I groaned and rolled over to grab my phone off the nightstand. Kathryn's name flashed at me as I stared blankly at the screen. It was finally my unplanned day off and she wanted something already? I answered the phone not planning on listening to what she had to tell me.
"Mmm," I hummed and wrestled the blanket off my body. "What!" I instantly perked up thinking I heard wrong. "What happened? I'm on my way right now."
That's how Sean and I ended up in the hospital that afternoon. We stood in the waiting room for over an hour waiting for Kathryn to tell me the situation. The doors slid open behind us catering a huge gust of wind through the crowded space. I turned around to see Asher and Luca shoving their way through the throng of people. Manners?
"Where is she?" Luca demanded as soon as he got to me.
"How was I supposed to know?" I mumbled. "I'm just as confused as you are."
"Gosh, I knew I should have just taken Jenni's keys," Asher scolded himself. "Rico kicked her out of his house and she ran off before I could take her home. I was just released from police custody not too long ago."
Police custody? I thought. What did he do to get arrested?
Asher saw the confused look on my face and mouthed "later". I nodded and proceeded to wait for my fiancée. What was taking her so long? I wanted to go back home and sleep. Not even two hours later, she came from around the corner holding a clipboard. Her face was void of any emotion to give away too much of the current situation. I knew the worst was yet to come as she stood in front of Luca.
"Lexi is fine," She said. "Just a minor concussion. We ran tests on her and are waiting to get back the results. You might be able to take her home with no problem."
"What happened?" Luca asked.
"I don't know. Some off-duty EMTs saw the car parked alongside the road with her passed out. If they hadn't gotten her out, she could have suffered from more than a concussion."
Asher explained how they were at Ricardo's house. I knew Rico was being a douche to her since he knew about everything, but I didn't expect him to snitch on her to Asher. Apparently he didn't tell everything, because Ash doesn't know who she slept with. He told us Rico said an uncle, but didn't provide a name.
I looked at Kat to see her staring at me. I wasn't going to say anything if he didn't ask. It wasn't my place. Kat knew. Her father knew. Why couldn't they be the ones to break the news? Kathryn cleared her throat and asked Luca to follow her. When they were out of sight, I took Asher over to a less crowded area. Sean followed quietly.
"So...what did I miss?" I asked. "Anything I should know?"
Asher sat down and I did the same. He looked at me with the most innocent look on his face. How could a killer master this look? If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he really was an innocent man. I've seen too many people die by his hands to think that.
"Ricardo told me Lexi was sleeping with an oncle. She freaked when he told her to tell me and ran off." He sighed briefly. "I was going to murder him, because I also found out he had been sleeping with Jenni behind Anna's back. Of course Jenni called the cops on me."
I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't. The situation was bad, but it wasn't funny. I had to tell Asher what he didn't know. Finding out from Lexi herself would ruin the respect he claims he'll never give her. I looked Asher in his eyes and took a deep breath.
"It's true...Ash," I said. "Kathryn told me some time ago, but I never really wanted to be the one to tell you. It's not even that serious, because when you weren't even dating her when it happened."
"...Do you think I actually care about her sexual life?" Asher snapped.
That surprised me, because I expected a completely different reaction. How was he not angry with her? If it was Kathryn and I was getting a divorce to marry her, I don't think I'd want to marry her anymore. That was uncle for goodness sake. What would I want with a woman who tainted her image by sleeping with my uncle and pretending it never happened?
"You're not mad?"
"No...Why would I be? Should I?"
I watched silently as Asher's jaw clenched. I knew it. He was enraged. I knew this was getting to him. It's fine though. I'll let him pretend he isn't mad until he admits it himself. There's nothing more I can do for him anymore than I plan to. It is what it is.
"I'll be back," Ash suddenly announced and stood up.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"...I'll be back."
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I don't remember what went down yesterday, but I do know Sean and I managed to make our way back home to sleep. To be honest, I don't even think Kathryn came home last night. If she did, she didn't wake me up. That was good, because I didn't plan on doing anything. Yes, I was supposed to be looking for the drive, but I had more than enough time before it got in the wrong hands. If Lexi still had it like Asher claimed she did.
After finally getting out of bed to shower and brush my teeth, I finally thought about Sean. I wonder what he was doing. Should I take him to work with more or leave him with the maid? They haven't seen each other for a while. Maybe we could all worry about my problems later and go to the amusement park or something.
My phone chimed, snatching my attention from my reflection. I shuffled out the bathroom to my phone on the nightstand. Who was this? I really needed to get an answering machine or something. There were missed calls from Kathryn, Asher, and Anna. I saw some from Ricardo, but I was never going to open them. What surprised me were the most recent missed calls and texts.
Paige? What does she want?
10:14 AM Wayne'sgirl: I think I know who did that to Lexi. Call me when you get a chance
10:30 AM Wayne'sgirl: I definitely know who did that to Lexi. I send what I saw
Wayne'sgirl sent a photo
Wayne'sgirl sent a photo
10:55 AM Wayne'sgirl sent a voice message
11:00 AM Wayne'sgirl: I don't have much time, but if we can meet that would be ideal
I immediately hurried to find a decent outfit and got my keys. I knew there was something suspicious about Lexi being hospitalized. Wayne was always planning something and his troubles were catching up to him. After telling the maid to keep Sean company, I opened the garage door to see Kat standing there.
"Oh. I thought you were still asleep!" She exclaimed.
"Surprise," I deadpanned. "I'm sort of in a hurry, Kitty. Paige needs to tell me something urgent."
"You're not going to wait for me?"
"No. I don't think she has that much time. I'll call you if something changes."
"Alright. Tell me everything. I'm listening. I won't interrupt at all. Just don't talk slow or I'll strangle you."
