Page 48 of Bad Duke

I stand up and drop the knife when I need to catch my breath, I’ve made a far bigger mess than I intended to and I need to put together a plan. The simple thing to do here is make this look like a robbery gone wrong. I could call in the contact Patrick’s got and have him clean this place from top to bottom, but right now, I’m not sure who I can trust anymore. I pull some books from the bookshelf so they fall around his body, then tip over some furniture and open all the drawers in his dresser. Moving over to the desk in the corner I go to open all the drawers there too, but then I see something that catches my attention. A photograph of Olivia, the same one that's on the website where she used to work, only this one is printed out and paperclipped to more pieces of paper. All of them are full of notes about her. Her old address, the address of the place where she meets her friend for coffee every Wednesday. The events we’ve been to over the past few weeks are all listed and the ones we have coming up are too.

There are notes scribbled all over, none of them having any structure but when I flick through more and see the floor plan for the coffee place, it doesn’t take me long to realise that I’m looking at some kind of plan. A plan to kidnap Olivia. I scan over it again, seeing that this is not a one-man mission. There's a list of potential places she could be taken from and a line has been struck through the dance studio. The coffee shop where she meets her friend is right on the top, as is the name of a bridal shop in Camden.

There's research into drugs and how much to give to a person of Olivia’s size to keep them unconscious. It makes me feel sick, and my hands shake as I continue to go through it and try to find out who else is involved. Two words come up frequently. Stag and Fox. I figure they must be code names and when I look at the photo on the desk of a younger Nicolas sitting next to a prized stag with a rifle in his hand, I figure the person I’m going to be looking for now is Fox.

I search everywhere for a phone so I can go through Nicolas’s contacts, tearing the place apart and making the robbery story look even more believable. I find nothing, not even on his body. I’m panicking, I can feel myself going out of my mind. It’s getting late and she’s at home without me. For all I know a member of my staff could be involved in this. Nicolas wasn’t a member of the club, he had to have got in somehow. Looking down at his body, I’m mad at myself for not asking him more questions and letting my anger once again overrule my thinking.

I need to be with Olivia, right now. I need to hold her in my arms and know that she and our baby are safe. Quickly gathering up all the information I can find, I leave Nicolas’s body on the floor to rot and see myself out. I take off my gloves and the jacket I’ve been wearing, putting them in my boot before driving to my old apartment so I can shower and change before I go home to her.

* * *

When I arrive back at the estate I shove my fiancée’s kidnap plot into my glove box in case she’s still awake. I check myself in the rearview mirror and take a few minutes to breathe myself calm before I head inside.

She’s still awake when I step into the living room, the patio doors are opened up wide to let in the air, and I immediately move towards them and close them up.

“It’s baking in here, Alex, can we leave them open?” She puts down the book she was reading and watches me.

“I’ll get Leah to bring you in a fan.” I smile at her and I pull across the curtains, for all I know there could be someone out there watching her.

“Leah clocked off hours ago. It’s late, you were gone for a really long time,” she points out, looking equally as hurt as she is angry.

“I had a lot to deal with. I haven’t been around so there was a lot to catch up on,” I explain, heading for the drinks cabinet to pour myself a drink. All I keep seeing in my head are those fucking notes.

“What did you eat tonight?” I ask her, feeling my hands still shaking as I bring the glass up to my mouth. Nothing in this world is more scary than the unknown and right now there is an unknown out there who I know wants to hurt her.

“You never left in those clothes.” She stares at me, her eyes filling up with tears and I know from the way she looks at me that she’s got the wrong idea in her head.

“Liv,” I head over to her, placing my glass down on the table and crouching in front of her. “I can’t tell you what happened tonight, but I can promise you it’s not what you're thinking.”

“You can tell me anything.” She takes my hand and pleads me with those eyes. Knowing that I intend to spend the rest of my life with this woman, and what I’d do in order to ensure that, I decide to tell her the truth. At least half of it.

“I killed a man, tonight,” I admit, waiting for her to look at me in horror, but her expression doesn’t change.

“Some guy came to the club and forced one of the girls to go further than she wanted to. So, I killed him.” The words come out callous but I’m holding enough secrets from her, I can’t hide who I am too.

She nods her head looking a little spaced out as she rests back on the sofa.

“I thought you were…”

“I know what you thought and that's why I’ve told you the truth. I made you a promise and I’m never going to break it.”

She closes her eyes and when a tear slips out from one of them I wipe it away.

“Is it bad that I’m relieved?” She opens them back up and stares at me.

“No, pretty girl, it's not bad. I’m the bad one. And I don’t deserve to have you here crying over me.”

“I don’t like you keeping things from me. I don’t like having to wonder. Promise me no more secrets.” She looks at me so desperately I have no choice but to nod my head.

“I promise.” Bile rises in my throat when I think about her brother lying in front of me with his throat slit. But even with the world crumbling around me I still have to hold on to her. I’m too selfish to let her go.

“Good.” She smiles as if all our troubles have just floated away. “We missed you tonight.” She takes my hand and places it on her stomach.

“He told you that, did he?” I put on a brave face for her before I lift up the top she's wearing and kiss where our baby grows.

I can’t help thinking about all the people who could potentially cause them harm, but I won’t let her know about the danger she’s in. Stress during pregnancy is a huge risk. I’ve read that just about everywhere. It’s my job to ensure that they’re safe and that means tighter measures will have to be put in place.

OLIVIA

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