Page 23 of Love, Hate, Love

I grabbed my phone and laptop, heading away from her before she could try to follow.

I settled onto the bed, on alert for footsteps heading my way. While waiting, I searched the internet for the complete story of what had happened with Leah and this painting.

There was something off about the way she had tried to cut off her friend Cassie on the phone. She’d stopped looking my way and been fidgeting in her chair. They’d had an investigation. She’d been convicted. What did she not want me to hear? Was she involved in something larger that no one knew about? Had she done it for that boyfriend of hers who hadn’t bothered to answer the phone?

I scanned through all the articles I could find online.

Contractor discovers stolenpainting while doing work in Upper East Side apartment

Mr. Alverdi was hiredto hang a painting. He took a picture of the painting to send to his client while she was away, and later on that day, his wife saw and recognized the painting in the photo. Mr. Alverdi then reached out to his brother-in-law, who is an investigator with the NYPD.

HadI even thought about this for more than a second when I first read it? Whatever else someone might say about Leah, she wasn’t stupid, and only an idiot would do something like this. I’d followed her career, not that I’d ever admit it to anyone. She’d been associated with the highest-tier companies. She hadn’t risen to that level by making mistakes like this. Anyone with a brain wouldn’t have a stolen painting in their apartment while they were away with contractors coming and going. Nothing added up.

I tossed my phone on the bed next to me, getting in the shower instead of fixating on what was going on in her head. Maybe she’d been in a weird headspace. People got careless. She’d gotten cocky, probably.

I needed to stop thinking about her.

I should tell Melissa I’d cleared up my issue, drag her into the shower with me, and fuck Leah out of my mind. Except the thought of Melissa didn’t even make my dick so much as twitch. She wasn’t the one I wanted to press up against the wall and sink balls deep into. The one I wanted to fill my hands with.

I stepped out of the shower, the near-freezing water having done nothing at all for my emotional or physical state. I dropped down onto the bed and stared at the wall for all of two minutes before scrolling through my contacts to the one person I trusted to gather delicate information and be discreet. I had him listed as John, although that was an alias.

“Hey,” he answered.

“I need you to look into something for me.”

“Do you need to meet?”

If I’d called anyone else, they might’ve asked for specifics already. Not this guy. His phone had been bugged too many times for him to be throwing around details. Most of the people he worked with had a high likelihood of having their phone calls recorded as well.

“I don’t want to wait that long, and this should be easy enough to handle.” I wasn’t willing to wait for a meeting. I wanted answers now. “You know that situation I just got involved with?”

“Your royalty issue?”

I guess I’d called Leah “princess” enough times to him that it had registered.

“Yes. I think there’s something more going on, and I want to know what.”Hadto know what if I wanted to evict her from my head.

“Wouldn’t surprise me in the least,” he said. “I’ll give you a discount to dig into this one, because it’s actually piqued my interest.”

Those words unnerved me to my core. He didn’t even know Leah but thought something was wrong with this situation, too. And if I trusted anyone’s instincts, it was his.

“Keep your discount. Just get it done soon.”

“The people I need to reach out to aren’t going to come cheap, so you won’t think you got a discount anyway. As far as the rush job, not a problem.”

“Spend whatever you need.”

Typically this would be where we’d hang up. Me and “John” didn’t chat. We weren’t friends, but business acquaintances. I’d be stunned if he had any friends at all.

So when John didn’t hang up but asked, “So how’s it going over there?” I nearly fell off the bed.

“You want to know how it’s going?” I asked. “Is there something I should be aware of?”

“No, nothing like that. Just curious.”

John, who both sounded and looked like he rolled people into the gutters on a weekly occurrence, was interested in my domestic situation? Why did that not feel comforting?

“It’s fine,” I said. I couldn’t exactly tell him to butt out when I was asking him to dig around and I needed him. Little bit of a conflict there.

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