Page 103 of Fragile

“Did you sign for a package at mine?”

“What?” he said groggily.

“A package came here; did you sign for one recently?”

If I could have reached down the phone and grabbed the fucker by the throat I would have. “Max!”

“Fuck. Err, yes. A while ago though, a big envelope. I gave it to Leonie. Why?”

“Stay on the call,” I barked. The guy made me want to tear out my hair.

An envelope, and then it came flooding back. I dropped the phone on the counter, missing what Max was saying and ran to my room.

The door slammed back against the wall and there it was on my desk, the envelope I’d spotted last night. Grabbing it, I tore it open without thinking and shit loads of photographs spilt to the floor. Many of them contained Gerard fucking Kinlan.

I fell to my knees, panic clawing at my chest as I fanned out the pile in front of me. There were documents of transactions to different bank accounts and images of Gerard meeting with other men. Information that could probably put the man away for life and they had been sent to me? Why?

My stomach sank as I hastily grabbed all the papers and stuffed them back in the envelope before turning it around to check the address.

The large scrawling handwriting was messy and my name was misspelt.

Gabrial Night.

Shit.

Shoving the pack under my arm I went back out and grabbed my phone to hear Max shouting my name.

“Leonie’s been taken,” I said. This got his attention.

“What do you mean? When, where?”

“Stay by your phone.”

I then cut off the call without answering and threw the package on the side.

As I thumbed back into the anonymous text, there was another picture of Leonie and I felt like puking.

She was in the back of a car with her eyes closed. Unconscious.

What do you want? I messaged.

Ah, there he is. Had second thoughts?

I have the package with everything inside. I replied.

Good. Stay where you are. I will send someone to collect it.

A storm of thoughts circled my head like a fucking tsunami. Why had that shit been sent to me, was someone trying to frame me? Or blackmail me in some way? I’d never felt so out of my depth in my life.

And now I was supposed to wait there for someone to collect it whilst they had Leonie. Fuck that shit. I tried to ignore the pounding in my head.

Who are you? I messaged again, hoping he’d at least confirm he was part of the Kinlan’s posse, but the message failed to send. I then tried to ring the number but it was dead. Fucking burner phone!

It was then that I remembered that cryptic text I’d received on the day I’d left my father’s office. I had assumed it was from Gerard about the job offer he had given me, but the screen had shown No Caller ID, and I had Gerard’s number saved in my phone. I’d been too het up about the news of my father’s illness and what had happened to Leonie to realise. I remember the message mentioned a package. Shit!

Clutching my phone, I checked back through my messages, finding the text in the archive section. I then unblocked the number and hit dial.

It started ringing and I held my breath. Bingo. But then the voicemail kicked in.

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