CHAPTER 22: HIDDEN IDENTITY
1167 Words
MORRISON
I stood there, arms folded across my chest, and brows pulled together, creating vertical lines between them.
Quinn didn’t look at me; that alone triggered adrenaline to pulse through my veins, turning my vision red at all the edges.
She moved to the other side of the window, avoiding my gaze. I had seen fear before, and I knew how it looked and smelled.
But her reaction didn’t depict fear; it was her shutting me out. And I didn’t like it a bit.
Denial would have been cleaner than challenging, but she chose the latter.
My jaw clenched so tightly, my tooth ached. “Stay here,” I said.
She didn’t respond or turn until the door opened, and I left.
I checked my wrist watch, 5:02 AM, and the hallway was too quiet. Hotels like this never slept. There was always movement—staff, security, noise.
But now, something felt so off, no distant noise or movement but for soft moans emanating from one of the close-by rooms.
I looked around and realized that the security guards who are usually stationed at each corner of the VIP section were nowhere to be found.
That immediately stirred something in me. A surge of heat rushed through my chest to my face as I rushed down the hallway.
I turned the corner, and what I saw sent cold chills down my spine. Two guards on the ground, they were still, not moving or struggling.
I felt each of their pulses; there was no life. Both gone. Interestingly, there was no blood splatter, no signs of chaos. Those who did it were very precise.
It looked like a case of intoxication and strangulation till whatever breath that remained of them was gone.
My jaw clenched tightly as I crouched beside one of them, pressing fingers lightly against his neck, but I felt nothing.
I needed no one to tell me this was yet another message from our 'terrorists'.
Each time it appeared I was in control, they seized the moment and had a field day.
I stood straight, in the middle where both bodies lay, looking for exhibits before going to check the hotel cameras for footage.
Just then, my eyes caught yet another handwritten note. Similar to the one earlier found at Quinn’s apartment.
It was neatly folded and placed carefully on one of the guard's chests. I opened it and scanned the words:
“You were warned…”
My grip tightened on the paper with clenched fists and jaws. There was also another note on the chest of the other guard, which read:
“She does not belong to you…”
My chest rose slowly, controlled, but something darker was building underneath.
A slow smile almost pulled at my lip. They thought I would back off. But they had no idea what they had just started.
I paced the hallway, thinking of the next move.
And my eyes caught another note, carefully placed at the edge of the room; it was the final piece:
“Return her…or lose everything…”
I knew quite well that Jasper was not involved. Whoever did was camouflaging, making it look like Jasper was the one perpetrating everything, diverting attention from he/she.
“Is this what it has gotten to now?” her voice came from behind.
I turned, and she was there, pacing rapidly back and forth, unable to stand still.
“Go inside,” I said.
She didn’t blink. Her eyes moved from the bodies to the notes, then back to me.
“Is this about me?”
Of course, it was about her. Everything was starting to be about her, and it only brought more problems.
“I said go inside, I will handle it,” I thundered.
“No, I will not,” she replied firmly, “s**t is about me, they are killing people just to get me, and you tell me to go inside?”
My jaw clenched, and I said no further words to her. She was being stubborn and perhaps could take whatever was coming.
I called Alex, and he picked up the first ring.
“Sir, yes, sir!”
“Are you aware of this mess?”
“I just got the information, Sir! I am on my way. Be there in 5 minutes.”
“Good,” I said, “lock the building down.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I want every exit sealed, no one in or out.”
I ended the call before he could respond. Quinn was still there; she hadn’t moved. She just stood, watching.
“Who are they?” I asked.
As if she knew them.
“I don’t know,” she said.
My mouth thinned into a line as I watched her. “Try again.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, “I don’t know who they are now.”
The hallway dropped into silence. Heavy and thudding.
Then, emergency systems kicked in, dim red lights washed over the space and suddenly, things were now different for every occupant in the hotel.
So crazy how these mother fuckers were also subtly involving and attacking my business. Damn it!
My phone vibrated. It was an unknown number. I picked it up and placed it on loud speaker.
“Speak!” I said.
There was silence for a few seconds.
Then a thin, unrecognized and unfamiliar female voice spoke.
“You are making this harder than it needs to be.”
My grip tightened on the phone. I didn’t respond immediately; I allowed the silence to stretch.
Because power wasn’t in speaking first, but in making them wait.
“Show yourself.”
A soft chuckle came through the phone. “You already know that’s not how it works.”
My eyes flickered to Quinn; she was listening to every word.
“You killed my men,” I said.
“Because they were collateral.”
Something inside me snapped slightly. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“We already did.”
Quinn gestured, asking to be given the phone. I ignored her totally.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“It’s simple. You have no business here, but you are involving yourself.”
“What?”
“Stop protecting her and stop trying to dig information that does not belong to you.”
My gaze hardened. “And if I don’t?”
“You dance to the tone of the music. We are generous.”
“We?”
The line went dead.
I lowered the phone slowly and smashed my fists against the wall, leaving a dent in the plaster.
I turned away from Quinn, already moving. Because now, I needed answers and the truth.
My phone vibrated. Alex. I picked immediately.
“I ran her identity across every system available,” he said.
“Go on.” I urged.
A pause. Just enough to tell me I wasn’t going to like what came next.
“Sir… her identity was deliberately erased—”
- Writer
