Page 73 of Viral Affair

Moments later, someone showed up and I instantly recognised him. He was the driver who’d stuck a needle in my leg, probably with some sleeping drug. Vincent approached him, keeping his eyes glued to me. I was pissed off with myself, miffed that I didn’t head but him when I had the chance earlier.

Vincent left me for some time. It was hard to tell how long he was gone for, maybe thirty minutes, maybe an hour, but by the time that idiot came back he didn’t look good at all. Something obviously must have happened because he was sweating like hell. I started hopping on the chair because frankly, I was fucking tired being chained up like a monkey. I had to loosen my legs.

Vincent paced up and down, talking to himself and gesturing with his hands like a lunatic. Then I thought I was hallucinating for a moment because I spotted two dark silhouettes sneaking down behind old steel slates. This place was dark and creepy, and Vincent was too busy playing the victim to notice anything usual. My heartbeat accelerated when I recognised Rupert’s blue shoes, the ones I’d helped him pick up back in Zakynthos.

“What happened, big guy? Things aren’t going as well as you thought?” I asked loudly, hoping to distract the bastard while Rupert came closer.

This thought alone suddenly petrified me because when Vincent turned towards me, he had a gun. He pointed it in the direction where Rupert and his companion had disappeared moments ago.

“Your boyfriend is late, and my guys are not responding,” Vincent muttered, sweat dripping down his cheeks, his tie undone, his trousers dusty. Had he fallen earlier on?

I could never forgive myself if anything happened to Rupert. I had to protect him because this whole thing was all my fault, so I had to keep Vincent talking.

“Rupert is not that stupid, you know. He might have fallen for my charm, but he could see right through me even in the beginning. I thought I was through with my master plan until now,” I said, staring at Vincent with a tentative smile. I had to say something to get his attention and suddenly I realised that this was the perfect moment for me to drive Rupert away, to let him thing that I had been playing him all these months. Pain like no other hit all my senses, and my heart broke at the thought of what I was about to do. Yet, lies were the only thing that would get Vincent’s full attention, too, so I had to take advantage of this situation. I knew Rupert would never forgive me, but his life was literally on the line.

“What are you talking about, woman? What master plan?”

“The one where I meant to get an advantage over his brother, Spencer, the PM. This was even before my roommate started working for him as a nanny. All this time, Rupert thought it was a freaky coincidence, but we’ve been planning this for a very long time,” I said, making sure Vincent was enthralled by my speech. My breathing was laboured, and I couldn't see Rupert's face, but I was certain that he knew exactly what I was talking about.

He stared at me, obviously confused as hell. The seconds ticked away. I was buying myself time, trusting that Rupert could execute his own plan quickly.

“I knew if I fucked the PM’s younger brother and then later suddenly show up in that club as Laura’s roommate, he’d believe in the freaky coincidence. We both know, Vincent, that I like money. This thing was always about the money, but then the poor lad fell in love with me, so I kept pretending this whole thing was for real so you and I could split the money later, down the line.”

I had no idea how I’d even come up with this shit, but Vincent looked so bewildered. His expression was almost comical.The lies made sense because in the beginning, Rupert did suspect me of being a con artist and now, I had just proven that he’d been right.

This hurt so fucking bad…

I told myself that I was doing this for him, because he had to be protected, and the choices from my past could ruin the whole Banks family.

But damn, this wrecked me from the inside out.

Two things happened right after I stopped talking. Vincent was just about to shout that I’d probably lost my mind, but then a huge man appeared out of nowhere and pounced on my ex, disarming him in an instant. This whole thing happened so fast that I was thrown backwards with the chair still attached to my back.I yelped while commotion happened in the background, but I was stuck, unable to move.

A scream, and then someone stood beside me.“You all right, love? Anything broken, or are you good?” The giant man looked very much like Rupert, a bigger version of him.

I nodded. He lifted the chair and my heart stopped because right in front of me, Rupert was beating the shit out of Vincent. It looked like he was going to kill him.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Rupert

“Rupert … for fuck’s sake, you’ve made your point,” James roared as he pulled me off that motherfucker who’d kidnapped Veronica.

I couldn’t feel my body. I was only seeing red, wanting to fucking kill him for touching her. I kept pounding into him, turning his face into a giant pulp, hoping to knock every one of his teeth out. I’d lost control when I’d seen him there with the gun, and my vision had gone blurry with anger.

He pushed me off the guy and I crashed on the floor, breathing hard. Vincent wasn’t moving, and when I glanced at my fists, I felt sick to my stomach. I was covered in blood, but it wasn’t mine but belonged to the guy’s I’d nearly beaten to death. What the fuck was wrong with me?

Luckily for me, James had arrived in London earlier than expected, right after I’d gotten the phone call from that imbecile.

He wanted five million from me, transferred to some offshore account, or he was going to kill Veronica. Then he’d sent a video confirming he had her, and I’d nearly fucking broken my phone after watching it.

I told James what had happened. He’d called a few of his people, and we all drove to my site. The same one I’d had so many issues with lately. I suspected that the guy was somehow connected to what had been happening here lately with this project.

Apparently, James’s men had disabled the clowns who were scattered around the place. Each one of them was armed, but James was a fucking professional. He knew what he was doing. The bastard who’d kidnapped Veronica must have hired these men to keep an eye on the place while he waited for me to arrive. After that, we’d snuck inside.

James was pissed off. He’d insisted I needed to stay behind and let his team deal with it, saying I didn’t have enough training and was a liability. He gave me some spiel about safety and my health issues. We’d gotten into a fight because I’d refused to stay behind.

“Rupert, Rupert, are you all right?”

---