On the Sly : The Grange Complex Book 2
On the Sly: Chapter 22

Ellie

“I’m not letting you put your life in danger,” he spat as he started putting the rest of his clothes on, looking furious. I was fully aware of that burning sensation in my stomach filled with need and desire. I was so relieved, knowing that he wasn’t married, but deep down I knew that this was only going to complicate things more than I anticipated. One-night stands usually didn’t go anywhere.

“I’m sorry, Tobias. I’ve made up my mind.”

He shot me a furious look, picked his handcuffs up off the dresser and stormed out, passing Claire in the entrance. I didn’t even know why he was so angry. I offered my help and he was behaving like I had no idea what I was talking about. He didn’t consider the fact that it was me who had been worried sick over the past two months about sleeping with a married man. He had probably already forgotten about that.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s angry that he can’t control you, frustrated that this whole thing is taking so long,” Claire said walking back to the room. I was expecting her to tell me off, or to judge me, but she seemed sympathetic. Maybe I was thinking too much about what went on in here. I had a story, a real story, and if I played my cards right, I would gain a lot from it.

“I want to help, and I want my ex to pay for what he did to me,” I said, ignoring her comment. All of a sudden I felt a little emotional when I thought about Tobias. I sat down on the chair, feeling lightheaded. It was probably the shock, but then, I hadn’t eaten anything since I showed up outside Tobias’s work. When I saw Claire at the door, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I felt like history was repeating itself, a redux of when Theresa caught me in bed with Andrew. I was mortified, but then I realised that Andrew had never cared about me either.

“I’ll talk to him about this, but you need to know that Lurkin is conniving, manipulative and lethal. You will be putting your life at risk. This whole operation is dangerous and we have to be very careful.”

“Please don’t tell me that you’re trying to talk me out of it,” I said.

“No, but I have known Tobias for years and I know he doesn’t want you involved. He has never reacted like that. We both know that he is impulsive, particularly when things don’t go his way.” She sighed.

I thought that Tobias cared for me, but he was never interested in anything serious. Our relationship had always been casual. We had never discussed what was going on between us and where it was leading. I wanted to ask her questions about him, but after a few seconds I abandoned that idea. I didn’t want her to think that there was something real between us.

Claire didn’t want to talk further about what I knew. She told me that she had to replace Tobias and we were going to talk about the whole agenda tomorrow. For a second I wondered if she had any feelings for Tobias, but I knew that I was just being silly. She seemed all right with the whole situation.

When I was driving back to work several hours later, I felt a little better. For weeks, I had been worrying about sleeping with yet another married man and the relief I felt knowing that I wasn’t was palpable. Tobias didn’t have to lie to me, but he chose to. Sure, telling me would have broken the rules in his police work, but he’d already done that by continuing to have sex with me. He should have sensed I wouldn’t have revealed his cover. I was there for him, but obviously he didn’t trust me. I should have known that there was something wrong during that night at the party. Now everything was crystal clear.

At the newspaper offices everyone was looking tense. It was probably something to do with the latest deadlines introduced by Phil. In the huddle everyone wanted to throw ideas about, and for the first time, Jordan had nothing new to bring to the table. I kept my mouth shut about what I knew. This was my story, and I couldn’t see myself staying at this paper when my boss didn’t respect me. After I drank a litre of bad coffee, I got on with my work knowing that at least now I didn’t have to worry about Claire or Tobias.

As I was working through my admin just before lunch, my phone started vibrating. When I saw the private number, my heart sank to my toes. I completely forgot about that bastard who was attempting to blackmail me. I had no choice but to answer. I couldn’t risk another story in the paper, especially now after what I knew about Claire and Tobias.

“Hello.”

I wasn’t ready for this conversation, but I knew that I wasn’t invisible. New hair and glasses wouldn’t change the fact that I had been recognised.

“Ellie Grant, it’s good to finally hear your voice. I’m glad that you have decided to answer the phone this time,” said the deep voice that sounded like it was digitally enhanced for the purpose of disguise. It was the same man or a woman from the other day, the person that wanted five thousand pounds.

