CHAPTER 38

LEXIE

She couldn’t wait to tell them. But how? Would she act cool, or just spew it out?

How boring! I need to do something special. Wait for them to see the numbers, I’ll act as if it was nothing. Maybe record their reactions.

She surprised herself. Holy crap, that would be awesome!

She checked the time. Two hours before they arrive.

She did a quick search online. How to connect my laptop to the TV. She tried the instructions on the first result, it was super easy.

She took the cable from the Blu-Ray player and connected it to her computer. That’s apparently it.

She checked her phone, she had all the time in the world, but she started to get nervous. This was big news. Twenty seven million.

She felt butterflies in her stomach. She checked and re-checked the numbers. It was all there.

They’d need to find a lawyer to help them deal with the legal hoops but everything seemed fairly simple.

“They’re going to go crazy.”

It was the least she could do. They saved her, showed her a better world, made her value herself. Gave her a chance to do something she was good at. That was worth much more than anything she could find in their books.

They changed her life.

And the sex. Damn, I’m ruined for other men.

She bit her lip, just thinking about it.

Everything was ready. The big TV showed the spreadsheets. She thought about doing a presentation but that would be so cheesy she blushed. You’re still a nerd.

That she was. A proud one, even.

“Can’t wait!” she blurted out.

She went over to the TV stand and hid her cell phone amidst all the electronics, facing the sofa, ready to record their reactions.

It was perfect. The phone was impossible to see, the framing was perfect… anticipation built inside of her like a forest fire. Slow at first but uncontrollable.

She needed to do something, anything, to keep herself busy. Should she make a presentation?

Oh, screw it. I still got time.

She was so giddy she was already thinking about what she was going to say. She opened PowerPoint when someone knocked on the door. Three hard thuds.

What?

You needed a special key for the elevator to come up here. Did they lose their apartment key? Oh, crap, did they arrive early?

Her stomach churned. Suddenly, she wasn’t ready to tell them the news.

Whatever, you got this.

They knocked again.

She sprang from the sofa, quickly went over to where she hid her phone and tapped on the recording button.

Act cool. This is just another afternoon. Do not jump in excitement or anything. Okay, breathe. She took a deep breath and relaxed as much as she could.

She was a professional. She had to act like it.

“I’m coming!” She said.

“Okay,” they replied.

She smiled and arrived at the door but suddenly stopped. Something did not feel right. It was too early for them to arrive.

That voice…

“Lucian?” she asked, her voice coming out weaker than she wanted, “Crow? Are you there?”

“Who is this?” said someone with a high pitched voice, “Where’s the guys?”

Shit. She recognized him.

“It’s Oscar,” he continued, “I was in town and…”

She opened the door, the security lock still in place.

Oscar stood there, wearing dockers and a blue polo, two big men behind him, a radio in their ears, one of them was Theodore, the man she met outside the Tea House club. He didn’t seem to recognize her.

“You?” Oscar said, his face turning from a greeting smile to a why-the-fuck-are-you-here expression.

She smiled. Suddenly, she didn’t like the man. He worked for the boys but he looked… heartless.

“Hi, Oscar,” she said, “what’s up?”

It took him half a second to compose himself, his eyes still trying to understand what was going on.

“What’s your name again, darling?”

“Alexa.”

“Alexa, right. Are the guys home? I need to talk to them.”

“No, they haven’t arrived yet.”

“Oh,” he said, still looking at her, but she didn’t say anything else.

“Will they be home soon?”

“In about an hour.”

“That’s great, that’s great,” he nodded, his black eyes not reflecting anything. The bodyguards didn’t move.

“Maybe you could come back later—”

“I’ll wait for them inside, I guess…”

“What?”

“You don’t mind, do you?”

Yes, she minded. She minded a lot. But why? She was just being paranoid. The man looked like a creep, and he yelled at her and treated her badly. He wasn’t a gentleman at all. Prone to violence. That was her idea of him. But it was their partner. She couldn’t just say no to this, could she?

She’d be brave, she’d tell him to wait downstairs until they arrived.

Oscar stepped forward.

