AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I forced myself to look down the hall toward Wally’s room. “Are you two back together or something?” I wasn’t sure why I sounded so disappointed.
“Ah, no. Nothing like that.” Vivian shook her head, her long black locks swaying elegantly over her shoulders. It was the first time I’d seen her with her hair down.
“So you’re here raiding my fridge because…”
“Because I’m stressed as hell. And we can’t really call it raiding because there’s nothing to raid. Why’s there so much tofu?” Vivian quickly swept her hair up into a bun, securing it atop her head with an elastic.
I frowned. I had so many questions, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “What’s wrong with tofu? It’s healthy.”
She put a hand on her hip. “I can’t stress eat tofu.”
“Why are you stress eating at all?”
Vivian nibbled on her supple bottom lip. “It’s a long story. It’s actually why I’m here.”
“What’s going on, Vivian?”
“Dad?” Wally stepped out from the guest bedroom, hands busy fluffing a pillow. “I’m glad you’re back. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours.”
I checked my phone. There were three text messages and four missed phone calls. “I was in meetings all day,” I said with a grunt. My mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario, attempting to fill in the gaps. “What’s going on? Don’t tell me you got her pregnant.”
Vivian’s face turned bright red. “What? Oh my God,no. That’s what you think this is about?”
I crossed my arms. “My son brings his ex-girlfriend home out of the blue… What am Isupposedto think?”
Wally groaned. “Vivian’s in danger.”
I regarded her carefully, observing her from head to toe. Now that I had a moment to properly take her in, she did look rattled. Her shoulders were slumped, and she couldn’t stand still, toeing one foot with the other while biting her lip. She didn’t have any visible injuries, but it was obvious how shaken she was mentally.
I moved to pull up the nearest chair for her to sit down. She seemed grateful, immediately sitting down and pulling her knees to her chest. She was wearing a pair of shorts. Short shorts. I looked away out of decency, uncomfortably warm all of a sudden.
“What kind of danger?” I asked, pressing on.
Vivian took a deep breath. “I work for an investment firm with my friend, Molly. The other day, I noticed something weird about one of the accounts. Money was missing. Lots of it. Molly volunteered to bring the error up with our supervisor, and now she’s missing. They told me she transferred, but I don’t buy it for a second. She’s not answering my texts. And then earlier today when I went to speak to Wally, we were chased—”
“Chased,” I said. “Chased by who?”
My son shrugged. “A group of men. Three of them. Looked like thugs.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Itried.”
A pang of guilt twisted in my chest. Right. I put my phone on silent mode so I wouldn’t be disturbed.
“What did they look like?” I asked, getting back to business.
“Big, dressed all in black. They all had matching tattoos.”
“Describe them.”
She nodded. “They all had snakes that wrapped around their necks.”
A chill scraped its way down my spine. “Snakes,” I repeated.
“Yes.”
“Black ink with red eyes?”