“I don’t have that kind of money. My father disowned me and I lost everything,” I said, my voice vibrating.

“Too bad, because I’m ready to send this short email to all the gossip sites in Glasgow and I have a nice picture of you with your new hair.”

I swallowed hard, knowing that I couldn’t let him do that. Tobias and Claire worked hard to get close to Adrian. If this story came out, Adrian would disappear.

“Fine, fine. I’ll get the cash. Just don’t send anything anywhere,” I pleaded, wondering if I had a chance to buy any more time.

“You have four days. I’ll be in contact with you then,” he snapped and hung up. I gripped my iPhone tighter, thinking about people that were close to me, about my friends, anyone who might be able to loan me the money. For a split second I thought about Tobias and Claire, but I knew that they had more important things to worry about. Besides, I didn’t want to ask for their help.

This was my problem that I had to take care of myself. My money was tight as it was, and whatever savings I had, went towards the service charge for the apartment. I had a thousand pounds and my mortgage payment was going to be taken out of that this month.

There was no way that I could magically get five thousand pounds, unless I got my father involved, which was highly unlikely. He had cut me off, but this was also about him. I knew that somehow I would need to take care of this problem very soon. I lost touch with my friends when I moved away, not one of them had tried to stay in touch, which was greatly disappointing.

When the workday was over, I hurried to my car and drove back home, thinking about the story and my earlier encounter with Tobias and Claire. Maybe I was making a mistake; maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to be involved. Tobias was against it, and now I had some kind of stalker that wanted to blackmail money out of me.

My good friend Rebecca would most probably rescue me, but we hadn’t spoken for a while. I hadn’t told her or any of my other friends where I was living now. After thinking about this long and hard, I decided to call her. I was in such a hurry to get back to the apartment that I walked straight into someone in the corridor.

“Hello, beautiful, where are you rushing to?”

My heart leaped in my throat when I realised that it was Adrian. Crap, I wasn’t ready for this. My head was all over the place. He looked really good, with his dark suit, his usual arrogant smirk playing on his lips. Tingles of bad vibes passed through my body when I thought that I agreed to play his girlfriend and the fact that Tobias was putting his life at risk just to catch this arsehole.

“Err…nowhere, just finished work,” I mumbled, smiling lightly. I didn’t need to be nervous around him; he had no idea that Claire and Tobias were on to him.

His eyes flashed with mischief and he licked his bottom lip, revealing sparkling white teeth and looking down my cleavage. I didn’t know what was with this guy and my boobs. Apparently size didn’t matter since I had nothing to show, anyways.

“I have been meaning to talk to you about that drink, you know. This time I wanted to take you out properly,” he said, leaning over to whisper ‘a date’ into my ear. I swallowed hard, staring at his emotionless, dark eyes, trying to keep calm. This was the opportunity, you idiot! Say yes, this was what I wanted.

“A date, oh…gee, I don’t know,” I said, scratching my head, pretending that I was hesitating. I needed to play hard to get; otherwise, he could lose interest; men did love the chase. With a bit of encouragement he might tell me all his secrets. I needed time to figure him out.

“Oh come on, I have a free evening and I can show you a good time. Besides, Mack wants to organise a boys’ night. You know he works for me now, right?”

“Yes, Claire mentioned it.” I nodded, trying to keep the space between us. His cologne was strong and it reminded me of that guy who tried to rape me that night at Harry’s party. “That’s very noble of you to help him out and give him a job. I know they were having trouble, you know, from the conversation that we both overheard.”

He puffed his chest out and smiled widely. Oh yes, I had to stroke his ego; that was what men like Adrian needed to hear.

“Is that a yes then?” he asked.

“All right, but I can’t be out very late. I have to be in the office early. What time should we meet?”

“In an hour. I’m just popping over to the shop. I’ll knock on your door when I’m ready,” he said and stepped into the elevator. My head was spinning and the sudden dose of excitement rushed over my bones.

“All right,” I agreed.

