Page 17 of Midnight Torment

She nodded once.

“Then I need you to let me know when your soon-to-be ex-husband is not at home and we’ll get this underway.”

“He is away on business at the moment. He returns at the weekend.” Maryanne began to shred the tissue in her hands.

“Let me see if I can organise the other assessor,” I replied, pushing myself to stand and walk out of the room. Every step caused me pain since I twisted my leg in training, but I refused to show the limp I had in private. My shoes were lower than normal to allow me to walk slowly.

“Kerri, could you check and see if our assessor Thomas is available for tomorrow to evaluate Maryanne’s property?” I asked.

My secretary eyed me disdainfully, but lifted the index folder in front of her. I wandered into my office while she phoned, propping myself up against the window frame. A white box was on my desk that hadn’t been there earlier.

I lifted the lid off, thinking it might be from Jordan, but recoiled when I saw the dead and decomposing flowers inside. My hands shook, but I snapped a picture before I place the lid back on and messaged Jordan.

Me:Gift for me on my desk.

He was in a meeting with the guys, hence Flynn being here, but I knew he’d get back to me when he was free. My phone pinged about five seconds later.

Jordan:What the fuck? Has Flynn seen this?

Me:No, I just stepped into my office for a moment while Gargamel made a phone call for me.

I tried to pretend that it didn’t bother me, but it did. I loved flowers and this was just nasty and uncalled for on so many levels. The sender had stolen some joy from my life today.

“Jay just tore me a new arse,” Flynn said on his way through the door. “Could you not have come and got me first?”

My mouth fell open because I never expected Jordan to phone Flynn when I could have walked into the conference room and retrieved him.

“He told me to let him know if anything unusual occurred, so I did,” I replied in self-defence.

He lifted the lid, and stared inside, plucking the card from the middle of it that I hadn’t noticed. He slid it into his back pocket without a word.

“Am I allowed to see what it said?” I asked.

He shook his head and continued with his detailed examination, lifting the bouquet of flowers to investigate the bottom of the box. His expression said he found something that pissed him off. I stepped forward, but he held his hand up to tell me to stay where I was. My stomach churned in fear as the situation started to make the walls close in around me.

Someone was specifically targeting me, and I wasn’t sure how to react.

“Thomas said he will be there at ten tomorrow morning,” Kerri said from the doorway. “Oh, did you open your flowers?”

She stepped into the room and Flynn stepped in front of her. “Perhaps you could give me Thomas’ details since I have to meet him there?”

I waited until Flynn left the room with Kerri, closing the door behind him. I lifted the dead flowers out. Under them, there was a mouse with a noose around its neck. Nausea burned a rancid trail up the back of my throat.

The message was clear.

I placed everything back in the box and closed the lid. If Dante or whoever my secret stalker was, wanted me to run away and hide, they were mistaken. I refused to give them the pleasure of watching me squirm. I straightened my skirt and held my head up high as I left my office. My professional smile graced my lips and I nodded at Kerri on my way back to the conference room.

“Flynn and Thomas will be with you at ten tomorrow, Maryanne. We will progress when we get the full evaluation survey.”

“Thank you.” She stood, and for the first time, I witnessed how shaky she looked. Her tissue was in tatters in her left hand.

Even though my insides felt like they were made of a milkshake, I moved forward to grab her hand. “Don’t worry. This will all be sorted soon. Let the guys do what they need tomorrow, if they need access to anywhere, step out of their way. Everything will be photographed and evaluated.”

“Thank you, Megan. I know I’ve turned everything upside down, but how dare he not want our children.”

I nodded sympathetically. “Leave it with us and it will all be over soon.”

Her husband would have a blue fit when he realised that his investment portfolio was about to be diminished. This was when they normally started to play dirty and it ended up with them hating each other.

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