“You’re really weak, Miss Peters,” he says, panting for breath, “You’d probably be more of a burden than a help, and we just can’t risk any mistakes.” He reaches into his vest pocket and tosses her phone to her, “Before I forget, I want to return this to you.”
Gabrielle catches the phone and continues to chase after Waylen, but her time in the forest has exhausted her. It becomes increasingly difficult to breathe, and eventually, she slows and then stops. She leans on the wall and pants, watching Waylen and Robert disappear into one of the mansion’s many rooms.
She looks down at her phone and opens her text messages. Suddenly, a hand stretches out from behind her and grabs the cell phone. Gabrielle turns around in a hurry. Leonie holds the phone high and begins to scroll through it.
“Give it back, Leonie,” Gabrielle says. She reaches out her palm, waiting for Leonie to put the phone in her hand.
“Not yet,” Leonie says. “I heard you just came back from Mr. Clifford’s. I heard your sister is still his prisoner there. There are a lot of rumors flying around, and I just want to know who you’re going to message.”
Gabrielle strides forward to get the phone back, but Leonie simply holds the mobile behind her back.
“Tell me, tell me who you want to contact, and I’ll give the phone back,” Leonie says.
“That’s none of your business,” Gabrielle says. “And even if I told you, what makes you think you’d know the person?” Though she’s bolder than normal, she’s too weak from her escape to take the phone back by force. She stares helplessly at Leonie.
“Who says I don’t?” Leonie asks.
Seeing that Gabrielle has no intention of snatching the phone, Leonie continues to scroll. She angles the screen so Gabrielle can see it too, and intently watches Gabrielle’s face. Gabrielle suspects that Leonie is hoping her reaction will give away the location of the phone’s most sensitive information. She keeps her expression as neutral as possible.
Leonie scrolls through Gabrielle’s contacts and then opens the photo album. The album is full of beautiful photos of flowers, trees, landscapes, and cats, but there aren’t any photos of people. There aren’t even selfies. Disappointed, Leonie throws the phone back to Gabrielle. Gabrielle misses the catch and the phone calls to the carpet.
Gabrielle stoops to pick up the phone, but before she can grab it, a white stiletto heel stomps on the phone’s screen. The heel breaks the glass, and the screen flashes once and then goes black. Gabrielle frowns and looks up at Leonie.
“Did you want to contact the man you’re keeping?” Leonie asks, smiling cruelly at Gabrielle.
Gabrielle freezes, “How do you know about him?”
Leonie bends over to pick up the phone, wipes the cracked screen, and throws it back to Gabrielle. This time Gabrielle catches it, though she fumbles it in her surprise.
“How could I not know?” Leonie scoffs, rolling her eyes. “The man happens to be my neighbor. He lives in two apartments above and has recently renovated them. He spends a ton of money and makes an ungodly amount of noise at all hours of the day and night.”
Gabrielle looks blankly at Leonie. She wonders if she’d misheard. Two apartments? She thinks I only rented him one. He complained about it constantly, claiming that space was too narrow. It cost her multiple nights of sleep. She couldn’t understand how one man could find a 120 square meter apartment with three spacious rooms too small.
“You really don’t know, do you?” Leonie asks. “Well, he’s connecting the two apartments. He must think he’s a prince or something, but I suppose if you’re paying for it, he’ll do whatever he wants. Some people have such little sense about money.” She shoots Gabrielle a nasty smile and adds, “And men.”
Gabrielle wonders where the man got the money. She desperately holds the power button on her damaged phone, praying it still works. Though the screen is badly cracked, it lights up — Gabrielle scrolls through her texts.
There are dozens of unread messages, but she quickly finds a message from her bank informing her of a $300,000 charge to her card. Gabrielle stares at the text in horror. $300,000–that’s my entire savings, she thinks. She scrolls up and finds another text informing her that someone has charged $500,000 to her credit card. Gabrielle’s head spins, and she drops the phone.
Leilani paces the study and tries to understand what’s just happened. Did Waylen really just apologize to me? She wonders. I must have misheard. I can’t believe Waylen would swallow his pride and actually apologize. F.u.c.k—maybe I should have swallowed mine and accepted his help.
