Chapter 2 - THE WAITRESS WAS NEVER A WAITRESS—AND THE FLASH DRIVE SHE STOLE FROM THE BILLIONAIRE EXPOSED THE MAN WHO HAD BEEN SITTING BESIDE THE MAFIA BOSS FOR SEVEN YEARS
Nathaniel wanted Declan arrested immediately.
Audrey stopped him.
“You don’t have enough.”
“We have video.”
“Stolen video from an encrypted drive obtained by picking Arthur Hastings’s pocket.”
Nathaniel stared.
“You’re enjoying saying that.”
“A little.”
Her cheek still hurt.
The joke helped.
Liam contacted an attorney who had quietly assisted Nathaniel’s effort to move Callahan Shipping into legitimate operations.
The answer was unpleasant.
The files could guide an investigation.
They were not enough by themselves.
They needed originals.
Financial records.
A witness.
Something independently verifiable.
Arthur Hastings had those records.
Declan had the witness problem solved by making witnesses disappear.
Audrey understood something else.
“Victoria.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“What about her?”
“She grew up inside Arthur’s house.”
“She knows nothing.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She thinks EBITDA is a skin treatment.”
Audrey stared.
Nathaniel almost smiled.
“She might have seen something.”
“She hates you.”
“She hates me more.”
“After tonight?”
“Especially after tonight.”
Audrey was right.
Victoria called the next morning.
Not Nathaniel.
Audrey.
“How did you get this number?”
“I’m Arthur Hastings’s daughter.”
“Not an explanation.”
“Meet me.”
“No.”
“I know who you are.”
Audrey became still.
Victoria continued.
“And I know why Nathaniel hired you.”
Audrey looked at Nathaniel across the room.
He read her expression.
Victoria gave an address.
A public café in Back Bay.
“No Nathaniel.”
Then she disconnected.
Nathaniel said:
“Absolutely not.”
Audrey put on her coat.
“You’re adorable when you forget you’re not my boss.”
“I am not adorable.”
Liam coughed.
Nathaniel looked at him.
Liam studied the ceiling.
Audrey met Victoria alone.
Mostly.
Nathaniel’s security remained outside.
Victoria wore sunglasses despite the gray morning.
The bruise on Audrey’s cheek was visible.
Victoria looked at it.
Something like shame crossed her face.
“I shouldn’t have hit you.”
“No.”
“I was angry.”
“Still no.”
Victoria removed her sunglasses.
“I’m sorry.”
Audrey had expected arrogance.
Not that.
“Thank you.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“You probably think I’m a monster.”
“I think you hit someone you believed couldn’t hit back.”
Victoria flinched.
“My father taught me people are divided into two groups.”
“What groups?”
“People who matter and people who work for them.”
Audrey said nothing.
“That isn’t an excuse.”
“No.”
Victoria looked toward the window.
“Nathaniel never loved me.”
“Did you love him?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised Audrey.
“I wanted what marrying him meant.”
“Power.”
“Freedom.”
Audrey frowned.
Victoria laughed.
“See? Even you assumed.”
Then she explained.
Arthur controlled every account.
Every apartment.
Every relationship.
Victoria’s engagement had been another transaction.
Marrying Nathaniel would have moved her beyond Arthur’s immediate control.
“I thought Nathaniel understood.”
“He probably did.”
“Then he looked at you.”
Audrey’s pulse shifted.
“What?”
“At the gala.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“He crossed a room full of governors, judges and billionaires because I hit you.”
“He would have done that for anyone.”
“No.”
Victoria shook her head.
“He wouldn’t.”
Audrey did not answer.
Victoria leaned forward.
“My father keeps a second ledger.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because he made a mistake last night.”
“What?”
“He was afraid.”
Arthur Hastings apparently never showed fear.
But after the gala, he returned home and opened a wall safe Victoria had never seen.
She watched from the staircase.
Inside was a red leather book.
Arthur removed it.
Then burned papers in the fireplace.
“What was on them?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Where’s the book?”
“He took it.”
Audrey thought.
“Why help us?”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“Because this morning my father told me Nathaniel would crawl back once he understood what happens to people who embarrass a Hastings.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Victoria’s face changed.
“But he said something else.”
“What?”
“He said you wouldn’t be a problem much longer.”
Audrey’s blood went cold.
Nathaniel moved her that afternoon.
Not to his mansion.
She refused.
Instead, they relocated to a secure townhouse owned by Liam’s sister.
That night, Audrey found Nathaniel in the kitchen.
Cooking.
Or attempting to.
“What are you doing?”
“Eggs.”
“Those eggs have suffered.”
“I run seventeen companies.”
“And yet breakfast defeated you.”
“It’s midnight.”
“Then you’re losing to breakfast outside its normal operating hours.”
He looked at her.
She smiled.
Something softened.
Then disappeared.
“You should leave Boston.”
“No.”
“Audrey.”
“No.”
“Declan knows who you are.”
“And he killed Daniel.”
“That is exactly my point.”
“And exactly why I’m staying.”
Nathaniel turned off the stove.
“You think your brother would want you dead too?”
“That’s cheap.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t use Daniel to control me.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“You’re right.”
The immediate apology disarmed her.
“I’m scared.”
Audrey stared.
Nathaniel rarely admitted fear.
“I have buried too many people.”
His voice lowered.
“My father. My brother. Men I grew up with.”
“You had a brother?”
“Michael.”
Audrey had never heard the name.
“He died at nineteen.”
“How?”
“Wrong place. Wrong family.”
Nathaniel looked toward the dark window.
“I spent years telling myself if I controlled enough territory, enough men, enough money, nobody could take anyone from me again.”
“And did it work?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“It made me good at controlling territory.”
Audrey almost laughed.
Then he said:
“I don’t know how to care about someone without immediately imagining everything that could happen to them.”
The room became quiet.
Audrey understood what he had admitted.
“Someone?”
Nathaniel looked irritated.
“You’re going to make me say it?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“I care about you.”
Audrey’s heart kicked.
“Nate—”
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“Good.”
“I know.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He stepped closer but stopped several feet away.
“You don’t owe me affection because I helped your investigation.”
“I know.”
“You don’t owe me anything because I protected you at the gala.”
“I know.”
“And you definitely don’t belong to me.”
Audrey raised an eyebrow.
“Interesting, considering what you told Victoria.”
Nathaniel actually looked embarrassed.
“That was badly phrased.”
“Very.”
“I meant she had no right to touch someone under my protection.”
“Still possessive.”
“I’m learning.”
Audrey smiled.
“So am I.”
Nothing happened.
No kiss.
That made it more intimate.
At 2:14 a.m., Liam called.
Arthur Hastings had disappeared.
So had Victoria.
Audrey immediately called her.
No answer.
Then a photograph arrived.
Victoria tied to a chair.
A red leather ledger rested on her lap.
The message beneath it contained six words.
BRING AUDREY GRAHAM TO PIER NINE.
Nathaniel looked at the screen.
“No.”
Audrey looked at him.
“You don’t decide that.”
“No.”
“Nate.”
“No.”
“She helped us.”
“I know.”
“Arthur is threatening his own daughter.”
“I know.”
“Then we save her.”
Nathaniel stared.
“Together.”
Audrey added.
“Not your way.”
He knew what she meant.
No private execution.
No disappearing bodies.
No war.
Nathaniel picked up his phone.
“Call the FBI contact.”
Liam nodded.
Audrey looked at Nathaniel.
He had chosen her plan.
But at Pier Nine, they discovered Arthur Hastings was not the man holding Victoria.
May you like
Declan Callahan was.
And Arthur was tied to the chair beside his daughter.
Related Stories
