Page 74

SEVENTY-THREE

NATALIE

Julien pulls the van over by the door to my apartment building. At this point, asking him how he knows where I live is silly.

I’m scared and exhausted, wondering if the police will come knocking on my door at any moment.

“What about Rosenberg and Nick?” I ask.

“They are probably getting arrested as we speak. The computers at the guest house have all the information a proper cyber team needs.”

I nod.

“No one can know about what happened at the mansion,” Julien says as he kills the engine. “Neither what happened, nor that you were there, nor that you even know Rosenberg or his driver or anything about them.”

His words start a light tremor in my body. I know I’m involved in something big, something dangerous, and keeping quiet about it makes me petrified.

How am I supposed to do that? What will I tell Detective Dupin? As soon as she finds out about the mansion fire and who the mansion belonged to, she’ll be all over me.

Julien reaches under his seat, pulls out a thick envelope, and passes it to me. “That’s twenty grand.”

I stare at it in shock, then raise my eyes at him. “Wh-wh?—”

“For your silence.”

“That means you trust me?” I muse, accepting the envelope. “When do I see you again?”

“Never?”

My heart hitches in disappointment, and I don’t hide it.

Julien notices. I realize he’s always noticed everything. “I thought you’d be relieved to get rid of me.”

“I need answers, Julien.”

“I think you have all you need, Natalie.”

“I don’t.”

“That’s all you need to know right now.”

“What if I go to the police?”

Surprisingly, he doesn’t flinch. If this were Nick, I would’ve been dead just for saying this. Julien? Somehow, I know he trusts me. Somehow, he knows I won’t say a word.

“You won’t,” he says calmly.

See?

“How do you know?” I say, matching his tone. I’m not trying to bait him. It’s a simple inquiry, and he knows that, not an ounce of resentment on his face at my words.

“I’m going to tell you what happens if you do.” His gaze shifts to the street, assessing the neighborhood. “Any paperwork the police discover will lead to Nick’s previous aliases. There won’t be any proof that other people were at The Splendors. Everything burned down. All evidence is gone. All security footage is gone. All the traces of the staff management company that worked for Rosenberg is gone. Everything has been destroyed.”

“The gas leak.”

“The gas leak, yes, among other things. In fact, there won’t be any traces of you either. Rosenberg doesn’t know your last name or anything about you. No one should be able to find you. I made sure of it. You were a complication and extra work, but it was all taken care of.”

I can see why I annoyed him when I arrived at my new job.

He turns to face me. “So if you do go to the police, nothing you say about the other staff will get any validity. But you know about Nick’s accounts. I have a picture of you with him in the garden. Another one in his car. As well as you and the so-called Rosenberg in his room. He and you will be the only live witnesses who have any ties to IxResearch. So guess who will be watched by the FBI for the rest of eternity?”

I feel a pang of disappointment. “You set me up.”

“No. But that’s how it’s going to play out if you go to the police. It’s only going to work against you.”

“I won’t. I think you know that.”

“I do. I’ll make sure they never get a whiff of your connection to The Splendors. If they do, I’ll figure out how to sort it out.”

“What about the detective I called? I did talk to her, Julien.”

“I’ll take care of that, too.”

I raise my brows at him.

He gives me a little nod. “I will. Don’t answer unknown numbers in the next several weeks.”

“I assume you’ll keep tabs on me?”

He nods again, not breaking eye contact. His voice is unusually soft. This conversation feels almost intimate, as if we aren’t discussing how to avoid law enforcement and conspiracy charges.

“How?” I ask. “How are you so good at this? What’s your background? Military?”

“Something like that.”

Not good enough. “Intelligence?”

“Something like that.”

“You won’t tell me, will you?”

This time, he doesn’t answer.

I snort. “Even though the mansion and the structures burned down, they might find fingerprints. Yours are in the system, I assume.”

“They won’t.”

“You seem very sure.”

He turns his hands palms up and shows them to me. He rubs his fingertips together, and I notice a strange texture covering them.

“What is that?”

“Silicone pads.”

“Fingerprint-proof?”

“Yes.”

“Wait, how… Do you… You couldn’t have possibly worn them every day for months.”

He doesn’t answer.

“Jesus Christ, you did, didn’t you?”

No answer. That’s military training all right.

“You need to leave town for some time,” he says.

“I’m not sure I can. My friend Cara, she?—”

“She regained consciousness.”

I stare at him. “When?” My heart flutters.

“This afternoon.”

“How do you know?”

No answer.

I roll my eyes. “Wow. Okay. It’s… Yeah…” I couldn’t possibly imagine the extent of his surveillance.

Julien shifts in his seat. “At some point, your friend will have questions, especially when the news about Rosenberg breaks. She’ll probably talk about it. You can’t tell her you know what happened. You can’t tell her anything. I understand you two are close, don’t ask how I know. But she can’t know about your involvement.”

