On the Sly : The Grange Complex Book 2
On the Sly: Chapter 25

Ellie

I sat there on my living room sofa pleased with how productive I’d been. I had already finished a really good outline for my story, and my date with Adrian had gone reasonably well. He’d been texting me a lot, and I arranged to go out with him again at the weekend. It seemed he liked me enough to take this further. I worked on my article whenever I had time. I managed to produce a solid, few hundred words. Hope burned through me when I reread the words that my future rested on so much. I had a feeling that I was making the right decision, that this story was going to be good. Phil was giving me the usual crap. I stopped complaining, knowing that it was just a matter of time before I would have an offer from a more established paper.

Things between Tobias and me were still pretty complicated. Claire had told me that he wasn’t himself. On top of that he had been putting a lot of hours in at the depot, doing a few more deliveries to Newcastle. I was worried, but I knew that it was none of my business. We’d had fun, and now our careers were to take precedence.

The other day, after I purposely ran away from him I felt like an idiot. He had seen me and looked so shocked that I’d run away. I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to him that day.

Heat vibrated through my cells when I thought about the last time we were together in that hotel room—me handcuffed to the bed, panting with anticipation. I wanted more of him, but I knew I couldn’t let myself believe that we could be together after this operation was over.

My phone buzzed, pulling me away from my daydreams. It was the private number again. My throat tightened with the sudden realisation that whoever was blackmailing me was very persistent. Since the last phone call I hadn’t had time to think about this. I had too much on my plate as it was. Whoever was on the other side of the phone wasn’t bluffing. I couldn’t afford another scandal, plus, the future of Tobias and Claire’s operation weighed on me. If my identity was leaked to the papers, it could ruin everything. Tobias was putting his life on the line and I couldn’t jeopardise it, not after everything we’d been through.

“Hello.” I answered the phone feeling like I had a massive lump in my throat.

“Check your email, bitch. Get the cash together. I will let you know when and where I want it; otherwise, these pictures will go to the press tonight,” said the digitally-altered voice again.

My stomach dropped when I thought about the awful microscope I was put under when the paparazzi had been following me everywhere, hounding me for more juicy details, trying to smear my name further. The look on people’s faces when I showed up at parties with friends. I hated hearing the snickers and whispers everywhere I went.

“No, wait please. I have the money.”

“Good to hear it. Just follow my instructions and no one will know. You will get the final email from me soon. Stick to the plan. Otherwise your new life will end sooner than it began.”

He hung up not letting me say anything else. I instantly logged back onto my laptop. My pulse started racing when I saw an email titled ‘Your Lies’.In all the pictures I recognised myself. Now it didn’t matter that I had died my hair, changed my style, and wore glasses. People who knew me would easily recognise me in these pictures.

All the tabloids claimed that I ran away and, if this story got out, all the hard work that Tobias and Claire had put in would be for nothing, as my presence would cause the media to investigate and put a spotlight on them as my new friends. Adrian would probably run. Too many people were tangled up in his business and he couldn’t afford such exposure.

I’d made a fair chunk of money during my performances at the club, but it wasn’t enough. I knew that I had to speak to Tobias and Claire about this. They needed to know what was going on. There was no way I could get this kind of money together on my own.

I tried to work on my story, but thoughts about this blackmail threat were in my head all the time. I thought about all the people that I could get the money from and realised that I should have been more independent earlier in my life. I had relied on my father for almost everything financially, and now I had nothing of my own.

A few hours later, after running out of options, I put some decent clothes on and headed to the apartment that was two doors away from mine. Nervous excitement fluttered in my stomach at the thought of seeing Tobias when I remembered that morning I took the stairs just to avoid speaking to him. I felt pathetic, knowing that now I was here to ask for his help. He most probably wouldn’t be happy to see me.

Standing in front of their door, I took a deep breath and then knocked. I nearly cursed when Tobias answered the door. Lustful waves of heat riddled through me as his eyes met mine.

“Well, well, well…who do we have here today?” he said, folding his arms over his chest, pinning me in place with his striking eyes. Tobias looked tired. I noticed large, dark circles under his eyes. I just needed to tell him about the emails and get it over and done with.

“Please don’t be an arse, Tobias. I really need to talk to you and Claire,” I said, trying to be serious, but my heart threw itself against my ribcage. Things between us were still awkward. I missed him like crazy, but I wasn’t planning to admit that to him.