“I kind of need to use the bathroom, too…”

Shit. Fuck. She wasn’t very good at saying no. Shake it off, you dork, he’s their partner, don’t be an ass to him.

She opened the door and Oscar stepped in.

“Good place, good place,” he said, his annoying voice sounding fakely amicable.

She smiled.

He walked over to the sofa, the bodyguards by his side.

“Earl, please, bring me a soda.”

One of his men, the one with a pony-tail, went to the fridge and picked up a can.

“You want one?” Oscar said to Lexie.

“No,” she said, “the bathroom’s over—”

“Oh, that can wait,” Oscar said, “what do you have here? Making a presentation?”

Every hair in her body bristled. Suddenly, she didn’t want to show him what she found. Lucky her the spreadsheets and all the data weren’t up on the screen.

“Just playing around with my new computer.”

“Oh, that’s nice… that’s nice.”

Earl brought him the can of soda and the cracking noise of Oscar opening it almost made her tremble.

Please, guys, just get home.

“So, are you going to tell me?”

She shivered.

“Tell you what?”

“What you’re doing here.”

She couldn’t tell him the truth. She didn’t even think about an excuse, she didn’t have time.

“Just…” she cleared her throat, “we were supposed to meet here then go get dinner.”

“Dinner, huh.”

“Yup.”

“And you have the keys to the apartment?”

She shrugged, “yeah, Crow let me borrow one.”

“Are you together?”

Were they? Like, for real?

“No.”

She wasn’t lying, not completely. She and Crow weren’t together just like she and Lucian weren’t together.

The three of us are together.

She pressed her lips, trying to keep her cool. Oscar sipped on the soda and said “ahhh…”

She still stood beside him. The silence felt like a ticking bomb. She needed to say something to ease herself up.

“I’m going to the store, do you need anything?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

She felt her body relax all of a sudden. She felt safe. You’re just being paranoid, Lexie, he’s a friend.

“All right, I’ll be right—”

“I’m sorry,” Oscar said, “I meant, you’re not leaving.”

Her body stiffened. Her jaw tightened shut. She thought she was going to puke.

“What…” she asked, but the words came up garbled, almost whispered.

“You don’t like me very much, do you, Alexa?”

She had steeled her body to prevent herself from shivering, but even still, she could tell he noticed.

“I… I—”

“You what? You come here, cast a net over the guys and now what? Just because they inherited the business doesn’t mean they own it, right?”

“I… I…”

“Oh, Earl… please, shut her up.”

The man rose his hand and crashed it right on her face. She tripped on the living room table, dropping one of the vases on it, the plants and water fell on the rug, staining it.

It had been so fast she only felt an explosion on her nose, then she was on the floor.

“Look at what you did,” Oscar said.

Earl slapped her again, she fell flat on the floor, her eyes were open but she only saw stars.

“Sit her beside me.”

One of the men —she couldn’t tell who— picked her up and released her by the bald man.

“Now listen,” Oscar said, tapping her leg, “I’ve got nothing against the guys working the business. They’ve done a great job, even I was surprised at their effectiveness. But—”

The screensaver came up on the TV. He leaned over to the coffee table and moved the laptop’s mouse so the presentation showed again.

“But you’re messing with my business, you see?”

She didn’t understand.

“No, I…”

Earl rose his hand again and she sank on the sofa, trying to protect herself.

“Earl, come on,” Oscar said, signaling at him to stop, “stop doing that, people might think you like hitting women.”

He said that last part with a grin, Earl smiled and took a step back.

“I don’t like people messing around with the books, you know? We’re all happy just the way they are.”

“You cooked the books on purpose.”

“Well of course I did! Do you think I’m stupid? I’m risking my life for them, might as well make bank, wouldn’t you do the same?”

“I’ve seen what you earn—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m not hurting anyone.”

“You’re stealing from—”

This time, he was the one who slapped her. Her head snapped back at the couch and bounced forward. Her hands went to her face, blood poured unto them. He broke my nose.

She was crying. She tried not to. She tried to remain impassive, badass. But it was easier said than done.

“Now, okay,” Oscar said, “you found two hundred and fifty grand, that’s fine, I can deal with that.”

