Page 39 of Wicked Titan

“Busy.”

Propping a hand on my hip, I wait for him to speak. I’ll cooperate but I refuse to make it easier for him if he’s going to be a dick.

“Anything you want to tell me?” he asks, looking behind me before moving his eyes back to mine.

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Can you get to the point? You came here to talk with me.”

“I want to know what your dad was working on.”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And this is going to take a long time if you ask me the same questions over and over.”

“Well … I’m not convinced you didn’t know.”

An exasperated breath comes out as I say, “Okay. Next.”

He pulls an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. “The reason I’m not convinced is your signature is on this contract.”

I snatch the paper out of his hand before he has time to unfold it completely.

Scanning the top of the document, I see Ruby Flame Marketing across the top before studying the signature at the bottom—my signature—only it’s not.

“I never signed this. I’ve never even seen it before.”

Reading the details, I try to understand why my name would be on a contract having to do with my dad’s work.

“My dad’s a real estate agent and that’s not the company he worked for. Why would my signature be on some random contract? What could he have possibly needed that for? Why would he even be involved with this company?”

“How much do you know about your stepfather’s line of work?”

My head snaps up. I don’t know much at all about his company, but I don’t like where this is heading. Nathan might be doing some sketchy things with his best friend’s wife—at least, I’m guessing it’s sketchy since stumbling upon his secret meeting with Monica Hastings—but I don’t like where I think this is headed. “Nathan has nothing to do with this.”

“Notice the date on that contract?”

It’s the day of the accident.

Detective Davis pulls another paper out of the envelope, hands it to me, and I unfold it. My fingers tremble, afraid of what I’ll find.

Clutching the paper, I read Vast Perception Marketing across the top of the page, Nathan’s company. It’s another contract with my forged signature, but there’s also a red stamp denoting it VOID, and it’s dated the day before the accident.

“Ruby Flame underbid, losing loads of profit on the deal, just to snatch the contract from Vast Perception.”

The paper trembles in my hand as I stare at the date.

“Money motivates people to do things they normally wouldn’t do, and people have killed for much less than four million dollars.”

Four million? The exact amount Nathan offered me.

That can’t be a coincidence.

Did Dad know he was bidding against Nathan’s company? Did Nathan know? I don’t know Nathan, but I can’t wrap my head around him being motivated to kill, even if money was involved—but why would he offer me the same amount that my dad cost his company? And why in the actual fuck would my forged signature be on two different contracts that I’d never even heard of weeks ago?