“Come inside. We can’t have this conversation out in the corridor,” he said. I walked in, trying to breathe normally. Claire was in the living room, working on her laptop. She smiled when she saw me. I couldn’t help being amazed that she hadn’t held a grudge against me. This whole thing was so weird. A few days ago I was perfectly convinced that she was Tobias’s wife.

“Ellie wants to talk,” Tobias said, going back to the sofa and switching on the TV. I should have expected that. He was pissed off with me, about Adrian and probably about that other morning.

“Can I talk to you in private?” I asked him, not even knowing where this came from. It’d been a while since we had been alone, and I felt like it was time to start communicating again. Tobias was a very handsome man, and he had this aura of power around him. I needed to focus though and address the problem at hand. Claire didn’t say anything. She pretended that she didn’t hear me, or she probably sensed that things between us were tense and awkward.

“I need to have an early night tonight, so this better be quick,” Tobias said. He got up and walked towards one of the rooms, obviously expecting me to follow him. I glanced at Claire.

“He’s had a rough couple of days. If he’s harsh, don’t worry, it’s probably not you.”

She was nice enough to warn me that Tobias was in one of those moods today. I walked into his bedroom and closed the door. The room was very masculine. The bed wasn’t made. His clothes were thrown haphazardly on a chair and the air was infused with his cologne. It was clear that Claire had never slept here.

“What can I do for you, Ellie?”

I hated that he was so formal all of a sudden. The usual warmth was gone and I knew that it was my fault. I cleared my throat and sat beside him. He shifted on the bed. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this whole thing, and instead of explaining, I took my phone out and played the first voicemail that I’d saved in my inbox. Tobias listened, and when it ended, he exhaled loudly.

“I had another phone call today and an email with some photos of me. I’m here because I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“You made the right decision telling me about this. Do you have any idea who might have a grudge or have a reason to blackmail you?”

“No,” I admitted. “No one knows that I moved here to the complex. I dyed my hair, changed my style a bit, just to make sure that people wouldn’t recognise me as the society girl in the papers.”

He ran his hand over his jaw, looking away.

“I need to be careful who I’m going to talk to about this. I should be able to give my team access to your phone log and they can generate a number and account details from your incoming calls or at least triangulate the nearest connection mast to help isolate locations. They should be able to track whoever is toying with you,” he said, sounding like he was thinking out loud. “Lurkin must not know who you really are, so it’s a good thing you told me about this. We can’t afford to lose him now that we’re so close.”

I wanted to caress his face, to comfort him and ease the stress in his eyes. The lies didn’t matter. He was putting his life in danger for me.

“Tobias, are you okay?” I asked. “You look tried.”

“Why? Don’t pretend that you’re concerned about my well-being all of a sudden.”

“Of course I care about you! I felt used and I was angry. I said some things that I didn’t mean because I was hurting from your lies,” I explained, knowing that we needed to start working together. Tobias needed to acknowledge that I could be useful. “And I’m sorry that I ran away when I saw you a couple of days ago. That was childish, but I just couldn’t face you.”

Tobias’s eyes softened and he lifted his palm and placed it on my thigh. The spark of electricity charged through me instantly, melting whatever anger I still had inside me.

“I’m fine, Angel. Don’t worry about me. I had a long shift last night and I haven’t slept yet. On top of that, two days ago I went to a party,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Lurkin got high, then one thing led to another, and I was forced to taste some of his white powder.”

God, Adrian forced him to take drugs so he could prove to him that he was loyal. This whole thing was getting way out of control. We were talking about serious stuff and Tobias was confessing his concerns to me, but I had trouble breathing and concentrating when his palm was on my thigh.

“What else happened there?” I asked.

“He convinced me that I was right about him all along,” he explained.

Tobias

I was hard again, while we were discussing something so far removed from being sexy, but she had that effect on me. We weren’t expecting anyone today and I was surprised to see Ellie at the door. I felt like shit, but she instantly brightened my mood. It’d been days since I’d seen her. I had been recovering. Lurkin’s coke was good quality, not cut with baking powder to lower its purity, and the party itself had been a fucking nightmare.

