First Lie Wins(50)

I’m off the grid. Matt has called my phone a million times and texted threat after threat, but I am not fazed.

I park in front of AAA Bail Bonds midmorning on Monday, almost forty-eight hours after I left Andrew at that resort in South Carolina, even though I was instructed never to set foot back here.

Matt is not expecting me.

The last time I was here I was terrified. I had just fled the Kingstons’ house after leaving a bleeding Jenny Kingston dying on the floor and a sleeping Miles on the couch.

Today is different.

Today I walk into his office like I own it.

There are a few random people scattered around the waiting room and the same girl at the front desk. She gives me a halfhearted smile when I walk toward her, but her expression changes quickly when I bypass her desk and head down the hall.

“Wait! You need to check in first!” she yells, hot on my heels.

I twist open the door to Matt’s office, and she stops herself just before colliding with my back.

“Where the fuck have you been!” Matt yells the second he sees me, then he looks at the receptionist behind me. “Get the fuck back out front!” She makes a U-turn just as I shut his office door.

I sit in the same chair across from his desk that I did two years ago.

He looks like he hasn’t slept since Friday. Since the last time we spoke. Since the last time he could see the video feed he had set up. Right before I cut it.

“My girl looked for Andrew all fucking weekend! Even went and knocked on his door! And where did you disappear to? You pulled a fucking Houdini on this job!” His face is red and bits of spit are flying from his mouth.

I take my time answering him. “Your plan was stupid. I improved it.”

He grits his teeth and his eyes scan me at a frantic pace. “What does that mean?” he finally asks.

“Get Mr. Smith on the phone,” I say. And now he looks like he wants to murder me.

Matt comes around to the front of his desk and stands over me. He leans down, putting his hands on the arms of my chair to box me in. “You answer to me,” he says.

“No, I don’t. Not anymore.” I raise my arm and look at my watch. “You have five minutes or I walk. And you don’t want me to walk.”

I’m playing a very dangerous game, but I have to go with my gut. It never lets me down.

We stare at each other for a long, tense moment.

Something happened to me when I took over that job and made it my own. And I’m not going back to how it was before.

“Four minutes.”

He shoves off my chair so hard that I’m in danger of toppling backward. I kick my feet out to regain my balance. He picks up his phone. Turning his back to me, he talks quietly to Mr. Smith.

A few seconds later, he’s spinning around with the phone on speaker.

“Talk,” Matt says.

Silence on the other end, but I don’t let that stop me. “Andrew Marshall is a bust. He was never going to cheat on his wife. He’s too squeaky clean. And if you forced something, the shame of it would have made him drop out of the race completely. It doesn’t do you any good to have dirt on someone who isn’t powerful. Ten minutes with this guy and you’d have known that.”

Matt’s eyes bore into me while I let Mr. Smith’s silence fill the room.

“But I got you something better. Senator Nelson. He’s held his seat in Georgia for eighteen years. He’s on all the good committees. He loves God, his wife, his country. He also loves to have his ass spanked while wearing a ball gag. He’s all yours. Just tell me where to send the flash drive.”

It’s clear I’m cutting Matt out by not giving it to him to pass along. What I don’t add is Andrew Marshall is mine now. He will be governor soon, and he realizes just how close he came to being owned while also understanding who saved him from that.

I watch Matt and Matt watches the phone. There is a film of sweat popping out on his forehead.

That conversation with Andrew was hard. When he woke up the next morning still on the balcony, he had questions. And I answered them all. Vigilant. That’s what he has to be going forward. No blind trust even if that person proves to be trustworthy. That’s a hard lesson to learn. He thanked me, then offered to help me in any way he could to leave this life. To live a life filled with honor, not with crime. Because that’s who Andrew Marshall is.

I hugged him and thanked him and promptly left him.

I also know if I ever need him—really need him—he will be there for me.

When it doesn’t seem like Mr. Smith will be speaking to me today, I continue. “You may not like I changed the job, and the results may not be the ones you were hoping for, but Matt’s plan would have failed. And Senator Nelson is better than a failed plan and wasted resources. If you would like to continue to engage my services, I deal directly with you. Not Matt. I’m good at what I do. Better than him. And you know it.”

Silence.

Matt is furious. A deep, red flush is creeping up his neck, and his jaw is clenched tight.

Finally, Mr. Smith speaks. “Matt, give Lucca your phone then go wait in the hall. Lucca, once he’s gone, shut the door and take me off speaker.”

Matt’s eyes look like they will bulge right out of his head. He leaves the office, slamming the door behind him.

I pick up the phone and hit the button to make the call private.