Chapter 155 Chapter One hundred and fifty-four
ARA
Thayne grabbed my hand and led me out of the lobby.
“Thayne, what are you doing? Slow down!”
But he didn't slow down. He led me all the way to our suite, and as soon as we were inside, he pressed me against the wall.
He towered over me. “I'm going to leave now,” he said.
I stared up at him in confusion. “Leave? To where? Don't tell me you want to run off to Baltimore. If the FBI has him now, we should just switch to hunting Jimmy down.”
“You think they won't hunt Jimmy too? I want to be the one to bring them down.”
“Thayne, he's in custody. They would've moved him by now.”
“I'm going, Ara.”
“Are we really going to argue about this? Seriously?”
“I'm going to kiss you if you don't stop talking.”
“You can't distract me—”
He lowered his head and claimed my lips. I shoved his chest, but it was like trying to push a brick wall.
It was always like this between us. Passion and tension and lust.
A knock on the door stopped us from taking things too far.
“You got an invitation from one Agent Jean to meet with him tomorrow at one. Sasha says she just got word, they want you to drop the charges against him so they can handle the case from there.”
The voice wasn't Stuart's, so Thayne told him to come in.
It was one of Stuart's boys. He could easily be my age but I wasn't sure, guys took steroids all the time to pump their muscles.
“Cancel it. We are not dogs who'll just obey every single order.”
I followed behind as they marched to the lobby, where Sasha was sprawled on the floor, typing away on her keyboard.
“If you cancel, Slade Senior will go scot-free. They've pulled up pictures and videos. All of them will disappear the moment you cancel.” She barely looked up from the screen.
“There's nothing to cancel,” Nick said, re-emerging from wherever he'd gone.
My sisters trailed behind him like shadows.
“The FBI operates independently. They don't take permissions. They want you to let your guard down so you can mess everything up. Let them take it from here. If we're lucky, Jimmy might even be involved as well.”
He was making sense, but I didn't know a damn thing about the FBI and how they operated. All I knew was
“Has anyone wondered at all why my mother refused to report Slade Senior?” I asked, rubbing my stomach.
“Because he was powerful enough to erase her completely?” Sasha tried.
“Or because she suspected he was a pimp and a drug baron?” Liliana asked, strolling into the room with a tray of cupcakes.
Millie and Mollie climbed her as they tried to maul the whole thing themselves.
“Did she tell you?” I asked.
“No, but I doubted she would have if that was the case. Especially when she realised she was pregnant.”
“Accept the invite, Sasha. Let me speak with this Agent Jean.” Thayne told Sasha.
“I have a request, Thayne,” Liliana announced, handing the tray over to my two sisters.
“What is it?” Thayne asked, folding his arms and giving his mother his full attention.
“I want to speak with Ursula and your father.”
Thayne’s lips thinned. “Right now? The tension is high, Mother.”
“Thayne…” she pleaded softly.
“Thayne, she deserves this,” I said, stepping in.
He exhaled slowly. “I suppose you’re right. But that means we go together.”
“We could all go together,” I muttered.
“Honestly, we could use a clear mind like yours,” Sasha added.
“I’m sorry, but that clear mind is also clearly pregnant,” Thayne said flatly. “She’s going nowhere.”
I blinked at him. “Excuse me? You’re deciding that for me now?”
Thayne squared his shoulders. “Why not? You have a talent for making questionable decisions.”
I scoffed. “You are literally one of my most questionable decisions. I’ll stay back while you fly off like Batman to save Gotham City.”
With that, I stormed out and headed straight for the suite.
He always did this, deciding for me and denying me the opportunity to actually help him.
As if pregnancy was a disability. Ugh.
I stayed in the room for over an hour, pacing, sitting, standing again, then pacing some more until the walls began to feel too close.
I fell asleep at some point, then woke again with a start.
Eventually, thirst won. I stepped out to get some water.
The lobby was quiet, almost eerily so. I began to regret treating Thayne the way I'd done. He was just being protective of me even though he was overdoing it.
Suddenly, a phone began vibrating on the table. Loud, angry vibrations that rattled against the glass surface. It sounded like a miniature power bike.
My curiosity, no, my nosiness dragged me toward it.
A text flashed briefly at the top of the screen before disappearing into the flood of notifications.
I frowned. Wasn't this Stuart's phone?
The phone looked a lot like Stuart’s, but I wasn’t completely sure.
I picked it up and turned it over. Yes. It was Stuart’s.
But… that didn’t make sense.
He had left a while ago, and Stuart wasn’t the type to forget things. The man was meticulous to the point of obsession. Even Sasha complained about it on a regular basis.
A strange uneasiness crept into my chest. This felt odd and ominous.
I placed the phone back on the table and turned to leave.
But then another message lit up the screen. From a private number.
The preview froze me in place.
‘We’re keeping him distracted. He thinks the FBI will really stand with him. The second phase is in progress. If all goes well, he'll trip and we'll have them contained. End of story.’
The words burned into my eyes.
Something was very, very wrong.
I took a step back like the phone had burned me.
Hold on a second…. My sisters, Lenora, where were they?! Why didn't I go straight to their rooms to check in with them as soon as I woke up?
I turned and bumped into a hard, solid, wall of muscle.
Stuart.