“She’s my wife. I’ll always keep her safe.”
“Can I trust you, Leon?”
Where is she going with this? “Violet is important to me. What and who she cares about matters to me.”
Placing both hands on the steering wheel, she straightens her arms. “How well do you know my husband?”
“Well enough.”
She faces forward again. “Then you’ll know that Gus does everything with his own interest in mind.”
“If you’re referring to the promotion—”
“Do you know why he’s incapable of love? Because he doesn’t care about anyone except himself. He’ll never put anyone else’s needs above his own. People like that are dangerous. They can’t be trusted. Other people don’t matter to them unless they can use those people to further their own agendas. They’ll be your best friend today and stab you in the back tomorrow. That’s why it’s easy for them to pull the trigger. In Gus’s world, life comes cheap.”
I don’t answer. She hasn’t told me anything I don’t know. In a twisted way, I should be grateful to Violet for stealing my work and showing me Gus’s true colors.
“Can I trust you, Leon?” she asks again.
“Yes.”
Dropping her hands in her lap, she turns in her seat to face me. “Elliot has something of mine, something I want back.”
I frown. “He stole something from you?”
“Not exactly. He has photos. I want you to get them for me.”
The request comes as a surprise, but then the pieces click together. “He’s blackmailing you.” And I can guess about what. “You had an affair.”
“I want you to find the evidence, both the digital and hard copies, and deliver everything to me,” she says with fervor.
If what I suspect is true, I understand why she wants those photos. If they fall into Gus’s hands, he’ll kill her.
“You want me to hack into Elliot’s computer?” I ask with disbelief.
“I already searched his room and the house. There’s nothing. He must be keeping the proof at the office.”
“You’re taking a hell of a risk telling me this.”
“I know you’re seeing Gus for who he truly is after he gave the promotion he promised you to Elliot. I also know that my daughter trusts you with her life. That’s enough for me.”
“Why me? You could’ve hired a PI.”
“I don’t have any money of my own. Plus, if you’re working for Gus, you’re clever with computers. You’ll know how to hack into Elliot’s desktop. Not to mention, you work in the same building. It can’t be too difficult to find a moment to go through Elliot’s desk.”
Turning my face sideways, I stare through my window to where a bank of dark clouds are building on the horizon. There are a million and one questions I can ask, but the one I push through my lips is, “Does Violet know?”
“Elliot approached her. Violet is the one who relayed the message.”
That makes me look back at her. “What’s his motive?” It can’t be money. She said herself she doesn’t have any.
“He’s protecting his father,” she says with a wry smile. “He wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
I narrow my eyes. “But you don’t trust him.”
“Correct.”
“When did this happen?”
“The affair or the blackmailing?”
“The blackmailing. When did Elliot give Violet the message?”
“Not long before the office party.” She drums her nails on her knee and casts her eyes to the sky as she presumably does a mental calculation. “About two weeks.”
I twist in my seat. “Let me get this straight. Two weeks before the office party, Elliot rocks up with photos of you and your lover and tells Violet what exactly?”
“That if it happens again, the photos will go to Gus.”