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Or maybe the end was already a foregone conclusion, and this only delayed the inevitable.
I pored over the spreadsheet for hours. The numbers didn’t add up. The last accountant had been siphoning money from the cartel. And he’d been smart about it.
Lucky for me, it appeared I was smarter.Thank you, photographic memory.
After seven hours of adding and rearranging numbers, I found a pattern.
Another thing that became crystal clear: they would never let me go. I now had information on every single income and exit stream and every asset they owned. And it was an entirely illegal and extremely lucrative business. And since numbers were my thing, I’d never forget so much as a decimal number that I’d seen.
I was so screwed. I didn’t see this ending any other way than with my body buried in a shallow grave in the middle of the jungle.
Santino had left after an hour of watching me work, replaced with a beefy guard with no neck.
I let the man left to guard me know I wanted to speak to his boss. I was pretty sure this was the reason the last accountant was no longer here, but I needed to make sure he wanted me to follow the money, that this wasn’t some kind of test.
The guy who seemed to be in charge arrived a few minutes later with Lucius, whose eyes found mine instantly. He looked resigned, and my heart dropped. Had I done something wrong already?
I pointed to the reams of paper spread out on the floor. “Your old accountant stole from you. I found the money, but getting it back might be a bit more difficult. He set up all the accounts under fake names. There are about thirty of them. He was smart, never transferred to the same location twice.” I prayed my answer would satisfy them. Retrieving all the money would take weeks.
The boss looked pleased, and my heart beat an irregular rhythm in my chest.Am I having a heart attack? Why is it getting hard to breathe? Is it hot in here?
“You start tomorrow. I have to go on a trip but will be back in two weeks. Make sure my money is back by then. You’re also in charge of all our accounts from now on. You report anything you find to Lucius.”
I nodded meekly, too busy concentrating on getting air in and out of my lungs. I’d bought myself two more weeks to figure out how to get out of here. But he’d also given me an impossible task at the same time.
Without another glance in my direction, he was gone, leaving me with a pissed-off-looking Lucius, who motioned for me to follow him. “You can rest until tomorrow, since you’re of no use to us if you’re tired and make mistakes.”
His bluntness didn’t bother me. He was preferable to the other guys. Despite his obvious dislike of me, he’d never once manhandled me. And the command distracted me from what I feared was a panic attack.
I followed him on wobbly legs as he silently guided me through the labyrinth of halls and stairs, all my concentration taking up with slowing down my breathing. We stopped at another door, and after he scanned his fingerprint on a panel next to the door, he ushered me through. “Get some sleep. Santino will get you in the morning and walk you back at night. Do not open this door for anyone. Maurizio doesn’t accept failure, so you better be prepared to impress him.”
After that ominous warning, he shut the door firmly behind him. My breathing had normalized and being by myself finally stopped my heart from attempting to jump out of my chest.
The room was bigger than any bedroom I’d ever been in, the bed matching the opulence surrounding me. It had huge bedposts and dark-red silky sheets that were neatly tucked in. A large window looked out into a dark vastness, and I could hear waves crashing in the distance. We must have been close to the ocean. But since most of Guyana was covered in rain forest, the coastal region was the most populated.
I didn’t want to risk running into anyone and knew I had to plan my escape instead of bolting out of my room at the first opportunity.
Since I had to take care of business before I could do anything else, so my first stop was the bathroom.
The oversized room was decked out in marble and included a large spa, a huge walk-in shower that fit at least ten people, and three basins. There was a fireplace on one side, and a giant fish tank replaced an entire wall on the other. I was almost afraid to sit on the sparkling clean toilet, but nature’s call couldn’t be denied. I lingered in the room, opening every drawer; but there wasn’t so much as nail scissors in there.
The room was as cold as the rest of the house. The cold air was refreshing when I’d first walked inside, but now my hands were two frozen lumps, and I shivered in my shorts and T-shirt.
Taking a shower was all I could think about, and my filthy clothes needed to be burnt. But I needed to find something else to wear first.
There was another door coming off the bathroom, and I stepped into the cleanest closet I’d ever seen. I walked the rows upon rows of suits and shirts. I found a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt after looking through every drawer and shelf. Since they were hidden in the darkest corner of the closet, I was sure the owner wouldn’t miss them.
I wondered whose room this was. There should have been about ten guest bedrooms in a house this big; why was I staying in a room that clearly belonged to someone else?
My shower was fast, as I was afraid to linger and make myself more vulnerable than I had to be. I wrapped myself in a thick fluffy towel, putting on the oversized sweatpants and T-shirt as soon as I was dry.
After a quick search, I found a toothbrush and toothpaste under the sink. I finished quickly, my hands shaky, my stomach in knots.
Instead of getting into bed, I pulled the blanket off and dragged it together with a pillow into the walk-in closet. For now, I needed a place I didn’t feel so vulnerable. Because even though I felt safer in this room than anywhere else in the house, I didn’t want to be out in the open if anyone came in here while I slept. And I definitely needed to sleep. I could barely keep my eyes open anymore.
I laid the blankets on the floor and made myself comfortable in a corner behind the suits. As soon as I’d buried myself underneath the blanket, I fell asleep.
Chapter4
