Линвуд Баркли - Find You First

“Not DNA,” Chloe said. “NDA. Nondisclosure agreement. We sign it, they pay us, and we agree never to be tattletales.”

“But what if we told anyway?”

“They could sue us and we’d have to give the money back and maybe even more. And we’d have to hire lawyers to fight it for us and we’d be in debt up to our assholes.”

“Even if holding us here is against the law?”

Chloe shrugged. “You really want to challenge this? If it gets us out of here? You don’t want enough money to have you set for life? Because believe me, they’re going to have to pay up to keep us quiet.”

They believed their performance was Oscar-worthy.

“Fine,” Nicky said. “If all I got to do is sign something, I’ll do it. How much money you think they’ll give us?”

Chloe shrugged. “Thousands, I bet. This Pritkin guy’s loaded, right?”

“Uh, look around,” Nicky said. “He’s got more money than—”

Knock knock.

Chloe got off the bed. Nicky stopped her pacing two feet from the door.

Chloe felt the glass shard digging into her palm as she delicately closed her hand around it. The slightest squeeze and she’d start to draw blood.

Nicky was doing the same. They exchanged a quick glance.

Here we go.

The door began to open.

New York, NY

On the first part of their trip into Manhattan, as the sun was setting, Dorian had asked to sit in the back with Miles. Gold was put up front next to Charise.

Dorian, her voice low, said to Miles, “What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting funny. Freezing me out.”

“We can talk about it when this is over,” Miles said. “This isn’t the time.”

“No,” she said. “Now.”

Miles wouldn’t look at her. He faced his window. Dorian went to place her hand on his arm, but held back. The realization had set in.

“I’ll pay it back,” she said.

Miles, still avoiding eye contact, said, “It’s not about the money. Keep the money. I don’t care about that.”

“How long have you known?”

“Heather called me, after the FBI meeting.”

Dorian struggled to hold back tears.

“Maybe you could just tell me why,” he said.

“I thought... I deserved it,” Dorian said.

Miles slowly turned and looked at her. “That’s probably true. You did deserve it. I know you probably feel I’ve taken you for granted, but that’s not true. I’ve always been grateful for your help. I couldn’t have had a better assistant.”

Dorian did not miss the had . “You should have come to me, made your case. I’d like to think I’d have listened. But the trust is gone.”

She wiped away a tear on her cheek. “I could get out right now. Uber back.”

Miles shook his head. “No. Let’s see this through.”

Dorian asked Charise to pull over next chance she had so that she could switch seats with Gold.

Charise drove them into Manhattan by way of the Triborough Bridge. As they crossed, Gold, in a rare moment of detachment from the crisis at hand, said, “The formal name for this bridge is the Robert F. Kennedy. It’s actually three bridges, and it was built in 1936.” He turned to look at Miles, who was sitting next to him in the back seat, and asked, “Did you know that?”

“No,” Miles said flatly. “I did not.”

“Did you know that every three and a half days, someone tries to jump off the George Washington Bridge?”

This time, Miles turned and looked at him. “I didn’t know that, either.”

“Maybe,” Gold said quietly, and in total seriousness, “Charise could give me a lift there when this is over.”

“One thing at a time,” Miles said.

Shortly after they’d gotten off the bridge and headed south on the FDR, the traffic had slowed, and by the time they were passing 118th Street, it was down to a crawl.

“If it’s still bad at 106th I’ll get off there and work my way down,” Charise said.

She’d been glancing repeatedly in her rearview mirror, and Dorian had noticed a worried expression on her face.

“Everything okay?” Dorian asked quietly.

“I think it’s nothing,” Charise said. “Feel like I’ve had the same car behind me for a long time. But I don’t know. It’s dark. I could be wrong.”

Dorian turned, tried to see out the back window. “How could you even tell?”

“Different kind of headlights. Used to be they were all round. Nowadays, every manufacturer has its own style.” She glanced again. “Okay, I don’t see them. Maybe I’m just paranoid.”

The car moved, inch by agonizing inch, until Charise was able to edge the car over to the right and get to the 106th Street exit. But she was not the only one who’d chosen that route as a way to escape the FDR.

“Shit,” Dorian said.

Charise started laying on the horn. It didn’t get anyone to move out of her way, but it made her feel better.

“Call them again,” Miles said to Gold. “Tell them you’re in the neighborhood. That you have to see Chloe.”

Gold protested. “I already tried once. Roberta—”

Miles exploded. “Try again.” He handed Gold the phone. Gold entered the number and waited.

“It just keeps ringing,” he said. “Hang on.” Someone was picking up. “Hello, it’s Dr. Gold. Roberta, is that—”

Gold lowered the phone. “She hung up.”

“Christ.”

“How about this?” Dorian said, turning around in the seat to face them. Miles looked at her but said nothing. “Call the fire department.”

“Say again?” said Charise.

“We say we just drove by the address and saw flames coming out the window. That should buy us some time. They’re not going to try anything with the fire department on their front step.”

Charise said, “I like it.”

Miles, with some reluctance, said, “Me too.” He took Gold’s phone back from him.

“Hey, not from my phone,” he protested. “They’ll have a record. I’ll be charged with making a false report.”

Miles gave him an incredulous look. “ That’s what you’re worried about?” He made the call.

New York, NY

The door opened an inch, but no farther.

Before Nicky could think about grabbing the knob from the inside and yanking the door wide open, she saw, in the sliver of an opening, a man standing there. The one who’d visited earlier with the NDA proposal. The one with part of his finger missing.

“Stand back,” he told her. When Nicky moved away no more than a foot, Rhys said, “More.”

Nicky gave Chloe a surrendering, hopeless look. She did as she was told and took several steps back. The door opened wide and Rhys stepped in, followed by a second man. They closed the door behind them.

Click.

Nicky and Chloe thought, Shit.

Chloe had not counted on there being two people. Two men . The guy with the tiny pinkie was formidable enough on his own, but this second dude was just as big and as menacing looking, even if he was in a suit and tie, trying to look all lawyerly.

“You girls ready?” Rhys asked. “Sooner we get this done, sooner you’ll have your money and you can get back to your regular lives.”

“Who are you?” Nicky asked the other man.

Rhys provided an introduction. “This is my associate, Broderick. He’s drafted the paperwork you’ll be signing.”

Chloe asked, “Why couldn’t you bring the papers here? Then we could just walk out the front door and be done with this dump.”

Rhys nodded understandingly. “Of course, I can see how you might feel that way, but there’s quite a lot to sign, and the checks are at the office. That’s the way it’s done.”