I had been dealt a bum hand nearly all my life. It was all pretty much bad, so the best that it got for me was the best kind of bad.
I should have known that I was floating too high. There was bound to be a crash and it would have been soon.
Ray kissed me goodbye and headed off to work. He was looking at opening something else up and I knew he’d be gone a few days. Though he didn’t come right out and say it, I had a feeling it was something along the lines of another bar. Something in my gut told me it was a strip club. I couldn’t explain it, there was just something about the way he was acting. Almost like he wasn’t thrilled but maybe it was a deal too good to pass up. It wasn’t really that much of a shock since I’d seen the not-so-upscale bar he owned. I’d worked there and knew it couldn’t be pulling in that much, but still, he kept it. But that was his business and not mine. I was sure he had his reasons. So a strip club wasn’t really out of the question. It wasn’t like I cared. When run well, they could pull in a lot of money. And I had a feeling he would take care of the people that worked there. That was a plus. I figured I’d ask him more about it once he made his decision.
So I spent my two days off lounging around the house. I didn’t do anything exciting, it was pretty much like any other day.
By the time of my next shift, I was actually ready to get out of the house. I was more excited to go to work than anyone ever should have been.
But the moment I got to work, I started to feel ill. My head was pounding and I felt nauseous. It had been a long time since I’d had a migraine. I usually got them near my period but once I started taking birth control regularly, I hadn’t had them as much. That wasn’t to say that I didn’t get them at all. I knew what this was and I had a feeling I wouldn’t be any good for the rest of the day. Hating that I didn’t really have much of a choice, I told my manager I needed to go home. Luckily, he didn’t give me shit about it.
The ride back to the condo was torture. I wanted nothing more than to lay down and take a long nap. With any luck, I’d wake up in a few hours and it would be gone.
The elevator felt like it took forever to climb to the top floor. I was just glad I was alone.
As I stepped off the elevator, I thought about sending Ray a text just to let him know I wasn’t feeling well and that I’d headed home early. However, before I had a chance to pull out my phone, I noticed that there was someone in the condo. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I knew better than to call out. It could have been Ray. Maybe he’d come home early or stopped by to get something he forgot. Though that rarely happened, I wasn’t going to rule it out.
I stopped and listened. I heard multiple voices so I knew that there were at least two people in the condo. Were we being robbed? I mean, how the hell did they get in here if that were the case? Call the cops, that should have been my first thought. And maybe it would have been if I’d had a more normal life. The last thing I wanted to deal with was the cops.
I tried to listen but I couldn’t make out much of what was being said. The sound was coming from Ray’s office, a place I didn’t ever go. It was his space and he’d asked me nicely not to enter his office once. I didn’t think anything of it, I just assumed he didn’t want me messing up his paperwork. And since I didn’t ever have a reason to go in there, I wasn’t bothered by it.
Only now I wanted to find out what was going on. The closer I tiptoed to the door, the harder the tingles ran down my spine.
“A fucking FBI agent,” he snarled.
I sucked in a sharp breath. I recognized that voice but it seemed so unfamiliar right now. It didn’t have the soft, tender undertone that it usually did. It was hard and terrifying.
“Right under my nose acting as one of my crew. How did this happen?!” He was roaring with anger. I had no clue what he was talking about or who he was even talking to. “I need that body disposed of. I want to know if there are any other surprises I might not be aware of. If they were able to get one inside then there might be more. We need to be more cautious. Figure out some way to get the FBI off of our backs.”
“Yes, boss.” I definitely didn’t recognize that voice.
“There’s got to be someone on the inside that we can use. I don’t care if you have to make it very clear that helping is not an option.”
“I understand. I’ll make sure there are no more complications.”
“Get this handled or I will make an example out of you just like I did him,” Ray said with a coldness in his tone that chilled me to the bone.
I cautiously and quietly took steps backward until I reached the entrance to the hall.
“Ray? Is that you? Are you home?” I called out sounding innocent enough. I should have run, gotten back on the elevator and made my escape. The fear that he would hear me before I made it out was what stopped me. I had to do the smart thing here. And hopefully, this was it. “Ray?”
“Jessica,” he said as he walked out of the office to meet me. There was an edge in his tone and it was clear he wasn’t happy that I was here right now. “What are you doing here? I thought you had to work?”
By the time he started asking questions, he’d gotten his tone under control. He might have sounded normal enough, but there was a flash in his eyes that screamed darkness. It was only there a second before he wiped it away. And as odd as it sounded, there was a strange kind of buzzing radiating from him. He was like a man that could snap at any moment.
I found the teenage girl in me quickly. I knew I had to play it smart even though I was kicking myself that I didn’t have one fucking clue the man I’d been falling for all these months was the same one standing in that room. His words rang out in my head, the evil tone somehow came through even louder not. That threat he ordered might have been lacking details, but I heard between the lines just fine.
Survive.
And that was something I knew how to do well.
“I had a headache,” I told him truthfully. “I came home to take a nap because it wasn’t going away.”
I made the mistake of glancing down at his collar. It was the same style suit I’d seen him in too many times to count. Only now, the brownish-red dots that weren’t supposed to be there stuck out against the crisp white and I knew there was no way to play it off like I hadn’t seen them. There were more decorating his jacket though those weren’t as noticeable.
“Ray, did you hurt yourself?” I asked sounding frantic as I began to run my fingers all over his body like I was checking for an injury. Of course, it was all for show.
He chuckled and lightly grabbed my wrists to stop me.
