Page 6 of Marko

Well, I would not get involved. They could both go to hell. I didn’t want any trouble.

However, that night as I lay in bed, sleep eluded me yet again and I lay there thinking about the contents of the letter. My agitation made me restless. My mind was all over the place as I stared into the dark for hours, tossing and turning, unable to calm my thoughts. I was having a hard time processing things.

Who was this uncle of mine and had he really killed his half-sister and her daughter? What kind of person would do that? I didn’t know these women, but guilt tugged at me. I really didn’t want to be involved in any of this, but if it was true, could I really ignore things and not do anything about it?

“Aargh!”

Frustrated, I flicked the light back on, picked the letter up and read it yet again. The first time I’d read it, my feelings were mixed with hurt and disappointment at how impersonal it was. The second time, I was filled with shock. This time, I was bloody pissed.

“Fucking arsehole!” I scrunched the letter up and threw it across the room.

How dare this man put me in such a dangerous position? Why would he do that?

Of course, I could simply ignore the letter and never open the safety deposit box, like I initially thought. That was what I would prefer to do. After all, I didn’t owe the guy anything. But from what the letter said, it looked like I could be in danger whether I went to the bank and opened the safety deposit box or not.

Raking my hand through my hair, I frowned. The air was cool, and I shivered. Rubbing my tired eyes, I climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up around my neck.

Maybe if I went and opened the box, there would be enough information to hand straight over to the authorities and be done with it. I’d let them decide how to proceed. Nodding my head, I decided that was what I would do.

First thing in the morning, I would go to the bank where the money had been transferred and open that bloody box, find out what the hell all of this was about, then pass the information on.

Hopefully, I could hand it all over to the police and forget about it. They could do what they liked about it. That was as far as I was willing to go. I wouldn’t put myself in danger to get any further information, no matter what my biological father suggested.

With that decision came relief and I finally relaxed enough to fall asleep.

CHAPTER 4

MARKO

EARLY HOURS OF FRIDAY MORNING – SURVEILLANCE

Yawning widely, I continued to watch Melissa Martin’s home.

My tired, heavy eyes swept over the house before me. It was a large and attractive modern property, split into two apartments. Melissa stayed in the larger one at the top, while the smaller apartment below was currently unoccupied.

I’d only managed to do a basic dig into Melissa’s background before I left the house last night, but I had some of my guys checking things out further. For now, though, the information I had on her was limited and not very helpful.

Melissa Martin was the daughter of an art dealer who died in Monaco about ten months ago. They had been rich prior to his illness, but after paying medical bills and other debts, there was little left. Melissa wasn’t destitute by anyone’s standards, but her finances had taken a huge hit. Of course, with the sizeable sum of cash that had been transferred into her bank account this morning, I guessed that wasn’t the case anymore.

With her dad gone, Miss Martin had obviously not wanted to stay in Monaco by herself and had returned to their London apartment just a couple of weeks ago. She was now attending a local college, doing a photography course. Neither father nor daughter appeared to have had any link to Mathieson. At least none I had found yet. But there had to be one.

A pounding behind my eyes made me wince, and I closed them for a second to give them a rest. As soon as I did, the picture on her license came to mind. Licking my lips, I let the image of her solidify in my mind’s eye. Lord, the woman was gorgeous. Those pouty lips called to me, and I wondered what they would feel like against my own. Or wrapped around my cock. The appendage in question jerked in longing at the thought.

Geez, I needed to stop fantasising about a woman who might be an enemy.

My mind bombarded me with the same questions I’d been asking myself all night.

Who are you? What’s your connection to Mathieson? And are you a threat?

Annoyed that the answers still eluded me, I huffed out a tired, frustrated breath and rubbed my forehead, trying to ease the ache behind my eyes.

Normally, I would enjoy the challenge it took to find out the answers to these questions, but tiredness was making me impatient and headachy.

My whole body was stiff from sitting in the one position most of the night. Nothing had happened, and I was so bored, I’d almost drifted off at one point. Luckily, I’d brought a flask of coffee with me and that had kept me awake. However, by the time dawn approached, there was none left, and a few hours later, I was nearly done for and in severe need of some shut eye.

Before the alarm had gone off alerting me to the movement with Mathieson’s bank account, I had been working on a personal project and had been too engrossed with it to remember to go to bed. I had a problem that way. Whenever I was busy with work or personal projects, I tended to forget to go to bed and simply grabbed a nap in my office chair when I couldn’t stay awake any longer.

As a result, I hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in days, and it was taking its toll on me now. I checked my watch and groaned.

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