Page 98 of Man of the Year

“Must be a gas leak,” I repeat quietly.

SEVENTY-THREE

NATALIE

Julien pulls the van over by the door to my apartment building. At this point, asking him how he knows where I live is silly.

I’m scared and exhausted, wondering if the police will come knocking on my door at any moment.

“What about Rosenberg and Nick?” I ask.

“They are probably getting arrested as we speak. The computers at the guest house have all the information a proper cyber team needs.”

I nod.

“No one can know about what happened at the mansion,” Julien says as he kills the engine. “Neither what happened, nor that you were there, nor that you even know Rosenberg or his driver or anything about them.”

His words start a light tremor in my body. I know I’m involved in something big, something dangerous, and keeping quiet about it makes me petrified.

How am I supposed to do that? What will I tell Detective Dupin? As soon as she finds out about the mansion fire and who the mansion belonged to, she’ll be all over me.

Julien reaches under his seat, pulls out a thick envelope, and passes it to me. “That’s twenty grand.”

I stare at it in shock, then raise my eyes at him. “Wh-wh?—”

“For your silence.”

“That means you trust me?” I muse, accepting the envelope. “When do I see you again?”

“Never?”

My heart hitches in disappointment, and I don’t hide it.

Julien notices. I realize he’s always noticed everything. “I thought you’d be relieved to get rid of me.”

“I need answers, Julien.”

“I think you have all you need, Natalie.”

“I don’t.”

“That’s all you need to know right now.”

“What if I go to the police?”

Surprisingly, he doesn’t flinch. If this were Nick, I would’ve been dead just for saying this. Julien? Somehow, I know he trusts me. Somehow, he knows I won’t say a word.

“You won’t,” he says calmly.

See?

“How do you know?” I say, matching his tone. I’m not trying to bait him. It’s a simple inquiry, and he knows that, not an ounce of resentment on his face at my words.

“I’m going to tell you what happens if you do.” His gaze shifts to the street, assessing the neighborhood. “Any paperwork the police discover will lead to Nick’s previous aliases. There won’t be any proof that other people were at The Splendors. Everything burned down. All evidence is gone. All security footage is gone. All the traces of the staff management company that worked for Rosenberg is gone. Everything has been destroyed.”

“The gas leak.”

“The gas leak, yes, among other things. In fact, there won’t be any traces of you either. Rosenberg doesn’t know your last name or anything about you. No one should be able to find you. I made sure of it. You were a complication and extra work, but it was all taken care of.”

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