Chapter 189 Shattered Illusions - Miguel POV
I knock on Raul's door for the second time. I didn't tell him or Lucille that I'm back and coming over, thinking I would surprise them as they both have been worried about me. I frown, Lucille texted me about an hour back to inform me about Robert's death, as well as telling me I have to come see her as soon as I'm back in the city, so she should be awake by now. Or maybe they went out?
I unlock the door, using the key card that Raul gave me. We have access to each other's places, in case of an emergency or if we asked the other one for a favor.
I certainly didn't expect to find my best friend balls deep into my old colleague on his dining room table, both of them looking at me shocked, like I appeared from some cloud.
I turn around to give some privacy. "Sorry, I did knock."
I smile, making my way to the kitchen. Raul has always liked Lucille, but she may have been too enamored with me at the time to see that he was interested. I'm happy that she moved on, and I'm happy that he finally scored. Maybe it was the best idea to let her stay here with him.
He loos flushed when he joins me in the kitchen, and I look skeptically at the hand he extends to shake mine.
"Yeah, maybe after you took a shower." I grin.
He smirks. "It's good to see you, brother. Are you good?"
The expression on his face turns serious, and I know he probably spoke to my mother about where I was. I don't mind the people closest to me knowing, it's just the reason why that I'm still struggling with.
"Maybe we'll talk about it over a beer soon." I clap him on his bare shoulder. "I came to see Lucille, she sent me a text earlier. T.J. is also on his way here."
"Yeah, we have a lot of catching up to do. I'm going to take a shower and head out to meet my trainer." He winks naughtily at me. "And don't make my girl work too hard, I have some plans for us tonight,"
Lucille looks embarrassed when she joins me back in the diningroom where her stuff is set up, but I hug her briefly and pretend I didn't just see her naked. I'm happy for both her and Raul, they deserve to find someone, and maybe I'm just sappy because I finally have everything I ever wanted.
The only thing left is a dead Caroline.
"It's good to have you back." Lucille blushes as she slides behind her computer.
"It's good to be back." I smile. "Have you heard about my father's butler dying? Was there an autopsy done?"
All these deaths are a little suspicious to me. I was surprised when my father called last night and told me about Samuel. He didnt want to intrude on my recovery at the wellness retreat, but I wished he had. Samuel was a big part of my childhood, and it definitely feels like a family member died.
Lucille's fingers fly over her keyboard. "Doctors notes state that he had high blood pressure for most of his adult life, and deterioration of his heart muscles. There are no record of him visitig a doctor prior to the massive heart attack."
"And nothing suspicious otherwise, no drugs in his system that are questionable?"
"Nothing that is of concern, no." She shakes her head.
There's a knock on the door and I go to open it for T.J.
"Anything new on Robert?" He immediately wants to know, also worried for Simon.
If someone is killing off Ben's victims, both Simon and Madison are at risk.
"I will keep on checking for when they do an autopsy." Lucille says. "According to the police report, they found him on his couch with the TV remote in his hands wearing boxer briefs, like he came home from the bar and just wanted to finish off his night quietly."
"Something is definitely up." I shake my head. "Healthy people like him don't just die."
"Unless he had an aneurism." Lucille says. She stops typing and turns to me. "So, there were a few things I uncovered while you were away, like where that car came from that ran you off the road, as well as the shooting."
"Where?" I want to know immediately. Whoever did that, will be dead today. If someone wants to take me out, then they might come after my family too, and I would rather stop that from happening.
"Professional assassin." She looks thoughtful. "So I thought that whoever ordered that hit had to know you wouldn't be so easy to kill."
"Ben?" T.J. has the same idea as me.
"That's what I thought initially." Lucille frowns. "But Ben was fucking smart when it came to covering his tracks. That guy either only dealt with cash if he had to pay someone, or he used someone else's accounts. There is nothing traced back to Ben that could implicate him to any crime financially. I hate to admit it, but I'm kinda impressed."
"Nobody ever said he was dumb." I sigh. "So if it's not Ben who was trying to kill me, then who?"
"So I took the liberty to contact that assassin, and I was able to hack into all his accounts." Lucille continues. "Mad expensive by the way, whoever paid him spent a lot of money."
"And they weren't even successful." T.J says drily.
"So who was it then?" I want to know, so I can sort that idiot out.
"You're not going to believe it." Lucille holds my gaze. "The money trails back to Samuel, your father's butler."
I frown, nothing of that making sense. "Samuel?"
No. it can't be. He has no reason whatsoever to want me dead. He literally helped raise me.
"Are you sure?' I ask Lucille.
"Deadly." She deadpans, the joke not funny.
It seems as if I need to have a conversation with my father.