Page 53 of Queen Of Dark Money

Iwondered ifRiverhad a kink.

Anyammunition was good ammunition when fighting a war with every gun you could find.

Mybody was the tip of the iceberg.

Therest was a little more complicated.

Istretched out on the bed, relishing the comfortable mattress for a few minutes asIcontemplated my next move.Ineeded to get out of here, and the only wayIwas going to do that was ifIwas smart about it.

Thehallway was unlit and eerily quiet whenIfinally emerged from the bedroom, andItook comfort in the silence asIpadded along to the kitchen.Theglass from the day before had been cleaned up, but it didn’t look likeRiverhad risen for the dayyet.Ifhe had, he skipped out on coffee, and somehow,Ididn’t believe he was a caffeine-free kind of guy.

“Hello?”Icalled out asIpadded over to the coffee machine, prepared to make myself something fancy.Thankfully, my neighbor was a barista in another life, and he had a machine pretty similar to this one beforeI’dleft home.Withoutthat little bit of experience,I’dno doubt have been fucking lost, standing in front of this commercial-grade monstrosity.Imanaged to make it produce an espresso, added some cream, and trotted my happy ass into the living room to settle in untilRiverdecided to make himself known.

Thecouch was comfortable, just as it had been last night, but something across the room caught my eye.Iset the espresso down on the coffee table, blinked slowly, and steeled myself to be wrong.

“Nofucking wayI’mseeing this for real,”Iwhispered, rubbing the sleep from my eyes once more. “Thisis a dream.Gottabe.”

Nobodywas that stupid.

Sittingon the armchair across from me, just likeIremembered it from a week ago, was the fucking clutchI’dhad taken from me whenIwas kidnapped by these fuckers.

“Shutthe front door.”

Ilaunched myself off the couch at lightning speed, my hands clutching my miniature purse like a lifeline.Sureenough, it was real, and miracle of miracles, my phone was still inside.Ifumbled with the buttons on the side, praying it wasn’t broken, only to drop quicker than a brick in the river when the dead battery indicator flashed briefly on the screen.

Ofcourse my luck couldn’t hold all the way through.

Therewere a few stray bobby pins in the bottom of the clutch from whereI’dpulled them out of my hair over the course of the night, along with a candy barI’dpilfered in case my sugardropped orIhad a sweet tooth resurgence.MyIDand bank card were missing becauseI’dbeen forced to turn those over toEddybefore coming out that night.

Ishould have seen it for the red flag it was at the time, butI’dbeen too concerned with walking straight in that tight-ass dress and not tripping up with the impersonation to pay attention to shit likeEddySinclair’sweird predispositions and requests.Hehad so many rules, what was one more?

Justanother quirk of a control freak.

Now,Icould see it for what it was.Hehad to have known there was a risk of me being picked up.

Andnothing would be worse than someone finding outIwasn’t who he saidIwas.

Stand-in for my sister so she could recover.Morelike be her body double so she stayed safe wherever he had her locked up.

Everythingwas starting to fall into place.

Iwas nothing more than a placeholder, something to keep his people from asking too many questions.Gottapresent that united front, aye?

Heavensforbid people learnEddySinclair, sittingDistrictAttorneyup for re-election, have a weakness.

Ortwo.

Ihad to work fast, so with a grin on my lips and determination in my gaze,Islinked down the hall toRiver’sbedroom.Ofcourse, he’d locked the damn thing, but what he didn’t know about me was thatI’dlearned at a young age how to pick locks with a bobby pin and a prayer.Iknelt on the floor at his doorway and unfolded one of the three pins in my purse, straightening it carefully but quickly.Hecould wake up at any moment.Ihad to sneak in, grab a charger, and sneak back out before he was wiser.Ihadn’t spotted any cameras like whatStonehad at his place, soIwasn’t worried about hiding myactivity.Howeverhe kept tabs on me, it wasn’t with a hidden security system.

“Fuck, come on, baby,Ijust need to sneak in and find a charger–”

Thefront door opened, andIswore under my breath, realizing he wasn’t still asleep in his room–the fucker had already been up and out today.Iwas behind him in terms of the day, and nowIwas about to be caught with my fucking phone and purse in hand, when it was obviousIwasn’t supposed to even see it.

Letalone have it.

Islipped it under the edge of my shirt and sauntered into the living room, pointedly flopping down on the same spotI’dfound it this morning.

MaybeIcould weasel it out from under my ass and pretendIhadn’t even seen it.

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