or something instead,” Elliot told him as he sat.
Clay chose the chair nearest the couch to sit in. “Why’s that?”
“Well, I can’t imagine you have too many happy memories of this place,” Elliot said.
Clay chuckled. “Fair point, but I’ve made worse memories. It’s not like I hadn’t broken into your apartment to try and poison you. I think I got off pretty lucky with a bit of kidnapping and drugging.”
Elliot wrinkled his nose. “That makes it sound so…”
“Ugly?” Clay offered.
“Yeah.”
“Eh, don’t feel too bad. You found yourself in quite the interesting predicament. Truth be told, if I’d found someone breaking into where I was staying, I would have asked far less questions.”
“I bet you wouldn’t have asked a single one.”
“Well, no, it doesn’t hurt to at least ask where someone came from and who they work for. Probably won’t get an answer, but it never hurts.”
“You’re uh, very honest about this with me.”
Clay smiled. “You know what I am, Elliot, and you know what I do. There’s really no point in hiding the details from you.”
Elliot shook his head. “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, it was a little weird, having you be so candid at first. But the more you do it, the more I grow to like it.”
“I’m so glad you’re becoming comfortable with my job as an assassin for hire,” Clay told him dryly.
Elliot looked up, frowning. “Was...that a joke?”
“One at your expense.”
Elliot shook his head. “I didn’t mean that I’m okay with your job...but maybe I’m willing to get over it considering the people you go after.”
At that, Clay looked down at the computer sitting on the table. “Does that mean you discovered something?”
Elliot looked down, expression darkening. “I did a little bit of uh, looking around after I went into work today.”
Clay spotted the flash drive sticking out of the laptop. “Find something?”
“I found...well, files. Buried in them was this collection,” Elliot said softly, eyes stuck on the screen.
Clay sat his own laptop on the table. “Collection. Business dealings?”
“People.”
Clay nodded. “Men and women, mostly women. All young and good looking. Some of them with skills that would make them great housekeepers or even managers.”
Elliot looked up, rubbing his jaw nervously. “You knew.”
“I’ve known the whole time,” Clay said, nudging the laptop toward him.
Elliot looked down, lips thinning. “Let me guess, you’ve got more than this.”
“You’ve found enough to confirm your worst fears. What I have on here will make all that even more true, and will add to it,” Clay told him.
Elliot pulled it closer to him, pushing his own computer to the side. “Why didn’t you show this to me before?”
“Honestly? Because you weren’t ready to believe me yet. You were willing to listen, but you didn’t want to believe the guy you’ve been working for could do something like this.”
“Wow, when you’re being honest, you really go full force, don’t you?”
“You wanted the truth, but you had to do the first step on your own. I reattained these files while you were at work. I didn’t know how long it would take you to get the information you needed, but I wanted them on hand for when it happened.”
“And now that I know…”
“You get to know everything.”
Elliot opened the laptop, staring down at the screen as it lit up. “I’m going to want a drink for this, aren’t I?”
Clay gave him a knowing smile. “You’ll want one when you’re done, I’m sure. But you should probably keep a sober head while you’re reading.”
“And me without a drink in the house.”
Clay reached out, patting the man’s knee. “I’ll go get some. Beer or something stronger?”
“Bring me anything, just make sure it’s strong.”
Clay’s hand lingered on Elliot’s knee, before finally squeezing it and pulling away. It didn’t seem fair, making Elliot have to face the truth. On the other hand, it would have been worse to keep it from him. The moment Clay had decided to start talking, while he was tied up on Elliot’s floor, Clay had committed himself to align with Elliot. Anything less than honesty would have been an insult to the man Clay had grown to respect.
“Alright, I’ll be back,” Clay said, standing up.
“Thank you,” Elliot told him as he opened the files.
“Thank me only after you’ve read everything,” Clay muttered as he walked out.
Elliot
It took the better part of two hours for Elliot to comb through everything Clay had brought him. By the time he’d finished, it felt like his head was going to