"...Fine."
The café was loud just how I wanted it. To everyone else it looked like Paige and I were just having a friendly talk. I hoped it stayed like that, because so far I hadn't seen many reporters lurking around every corner. Movies taught me how not to interrupt people and to listen carefully. I would do just that.
"Do you mind if I record?" I asked.
"No. I was hoping you'd do that anyway," Paige said. "I wasn't going to say anything at first, because Wayne was quite suspicious when I asked him about Lexi. He told me to keep my nose out of his business and to keep being pretty."
"...I'm not agreeing with that. You're our only witness to his crimes right now."
"He's been coming home late since Asher got back from New York. I don't know if they have anything to do with each other, but I don't like the feeling of a fellow model working with someone like him. Right before your drive went missing, he was on the phone talking to some guy about an exchange. Said it was confidential and he was picking it up Saturday night."
"Did he say what time?"
"No. Just Saturday night. I almost didn't hear it when he said it. Tuesday night, after everyone had left the party and we were heading home, I pretended to be asleep. He got on the phone and started talking to the same person from last week. They talked about kidnapping Lexi to get your drive back. I fear he wasn't going to give it to you."
I sighed. Of course not. Wayne wasn't someone I could easily trust. Knowing him, he would kill me just to get the bounty on my head and obtain power over the entire mafia. With no time to lose, I wanted to know what was his next move. Did he even plan his next move after messing with Lexi? I hoped he was too distracted today to do anything.
"Here. I managed to put all the recordings on a drive just in case he realized I sent this all to you. The attachments are there too. I hope you're able to stop him before he does anymore damage. With the mess he's already making...I can't say what he's going to do next," Paige muttered. "If you're smart enough, you'll transfer your recording there. Make a decoy and have him believe I didn't tell you anything."
"What about your safety and the kids?" I asked. I didn't want to put Paige's kids in danger.
"If any of this goes wrong, he's going to put you away...again. I can't let that happen to you."
"Cameron, we're going to be fine. I'm flying to Europe with the kids tonight." She stood up.
"I'll make sure to send anything to you that I may have forgotten. Just know that if you don't hear from me...Wayne has found out everything. Or he's done something stupid and it isn't safe to make another move."
"Alright. I have somewhere to be right now. You and the girls need to get somewhere safe now. I'll check up on you both before your flight."
"Goodbye, Cameron."
I stopped the recording and picked up the drive. Great. I guess I should leave everything in the car when I go to the agency. There's no way I'd risk someone finding this before I used it against Wayne when I needed it. He was sneaky, but I knew he knew I'd never leave anything important in my car. Especially if it's not being given to someone immediately. I'd hide it somewhere he wouldn't think to look even if he broke in.
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There was no time to waste. Adrien had to know. Everyone had to know. Jackson stood at the door smoking once again. I didn't bother with telling him he was going to die early, because he never seemed to listen to my warnings. He only took a look at me and smirked. What? This look had better not put me in any sort of danger later.
"Nice day, huh?" He asked.
"...Sure." I walked past him, discomfort resting low in my belly. There was something about him that made me want to have him put in prison.
Inside the AOC, I ran down the hall to Adrien's office. I slammed the door open, scaring Asher senseless. He jumped off Adrien's desk and threw me a glare. At least he was here already.
"What? I knew you were coming when I heard your stupid boots echoing in the halls!" Adrien snapped.
"Lexi's accident wasn't an accident at all. Someone attacked her. I don't want to start calling names, but I know every single one of you has a person in mind," I said. "Don't deny that we're thinking of the same person."
"It can't be," Asher said.
"How so?"
"He was in a meeting with me when it happened," Adrien claimed.
"Then he must have someone working for him. We all know he's not going to give me my drive back if he gets his hands on it first. I can't risk him being more powerful than me for a minute."
Luca entered the room with an annoyed Lewis. Why was he even here? No one liked him. I knew everything he did and it didn't sit right with me to have him so near me. Asher seemed to take notice of his presence too and I swear he said something about replacing a man in his basement. That was...not creepy at all.
"Evidence of such a conviction?" Luca asked. "I can think so much right now."
"See? Even Luca agrees!" I exclaimed.
"Everyone knows Luca doesn't like him. Of course he has a reason to agree."
Luca opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by the heavy footsteps stomping down the hall. We all knew it was Wayne, so we changed the direction of the conversation fast. I couldn't have him thinking we were all suspecting him so quickly. Not without his side of the story.
He entered the room. The atmosphere seemed to change from accusing to reserved and
secretive. Wayne stared at us all like he knew were talking about him. Kathryn stumbled in behind him like she was out of breath. I didn't even hear her coming. She held up a finger as we all watched her take the most obnoxious deep breaths.
"Don't blame anything on me when you don't know everything," Wayne said and walked back out.
Was that all he had to say? I swear he looked like he had more than enough to say to us. What was he planning? Asher left muttering something about a body and his house starting to smell. What was this guy on? I was going to have to get him checked soon. This was getting out of hand. Kat said she would leave with him and left me with a kiss.
"Lewis, could you find out if the Williams are still in town?" Adrien asked.
"I highly doubt that," Lewis said.
"Did I ask you that? Go do as I asked, Agent Hogan."
Luca took this as his cue to leave and prepared to do so. When he was at the door, something seemed to stop him and he backed up with his hands raised slightly. I took a look at Adrien who gestured back to the door. I looked again and had to do a double take. Dang. I wish I was the one doing this.
Wayne stood at the door with Lewis. He had a gun pointed to Lewis's head and I was tempted to just let him kill him. But no. I couldn't let him off the hook with witnessed murder. I wanted him to go to jail for more than his life expectancy.
"No one...blames me for things you have no evidence of," Wayne growled.