Chapter 44 NOT WORKING ALONE
Ava's POV
I stood outside the warehouse staring at my phone while police officers moved around us taking statements and the photo burned into my screen like it was mocking me.
"Robert wasn't working alone" kept repeating in my head over and over until I thought I might scream.
"Ava, you okay?" Dominic asked, walking over from where he'd been talking to one of the detectives.
I showed him the phone without saying anything because I couldn't find words that made sense and he looked at it for a long moment before his face went hard.
"When did you get this?" he asked quietly, his voice doing that thing where it got too calm which meant he was actually furious.
"Just now, right as we were leaving the warehouse."
"So someone's been watching us this whole time and they know we just got Robert arrested."
"Which means they also know Sarah was working with the police," I said and looked around for her, spotting her near one of the police cars talking to Adrian.
We walked over together and I showed her the photo.
"Do you know who else Robert might have been working with?" I asked her directly because there was no time for being gentle about it.
Sarah's face went pale as she looked at the image.
"I don't know for sure but there was someone he used to talk to on the phone late at night when he thought I wasn't listening," she said slowly, like she was trying to remember details.
"Who?" Dominic pressed.
"He never said their name but from the way he talked it sounded like someone from inside Hayes International, someone high up who had access to everything."
My stomach dropped because that could be literally anyone on the executive team or the board and we'd just arrested the one person who could tell us.
"We need to talk to Robert," I said.
"The police aren't going to let us anywhere near him," Dominic replied.
"Then we get creative."
Adrian stepped closer and I still wasn't sure how I felt about him after everything but right now we needed all the help we could get.
"I might have an idea," he said hesitantly, "Robert's lawyer is someone I know from before all this, if I call him and explain the situation he might be willing to help."
"Why would Robert's lawyer help us?" I asked.
"Because he hates Robert almost as much as we do, Robert screwed him over on a business deal years ago and he's been looking for payback ever since."
"So we're supposed to trust that this lawyer will betray his client out of spite?" Dominic said skeptically.
"You got a better plan?" Adrian challenged.
We didn't so we let Adrian make the call while the rest of us waited and I kept checking my phone expecting another threatening message but nothing came.
After about ten minutes Adrian walked back over.
"He'll do it," he said, "he's going to visit Robert at the precinct and get him talking about his partner, he'll record everything and send it to us."
"That's illegal," Sarah pointed out.
"So is blackmail and murder," I replied.
We spent the next hour giving our statements to the police and by the time we were done it was almost midnight and I was exhausted in a way that went deeper than just being tired.
Dominic and I rode back to the penthouse in silence with Adrian driving and I kept thinking about that photo of my mom and wondering if whoever sent it was planning to hurt her.
At the penthouse Isabella was waiting up for us looking worried.
"I saw the news about Robert getting arrested," she said as soon as we walked in, "are you guys okay?"
"Define okay," I said and collapsed onto the couch.
Dominic sat next to me and filled Isabella in on everything that had happened including the photo and she looked as scared as I felt.
"So someone else is still out there and they're coming after us," she said.
"Looks like it."
"What do we do?"
"We wait for Adrian's lawyer friend to get information from Robert and then we figure out who his partner is and we stop them before they can hurt anyone else," Dominic said like it was simple when we all knew it wasn't.
My phone rang and I jumped because my nerves were shot but it was just Maya.
"Hey," I answered.
"Are you okay? I saw on the news that there was some kind of police thing at a warehouse and I thought maybe you were involved," she said quickly, talking fast like she did when she was stressed.
"I'm fine, it's a long story but basically we got the person who was blackmailing us arrested."
"That's good right?"
"Except they weren't working alone and now someone else is threatening us."
"Ava this is getting dangerous, maybe you should go somewhere safe for a while."
"I can't just leave, my mom is in the hospital and Dominic needs me here."
"Your mom won't even talk to you and Dominic has money and security, you don't have to put yourself at risk for them."
I knew she was trying to help but her words stung anyway.
"They're my family Maya, I'm not abandoning them."
She was quiet for a second then sighed.
"Okay but promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise."
After we hung up Dominic handed me a glass of wine and I drank half of it in one gulp.
"You should try to get some sleep," he said.
"I'm not tired."
"You're exhausted, we all are, and we're not going to figure anything out tonight so we might as well rest."
He was right but the idea of sleeping felt impossible when my brain wouldn't stop spinning.
Isabella stood up and stretched.
"I'm going to bed, you two should too," she said and kissed both of us before disappearing down the hall.
Dominic and I sat there for a while longer not talking just existing in the same space and eventually I leaned my head on his shoulder.
"I'm scared," I admitted quietly.
"Me too."
"What if we can't stop whoever this is? What if they hurt someone we care about?"
"Then we deal with it together like we've been doing with everything else," he said and kissed the top of my head.
