Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Willow confirmed automatically, never looking up from her notes. “He should not be near children. I’m talking, Darius. Keep going. I may have fucked with Chester a little lately. I’m hoping it’s distracted him from being a waste of space who preys on kids.”
“What have you done?” Darius asked, some amusement seeping through.
Willow cleared her throat and started tapping her fingers together. “All the things that annoy humans. He’s always getting takeout through UberEats, so I messed with his orders. I had some wrong stuff delivered to his penthouse. I called in a favor to a friend who keyed his car. I reported a water leak that forced him to come home from the hospital. I canceled his cleaning service twice. And I installed viruses on his laptop and home computer.”
She was a fucking genius. “You’re like one of those gray-hat hackers who breaks the law to do good things,” Gray said, in awe of her.
Willow frowned. “I’m not like a grayhat. I am one. And you keep that to yourself.”
“Of course.” Gray hid his smile and his admiration—for now. When all this was over, he wanted to get to know her better.
Darius made them refocus on their task, and he asked Willow if she knew anything about Warren’s day-to-day routine.
“Obviously,” she replied, and a new document appeared on the middle screen. “This is my analysis based on takeout orders, his schedule at the hospital, every location his car has been—which was how I eventually found his place at Joshua Tree—and his messages and phone records.”
“You managed to track his car remotely?” Darius was impressed.
“It’s not difficult. If any device in your possession is labeled smart, you’re not alone,” she said. “Smartphones, smart TV, smart cars, and so on. I hacked in to his software.”
Darius nudged Gray. “Hear that? I ain’t bringing anything smart into our home.”
“Including you, if you don’t realize what an epic self-burn that was,” Gray muttered.
“Oh!” Willow started laughing. Hard. “Oh my God—gah!”
Darius glared.
Gray smirked in satisfaction. It felt good to throw Darius a verbal punch every now and then, mainly because Gray succeeded so rarely. The bastard was always at the top of his game.
“Do you want me to pass that one on to Ryan too?” Willow asked with an innocent smile.
Gray chuckled and folded his arms over his chest.
“That’s enough outta both of you,” Darius said. “Tell me how often Warren heads out to Joshua Tree.”
“Every weekend,” Willow replied. “Like clockwork. He leaves the hospital at three and goes straight from there. He stops only to get groceries. Then he drives back to LA on Sunday, times vary. Sometimes he goes out there on Wednesdays too, and it seems to depend on his schedule at work.” She pulled up another page, a list of dates and amounts. “Let’s see… I got into his car four days ago… I went through his credit card statements, and as you can see here—” she pointed at one column “—he stops at the same grocery store outside the city every Friday. He’s a man of habit. Same gas station, same donut shop in the morning, same everything. And check this out.” A similar page popped up. “No charges whatsoever on this card from December fourteenth to January ninth. He was on vacation from work during the exact same period.”
“He was smart enough to use cash or another card,” Darius murmured. “What about family?”
“A brother who lives in Chicago,” Willow answered, “and an elderly mother in Malibu, whom Warren rarely visits. Or calls, for that matter. He texts with his brother once or twice a week. Nothing interesting. More of a sense of duty than wanting to actually check in, and they keep things brief.”
“No one will miss him,” Gray said quietly.
“Probably not, no,” Willow confirmed frankly. “He leads a lonely life.”
“That settles the strategy,” Darius decided. “He’ll commit suicide this weekend.”
Gray and Darius left Willow’s place determined to end Jackie’s suffering before next weekend, which meant they had very little time to pull this off, especially if they didn’t want a single witness or for any loved one to suspect they’d been gone.
Before heading back to the cabin, they drove over to the shelter in Ponderosa, where Gray started pretending he wasn’t feeling awesome.
They sat in the common room downstairs with Jayden and Justin and the girls when Adeline came out from her office and gave them cookies. Gray coughed and tried to look tired, something a mother always picked up on hella quick.
“Are you feeling all right, hon?” She felt his forehead.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said, feigning a yawn. “Do you guys have anything planned, or can I kidnap Jayden for a couple hours?”
At that, Justin rushed over and tapped Gray’s knee, and he showed off those irresistible puppy-dog eyes.
“We’ll bring him back,” Gray chuckled and touched his cheek. “I’m just gonna take him over to my mom’s house for a little while.”