Page 48 of Ours to Keep

“Someone clearly has a lot to hide,” Elliot says in a condescending tone.

George moves to the safe, and I tilt my head towards River, who is hot on his heels, the knife to his throat in a flash, causing his hand to freeze mid-air.

“As long as you don’t try anything foolish, I won’t need to give you a matching nick on the other side,” he says, his tone threatening.

Slowly, George types in a code, the keypad going from red to green and the door clicking open.

“Move aside.” River reaches in and pulls out a laptop and what appears to be an ugly-looking brown Filofax.Who knew they were still a thing?

“What do we have here,” he says, tossing the leather towards Elliot, who catches it with ease.

River passes the laptop to George, who hugs it to his chestlike a lifeline before sitting at the mahogany desk. Lifting the lid and starting it up,

I stand behind him, my presence a looming threat.

“I want to see who has access to these so-called videos and images of Lily.”

He swallows hard and sniffs, his fingers trembling as they hover over the keyboard.

“So, what exactly is your involvement in this?” I ask.

He clears his throat, his shoulders tensing. “I just recommend clients in exchange for a small payment fee.”

I grip his shoulder—hard. “And what exactly constitutes a small payment?”

“Ten grand per client.”

I shake my head. In what world is that a small payment? “And what else do you do exactly? Do you have a full list?”

“N-no, only the handful I’ve recommended. Some are frequent members of a few clubs I visit. Richard keeps the main clientele list.”

“And the ones you say are after Richard?”

He swallows nervously. “Yes, they are the ones I recommended, but if they find out I told you. I’m a dead man.”

He pulls up a folder and opens it.

“Elliot,” I say and step aside. He brings over a small black hard drive and plugs the cable into George’s computer before returning to his laptop and clicking a few buttons.

“Hey, what are you doing?” George asks, panic etching his face.

“A database transfer,” Elliot replies.

“B-but?—”

I cut him off. “But what? You fucked up, George. This is your own doing. Now, show us the videos and images you have of Lily.”

He clicks on an App.

“What the fuck?” My hand tightens on the back of George’schair, the leather creaking under my grip. “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is?”

It’s an entire fucking network.

Elliot lets out a low curse. “The dark web, you have our girl on the fucking dark web?”

“It’s not me. Richard is the one who runs it... I just?—”

“Do not finish that fucking sentence,” River grits out. “Not unless you really want to see what my blade can do.”

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