Trey

Agent Mitchell and the ambulance show up at the same exact time. Both come rushing toward us, with completely different agendas in mind. I am starting to feel better, but I agree that a quick CT scan would be a good idea. The last thing I want is to go back to the hotel and bleed out in my sleep.

“Who’s this guy?” Agent Mitchell asks Anthony after briefly checking on me.

“An accomplice apparently, I’ve never seen him before,” Anthony replies, looking back at the guy over his shoulder. “He definitely looks Russian.”

Agent Mitchell walks over to the man and begins to search his pockets. After a few seconds he stands up with a wallet in hand and begins going through it. “Oh shit, this guy is a foreign diplomat,” he tells Anthony, holding up a visa.

“Fuck, I guess I should’ve just shot him in the leg or something, but he had a gun in Mandy’s back,” Anthony explains. “He left me no choice.”

“You’ll have to work with us, Sir,” a paramedic scolds me for not paying attention to him. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Four,” I reply, stating the obvious.

“The correct answer was three,” he replies. “Let’s get him on a stretcher.” Two paramedics carefully lift me onto the stretcher as the other shares the plan with the others. “We’ll be taking him over to the Mount Sinai in Chinatown. It’s the closest place where he can get a quick scan. If there are any signs of hemorrhage or other issues, we will transfer him to the main hospital downtown.”

“Okay. This is what was jammed in the back of his neck,” Anthony replies, showing him the syringe. “You might want to have them test the solution.”

“You can take a sample of the contents, but I want the syringe,” Agent Mitchell scoffs. “If it was The Ghost, I want to get his finger prints on file.”

“It was definitely him,” Anthony confirms. “I should’ve taken him out instead of this guy.” He nods toward the dead man.

“You guys need to protect Vicky, she’s in a meeting upstairs,” Mandy tells Agent Mitchell. “I need to talk to her about rebuilding the case file.”

“I’ll have Bolt come down and keep an eye on her,” Anthony says, pulling out his phone and sending him a text message. “Crusher can handle Trump Tower alone.”

“I’ll stick around in the meantime. You all get out of here now and let me clean up this mess,” is the last thing I hear Agent Mitchell say as they load me into the ambulance and close the doors.

Mandy

I get a sickening feeling as they close the rear doors of the ambulance and it pulls away from the curb. I probably should have ridden in the back with him, but I was a little distracted by the thought that Vicky might be in danger. Anthony and I get back into the SUV and I feel my hair crunch against the headrest. I suddenly realize that Trey wasn’t the only one covered in blood.

“Gross! I can’t believe no one said anything!” I tug at the shoulder of my blouse trying to see how much blood is on the back of it.

“It could’ve been a lot worse. At least it’s his blood and not yours.” Anthony counters, glancing over at me. “Besides, it really doesn’t stand out against your black jacket and dark hair.”

“That’s true, but it’s pretty disgusting to have a stranger’s blood sprayed across your back,” I reply in my defense, feeling nauseated once again.

Anthony’s phone begins to ring just as we turn onto Centre Street and head toward the hospital. He pops his Bluetooth headset back on and clicks to answer. “What’s up Romeo?” he asks, his expression immediately turning back to a scowl. “I see… hmm, that’s not good.” He rubs his chin between his index finger and thumb apparently contemplating what Romeo is telling him. “I would go in,” he says after several more seconds of pondering. “If that’s what the neighbor saw, I think you have to go in and take a look.” He leans back and switches to rubbing his neck, still listening to what Romeo has to say. “I’m onboard with that. Hit me back, asap.” He clicks to end the call and lets out an extended breath. “Carly might also be dead,” he says bluntly, glancing over at me. “The boys are going in to check on her.”

“Dead, why would she be dead?” I ask, vocalizing my initial thought.

“She’s in a third world country and she left the bank with a million and a half in cash,” he looks at me over his shades. “Remember the guy on the bench by the bank? He was scared to hang onto five grand, because he knew he would get rolled if anyone found out.” He turns back to focus on following the ambulance. “We’ll know for sure, shortly.”

I think back to what The Ghost had said to Trey. Even though I was scared shitless, I distinctly remember him saying, she didn’t want to hurt you or your brother. When Trey and I met Carly at the funeral, she seemed like a very confident, professional woman. I never would’ve taken her for a criminal, especially one who was capable of murder. Although, looking back, she never did display the slightest bit of emotion. Silvia and Nana were both much more emotional than she was. I guess you never know whom you are dealing with when you meet someone for the first time.