She looks at her phone and makes a decision. Quickly she types out a text ordering a helicopter. She attaches her location and credit card information and hit send before she can check for confirmation, the door to the study bursts open.
Michelle rushes in, holding a cell phone. Startled by Leilani, Michelle quickly holds the phone behind her back like a guilty child trying to hide something. Leilani frowns at Michelle’s panicked expression. “What are you doing here?” Leilani asks. “Where’s Andrew?”
“He’s upstairs,” Michelle answers. She takes a deep breath before she continues, “Anyway, I’ve talked to the bodyguard, and he’s agreed to escort you out of here. I’ve scheduled it for tomorrow night.”
“No, thanks,” Leilani says coldly. “I’ve changed my mind about all that.”
Michelle gapes at her in shock. “We had a deal!” Michelle protests, “You can’t go back on it.”
Leilani looks critically at Michelle, trying to guess the other woman’s plans. She didn’t expect Michelle to be so eager to let her go, but she can’t figure out why Michelle is so helpful. Is she planning to cross me double? Leilani wonders, Or is she just excited to have Andrew to herself?
“You really want me to go, don’t you?” Leilani asks.
“You were the one who insisted on leaving,” Michelle replies with obvious exasperation. “I planned everything for you, and now you’ve changed your mind? You should know it wasn’t easy to arrange this.”
Leilani bites her lip. She knows she doesn’t really have a choice. Michelle is probably going to double-cross her, but she can’t walk away from this opportunity to escape. There’s no guarantee the helicopter will be able to get to her. “Since you want me to leave so badly, I guess I’ll do it,” Leilani says with a casual shrug.
The electronic ding of a new message interrupts the tense silence in the study. Michelle looks at Leilani nervously. Leilani is leaning against the French window as if she owns the place.
“Aren’t you going to check that?” Leilani asks.
Michelle lowers her head and quickly glances at the screen of her cell phone. The text is only four words long, but it sends a jolt down her spine. She keeps her head lowered, and hopes Leilani can’t see the expression on her face. She takes a deep breath and rereads the four words. Then she deletes the message and looks up.
She jumps with shock—Leilani is standing right in front of her. Michelle’s hands shake. She thinks, How the hell did she get over here so quietly?
“Shaky hands?” Leilani asked, raising her eyebrows. “Looks like you need magnesium and calcium supplements.”
Michelle shoves her phone back in her pocket as Leilani strides past her and exits the study. Michelle breathes weakly. There’s no way she could have seen the message. The words were too small, Michelle thinks. No, she definitely didn’t see it. There’s no way she could have remained so calm if she had.
Michelle takes another deep breath and whispers the message out loud, “One corpse, two lives.”
Leilani exits the study and climbs the stairs to the third floor. As she walks, she looks over the railing at the servants below. They’re cl.u.s.tered in the hallway, carrying baskets filled with dark berries. She stops a servant rushing down the stairs to help the others. “It’s so late, where have they been?” she asks.
“Mr. Clifford has been suffering from pains in his chest,” the servant replies. “There’s a wild berry in the woods that alleviates his pain without causing any side effects, so they’ve been out gathering it.”
“Andrew’s heart is causing problems?” Leilani asked worriedly. She knows that even successful heart transplants can have consequences. The new heart is never as healthy as the original heart, and people who receive transplants can suffer from chest pain, arrhythmia, and other disorders.
“The doctor is examining him now,” says the servant.
Leilani leans lightly on the railing. Although she doesn’t care about Andrew, she does worry about his heart. She changes her direction and goes downstairs and enters the living room. The servants have washed the wild fruit and arranged the small, blackberries on a white plate.
Andrew leans back on the sofa with his arms thrown across his face. His bathrobe is open at the collar, and a middle-aged doctor is listening intently with a stethoscope. Hearing Leilani’s footsteps, Andrew moves his arms and looks lazily across the room. The doctor also turns curiously to see what Andrew is looking at.
“Sir, your heartbeat was sluggish before, but now it’s quick and powerful,” the doctor says with great confusion.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.