Chapter 16

Mia’s POV

I wake up with the buzz of my phone next to me. The sun glares through the window which causes me to squeeze my eyes shut. I slowly open one of them and grab my phone. I sit up and check the notifications. A few texts from Sloane which I reply to right away, and a few texts from my father telling me he’ll be leaving soon since there was an emergency in New York. Thank god, I don’t have to share a room with her anymore.

I’ve been staying in this hotel for the past 3 days, and it hasn’t been easy. Especially since the person I’m sharing it with is very talkative. Every time I get back to the room, she asks me how my day was and how I am. As if she actually cares. I try to avoid going back to the hotel since she always tries to strike up some sort of conversation.

Honestly, talking with her isn’t so bad. Like the other day when I last talked to my father. She distracted me for a bit, but she almost had me let my guard down. Which is very dangerous. So ever since then, I try to limit my answers to one sentence max.

I get up from bed and head to the living room. I find Kaitlyn sitting on the couch with her legs tucked under her as she reads a book. It’s 11am and she’s already reading? How unemployed could this woman be? I head to the kitchen area to grab some juice, I skim through the choices and land on apple juice. I take the small bottle out and close the fridge.

“You’re finally up,” Kaitlyn says from the living room, not even looking up from her book. I put the bottle down on the counter and let out a breath. “Looks like you got some rest.” I told you, very talkative.

“It’s not even that late, you just got up early.” I kept my tone cold, making sure she knows I’m not up for friendly conversation right now. She lets out a huff and continues reading. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her do something else other than read during my time with her in this room.

My phone rings on the counter. I was about to drop it because I was certain it was my father, but it wasn’t. It was Joe. He was a cop, not just any cop though. He’s my personal mole, to know insider information and to know when I have to run. He’s one of Anton’s friends, he used to be affiliated with the business but then chose to start a new life as police. Well, not so new since he still lets me get away.

I pick up instantly. “Mia, where are you right now?” His tone was urgent, which was never a good sign. “I’m at the hotel, why?”

I hear him cuss under his breath. “You need to get out of there. We’re infiltrating that hotel in a few hours, they know you’re there.” Panic took over me. I head into the bedroom and start packing my shit. How the fuck did they even know?

“Why are you coming? What’s going on?” I don’t even bother folding my clothes, I just shove everything into the bag.

“Because you got sloppy,” Joe snaps, no longer hiding his panic. “They found your prints at the warehouse. The system just flagged the match to your name, and they traced your burner’s GPS signal straight to that hotel tower.”

Holy shit, the warehouse. I was there last week to kill someone. They hadn’t paid off their debt and we already gave them one too many chances. How did I even leave my fingerprints? I never leave any evidence behind. That’s not my problem right now, I need to leave before they get here.

“Okay, I’m leaving now. Just try and put them off, please?” My voice was laced with panic and concern. If my father found out about this, about me leaving such a huge piece of evidence, about me being so careless- I shake my head. I need to focus. Don’t think about that just yet.

“I’ll do the best I can, just leave. Now.” He then hangs up the phone and I finish packing. I don’t think I’ve ever packed so quickly in my life. I can’t leave just yet, though. I still have another problem. I head back to the living room.

I take the book out of Kaitlyn’s hands. She was about to say something but I didn’t give her the opportunity to. “Listen, I’m in deep shit right now. The police are gonna be here because I was dumb enough to– It doesn’t matter what I did, just pack your shit. We’re leaving.”

“Why exactly do I have to come with you?” She asks with furrowed brows. “Because you’ll probably rat me out. Now, if you don’t comply, I’m sure you know I have connections and I can certainly make it seem like you framed me. That you were behind all this. Us sharing a room for the past few days makes that even more believable. So if you don’t want me to go to such lengths, you leave with me.” I emphasize the last part to make sure she understands how urgent this situation is. I don’t have any time for her questions. She lets out a scoff before getting up and packing her stuff as well. Finafuckingly.

I take a look at each of the rooms, the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, even the balcony, to make sure nothing can be traced back to us. I looked back at her, she seemed ready to go. Nothing was left in the hotel room either. “Are you sure you didn’t leave anything?”

She nods eagerly, looking around and looking back at me. “Okay, once we’re out there, not a word to anyone. Do you understand?” She now has a panicked expression on her face as well. “Yes, not a word.”

I exit the room and decide to take the stairs. Our room was on the 19th floor. I don’t think anyone is crazy enough to take 19 flights of stairs but us. We rush down the stairs together and make our way to the basement. I click the unlock button on the car keys to try and find my car. Once I saw the headlights light up, I made my way towards that direction and Kaitlyn followed behind me.

I get in and so does she. Once we both had our seatbelts on, I left right away and made our way to the mansion. I don’t even give a shit if my father is there right now, hopefully he isn’t. He did say he was leaving so I guess that’s a good sign.

“What the fuck did you do?” She was out of breath, of course she was probably panicking. “It doesn’t matter, we’re safe now.”

She snapped her head towards my direction. “Are you serious? How are you so sure of that?” She was frustrated, furious even. I can’t blame her, but I’m also not giving her any information. I can’t. She lost her job, that seemed pretty legit. But until she does something that proves she’s really finished with that life, I’m keeping my guard up.

I keep driving, not paying any attention to her. I let out a sigh of relief. There’s no way they can track me now. Maybe they’ll know I was there, but they won’t know where I’m at. The mansion will keep me safe. Worse comes to worse, I flee the country or have someone else confess for framing me. Thank god for Joe otherwise I’d be behind bars by now.

Once we arrive at the mansion, I barge through the doors. Anton approaches us immediately. “Wow, talk about timing. Your father just left five minutes ago.” I drop my bag on the floor and head to the kitchen where I find a laptop, probably Anton’s.

“My prints were found in the warehouse. I need to make sure the database is wiped or the file gets corrupted before the precinct can dispatch the actual raid squad.” I quickly type onto the computer. I don’t know how to hack a secure police mainframe myself, but I know exactly who to call. I open an encrypted chat line and send a message to my best data specialist, Enzo.

Over the years, I’ve learned exactly what information needs to be destroyed. Specifically the forensics log matching the prints to my name. I send the emergency command, authorizing the massive fee it takes to buy this kind of digital cleaning. As long as they wipe it from the system, I should be good.

“If they already made a copy of the file at the station, we’re too late, Mia.” Anton’s voice cuts through and I feel like hours pass as I wait for the message back from Enzo. “Just wait.” I snap back. Come on, I don’t pay you to do shit so slow.

After a few seconds, Enzo messages back: “Done.” I let out a heavy breath, thank god. I put both my hands on the counter and dropped my head down. That was a close one. I take a few deep breaths to try and calm myself down. I’m not in trouble with my father, I’m not going to prison, everything’s fine.

I turn around and find Kaitlyn who’s still standing there by the door. Her expression filled with disbelief, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at me. “I told you, Prescott. We’re safe.” A smirk grew on my face and I saw her clench her jaw.

She gives me a tight smile, a forced one. I can tell she’s probably furious about this, of course she is. She was basically an accomplice into helping me escape because I threatened her. This whole situation is probably killing her right now, I see it in her face.

Although, another problem is having her here at the mansion, where she could find countless pieces of evidence in my bedroom itself. My bedroom is off limits, every other floor is safe anyway. I turned to Anton who was standing beside me. “La laisse pas monter à mon étage” (Don’t let her go to my floor) I muttered so only he could hear, but even if Kaitlyn heard I doubt she spoke French.

I’ll let her stay here, I have to. If I let her out of my sight she could rat me out at any moment.