Razor Edge: Razor Trilogy Three (Razor Thriller Romance Novella Book 3) (2 page)

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ANASTASIA PACED her hotel room, planning
what to say when Daniel showed up to accuse her of trying to kill Charlotte.

Deny
being there. Deny knowing anything about it. Make him prove it.

He’ll say Joel saw her from the window.

So
what? Joel is missing. He’s not a witness. Blame it on the woman in the blue.

Anastasia giggled hysterically.

Would Daniel even try to understand
why
she did it? Would he see how he had
pushed her to the breaking point by inviting that girl to spend the night, only
minutes after he had trashed their engagement party? How much humiliation was
she supposed to take?

Anastasia wrung her hands. He wanted to get
rid of her and he succeeded.

Why? Why?

Because
your boyfriend wanted to fuck Charlotte Dawson and you left the door wide open
for him to do just that.

She screwed up—she knew that now. She
should’ve insisted on staying. But he pretty much made it impossible for her to
stay. Daniel Razor knew how to make a scene. Burn the house down. Annihilate
anyone who gets in his way. He’s always been like that. She couldn’t stand by
and let him pull that shit with her or she would have lost all credibility.
Anastasia Redman does not make empty threats. One day, Daniel will realize
that.

Humiliated.
In front of all of their friends.
Of course
she walked out.

He’s going to be furious. He’s going to
freak out that she tried to hurt Charlotte. He might even break off the
engagement.

Let
him try. Daniel Razor isn’t the only one who knows how to burn a house down.

Razor and Redman and their friends in New
York and Los Angeles—they weren’t like ordinary people. The youth of privilege
lived life at a hotter pace. When you have everything, you always want more.
Joel and Daniel Razor could get as much as they wanted. Anastasia knew about
the threesomes in Joel’s apartment. She didn’t object as long as their
addiction didn’t affect her. Everyone in their crowd had something they were
hooked on back then—drugs, sex, fast cars—but they were all grown up now and it
was time to put the toys away.

It was Joel Razor who refused to grow up.

Joel.

He was such a freak, he couldn’t go out and
get his own pussy; he needed his brother to do it for him. Anastasia hated her
future brother-in-law with a white-hot passion. What began as repugnance had
grown to a full-blown hate. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest,
hugging herself to calm down. Let Daniel dare accuse her of pushing Charlotte
off the roof.
Bring it.
As far as she
was concerned, Charlotte and Joel got what they deserved. She wasn’t going to
apologize for taking steps to get her fiancé out of that
ménage
. She had a
right
to do what she did.

Anastasia paced the room in a tight, little
circle. Daniel would’ve done anything for Joel.
A
nything
.
If Joel wanted Daniel to watch while he fucked the hired help, Daniel would’ve
done it. Anastasia wasn’t a complete idiot; she knew Daniel
enjoyed
his brother’s kink. That’s why
he never put a stop to it. Even after it got dangerous and she had to run
interference, charming her ass off to keep Joel out of jail—even then Daniel
didn’t stop. He liked watching.

What if one of the girls decided to sell
her story to the media?

Jesus
. Did he even think about
that
?
Did he give Anastasia’s reputation any thought at
all
?

Razor Industries might survive the
blowback, but Redman Foundation wouldn’t. Anastasia couldn’t afford to put her
family’s name under that kind of scrutiny. She was just beginning to become a
powerhouse in philanthropic circles. She would
not
have her private life dragged into the gutter by a perverted,
weak little boy. Daniel would cater to his brother’s issues until the end of
time.

Joel Razor had to go. Charlotte Dawson
happened to be in the way.

Daniel claimed he hired her to be Joel’s
companion/girlfriend/fuck-buddy—whatever the twisted freak needed her to be.
But Anastasia
knew
Daniel was in the
room while Joel was banging Charlotte. He didn’t cop to it and she decided not
to press the point because they had an engagement party to plan. She was
beginning to believe he had actually changed.

Until she walked in on
them.

How did she know they were together in the
loft? After three years, she had developed a sixth sense when it came to Daniel’s
roving eye. Charlotte was lying on Joel’s bed and her fiancé was holding the
bitch’s hand. No matter what excuses he made, Anastasia realized she would
spend her entire married life being forced to look the other way.
So she pushed Charlotte off the roof and if she’d do it again if
she had to.
No regrets. Anastasia honestly couldn’t see the problem.
Skanks
like Charlotte Dawson were always circling and they
always would be if she didn’t send Daniel a clear message. She
will
retaliate. You’ve been warned.

