The Guru: Shadow (Dark Triad #1)

14. Deis

14

DEIS

PLAYLIST: LOSE CONTROL – AG something about her was so daring, so over the place that he could not foresee the extent of her action.

Just to be sure, he fumbled out his phone and called Ed.

“Monitor her closely. I have a feeling.”

The rest of him just floated in the sweet moment of what was to come. And he could not wait.

For the first time in his life, it was a challenge for him to switch back to the event. Normally it was easy, as hunting came so naturally, and exposing people to their true nature made him feel high. Today, however, he wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.

In his mind, her beautiful last words resounded eternally, probably until he’d make his last breath.

“Game on.”

Probably the best thing a woman has and will ever have said to me.

The rest of the event seemed to go on forever. All he wanted was to be in a quiet room and form a strategy in his mind. Usually, he enjoyed the people baring their soul, but he simply could not focus. So, when Sunday afternoon and the closing celebratio n was done, he was truly annoyed.

“Deis!”

“Julie.”

Make it quick.

“It was phenomenal. And about Emma, I…I told you, she’s a bit complicated. Sorry, she messed things up a bit.”

She’ s not complicated, anything but.

“It was nothing out of the ordinary, believe me. Do you know where she went or what her plans were? She ripped off her bracelet after opening the deposit box.”

“I have no clue, but if I had to guess, home or wandering around. We haven’t talked since yesterday. She completely shut me out, I suppose she blames me for bringing her.”

“I’ll check with the hotel, just want to be sure she is not doing anything stupid and she’s coping.”

“That’s so nice of you! See you tomorrow at ten for the meeting then.”

If you knew the truth. You could connect the dots with all the information on the table, with all your intelligence, but you don’t. Because you fall for the obvious and don’t recognize, just like everyone else.

Not that he minded.

The moment Julie was gone, he reached for his phone.

“Where is she?”

“Back in Manhattan, and you won’t like it.”

“What is she doing?”

“Sending it to you right now.”

He was staring at the images.

No way. She did not.

“What am I looking at, Ed?”

“You are looking at Carl Pearson, Julie’s fiancée, with Emma taking drugs and hanging out in her apartment.”

Taking in the magnitude of her actions, his mind tried to focus, but control slipped from beneath his fingers.

She knows about the cameras. She did not remove them. It’s intentional.

But his system had already gone into dark mode. Betrayal. Intentional betrayal. Her game was on another level. And he would not allow it . She had gone too far.

“What are they taking? Cocaine?”

“From the looks of it. He brought it. She sent him a text: ‘Have you seen Jay Jay on the 3rd?’ And he turned up an hour later. I suppose it’s not the first time. They seem quite familiar with each other, and they are for sure on a high right now, it’s their fifth line in less than an hour already.”

“Get me an advanced background check on him.”

“Already done, sending you the file right now. You won’t like it.”

Glancing over the first documents, something in him clenched.

“Didn’t Julie say he held a PHD in Physics, and didn’t we confirm as much in the regular check before we signed up Bloom?”

“She did, and yes.”

“So, he’s a liar.”

“I believe worse. Look at the aliases, the charges. A liar with friends in high places.”

There they were: passports and drivers licenses going by different names. Tony Quinn, Ben Ascot, Aden Wright. Names connected to sexual assault, violence in all shades, drugs, illegal ownership of guns, and trafficking.

“How is this guy walking free?”

“Never convicted. Look who’s the daddy.”

And sure, as hell, the daddy was none other than star lawyer Andrew Pearson. Not only a nasty specimen and biting bullterrier on the loose, but also…

“Delilah’s bulldog.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Neither do I. What do you want me to do?”

The son of Delilah’s bulldog is close with Emma. He is also Julie’s fiancé. Julie, who is taking over my PR, has many sensitive details, and now knows strategies.

“Watch them closely, let it play out, intervene only if Emma’s safety is a concern. Have all of them tailed 24/7. Delilah, Andrew, and Richard, too. I’m flying in now.”

The whole flight, he had to cope with barely holding sane as he watched Emma and Carl. Something in him – may it be his instinct – told him that something was about to happen.

His assistant, Simon, a very slick person, who did whatever he was told, picked him up from Newark Private Terminal with the GMC. Traffic was bad. He could sense they were running out of time. And sure enough, as they were about five minutes out, things became messy.

“It’s not good. He’s becoming quite touchy,” Ed told him over the speaker. Not that he didn’t see for himself.

Touchy was a full-blown understatement.

“Why don’t I have sound?”

“Jaz is getting you the sound right now. Simon, give him an earpiece.”

“Here.” Simon driving his car, handed it over to him.

What he heard was bad.

“Carl, stop it. What the hell are you doing!?”

Carl had thrown her onto the bed, face down, and pulled back her arms.

“Don’t be killjoy, Em, I can see you want to be fucked. You’ve wanted it for years, months.”

“Carl, no!”

But he just took his belt and tried to cuff her hands with it. She, however, was fiercely trying to wiggle out of his grip and kicked him hard into his balls. Only he didn’t even flinch.

“I like it when they fight, you know.”

And with it, he pressed his knee into her back. A position almost unable to get out of if he pressed the right buttons, and it looked like he did.

Rage beyond anything else cooked up in him as he listened to what was going on in her apartment. No one would touch her. And Carl would pay, hard.

“How much longer, Simon?”

“Ninety seconds out.”

You are dead, Carl. You are dead. And he leaned down to fumble out the gun from under the seat .

“Carl, you’re marrying Julie, what the fuck are you doing?” he heard her shriek.

As they arrived in front of the building, he jumped out of the car before it came to a halt and raced up to her apartment, taking the stairs. With a glance at the screen in his hands, he saw her hands were tied and fixed above her head.

“Oh, I am marrying her. And you will shut your mouth, or I’ll have some nice photos of your cunt being fucked deep all over social media and some charges for the jay jay.”

2nd floor.

“Carl!” she shrieked in panic. “I just wanted a fun night with no mind racing, seriously. Where is this coming from? Let go of…ummpf…mmd.”

Carl thrusted her rolled-up socks into her mouth.

3rd floor.

“You need to chill, sweetheart. It’s just a fuck.” And with that, he opened his pants.

4th floor.

Carl spat in his free hand and rubbed it between Emma’s thighs. Watching it produced a rage in him beyond every, and anything. A rage roaring like a firestorm through his veins destroying everything in its way. Carl would pay for it, heavy and with his life.

5th floor.

It took Carl a single swift movement, and he kneeled behind her, pulled her up, and pushed in her with a single hard thrust. And just at that moment, he burst open the door to her apartment. Emma had become completely rigid. No more fighting it. Just enduring it. Silent faraway sobs resounded through the earpiece. He burst into the bedroom with two steps. Carl had turned around, facing him with his disgusting cock. Emma’s silent sobs trailed heavily directly into his chest and touched something. Something that now roared murder.