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Ransom, they want money.
If Joshua is in hospital who will they send the ransom note to?
I have an hour-long shower as I wrack my brain, trying to work out who is behind this. I get out and look through the wardrobe for some pyjamas. A pair are folded in the top drawer and I shake my head as I put them on and lie on the bed. I have no idea what the hell is going on. I can only hope the demands gets through to the right person. God, what a mess. I look back up at the television and see a different angle of the crime scene being filmed from the chopper and I frown at the screen as I sit forward. Is that Jesten standing near the water in the crowd? The camera shot moves and he moves out of focus. I flick to the other television that is ten minutes behind the first news and I wait for the story to come back on. I stand closer to the screen and the story comes on.
There. Right there by the water. Jesten. Jesten is at the crime scene. What the hell is he doing in America?
Chapter 23
Adrian
I stand nervously at the terminal waiting to see that face. It feels like a lifetime since I saw Nicholas last. My mind drifts to the last time he came to my office and I couldn’t even look at him. I knew then that if I made eye contact with him it would be all over. I frown as my eyes stay focused on the ground.
Everything happens for a reason and maybe the reason Nick came into my life was to help me work out who killed our beautiful Natasha and how to prove Joshua innocent. This is the biggest challenge I have ever faced. I’m so grateful that he has come to help me and I won’t be facing it alone.
A deep sadness sweeps through my body. I’ve never felt like this before. I can’t believe Natasha’s dead—how can she be dead?
I’m so gutted. I can’t even imagine how my dear friend Joshua is feeling. He lost his soulmate and now the world thinks he killed her. The media coverage on this story is just crazy. If there was anyone in the world who didn’t know who Joshua Stanton was before, they do now. Every channel on every platform has hourly reports about Joshua and his past. The stories they are digging up are scaring even me. My eyes flick back t
o the clock on the wall for what feels like the hundredth time. Nicholas’s plane is delayed. For some reason the image of Joshua and Natasha dancing at that fancy dress ball we went to in Sydney keeps running through my mind. It has been for days. Why that image? The way they looked at each other, the way he held her. I keep remembering him swinging her around, her carefree laughter and the deep love apparent in their eyes. How will he ever recover from this? How do you ever fill a hole so deep?
I am pulled from my thoughts as the doors open and Nicholas comes walking through.. His smile broadens when he sees me. He gently leans down and kisses me on the cheek before pulling me into an embrace and I hold onto him tightly and close my eyes. “Thank god,” I murmur.
He pulls out of our embrace and kisses my forehead. “I’m here now,” he whispers into my hair as he senses my inner turmoil.
I smile and nod, embarrassed that I have just revealed how much I need him at the moment, and I take his laptop from him and we walk toward the luggage terminal.
“Did you have a good flight?” I ask.
He smirks. “Not really. Fifteen hours on a plane is never good.”
I nod and smile nervously. He’s still beautiful—nothing has changed since I saw him last. I feel like I have known him for years and yet we only spent that month together. It’s weird the connection we have. Why do I feel like this?
His eyes linger on my face a little too long. “It’s good to see you,” he murmurs.
Emotion overwhelms me and I feel like bursting into tears. “It’s good to see you too, Nicholas.”
We wait for his luggage in silence and I can feel my nerves rising.
“I’ve booked you into a hotel,” I reply.
His eyes meet mine. “I’m not staying in a hotel,” he responds.
I frown in question.
“I’m staying with you, Adrian.”
“Nick.” I shake my head in frustration. I should have known he would do this.
“In the spare room. There is nothing sexual about this visit. I am here to help you find who did this and to handle the press. That is all. I am a man supporting my dear friend through one of the toughest times of his life. My mind is far from sex, Adrian.”
I smile softly. “Thank you,” I whisper and after a moment of holding his eyes I add, “So is mine.”
Joshua
I get out of the car with the chains on my hands and feet. It’s just on dark and I have been transferred from the police station to the prison. I have never been so terrified. I know what goes on in these places and it is not fucking going on with me. God help the bastard who tries it. The adrenaline has already started to pump heavily through my veins. I’m angry, so angry I can’t see straight. Not only has the person stolen my beautiful Natasha’s life, they are now stealing mine. This was a planned set-up. Their aim all along was to frame me for their crime. I am going to rip the life from their bodies quicker than they can say the word die.
“This way.” The guard ushers me toward the doors and into the office where I am fingerprinted again and inducted into the system. Eventually, after an hour of paperwork, I am led into a long corridor lined with cells.
