Page 24 of Ruthless King

Andrew doesn’t reply.

“Did you have something to say?” Nico asks him.

“It’s just … I’ve looked into her.”

My heart squeezes as my hands grip the doorframe. No. He can’t know.

“You looked into my wife? I already did that. She’s clean.”

“Is she? She’s too clean, Nico. I think there’s something … there with her.”

Nico is deadly silent. The only sound I can hear is a fork scraping on a plate. Then he speaks. “If you need to do what you need to do to prove Aurora is innocent, then do it. But be smart about this, Andrew. I like Aurora. I don’t want you pissing me off.”

“Understood.”

Nico just gave Andrew permission to dig deeper into me. Beatrice scrubbed my past clean, but … the internet is the internet. Nothing is fully lost forever. If Andrew digs hard enough, he just might find out the truth about me.

I need to know if Nico killed my father. That’s the only way I can get through this. Because if he did kill my father, then this whole thing can be over, and I won’t be left wondering and doubting myself.

Maybe Andrew knows something. He must.

When he came over for dinner, I saw him put down a briefcase in the foyer. I need to get into that briefcase.

I take the back entrance out of the kitchen that leads into a hallway. From there, I’m able to sneak into the foyer without being seen. Enzo will come looking for me, though, if he doesn’t see me in the kitchen so I need to be fast.

My heart sinks when I realize the briefcase has a combination lock. It could be a number of codes. I can’t crack it, and I don’t have time.

I have no choice but to sneak back into the kitchen.

But I stop short when I see Andrew there. “I was just looking for you. Nico was wondering when dessert would be ready.”

I glance at the cheesecake on the counter, which the chef made it earlier before he left. “It’s ready now.” My hands shake as I grab out plates and begin to slice the cheesecake.

Andrew doesn’t leave the kitchen. “I don’t trust you,” he states point blank.

The knife in my hands clatters to the counter top.

“Nico is taken with you because you’re pretty. But I can see a mind behind those pretty eyes. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

“No,” I whisper, keeping my eyes glued to the cheesecake.

“I looked into your father. For a successful business man, I couldn’t find much on John Keller. Why is that?”

My breath comes out faster. My chest squeezes tight. And my legs go numb.

Before I know it, I fall to the ground, my head hitting the tile floor, and everything around me goes black.

NICO

I hear a loud sound from the kitchen and hurry inside, only to find Aurora lying on the ground. Andrew just stands there, not doing a damn thing.

“What the fuck,” I snarl, rushing to Aurora’s side. I check the back of her head—blood. “We need to get her to the hospital.”

“No,” Andrew says. Enzo joins us, his eyes widening at the sight of Aurora on the ground.

“What do you mean no?” I ask, checking her pulse. She’s alive.

“We can’t get the police involved. If you take your unconscious wife to the hospital, the police will question you, which is the last thing you need right now.”

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