Page 130 of A Lethal Game of Trust

II

The Rising

49

She’s Unhinged

Seven months after Leonie left

Dom

Chris was talking fast, presenting something or other to the full conference room. There were a lot of numbers and charts whenever I looked up from my phone. Where before work had just been a hobby and I oversaw the company, now I fluctuated between being overbearing or unbothered, efficient or a hindrance.

Leonie hadn’t posted in seven days.

Not a story, not a picture. She hadn’t so much as liked a tweet.

Sam Yun hadn’t either.

They were both on radio silence. I stalked their Instagram profiles on fake accounts, hacked into her bank statements, her phone. The moment she left, she started paying for things with cash. She got a new phone every week. Every measure she could take against me, she did.

Chris’ intern was sick of me asking him to track each location she posted. She never stayed anywhere for too long. And, despite the construction of Tillo Tower becoming the new Yun Hotel and Casino, Leo and Sam never seemed to be in England.

This wasn’t the first time they had ghosted the world. They would both disappear without a trace a couple of times a month. A few days later, he’d be posting her on a yacht in a tiny bikini, singing, swaying her hips with a bottle of champagne.

But it had been aweek.

Firdman had been released a few days before she went on this recent radio silence. I hated the thought of her hurting and being unable to reach out to her.

Every account I hacked to talk to her, she blocked.

When I looked up from her posts, always double checking for any sign of drug use or spiralling, Chris was the only person remaining in the room. He sat opposite me across the wide table, a brow cocked. “Mate, I can’t see you like this anymore.”

“I’m not like anything.”

“On your good days, you’re great but an empty shell. On bad days, you’re nothing but wrought with emotion.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, swilling my water, wishing it was something stronger. “Careful.”

Chris shook his head. “What is it now? Going to book a flight to Morocco because that’s where she was in a picture she posted an hour ago? Or, no, the last time was in South Africa, wasn’t it? She’s clearly posting places after she’s left them. She doesn’t want to be found, Dom.”

“You don’t know anything, Chris.”

“Bullshit,” he snapped. He pulled out his gun and placed it on the table. “With the Belov power slipping, you need to beon your A-game, you and Issy.”

My sister had hardly spoken to me the first couple of months other than to sneer that she was glad Leo had left me.

But I knew she missed her. She’d moved back into Mum and Dad’s permanently and on my birthday, she’d still made me an awful cake. Covered in frogs.

Then we’d cried together, half-drunk.

“You’ve got to take over. Your dad—”

“Save me the lecture,” I groaned.

“Dom, I’m serious. Things are not good. I’m worried. Half his men are flaking. He’s going to have to make a stand and you’re going to get dragged into it. You need to get over this.”

With heavy eyes, I looked over my friend. His face was creased with worry, his body language open and honest as he begged me.