An Hour Later

Trey

“You’re one lucky man,” the ER doctor tells me as I am rolled down the corridor toward the waiting room. “Nothing vital was punctured and we were able to neutralize the fluid that had leaked from the syringe. You won’t have any lasting effects.”

“That’s good” I reply, looking up at him. “But my head is still pretty fuzzy.”

“That might take a day or two to clear up, but as long as you take it easy there shouldn’t be any further complications,” he assures me, swinging open the door to the waiting area.

“Trey, is everything okay?” Mandy asks, shooting up from her chair and racing to my side.

“Who are you?” I ask, punctuating it with a convincing blank stare.

“What happened? He seemed fine,” she asks the doctor with a pleading look in her eyes.

“I don’t know, apparently the trauma affected his sense of humor.” The doctor sighs. “He’s fine, other than this distasteful joke.”

“Seriously?” she squeals, holding up her hands as if she wants to grab me by the neck. “You’re lucky your neck is injured.” She shakes it off and a smile comes to her face. “I’m really glad you are okay.” She runs her fingertips along my cheek, looking down at me.

“I’m glad we’re both alright,” I tell her, feeling closer to her than ever. “Let’s go back to the hotel and get something to eat.”

“Yes. He needs to lay low for a few days in order to avoid complications,” the doctor warns sternly. “He was about a quarter inch from seriously damaging his brain stem.”

“Wouldn’t that have been nice,” Anthony chuckles. “Scrambled twins.” He steps behind the wheel chair and takes over pushing me out to the SUV. “I think your mother already has her hands full with Tyler,” he adds once we are outside the door.

“Scrambled twins.” I can’t help laughing as I rise from the wheelchair. “You really have a way with words.” I slap him on the shoulder and slide into the back seat of the vehicle with Mandy following me inside.

Anthony’s phone begins to ring while he is closing the door, so he grabs the call and stops in front of the SUV, lowering his head as he listens.

“It’s most likely Romeo,” Mandy informs me. “It looks like Carly was robbed and most likely murdered. I’ll let Anthony explain it to you, he’ll have more details.”

“Murdered?” My mind immediately goes into a spin. “She’s supposed to be the one behind all the murders.” This is getting too damn crazy.

“It doesn’t look good,” Anthony tells us as he hops into the driver’s seat after hanging up with Romeo. He turns around to talk directly to Trey. “To bring you up to speed, they found an old wooden chair with duct tape and blood stains on both arms, sitting in front of an open safe,” he explains to him. “There was a pool of blood on the floor and it appears as if her body was dragged part way across the room. This coincides with the original report from a neighbor who saw three men loading a rolled up rug into a van. She was most likely inside of it.”

“Jesus Christ! I think we need to stop by the office and have another talk with Tommy,” I blurt out, immediately knowing that he had something to do with this. “Somehow he figured out how to pin everything on her and now she’s dead. Maybe he’s right and he will walk away from the whole thing.” I reach back and rub my neck as I feel it beginning to throb.

“You are going to rest tonight,” Mandy demands. “I’m having Vicky put together a new case file and we’ll confront Tommy, with it in hand, tomorrow afternoon.”

“You’re right, I think I need to lie down for awhile.” I look straight forward, trying to focus on the headrest in front of me. “I’m still feeling dizzy.”

“It will take a little time for those chemicals to completely dissipate,” Anthony says, giving me his medical opinion. “A couple big glasses of that fancy Cognac should flush things out.”

“Now who has the warped sense of humor?” I reply, shooting him a look through the rearview mirror.

Mandy

After a hot shower, a bite to eat and lying down for an hour, Trey seems to be getting back to normal. He comes out to the living room where Anthony and I have been writing down everything that occurred leading up to and following Victor’s death.

“It looks like a war room out here,” he observes, after seeing everything we have laid out. “Have you guys come to any conclusions?”

“Every time we think we’ve answered one question, it creates two more,” Anthony says, walking over to the bar and pouring himself a glass of Jack.

“Like, how did The Ghost know to intercept us at the SEC office?” I ask, providing an example. “It seems odd that we were attacked right after picking up the case file. There is no way that Tommy should have known anything about it.”

