The sound of my phone buzzing startles me out of my spiraling thought.
My chest tightens with nerves as I reach for my phone.
Unknown: Lux.
River.I haven’t changed his name in my phone, because he is still unknown to me. Rubbing my lips together, I nervously tap out a response.
Me: Yes?
Unknown: You’re not sleeping, again.
Me: Why are you so obsessed with my sleeping habits?
Unknown: Because that’s what people do at night. They sleep.
Me: Not all people.
Unknown: And what plagues your nights, Lux?
Me: You already know,River.
Unknown: My team is working as fast as we can.
Rising to my feet, I move the curtain to one side, discreetly peering into the night. I easily find his parked car beneath the tree and wonder what he’s doing when a small movement in the bushes across the street alerts me.
My phone buzzes with a single text message.
Unknown: Hi.
I can’t help but laugh and close the curtains. If River is going to sit outside my house every night until his team takescareof those men in whatever way he’s implying—which is still a mystery to me at this point—then he can tag along as I conduct my own research.
Instead of responding to his last message, I take a quick picture of Rich’s address, grab my coat,and head out the side door that leads into the garage. I start the ignition, and plug Rich’s address into my GPS, then pull out onto the street without a sign of River behind me—yet.
Less than fifteen minutes later, I’m pulling onto a wide suburban street lined with large bushy trees. With minimal street lights, common for this area, I pull over a few houses down, maintaining distance from Rich’s house. After shutting the engine off, I stare at his light blue with white shutters two-story house. It looks perfect and quaint—no one would expect what type of person lives here.
And then, as expected, a black car quietly pulls up directly behind me. And I’m hit with both nerves and a small amount of relief knowing I have protection.
Chapter 11
River
Is it possible she’s on to him already?
I only recently learned where the accountant’s house was while Christian conducted thorough background checks on all the guys, but what is Lux doing here? I need to keep myself level and try to get as much information out of her as I can, before letting her know I know who the owner of this house is.
Me: Why did you come here?
Lux: I could ask you the same thing.
Before I can respond, I catch sight of her car door opening. It’s not safe, what is she thinking?
In one swift motion, I exit my car and sprint over to hers and slide into her passenger seat. “What are you doing here?”
She yelps and her hand flies to the handle of the car, ready to escape.
I quickly reach over her, clasping my hand over hers to keep the door shut. “You’re not leaving this car.”
She whips her head around, the scent of lavender shampoo hitting my nostrils.