“Why? Why Rosenberg? Why Nick? Don’t tell me you did it because of some Robin Hood ideals to return the money to the people who were scammed and prevent the biggest crypto disaster?”

My phone rings. Dupin lights up on the screen, and I swallow hard, shifting my eyes to Julien.

“Answer,” he says.

“Julien, this is?—”

“Answer,” he commands, without telling me what to say to the detective and how to act.

“Hello?” I say timidly when I pick up.

“Miss Olsen, you are not a good listener, are you?” Detective Dupin says.

My breath hitches in my throat—she must know I went back to The Splendors, despite her advice.

“I’d love to say that wasn’t smart on your part,” she continues, “but turns out, you are quite a lucky charm.”

Huh?

“Pass the phone to the man next to you,” the detective requests.

“Wh-what man?” Panicking, I turn to Julien.

“Miss Olsen? Please, pass the phone to Julien.”

My mouth opens in shock.

“It’s for you,” I say, passing Julien the phone as he takes it with no surprise whatsoever.

“Yes,” he says into the phone. “Yes. Good. It’s all done, then?”

I gape at him as he nonchalantly checks the neighborhood.

“She’s fine, yes… Yes, on the same page… Good, good…” There’s an unusual satisfaction on his face. “I love you too,” he says and hangs up.

The last words make the world around me spin on its axis. Thoughts are scrambling in my head. I can’t find the right words. I can’t even put together the events that took place in the last several days.

Julien looks almost apologetic when he meets my eyes.

“To answer your question why—I did it for her.” He nods at my phone.

Confused, I absently take it from his hand. “You mean Detective Dupin?”

“She’s not a detective. And her real name is not Lesley Dupin either.”

A crazy laugh is about to escape me, though I’m not sure if I feel like laughing or throwing up from exhaustion and shock. Julien goes quiet, but this time this won’t do. “Care to explain?”

“She is my sister. She was involved with Nick, a long time ago. Before Ix. Before Rosenberg. I was working overseas and never met him. Then he did something unforgivable.”

I stare in shock. “Like the other girls?”

Julien’s lips tighten, and his gaze hardens. “I’m not going to get into details, but he tried to get rid of her. She almost died in a car crash he was responsible for. Two months in ICU, seven reconstructive surgeries, damaged vocal cords, miscarriage, damaged motor functions, permanent limp—that’s to name a few.”

“Oh, god,” I whisper.

“When I found out what happened—after my sister recovered—I decided he wasn’t going to get away with what he put her through.”

“And many others.”

“Yes. He deserves worse than what he got.”

“You are telling me that you tracked Nick years ago, kept an eye on him, and started years-long surveillance to avenge your sister?”

“You think that’s crazy?”

I don’t know what to think anymore, but I really want to get to know this man.

“That’s crazy, yes. And admirable. And…” I drop my gaze, trying to find the right words. “I don’t know you at all, but you might be an incredible man, Julien. The true Man of the Year. Can I see you again?”

There, I’m making a move on a guy. It’s not the first time but definitely rare.

His eyes keep me hostage for some time.

“It’s not a good idea,” he says softly, and I can see regret in his eyes that resonates with the rejection I feel.

Embarrassment makes my cheeks hot, and I smile, biting my lip.

“That blonde girl in the library, by the way—thank you for alerting me about her being spiked. She got help in time.”

I nod. Good. So he did take care of her.

Julien gets out of the van, walks to the passenger side, and opens the door for me. I suppose I overstayed my welcome. I get out and stand in front of him, just like the first day we met when he told me I wasn’t welcome. Somehow, this feels like a very sad goodbye, though he was insufferable just a few days ago.

“Well, it was nice knowing you,” I say. “It actually was. Though I’m pretty sure I was a pain in your butt.”

“You ended up helping us. Thank you. You have no idea.”

I want to keep this conversation going just a little longer, but I know there’s no point. “Is that it, then?”

He nods.

“Right.” I nod, mimicking him. “I guess I should go.”

Julien offers his hand for a shake, and I give him a feigned suspicious look. “Oh, now you want to shake my hand?”

But I do, and that gets a little smile out of him.

“Well, goodbye, Julien.”

“Goodbye, Natalie,” he says softly and lets go of my hand.

I start walking away. Just as I step to the front door of my apartment building, I hear Julien’s voice. “Natalie?”

He’s standing by the van’s driver’s side, watching me. “Change the lock on your apartment door. It sucks.”

This man, seriously…

“And if I were you, I’d get a new phone and make it password-protected.” He winks.

I don’t respond, only put the tip of my fingers to the side of my forehead in a military salute.

For the first time, Julien grins at me. It’s a beautiful grin that makes my heart break just a little bit.