“The Ghost seemed to know exactly what was in the envelope, so someone had to have tipped off Tommy,” Trey says with a look of realization crossing his face. “Vanessa… she’s the only one who would’ve done that.”

“Seriously? She would risk both of our lives to keep him out of trouble?” I ask very pointedly, as Anthony nods his head in silence.

“It doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t think there was anyone else in the room who would’ve leaked it,” Trey says, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m positive it wasn’t Becky.”

“You need to talk to Vanessa tomorrow morning,” I tell him with conviction. “We can’t have her around if she’s going to jeopardize everything.”

“I agree,” Anthony adds, downing the rest of his drink. “I’m going to go check in with Bolt and Crusher, then I’m going to grab some shuteye. I’m sure it will be another busy one tomorrow.”

“Damn, I can’t believe Vanessa did that,” Trey adds. “But, she has been acting weird ever since I got home. I’m not sure what the deal is between her and Tommy, but something is going on there.” He grabs the black marker and writes on our diagram. First Vanessa and now he’s taking over the company. “That’s what Tyler said in the voicemail message he left me. I’m going to get to the bottom of that statement tomorrow. Vanessa is the one who changed Tyler’s doctor, so we need to take that into consideration too.”

“I’ve always felt that there was something going on between Tommy and her, but then he was with Liv and there is a connection with Carly as well,” I recap in exasperation. “If he has been using all three of them, it’s obvious the man has no soul.”

“Tommy has always been about Tommy,” Trey says walking toward the bar. “He totally used Liv to get the scoop on me, he used Vanessa to manipulate Tyler and as a grand finale he pinned everything on Carly and had her taken out.”

“So you think Tommy was behind her murder as well?” I ask, curious as to how he made the connection.

“He knew that she was going to shut down the bank account, so maybe he suggested that she take out a chunk in cash to have just in case things went bad,” he says dropping ice cubes into a rocks glass. “Then after she left the bank, he told some thugs where she was staying and they got to keep the cash for disposing of her.”

“She paid for her own death? Wow, that’s cold.”

“She paid for her own death, so there is no trail back to Tommy,” he says, filling the glass with sparkling water and adding a lime twist. “All the evidence points to her and now she appears to be dead. Everything leads to one big dead end.”

I close my eyes in frustration and let out a long breath. “Tommy did claim that he doesn’t make mistakes,” I say, reminding him of his text message.

“Better yet, there is still an eighteen million dollar cashiers check out there somewhere,” Trey adds, taking a long sip of water. “So even if the SEC is eventually able to extricate a large chunk of Tommy’s profit, he still has a nice little safety net.”

“Yeah, so worst case scenario, he spends a few months in a cushy white collar prison and then retires to a nice beach home in Belize,” I surmise, feeling a pit developing in my stomach.

Trey finishes his water and slams the glass down on the bar. “Two can play this game,” he says, with a bold glint in his eyes. “We are going to go a different route with this. I know he has been involved in all of this and it would kill me to watch him walk away with just a slap on the wrist.”

“Are you going to clue me in?” I go to his side and slip my arms around his waist.

“It’s still in the formulation stage,” he says, turning to give me a kiss on the forehead. “But you and Anthony will be the first to know.”

“Okay, you better go get some rest now.” I take him by the hand and lead him back to the bedroom. “I’m proud of you for not diving into the Cognac.”

“I already feel like I’m stoned, so I didn’t really need anything.” He pulls the tie on my robe and gives me a smirk.

“Oh no you don’t; I’m not having you stroke out on me,” I pull my robe closed and take a step back. “The doctor said nothing strenuous for a couple of days.”

“You can be on top,” he replies without hesitation. “I’ll just lie there and relax.”

“You are going to get some rest.” I can’t help breaking into a smile. “I think you can wait a day or two.”

“I don’t know. No cognac, no sex… I’m really starting to feel stressed out.” He gives me a boyish look that he must have used on his mother when he was a kid.

“It’s for your own good,” I reply in a motherly tone that matches his expression. “Now get to bed.”

I cozy up next to him as soon as he gets settled and his muscular arm immediately envelops me. After such a hair-raising day, I think we are mutually grateful to be here with one another. Trey came so close to being severely injured and if Anthony hadn’t neutralized both of them so efficiently, I could’ve easily been killed too. The fact that Bill, Victor and the doctor were all killed shows that they do not know mercy. Thank God for Anthony.