That’s fair.
“Time of death 8:22 a.m.” I call it, jotting the information down in my tablet. “It’s been a long night. You three go home and get some sleep. I’ll see you here tomorrow.”
Perla stretches, yawns. “I’m not going to argue with you. See you guys later.”
She returns her tablet to the cabinet and exits the lab, Jaq behind her.
Gus starts to release the brace and straps from the body.
“I’ll take care of the body, Ember. You don’t have to wait on me,” he says.
“You sure?”
He nods, walking over to another cabinet and grabbing a long black bag. Dropping it on the floor in front of the chair, he tosses me a smile.
“Of course I am. I got this. See you tomorrow.”
“Be careful.”
“Always.”
I leave him to the disposal. Hell, he enjoys it, and who am I to deprive him of his little thrills. Besides, he’s damn good at it. Not one trace has been found of the bodies yet.
Heading back to the door, I tap in the code to stop the audio and visual recording, then exit the lab. Instead of taking the elevator up several floors to the main lobby, I hop on it and ride it one floor down to the lower-level floor opening right next to the parking lot. Minutes later, I exit HoC property and ease into the early LA streets. With the traffic clotting the streets this time of morning, it takes me nearly an hour to pull my Aston Martin DB11 up to the gate of the former private compound converted into a four-unit luxury apartment building instead of the usual thirty minutes.
Four acres of lush, beautiful gardens surround the property, granting privacy and the illusion of a quiet, peaceful oasis on the west side of Los Angeles. I should be exhausted given I’ve been up a little over twenty-four hours. But I’m wired, a kinetic energy racing through me. It’s hard to believe that this time yesterday, I was preparing to put my father in the ground. Almost like it happened to someone else, not me. Because if it happened to me, I should feel more than indifference and a hard knot of anger lodged between my ribs.
Yeah, let me get off thoughts of Marcus before I end up ramming this car into the garage bay wall.
Minutes later, I key in the code to the gorgeous atrium-style foyer with its high ceiling and marble flooring and climb the stairs to the second level. Though I occupy one of the two apartments on that floor, I own the entire complex. The other three units are empty of tenants because I value my space and I only like about four people. And I don’t like anyone enough to have them living with or near me.
An hour later, I emerge from my bedroom, freshly showered, dressed in a black sports bra and leggings, with a yoga mat under my arm. When I stopped taking my medication to cope with IED, I integrated yoga and meditation into my daily schedule. And blunts. My therapist recommended it as a relaxation technique to release endorphins and lower stress. I created my own specialblend of marijuana that relaxed me even more. Believe me, I’m surprised as much as anyone that it works,andthat I actually enjoy it. The yoga, not the weed—
My mat drops to the living room floor as my body stiffens.
“Whatthe fuckare you doing in my house?”
CHAPTER FOURAsad
That disrespectful mouth is going to be the death of her.
Literally.
Fuck the fact that I am sitting in a large leather armchair stationed in front of the floor-to-ceiling French doors in her living room. Or that I’ve been here, waiting on her to arrive home, for the past five hours. She left the study and the house nearly fourteen hours ago.
Also fuck that I broke in here to offer a proposition that I’ve spent literal hours analyzing and working all angles of how to deliver to her. And with each minute that’s passed, my patience has retreated, while my anger at not knowing where her current location is has advanced.
Anger. Irritation. Jealousy.
I’m here for a specific purpose, but that’s taking a backseat to my needs to know where she’s been and with who.
Knowing her workaholic habits as well as her usual schedule, I’m assuming she returned to the lab after leaving the house. But damn. This was long even for her.
Ember is usually self-aware and sharp. But this morning, she came in this apartment and walked through the room without noticing my ass sitting here.
The possible answers march through my head like well-trained soldiers. And my blood grows colder and colder with each one. Her ass better have been at the lab, because the alternative—that she might’ve been out up under someone and full of dick—hasme battling the urge to put a hole in someone’s forehead. Yeah, as soon as I leave her, I’m going to be putting a call in to the Castle to pull tapes.
If I’m not fucking her, no one else will be either. And I put that on everybody’s life.