I didn’t have much time. It looked like I would have to deal with my stalker later on. This date was important and I needed to tell Claire. I wasn’t ready to see Tobias just yet. I had no idea how I was supposed to behave around him, but I figured that they had to know what was going on.

No one answered when I knocked, and for some reason I felt relief that I didn’t have to face the man that I truly wanted. My palms were damp with sweat when I slid the message under their door, letting them know what was going on. Yesterday, everything happened so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to take Claire’s number.

That was it. Now I just had to pick my outfit for later, for my first official night out with a gangster. This wouldn’t end badly, right? Well, at least I was telling myself that.

***

“Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. I don’t think I’ll be able to take my eyes off you all evening,” Adrian said when we were walking to the car. I bet he liked hearing the sound of his own voice, and he was trying hard to compliment me.

It was cold outside, the winter well on the way. I had no idea where he was planning to take me, but I decided to wear a miniskirt with opaque, purple tights and a chiffon blouse so my cleavage was on view. On top of that I picked out high heels that accentuated my long legs. I felt nervous and on edge when I sank into a comfy seat in his car. Adrian kept talking about his business, telling me about the stock that he was bringing from Spain.

“I like this new car, Adrian. Am I wrong, but didn’t you have a different one a couple of weeks ago?”

“Yes, I had an Audi, but I got bored of it,” he explained, winking at me. “What can I say, I like arriving in style. Hungry?”

“I’m starving,” I admitted smiling widely. “Are you going to tell me where we are headed?”

If I wanted to play this game right, I needed to be careful. Tobias was building a case and insisted that Adrian was dangerous. I’d been thinking that he was only trying to have fun. He didn’t strike me as a psychopath. He talked a lot about his accomplishments and successes, joked jovially and bragged that he partly owned the nightclub. Adrian was either a very good actor or confident that he was never going to be caught in any wrongdoings.

“It’s a surprise. Do you like seafood?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t be Scottish if I didn’t like it,” I responded.

“Good, because you will love what I had prepared for us.”

He was driving fast, showing off a bit, asking questions about my work at the paper. I couldn’t help but compare him to Tobias; he was so different. The way he drove, for example. Tobias nearly killed us in the traffic when he picked me up from outside the depot the day he saved me from being mugged. So seemingly reckless yet completely in control, as fast as we drove I felt safe, knowing that my life would never be put in deliberate danger by him.

Listening to Adrian talk about what he thought generally of newspapers gave me chance to think, as he didn’t always need a response from me. It was officially my night off at the club and I prayed that Nathan wouldn’t call this evening. I really didn’t want to spoil the night like that. I knew that the club was quiet this week and they had just hired another dancer. I was glad that I didn’t have to deal with performing on the pole as well this ‘date’.I felt my phone vibrating in my bag. I checked it, and seeing that it was an unknown number, I rejected the call. A few minutes later the text message came through.

Cancel this immediately. This isn’t a joke, Ellie. I’m worried about you.

I had no idea how Tobias managed to get my number, but as usual he was overreacting. I understood that he was worried, and that we hadn’t managed to discuss the details, but this was our first real chance to get something out of Adrian. Adrian asked me out, and if I had said no, maybe we would never get another opportunity.

I decided to switch off my phone and just go with the flow. But I didn’t like not knowing where we were going and what he had planned when we got there. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this whole thing.

When Adrian finally parked his car and let me out, I realised that we were at the marina. It was getting dark, but I recognised the dock front and a few of the moored boats that bobbed in the heavy tide coming in from the rough seas.

“Adrian, what’s going on? Where are we?” I asked, confused and more than a little scared. I really didn’t want to get out on the sea in weather like this.

“We’re going on a romantic trip. Don’t worry. I have everything planned out. You will love it,” he said, and took my hand.

Sudden fear hit my stomach as we started walking. It took me a moment to realise that Adrian was serious. We were going on a boat, and out there I was on my own. I thought about calling Tobias or Claire, but Adrian was with me and I needed to act like I was really into him. Besides, there was no way I could explain exactly what was going on while he stood next to me. He was holding my hand the whole time, explaining that I was going to love what he had planned for us. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to be on the open sea where I had nowhere to escape.