He leaned over and clicked on the open files at the bottom of the screen, the ones she had open and could be seen on the Start bar.

“But when I hear the Kovolskis asked for all of the books, well, that’s where I draw the line.”

He cooked the books, reported one thing to the family, then made the returns to his own account.

Now it made sense. They were silly mistakes, newbie mistakes. They looked right on paper to someone who wasn’t an expert on the subject.

He embezzled all those millions. He betrayed them. Suddenly, she understood. She found out about him, his secret.

He’s gonna kill me.

Oscar scrolled through the spreadsheets.

“You did a fine job,” he said.

The truth was there for everyone to see. Every red and yellow and green cell showing how they could change things in their favor. It was pretty readable, even to someone who hadn’t seen it before.

He sighed, almost frustrated.

“Looks like you found everything. Sad, very sad. Earl, please.”

The man grabbed the computer and smashed it on the floor.

“No!” she yelled, but the other bodyguard grabbed her. Earl kept kicking at it until he turned it to mush.

“Please, don’t hurt them,” she cried.

Oscar smiled, “don’t worry darling, I won’t do anything to my employers, I’m not as ungrateful as you might think.”

That settled her down. She was living on borrowed time. She should’ve died that night on the alleyway. The boys showed her what she was capable of. She was grateful she got to meet them.

“You’ll have to come with us, though, you know, as insurance.”

Her nose still bled, her clothes were completely ruined, her hands covered in red.

“Clean yourself up, when are they coming?”

“Forty minutes or so,” Theodore replied, looking at his watch.

“Okay, time to go. Theo, please, help her.”

The man accompanied her to the bathroom. She washed her face, but blood kept on pouring out, slower now.

Maybe her nose wasn’t broken after all. The motherfucker is weaker than he thinks he is.

Outside, Earl grabbed the remains of her laptop and the cables she used and put them in a black bag. No one would know what happened.

She walked out of the bathroom, Oscar stood there, looking out the window, pretending he was big and tough instead of just a fucking thief.

Earl, the coward who beat her was on the floor, cleaning the water stains, making everything look as unsuspicious as he could. The vase she broke was nowhere to be seen, its pieces already in the black trash bag in his hands.

The door was ten feet to her left, Theodore rearranged his glasses. That’s when she did it.

She clamped her fist as hard as she could and struck him right on the nose, she jumped to the door and grabbed the handle.

“Get her!” Oscar screeched like a rat.

The door opened and Theodore jumped at her, but she was faster, slipping through it just before he shouldered it close.

She stumbled hard, about to lose her balance, she was out of the apartment, for a second she thought she would fall, her escape ruined, but her survival instincts prevailed, and recovered her gait.

The silent, furniture less foyer looked like freedom, especially when she saw that the elevator doors were still open.

Thank God, thank God, she thought, flinging herself to it, turning around immediately to press the button —any button— to get away fast.

The door to the apartment opened, Theodore ran out and jumped at her.

“Fuck!” she yelled, “fuck…”

The doors closed on his face.

She was safe, they wouldn’t make a fuss in public. She looked at the button she pressed.

She let out a sigh of relief when it’s bright orange color read 3.

Ninety floors down, no way they can get there before I do.

No one was that fast. Besides, they needed to find the stairs first.

The elevator wasn’t moving. What the hell is going on?

She pressed on number 3 again, then the 1. It didn’t move.

The doors opened, slowly. A small man wearing clothes bigger than he needed stood there, grinning wide.

“I guess you missed this, dear?” he said, the elevator key dangling in his hand. The key to use the elevator. Of course. She still needed that.

I’m dead. Fucking hell, I’m dead.

And just like that, the three men walked in the lift, Theodore leaned down and grabbed her arm harder than ever.

“You do that again and I’ll shoot you right in the face,” Oscar said, “got it, honey?”

The only thing she feared now was them finding the boys on the parking lot. She didn’t want to put them in danger.

Someday they’ll find everything about this, someday they’ll learn the truth.

“Stop crying,” Oscar said, “I fucking hate criers.”

She did, but not because he said so. She needed to regain some shred of dignity before the worst happened.