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“I think so,” I tell her, rubbing the spot on my stomach that had me in excruciating pain. “I don’t know what the hell that was, but if that was a contraction, there’s no way I’ll be doing this without the drugs.”
“I don’t think it was a contraction,” she muses, her face scrunching, deep in thought. “I mean, definitely check with your doctor. Every woman’s contractions aren’t going to feel exactly the same. But my guess is that it was probably muscle cramping or round ligament pain. It happened to me quite a bit, but I apparently have a higher pain threshold.”
A grin splits across her face, never missing a chance to tease me and I roll my eyes. “Whatever,” I scoff. “I was there when you were giving birth, remember? And that was not the picture of a woman who has a high pain threshold.”
“Give me a break,” she laughs as she pulls up at the gate of her home and punches in the code. “I was pushing a watermelon out of my vag. That’s a little different from having a little cramp.”
“Shit, girl. I’m gonna smack you if you refer to that as a little cramp again,” I tell her, when a male’s voice coming through the radio pulls my attention away.
“Breaking news,” the guy says, prompting me to lean forward to turn up the volume. “Marco Cincinnati, founder and CEO of MC Construction, one of the big five developmental leaders of LA, has been found dead. The body was discovered at 9:37 this morning in what was believed to be a brothel. Officials say his cause of death was drug and alcohol related.”
My eyes bug out, my spidey-senses tingling. Something inside me screams there is so much more to this story as I reach forward and turn the volume up a little more.
“Holy shit,” Dani grunts as she brings the car to a stop at the top of her driveway.
“Shhhh,” I demand, waving my hand at her, needing to hear what else is being said.
A response comes from the other news reader. “Wow, John. Can you believe it?” she says, a strange suspicion in her tone. “This comes a week after the death of Andrew Taylor, the CEO of Taylor Developments, who died of a heart attack. And of course, Phillip McDonald, the CEO of McDonald Construction, who passed from natural causes in his sleep just a week before that.”
“Right,” John replies. “Sounds like someone’s been sticking needles in voodoo dolls. This screams foul play to me. I’d hate to be the CEO of Baxter Corporation or First Choice Construction. Looks like they might be up next.”
Too freaking right. What’s the bet that one of these CEOs had something to do with it? I mean, I could only imagine the type of money that would be coming their way if all the competitors are out of the way.
“Indeed,” the woman replies. “It will be interesting to see how these companies recover from these tragic losses.”
The news bulletin cuts over to an ad, and I turn the radio down before getting out. “You’ve got that look again,” Dani murmurs with disapproval as she reaches into the backseat and grabs her handbag.
“What look?” I ask, knowing exactly what she’s talking about.
“You’re not seriously going to investigate this, are you?” she asks.
“Of course I am. Did you not hear how suspicious that was? Three of the five leading CEOs in the construction world are dead within three weeks of each other. It’s practically begging for an investigation. There’s no way I’m not looking into this story. If I’m right, which I usually am, this could be huge.”
“Soph,” she sighs. “It was an overdose in a brothel. The other guy had a heart attack, and the one before that died in his sleep, probably right next to his wife. There’s nothing to look into, they’re all just terrible tragedies. It’s just a coincidence that it all happened in such a short time frame.”
I arch a brow. “You know I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Sophie,” she grunts, the disapproval thick in her tone. “You’re five months pregnant. You really shouldn’t be doing this. If you’re right, then the police should be handling it. You should be concentrating on growing that baby.”
I roll my eyes. God, she sounds like she’s been letting Tank get in her ear. “Come on, Dani. You know I can’t just sit around and do nothing. If there’s a story here, I’m going to find it. I’ll be careful,” I promise her.
She lets out a huff, knowing that once I have my mind set, there’s no going back. “Tank’s going to be pissed.”
“Please,” I scoff. “I can handle Tank.”
Dani shakes her head before pushing through the front door to find the boys fast asleep on the floor next to a snoring Mia, and a grin stretches across both of our faces. “Looks like she wore them out,” Dani laughs, her eyes sparkling with undeniable love and happiness.
