Page 91 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“All right,” said Laura, smiling at me. But I knew that smile inside out. It had haunted every dream I’d had the last three months, and for many years before. I knew those blue eyes and when they shifted away, I knew it meant that Laura didn’t really mean what she was saying.

The irony? If I didn’t feel this way about her, I would never have suspected her in the first place.

I stepped out of the room. But instead of going down to the bottom of the house, I went to the top, instead. I was wearing socks instead of shoes, and as I padded to the top of the stairs and sneaked along the corridor, I realized how much it hurt me to do this. To mistrust the one person I really cared about.

I got to the CCTV room and opened the computer. There was a camera in my room, and I waited.

I waited some more.

Maybe eight or nine minutes had gone by when finally, Laura poked her head around the door again. This time she knew that I wasn’t there. I watched as she entered the room, and turned, standing up from the computer and going back down the stairs.

When I went into the room, Laura was bending at the safe inside the cabinet on top of which I kept some of my books and files. Her back was to me. I stood in the doorway.

“Looking for something?” I said.

Laura stood up. Her eyes were wide, there was an expression of shock on her face. But more than anything, what really appalled me, was the look of sheer fear on her face.

“Don’t come any closer,” she said.

I stood exactly where I was. “I’m not going to hurt you, Laura,” I said slowly. Directly. Letting her take time to ponder my words, discover if she thought they rang true.

Slowly, she nodded, an almost imperceptible jerk. All the blood had drained out of her face, and gradually she straightened her back.

“What were you looking for in there?” I said quietly.

“The key,” replied Laura. “I was looking for the key. To your room.”

“I guess so,” I said. “After all. It’s what you sent the guy to get the other day, isn’t it? Before the storm?”

Laura shook her head at first, but there was nothing but a slow, steady sense of disappointment trickling over her features as if this whole thing was just some major inconvenience.

“Yeah,” she said. “I guess.”

“Who was he? David?”

“Yeah,” Laura said, nodding quietly.

I nodded. “Just one more question.”

“I want to go—”

“Please,” I said. “Just one more question.”

“Okay.”

“Why?”

Laura’s mouth opened but no words came out. She slowly spread her hands from behind her back, shaking her head. “I don’t know,” she said.

“No, really,” I said. “Why? Otherwise you can get out of this house and never darken my door again.”

“Lucien,” said Laura. “Please. Believe me. I never meant it to go this far.”

“Well it did,” I said. “So I think we’re past apologies. What did you want to get from the room, Laura?”

“The book.”

“The book?” I stared at her coldly. I had to probe the lengths of all she knew, even if it would drive her away. Even if I might never see her again. “Why? What’s in it?”