Page 58 of The Hitch
"Sir, I apologize for the early intrusion. I just got off the phone with Valencia—we have a situation with the Camden acquisition. The seller is threatening to pull out unless we meet his new demands." Roman's voice is a little more strained than I'm comfortable with. Valencia must have rattled him—I'll need to have a chat with her about professional communication with my team.
"Understood. I'll be ready in five." I hang up the phone and run my fingers through my hair. Luckily, my night tangled upin Melody's arms has me rather well-rested. There are no dark circles under my eyes. In fact, I lookverygood. I smirk into the full-length mirror beside our dresser. I'll properly thank my wife for the assistance this evening.
"What's going on?" Melody calls from the bed.
"Business nonsense. A seller is trying to get out of our contract. I'll take care of it, though." I quickly stride over to the bed and lean down, placing a gentle kiss on Melody's cheek. "See you this evening. Have fun. Be safe."
"You, too." She curls back in under the sheets and is quickly back to sleep before I can even leave the room. I have to tear my eyes away from the beautiful, peaceful sight before trudging down the stairs.
Roman waits patiently at the door, handing me a freshly printed stack of papers. They're still warm. Following him to the car, I rifle through the redline statements as he opens the passenger door for me. I'm still neck-deep in the proposed new terms when we pull up to my designated space in the office's private underground garage.
"This is… Roman, this is dog shit." I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose. All of those warm and fuzzy feelings from being in Melody's arms are gone.
"My thoughts exactly." He slams the car into park and sighs exasperatedly. "I don't understand it. They were practically willing to give the place away during our first meetings. What changed? What did they learn?"
"I don't know. But I imagine our lawyers will find out in short order." I fold the papers in half and tuck them under my arm as we approach the elevator. It feels like it's ascending slower than usual, and I huff out a breath, tapping my finger on the folded paper.
A gentledingannounces that we've finally reached the fourteenth floor, and Roman ushers me in front of him. The office is still locked, still dark. It seems we've beat everyone.
We flick on all the lights as I make my way to my private office, illuminated by the wall of windows and the bright morning sun. An empty office building has the aura of a liminal space, like we're not supposed to be here. Dust motes dance in the bursts of air from the ceiling ventilation. Most eerie of all is the silence.
There is no low din of conversation. There are no ringing phones. No typing on keyboards. No printers whirring. Strangest of all, no Valencia. She called this emergency meeting, all hands on deck, but we beat her here?
"Roman?" I call from my desk, powering on my computer. "Is Valencia working from home today?"
"Not that I'm aware of, sir. She insisted that we all meet as soon as possible to get ahead of this hitch in our plans." Roman pokes his head in the door, rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to brew some coffee. Would you like any?"
"Yes, please," I mumble as I scan through my unread emails. Strange. There's one from Valencia, where she forwarded the redlined contract, but the verbiage is… different. Valencia usually has a very professional air about her written communication. Greeting, explanation, respectful sign off.
This is missing… well, all of it.
D—
Check out this bullshit lol
-V
Something is wrong. It's not like her to behave in such a way. This email, the frantic call to Roman.
"Shit," I grunt. "Roman, we've been—"
"Sir!" Roman calls from the breakroom. "Sir, I found Valencia!"
Well, fuck. I race down the hall to find him staring grimly into the breakroom. A horrific smell assaults me as I arrive, and he silently points. The sight makes my stomach drop to the floor.
Valencia, or what's left of her, hangs from the ceiling fan. The flesh from her back is separated from her body, forming grotesque wings. Black, crusted blood trails from a raw slash across her throat, coating the golden heart necklace she always wears. Another deep cut runs the length of her torso, from collarbone to crotch, and her intestines trail along the floor in a disgusting display.
"Oh, Valencia," Roman whispers. "This is blatant. This iscruel. It's the Seraph—it has to be."
"Yes, of course. The wings. God, Valencia, I am so sorry," I mumble to her corpse. Tears sting as they gather in my eyes, but I shake them away. "Office is closed, obviously. I'll tell the staff. I'll get… I'll get the Consortium to—to clean her up."
I lean back on the wall and find myself sliding to the floor, stricken by the sight. Valencia. She wasinnocent. She was my assistant, yes, but purely with business. She never hurt anyone. Sure, she got a little forward with me once, but I shut it down, and she never said another word about it.
Valencia was a rare kind of person. And Seraph killed her for it.
Melody
With my stance as perfectly aligned as humanly possible, I exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger. The recoil rocks through my shoulders, but I don't falter. A perfect bullseye.
