Page 52 of The Maverick (WaterFyre Rising #7)

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

ATTIKUS

I was about to head into another meeting when I received a text from Vanessa.

Vanessa: Are you in a meeting right now?

Though it was a text message, I sensed the dread in it. I walked into an empty room in the hotel lobby, shut the door, and called her.

“Is everything okay?”

“Are you busy? I don’t want to interrupt you if you are.” She sounded stuffy, like she’d been crying.

“I’m not busy. What’s wrong, baby?”

“Miranda’s dead,” she choked. “She was bleeding so much.”

Shock came over me. “What happened?”

As Vanessa described the situation, my hand formed an angry fist.

Those fuckers could’ve hurt Vanessa. What had they injected into Miranda?

This entire situation was getting out of hand.

“Are you home or in your gallery?” I asked.

“I’m home.”

“Okay,stay there. I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“You don’t have to,” she said. “I’ll be okay.”

She didn’t sound okay. Besides, I wanted to be with her. After what she’d been through, she needed me there.

I was getting close to Ashton. He knew I’d been searching for him all these years. Where the fuck was he? What kind of coward forced a woman to carry out a threat for him?

If he could do that to Miranda, I feared Vanessa would be next. This was the first clue that Ashton C. Lindor was still committing crimes behind the scenes.

“I miss you, so I want to be home.”

“Did you finish all your meetings?” she asked.

“I got what I needed.”

“Okay. I’ll see you soon.” She released a sigh filled with distress. “Attikus?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

“Lily Pad, I’m the living devil,” I said, appreciating her concern for me. But I’d been waiting for the asshole to show himself. “They should be afraid of me. But for you, I’ll be careful.”

Rage coursed through me as I wondered how Miranda had become involved in this mess. Had they blackmailed her like Emmanuel?

I called my lawyer, who was also attending today’s meeting, and had him handle the final negotiations for the art books and affordable art programs I was rolling out to the public schools. The discussions with the distributor were ongoing, and today's meeting was to finalize the details.

Then I booked the earliest flight home and headed to the airport.