We finally went to bed around two in the morning and I fell asleep almost immediately from pure exhaustion but I kept waking up every hour from bad dreams about my mom and Robert and faceless people chasing me.
Around six AM I gave up on sleeping and got up to make coffee and found Isabella already in the kitchen doing the same thing.
"Couldn't sleep either?" she asked.
"Not really."
We sat at the kitchen island drinking coffee and watching the sun come up through the windows and it felt surreal that less than twelve hours ago we'd been setting a trap for a murderer and now we were having a quiet morning like normal people.
"Can I ask you something?" Isabella said after a while.
"Sure."
"Do you ever regret it? Getting involved with Dominic and all of this chaos?"
I thought about it honestly before answering.
"Sometimes yeah, like right now when people are threatening my mom and I can't fix it, but most of the time no because even with all the bad stuff I'm happier than I've ever been."
"Even though your mom won't talk to you and you lost your job and someone's trying to destroy your life?"
"Even with all that because I have you and Dominic and this weird beautiful thing we're building together."
She smiled and reached across to squeeze my hand.
"I'm glad you feel that way because I feel it too."
Dominic walked out a few minutes later looking like he'd slept about as well as I had which was to say not at all.
"Any word from Adrian's lawyer?" I asked him.
"Not yet, he said it might take a few hours to get Robert talking."
We spent the morning trying to act normal and failing miserably because how do you act normal when you know someone out there wants to hurt you but you don't know who or when they'll strike.
Around eleven my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number and my heart stopped but when I opened it the message said "this is Robert's lawyer, I have the recording, meet me at the coffee shop on 5th and Madison in thirty minutes, come alone."
I showed it to Dominic and Isabella.
"You're not going alone," Dominic said immediately.
"The message says to come alone."
"I don't care what it says, I'm not letting you walk into a potential trap by yourself."
"Then come with me but stay out of sight so whoever this is doesn't get spooked."
We got dressed quickly and took the car with Adrian driving again and during the whole ride I kept thinking about what we might find out from this recording.
The coffee shop was busy with the lunch crowd when we arrived and I walked in while Dominic and Isabella waited outside.
I spotted a man in his fifties sitting alone in the back corner and he waved me over when he saw me looking around.
"You're Ava?" he asked as I sat down.
"Yes and you're Robert's lawyer?"
"Was Robert's lawyer, after what I heard on this recording I'm dropping him as a client," he pulled out his phone and set it on the table, "listen to this."
He pressed play and I heard Robert's voice clearly.
"I've been working with someone at Hayes International for over a year now, they feed me information about Dominic and everyone close to him and in return I help them position themselves to take over the company."
"Who is it?" another voice asked, probably the lawyer.
"Can't tell you that, attorney client privilege right? But I can say they're someone Dominic trusts completely which makes this even sweeter."
"And what happens now that you've been arrested?"
"They'll continue the plan without me, they have enough dirt on everyone to force Dominic out and once he's gone they'll step in as CEO."
"Seems risky."
"Risk is how you win big and trust me this person knows how to play the game."
The recording ended and I sat there processing what I'd just heard.
Someone Dominic trusted completely was behind all of this and they were planning to take over Hayes International.
"Do you have any idea who it might be?" the lawyer asked.
I ran through everyone in my head who Dominic was close to at work and one name kept standing out.
"I think I do," I said slowly.
I thanked the lawyer and walked outside where Dominic and Isabella were waiting.
"Well?" Dominic asked.
"I know who Robert's partner is," I said.
"Who?"
I looked at him trying to figure out how to say this because once I did everything was going to change again.
"It's Marcus."
Dominic's face went blank and for a second I thought he might not believe me but then his jaw clenched and I knew he was running through all the same things I had in his head.
"Marcus has been with me since I started the company," he said quietly, "he's my best friend."
"I know."
"Why would he betray me like this?"
"I don't know but think about it, he has access to everything, he knew about all of us, he was in Bahamas when someone filmed me and he's always been ambitious about moving up in the company."
Isabella touched Dominic's arm gently.
"We need to confront him and get proof before we accuse him of anything," she said.
"How do we do that?"
"Same way we did with Robert, we set a trap and get him to confess," I replied.
My phone buzzed again and this time it was a text from Marcus himself.
"Hey, can we talk? I'm at the office, it's important."
I showed it to Dominic and he looked at me.
"This could be our chance," he said.
"Or it could be a trap."
"Only one way to find out."
We drove to Hayes International and I felt sick the whole way there because if Marcus really was behind everything then he'd been lying to all of us for months and I'd slept with him thinking he actually cared.
At the office we took the elevator up to the executive floor and found Marcus in the conference room looking out the windows at the city.
"Thanks for coming," he said when he saw us, "I know things have been weird lately but I needed to talk to you about something."
"What is it?" Dominic asked and his voice was cold.
Marcus turned around and that's when I saw he had a gun.