Page 79 of Submission

“True, she’s been through two shootings, falling through a glass table, and then her family tried to extort her. It’s almost as if a black cloud is following the poor girl.”

“Exactly, and I’m just trying to be a half-decent person by checking in and making sure she’s okay.”

He laughs“But that’s the funny shit, Hunt. You’re not a decent person. Not even a half-decent one.” He laughs hysterically. “There’s no other explanation for why you’re sniffing behind her all the time but the pussy. It must be–”

“Talk about her pussy one more damn time, and we’re going to haveactual problems,” I threaten icily.

“No disrespect intended.” Christian raises his hands as a show of surrender. “I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

“If we’re talking about obvious concepts, there’s also the fact that my sister lives down there, too.”

“Right, you’re down there all the time for yoursister,” he mocks.

“Where’s Vaughn?” I ask, changing the subject before I wring his neck.

“He’s somewhere champing at the bit. He thinks he found Jonathan’s ex.”

“What’s the point in finding her now? We already know what Jonathan looks like and that by some miracle, he was able to get away in the alleyway the other night.”

“I didn’t really get it either.” Christian shrugs. “But Vaughn seemed insistent on looking into it. I didn’t stop him because the guy is like a bloodhound when he has a lead. That’s why you got him into the information business in the first place, isn’t it?”

He’s not wrong.

But as good as Vaughn is, it’s infuriating that we haven’t been able to get a step ahead of Jonathan at any point thus far.

It was only by an earlier stroke of luck when I had Vaughn dig into the people causing trouble for Megan that Diana’s expensesdrew a red flag. Credit card alerts under her name were popping up at the kinds of restaurants that she shouldn’t have been able to afford on what I paid her. Aside from that, what stood out the most was that all the restaurants were places Jonathan used to frequent while he worked under me. We just put all the clues together a little too late.

“I guess he figures if we follow the trail of women, we’ll find the fucker, eventually. Using women to his advantage seems to be his modus operandi. It’s too bad we weren’t able to get to that Diana chick in time.”

After the other night, we attempted to find Diana to get some answers. We knew if we could get to her, we’d probably learn a lot. However, Jonathan was a step ahead of us, and when we reached her apartment, all we found was her dead body.

“That’s why Jonathan made sure to take her with him that night because he didn’t want to give her up. He knew if he did, and she lived, that she’d sing like a canary,” I say, regretting how that whole night went down. He caught me with my guard completely down, and my reaction was sloppy. They could have killed Megan.

“It seems that Diana had some nursing experience,” Christian says as he mindlessly leafs through a real estate magazine from my coffee table. “Doesn’t that feel like a coincidence?”

“And did you notice anything odd about Jonathan’s face?” I recollect.

Christian has a contemplative look on his face. “When he was in Megan’s apartment, he had his cap pulled down really low. However, in the alley, most of his face was shrouded in darkness.”

It had been a wild guess, calling out his name. I hadn’t expected that it would be him or that he’d be reckless enough to attack me at the Blue Whiskey.

“I didn’t notice any deformity as well,” I muse. “But he seems to need a nurse for some reason. It’s also bothering me that he’s far too obsessed with getting to me through Megan.”

“Well, he’s going to focus on your sister soon,” Christian says, his voice grim. “Have you thought about how to declare her appearance?”

I’ve had Christian spend the most time with Lena and wonder if she’s confided anything to him that she’d rather keep from me.

“Why did she say something to you about her feelings about being related to me?

“No, nothing like that.”

I open the fridge and take out the bowl of assorted melons that Megan made for me. Whenever she’s over at my place, she does these small things for me without asking. They’re oddly touching.

“Well, I haven’t made any definite plans about how I want to share her existence with the world. She’s still getting used to the whole idea of being my sister, and I don’t want to put too much pressure on her.” I chew a piece of ripe watermelon. “I considered sending her abroad until this whole issue with Jonathan is sorted out, but I want her somewhere where I can keep an eye on her.”

“I mean, if she wants to work at the club, we have our security crawling through there every night. Outside of what happened the other night, it’s the safest place for her to be.”

“I would have thought the same thing a month ago, but the other nightdidhappen. There’s no ignoring that. Which is why I’m just not so sure the club is the safest place for her to be.”

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