Page 73 of The Revenge Plan

“Let's wait for them to come to us. He came to us first. He wanted to sell. They’ll definitely sell. Shareholders are pulling out and some will convince them to sale at some point after the funeral. Lets face it, nobody liked the old man, I wouldn’t be surprised if the shareholders pressure them during the funeral. “

“I’m with Ax,” I said, throwing my things on the desk, “I won’t be staying for long by the way.”

“Why not?” Ax looked baffled.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my father-in-law died.”

“I thoug—fine. Go do what you gotta do, I guess.”

“Good.” I was in the middle of giving a few instructions and delegating when my phone rang again. It was Fred. What was it that was so important? Fred rarely rang twice in a day. After it rang the third time, I left the office and went to answer it.

“What is it, Fred?”

“We got cut off earlier.”

“Yes, I’m aware. What’s so important?”

“The issue we were talking about. Your wife and your brother. It didn’t happen the way we thought it happened.”

I was on my way to the elevator and I stopped mid-stride. “What do you mean exactly?”

“I did some digging. She was admitted to a hospital that day. At first they thought she was drunk, so they ordered a toxicology report.”

I knew all of this. She was drunk; it turned out. “Why are we rehashing this?”

“The report said she had high amounts of gamma-hydroxy butyric acid in her bloodstream.”

“What?”

“She was high on GHB, a date rape drug.”

I felt like someone had punched me in the gut.

“I did further investigating, spoke to a few people who were at the party she attended, and somebody mentioned that she was with a couple of friends who were known for doing that sort of thing. Drugging girls, that is. But that’s all the information I have. I don’t know why they would do that, or even who did. All I know for sure is—”

“She was a victim too.” Fuck.

46

Ilooked down at my black dress and black pumps in the full-length mirror. My outfit said demure and sad, hopefully enough to be correctly identified as the daughter of the dead person. I took a deep breath and shook my shoulders. Don’t be afraid, I told myself. Why are you afraid? It’s dad’s funeral for chrissake. The doorbell rang. I took one look again, grabbed my purse and went to answer the door.

“You ready?” he said as soon as I swung open the door. Caiden filled the frame and looked as suave as always in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie.

I nodded and closed the door behind me. He stepped forward to give me space. We walked toward the bank of elevators and while waiting I asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean?”

“This. Attending the funeral with me.” He took his eyes away from the light, going up the listed numbers to face me. “I wanted to do it.”

“Liar.”

“It’s true.”

“If you think you’re going to find some information about the deal, you’re wasting your time. No one is going to tell you anything and they’ll probably deceive you so…”

He looked wounded by my words. “I want to support you.”

I frowned, “Really?”

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