”

“No, no. I’m not that type of person, and I had no idea that you were… If you’ll just listen…”

I wait on the typical, ‘I’m sorry, I’m human garbage,’ line—some type of remorse, but all she does is babble about herself. About how she must be dreaming and has no idea what I’m suggesting.

I’m still easily amused by these types of people. They honestly