I hated drugs. For me it was a sign of weakness. When I was in high school, I smoked some weed, just to impress my mates, peer pressure I suppose. Being at the party, though, when I took that high-grade coke that party quickly got out of hand. I lost touch with reality and started having vivid thoughts about Charlotte. I was hallucinating, thinking that she was still there, sitting next to me. I guess he dropped me some LSD somehow, maybe in my drink. Whatever it was, it was a bad trip.

Lurkin had introduced me to a few people that night, men that worked for him and some strippers that hung over his shoulder for most of the evening. I didn’t want to tell Ellie any of that. She worked at the club and she probably knew some of the hostesses that were forced to walk around half-naked to entertain Lurkin’s guests.

Sometime after taking the coke, I felt euphoric. All of a sudden, I was talking, about anything and everything. I was the centre of the party. People were listening, women were amused. It was the greatest feeling in the world. I didn’t have any problems, the case no longer mattered, Ellie no longer mattered. I didn’t care about Lurkin, Claire, or the superintendent.

The whole night seemed surreal when I tried to recall it, as if it happened to someone else. I didn’t remember half of the things I said. In that moment Lurkin was one of my mates and we were drinking together.

“Are you going to tell me what happened at that party?” Ellie asked, pulling me back to the present day. I hated myself then, thinking that I was all right.

“Lurkin crossed the line.”

The memories from that night were hazy, but I knew they were accurate. I remembered patting Lurkin on the back, telling him that he was my best mate. Someone bought me another pint, so I grabbed it and took a few generous mouthfuls. Lurkin was yapping, laughing at what seemed to be his own pathetic jokes. Every few minutes he was introducing me to new people.

I’d had no idea how much time had passed since I sat down. I felt good in my own skin, and I had nothing to worry about. Everything was going great. I spread out on the chair, closing my eyes, while Lurkin kept talking. I wanted to dance, thinking about Ellie, knowing that she would have enjoyed herself in here.

“Hey, hey… are you even listening to me? This guy, he’s the best. He knows the trick,” Lurkin kept saying, snarling his words, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

“What trick? What are you talking about, mate?” I asked, staring at some Asian dude who was at our table. I didn’t remember when he sat down. God, something was definitely wrong with me. I needed to pull myself together.

“Mr. Lurkin, would you like—”

Adrian was distracted, and he didn’t see the topless hostess approaching our table with a tray filled with drinks. He waved his arm and smacked into her. The whole thing spilled all over his suit. In a matter of seconds he was soaked, and the hostess was on the floor, pale and disorientated. I wanted to laugh, thinking about turning this whole thing into a joke.

“You stupid bitch, you fucking ruined my suit,” he roared all of a sudden and stormed towards her. He reached down to pick her up from the floor, grabbing her by her throat. His eyes were wide, pupils fully dilated. My pulse started to race, my heart pumping too much blood through my veins.

“Fucking cunt, embarrassing me in front of my people. I’m going to fuck you up,” he kept saying, blocking her airway. She was choking, trying to unhook his grip from her throat, but it seemed to me like Lurkin was in some kind of trance—he wanted to kill her. People started gathering around us. The music was still playing. I stood there, staring blankly as he was slowly killing her, feeling hopeless, not reacting.

“Cunt! This is my party and you’re wasting my fucking money!”

“Adrian, let her go. You’re going to suffocate her, buddy.”

It was one of the Irish brothers that reacted first, trying to stop him. Lurkin fought with him, until he pulled away, breathing heavily.

“He went crazy when one of the hostesses spilled drinks all over him,” I said to Ellie, shaking off that fucked up memory. “He nearly killed her. I should have never gone to that party. It was a tactical error, and I don’t want to know what would’ve happened if he had killed her. I didn’t remember much from the rest of the night. Lurkin started to buy me more drinks, then I was drinking and drinking until I passed out somewhere in the corner.”

“That’s why I want to help you. We can let him—”

“Ellie, don’t you get it? He’s dangerous, a lethal motherfucker. I hate going over this,” I snarled, shaking my head that she still wanted to carry on with her stupid plan.

“Shh, don’t be angry, please, Tobias,” she said and leaned over to me, laying her head against my arm. My whole body tensed and I dragged some more air into my lungs. “I want to drive to Glasgow. I have to speak to my father about the voicemail and the email. Will you…I realise that you have a lot on your plate, but will you go with me?”