Page 151 of Bride By Initiation

"You'll know when you open it. Take care, Mrs. O'Malley."

Mrs. O'Malley.

He turns and exits my sight.

Amy stands on the other side of desk, her gaze pinned to the package. She whispers, "What do you think it is?"

I remind her, "It says it's private."

She nods.

"I'm the only one who's supposed to see it," I add.

"Oh! Yeah! Right! Okay!" She turns and walks toward the door.

"Thanks, Amy. Can you shut the door on the way out?" I say.

She looks over her shoulder, and disappointment flares in her expression and voice. "Sure."

She pouts and then mutters, "I never get to know any of the fun stuff." She steps out of my office and shuts the door.

I look at the box, staring at the writing, with my heart racing.

What did they send me now?

I can't be sure it's from the Omni.

Clients send me all kinds of crazy things, but they aren't always something I want to have in my possession. So I don't like surprises at myoffice.

I take a few deep breaths, reach into my desk, pull out a letter opener, and use it to slit the tape holding the box closed. I slide the inside box out and open the lid.

I remove a wad of red tissue paper, and find a small hard drive at the bottom of the box.

"What is this?" I mumble, deciding it must be regarding one of my clients.

My mind races through my current caseload, wondering who this could pertain to. I almost plug it into my computer, then stop myself.

I set the drive down and open my larger desk drawer. There's a laptop inside. I use it when I don't know what's on an external drive. Call it paranoia, but Sean lectured Fiona and me too many times on how to protect our technology from viruses.

I pull out the laptop. I turn it on and wait for it to load. Then, I slide the drive into the computer and double-click on the file.

A video pops up. The image it's paused on says "Happy viewing" over a black background.

A shiver racks my body. I take a deep breath, press play, and my gut immediately takes a nosedive.

My father, at a younger age, appears on the screen. There's no sound, but it looks like he's threatening a man, and they're arguing back and forth. Then my father takes out a knife and stabs the man several times.

In horror, I put my hand over my mouth, and the name Yury Ivanov flashes on the screen.

My gut churns faster.

Another man appears. My father shoots him in the head. The screen then shows the name Danny O'Connor.

Bile rises in my throat. I swallow hard, pushing it down, unable to tear my gaze off the screen.

Another man is killed by my father, and Arthur O'Malley's name appears.

A fourth man, called Kosmo Marino, also loses his life before the video ends.

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