Page 45 of The Next Door Billionaire's Deception

Damn him. Damn his handsomeness and charm. Damn his brown hair, which is so easy for my fingers to get lost in. Damn his toned body, which I can’t help stripping naked in my mind.

I need to make sure he doesn’t in any way affect my plans. For all I know, he can be a spy sent to hamper my mission or something.

Work needs to be done. I start typing when I receive a call. Agent Chad?

“Hello?”

“Get back to your apartment. Now.”

The call hangs up, and my heart is already racing. What’s wrong?

I pick up my bag and my car keys and hurry to my car. In minutes I’m on my way. Traffic is light as I head back, so I get to my apartment in record time. Hurrying to unlock my door, something dreadful comes to my notice.

The door is already open.

The lock has been broken through, and my apartment has been ransacked. Upturned chairs and tables, books on the floor, my vase broken, and flowers lying all around, my living room is a mess. I survey the kitchen and bedroom. It’s the same scene of mess and carnage everywhere.

The documents!

I hurry to the safe. It has already been looted, its contents emptied.

The documents are gone.

I freeze. Those documents are the only thing that stands between anyone and the total control of Emerald Inc. They were processed as a fail-safe, as I needed a way to secure the company after learning that a few underground deals were already underway.

With those documents in hand, Emerald Inc. could become a private liability, and the underground can seize or buy control of the company with legal standing.

I sit on my bed, my head reeling.

Have all my efforts been in vain?

The phone rings. Dazed, I pick it up.

“Miss Durham?”

“They’ve taken everything.”

A momentary pause. “You’re not safe there, Miss Durham. Whoever the perpetrators were, they have no regard. You need to move somewhere else. Somewhere safe. Somewhere they wouldn’t expect. My team observed two men in balaclavas and black clothes break in with guns from the surveillance cams we installed.”

“Do you have an idea who they were working for?”

“We’re still trying to track them, but the men didn’t say a word during the break-in, and they were wearing gloves, so identifying them will be hard. My agents will search your apartment soon. For now, you have to find somewhere safe. Is there anywhere that comes to mind?”

I rack my brain. I have no family in New York. Céline lived in Manhattan, but I can’t bear putting her at risk. I know nobody else, except…

“I think I might know someone.”

“Good. Now, pack a few things you might need, and leave your apartment immediately. And don’t go back to your office until I say so.”

As the call ends, I pack a few of my clothes, amongst others, in a traveling bag and exit the building. I head to the parking lot, where I dump the bag in the trunk and head to the back seat.

My brain runs in circles. Who is responsible? I have a lot of enemies, that’s for sure; the board of Emerald Inc., with their shady deals, and the cybercrime cartel the FBI warns me about, even if I’ve not had any significant encounter with them.

Then, there’s Vibrant Corp, the company trying to seize Emerald Inc. and merge it with theirs, for reasons I don’t know, but am skeptical about.

I don’t know how much time passes, but after a long while, Richard’s car pulls up in the driveway. I check the time—5:37 pm.

As he exits his car after parking, I come out. He jumps on, seeing my silhouette, and his keys drop to the ground. He heaves a sigh when I enter the light.

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