Everywhere Justin turned, he was met with another dark vision. Desks, cabinets, shelves… computers, papers and pens sat all around him. Slowly, he dug for his flashlight and turned it on. The little glow of light cascaded over the computers and he smiled when he saw the main terminal… off by itself toward the corner on a large desk.
He stepped around the other desks and made his way over to it. The company he was hacking into was relatively new, and because of that, he knew there would be glitches in the security system.
He was right. It only took him a few moments to crack the code and get everything Colby wanted down on his disk. He slipped it into his pocket and turned to exit the building.
That’s when he heard someone opening the door to the main entrance. Startled, Justin instinctively ducked down and got underneath the desk and reached for his gun. Then he remembered that it could be Adelyn and her partner in the room, and he lifted his hand away from it.
He heard two sets of feet going around the room, and sucked in his breath. They were getting closer.
Against the insides of the metal desk and prayed that whoever it was, wouldn’t find him. And of course, his best chance of an exit was on the other side of the room. He knew he could never make a run for it this time.
“He’s in here,” he heard Adelyn’s voice whisper. “I can feel it.”
Justin’s heart raced as he slowly put his head back against the desk and sat completely still. He wanted to come out from his hiding place, take her into his arms and tell her that everything would be okay… and yes, he was the man she was looking for, but what did that really matter? Love should conquer all… shouldn’t it?
But if she found him… it would all be over. Everything that he had worked so hard for would come to a complete end. He’d be put into jail, and he knew that Colby would never even turn his head in the direction of helping him out. Plus, Adelyn would know who he really was and then she would never love him for sure.
Right then and there, he made a decision. If he made it out of this building a free man, he was going to go have a talk with Colby… and hand in his resignation. All the money in the world wasn’t worth losing Adelyn.
He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath as the footsteps came even closer.
“I don’t know what you’re feeling,” Justin heard Pertel say. “But he’s not here. Look around, Brady. Nothing’s out of place. Who knows… maybe a rat set off that silent alarm.”
“This building is brand new,” Adelyn told Pertel. “There can’t be rats here yet.”
“You never know.”
“Would you just shut up and keep looking?”
“Um, Brady… what exactly is it that I’m looking for? The thief isn’t here, I can tell you that much. And if he was here, he’s long gone. This place is as quiet as a cemetery.”
“Look for evidence, then. Anything that’s out of place.”
Justin let out his breath when the voices got quieter and quieter. If Pertel kept talking Adelyn into leaving, then maybe he’d get out safely. All he knew was that he could not get caught right after he decided on giving up this business forever.
“Okay, Pertel,” he heard Adelyn say across the room. “You’ve convinced me. There’s nothing we can do here right now. We’ll have to wait until morning when the company checks up on their systems. Let’s get going.”
She sounded disappointed, and Justin felt guiltier than he ever had in his entire life.
Maybe he could turn himself in… then it would all be over with.
But what would Adelyn think? She would hate him forever if she found out who he really was and where he actually got most of his money.
Money… without money he’d have to move out of his apartment into something more affordable. Nothing would be the same. How would he explain to Adelyn why he couldn’t afford to live there anymore? Every lie turned into two lies, and then those two lies turned into four. Pretty soon he’d be drowning in his own lies.
He’d have to sacrifice so many things if he stopped working for Colby. Would it all be worth it in the end? He didn’t know.
Besides, could he really have anything with Adelyn if she never knew about this one part of him? Weren’t relationships built on trust and honesty? He wasn’t quite sure…but he did know one thing. He couldn’t go on living these two lives any longer. Eventually, he was going to have to pick one over the other.
God, how he wished he would have stayed away from her in the first place. Things would be far less complicated.
The front door shut with a loud click and Justin’s chest suddenly felt better. He would be okay. Now, all he had to do was get the hell out.
Inside the dim hallway, Justin put his key in the lock and turned it.
“Where were you?”
He jumped, and turned around to see Adelyn standing there in her pajamas. “What are you doing here?”
“I asked first,” she said. “Why were you out at two in the morning?”
“Another walk,” he told her as he pushed the door open. “Do you want to come in and tell me what you’re doing here?”
“I tried calling you earlier and no one answered, so I decided to stop by and make sure everything was okay, she said, putting her arms around his waist and leaning into him as they went through the door. Something was strapped to his hip. Without asking, she pulled up his shirt and discovered a black revolver.
“Justin!” she cried. “What the hell are you doing with a gun!?”
He took it off, and set it on the kitchen table, and then went back to lock the door. “It’s registered and unloaded if that’s what you’re getting at,” he said, in a calm voice. So… maybe he had no idea if the gun was registered or not, but he guessed that since it came from Colby, it wasn’t. Adelyn didn’t need to know that.
“Justin,” she said, grabbing his arm roughly. “Would you answer my question and tell me why you have one of those?”
He turned his head and looked down at her, furrowing his eyebrows. He didn’t like to be told what to do. “Adelyn… I have an unloaded gun to carry around with me just in case I run into trouble on my walks,” he said as calm as he could. “It’s downtown Minneapolis, not St. Paul. You never know what’s waiting around the corner.”
Adelyn sighed as she stared at the gun. “Could you just please put it away properly? You shouldn’t have weapons sitting out.”
“It’s unloaded,” Justin reminded her of his lie. “But I’ll put it away anyway.”
When he picked up the gun from the table, and walked into his bedroom, she looked after him. It bothered her when people walked around with guns. People who weren’t educated on gun ownership just made her job harder.
“It’s really not a big deal,” he told her when he emerged. “Lots of people have guns.”
“I’m not comfortable with everyone carrying around guns, Justin, and I think you can understand why…”
“It’s unloaded, Adelyn,” he said again. “Unloaded… which means that I couldn’t actually shoot someone.”
She pushed him to the couch until the back of his knees hit the cushions and he was forced to sit. She sat next to him. “Let me tell something. If you get scared and pull out your gun, even though it’s not loaded, someone could think it is… and what if they have a gun? What if their gun is loaded? You could end up dead!”
He rolled his eyes at her reasoning, and she grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her.
“I’m not kidding, Justin. I really think you should get rid of that thing. I realize that you’re probably not going to listen to me for whatever reasons, but I don’t want to get a call from the morgue one night telling me to come and identify your body.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, gathering her up in his arms and pressing his forehead against hers. “I’ll get rid of it, okay?” She was right, though, he thought as she kissed him. He would have to get rid of everything that tied him to Colby if this was going to work out.
“Justin?” she whispered between kisses.
“Yeah?”
“What’s with the black clothes?”
Justin pulled her into his arms and gulped as he stared over his shoulder. Lie after lie… it was killing him! “I didn’t want to draw attention to myself,” he explained.
She pulled back, taking his face in her hands and looking into his watery blue eyes. “Are you all right? Did something happen out there?”
He shook his head and pulled her back, gently brushing his lips against hers. “No, I’m just tired. Don’t worry about me.”
Chapter 13
Paying the Consequences
Justin {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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