Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“I’ll hate you forever, Jace Anderson.” Exhaustion makes my legs shaky and I just want to lie down. I want to wake up and forget it all. I push the hair out of my face, taking in a deep breath.
My eyes close, and I see Mason. His gorgeous smile, and those deep gray eyes full of so much emotion.
I wish I could smile. I wish I could go to him and beg him to take me back. That’s how far gone I am. I open my eyes, promising myself to be strong, but I can’t walk another step.
My body tingles with awareness and fear as I look straight ahead.
The balcony doors are closed, but unlocked.
I know they were locked. My body feels frozen as I look to my left, the gun still in plain sight on my nightstand.
I look back to the balcony, staring at the lock and knowing without a doubt that someone else is in this house.
Mason
Dressed in all black, I’m certain I’ll slip into the night for most people as I casually stroll along the sidewalk to William Street Towers, my father’s office building. It’s late and although the building is unlocked, the offices inside are locked up and most of the lights are off.
Opening the main door, my blood heats with anxiety as it swings open. The cameras are on. I don’t have to look up at the little red lights to know they’re recording.
My posture is relaxed, and I’ll act like I belong. I won’t appear out of place in the least. It’s silent in the building as I rock on my heels and hit the button for the elevator. Someone coughs to my right, and I chance a look at a woman in a pencil skirt walking quickly to the narrow hallway where the restrooms are. A lone soul, working late.
This is how men go to prison for life for crimes they committed, but didn’t get caught for.
This is how you fuck up and drown in your past mistakes for something so damn stupid.
An arrest for trespassing, or breaking and entering? They could charge me with that, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have happened to me.
But they won’t stop there. If I get caught, then my father will find out. He’ll know what I was doing. He can push, and the powers that be will sentence me harsher than justice would allow.
This is how men are taken down. For doing stupid shit, rather than keeping their noses clean. But I don’t give a damn. I need to know what’s in that safe. I need answers.
It’s been itching at me, an irritating thought in the back of my head, over and over ever since I left. A nagging that won’t stop and a whisper that tells me everything is there, right there.
He had information on Liam… what else does he have in that safe?
The elevator dings as it arrives, the doors parting for me and sealing my fate.
Miss Theresa Geist has a bad habit. I’m not sure if anyone else knows, but growing up so close to her, spending so much time with her, I’ve learned that she sometimes forgets her keys. She takes the subway to work, and it’s happened more than a time or two.
Because of this, she leaves the main office key tucked in the drawer of the reception desk in the hallway. It’s hidden in a false bottom to the drawer. Or at least she used to hide it there. I swing the large glass door open and my heart races as I commit the first crime tonight, knowing it’s being recorded. Knowing it’s capturing my face.
It doesn’t matter. It won’t matter unless the cops or security have to pull up the tapes for a reason.
I swallow thickly, picking up the tray of paper clips and collection of pens and thumbtacks.
A small smile curves my lips up as I find the key. I stare at it a moment, watching it gleam in the lights from the hallway. It’ll only get me into his practice’s section of the building, but his office lock can be picked now that I’ll be completely out of sight.
Open from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The white letters look back at me as I slip in the key and unlock the door.
With the soft click, all I can think is that I should have done this weeks ago. I prop the door open with a desk chair and return the key to where it belongs. No one will be the wiser. I should have come in here the moment I knew about the safe and the combination to its secrets.
But Jules was still with me.
She was still in my house and in my bed. Still a target if something were to happen to me. Everyone knows she’s left me, thanks to the article in the morning paper.