She slumped to the arm chair and gazed
dully out of the hotel window.

A thought entered her mind, a thought she
never imagined she was capable of having. She thought of Joel dying and
disappearing permanently from Daniel’s life. That would be a relief. That would
be quite helpful.

There was a knock at the door.

She threw back her shoulders and flipped
her long, blonde hair off her face. Daniel had arrived at last to apologize.
He was going to have to do some serious
grovelling
. Anastasia settled her face into a look of sweet anguish and
opened the door.

Carsten
Pullman stood in the hall.

He did not look happy.

*

DANIEL MUST have used his key to get into
the apartment. I was in the bathroom throwing up when he walked in on me.

“What’s wrong with you?” he said in a voice
that didn’t give a damn.

“I think I caught something.
Flu bug.
I’ll be all right in a few hours.” I bent over the
toilet bowl and heaved. Morning sickness was dragging into the afternoon. I
wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here. Where did you catch the flu?”

“Well, I’m sure I don’t know, Mr. Razor. It
was probably at the police station. Hand rails and door knobs are covered in
germs. It was a wasted trip. Detective Lewis was unhelpful. He said as there
was no crime to investigate, they wouldn’t be sending a team to search the
mansion unless you specifically requested it.”

He sat on the edge of the claw foot tub.
Joel’s bathroom was spacious like every room in Joel’s apartment. “Why did you
see Lewis when I told you I was going there this afternoon?”

“Because I didn’t believe you would. And I
wanted him to have all the facts.”

When it felt safe to leave the toilet, I
moved to the sink and ran the water until it was cold. I splashed water over my
face and rinsed my mouth. “I guess you must have got there before me because he
was distinctly unimpressed with my story of attempted murder. He said he’d
investigate if you corroborated my story.” I reached for the mouthwash. “So did
you?”

“No.”

If I didn’t have a mouth full of Listerine,
I would have screamed. Instead, I spat in the sink and wiped my mouth on a hand
towel. “Are you
kidding
me?”

“Listen to me. We can’t have the police
involved. If they get a report of attempted murder, it’s out of our hands; they’ll
open an investigation. The trouble is we don’t know where Joel is or who has
him or how they’ll react. We know he’s in danger but you said it yourself—Lewis
hasn’t got a crime to investigate.”

“But you showed him the journal! That
must
have changed his mind.”

“I didn’t show him the journal. It was
forged. The handwriting was Joel’s but that comment he made about my being in
love with you—that wasn’t Joel. Joel didn’t track emotional changes in people.
If I didn’t say it, then he wouldn’t comment on it. I had to tell my brother
what I was feeling or Joel wouldn’t have a clue. Those were not his thoughts we
read in that last entry. Someone instructed Joel to write those words.”

I understood what he was saying. In my
brain, I understood. In my heart, I was pretty crushed. Daniel wasn’t in love
with me.
Not a surprise, Charlotte
.
Joel didn’t write those words from his own knowledge. They weren’t written for
Joel—but for Daniel. Whoever was with Joel (the woman in blue?) wanted Daniel
to believe I was creating a problem between them. The logical step for Daniel
to take would be to send me back to Susan’s to diffuse the situation for his
brother. That made sense—but why?

“Does Anastasia know about Tallulah?”

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “How do
you
know about Tallulah?”

“Some email correspondence came across my
desk when I was still working at Razor Industries that had Tallulah in the
subject line. Marlene said to forward them to
Carsten
Pullman which I did. After Joel went missing, I found a file on his computer
named Tallulah.”

“Did you look at it?”

“Yes, but I didn’t understand it. Tallulah
is a cement company in Seattle. That much I figured out.” There was no way I
was going to tell him that Barry and Phil were my source for this information.
“Joel seemed interested in the mix the company used for their cement. Did this
have anything to do with the plans he was working on for the Razor office in
Seattle?”

Daniel stood up. “Let’s talk in the living
room. I want to sit down on something softer than the edge of the tub.”

We settled on the sofa. I tucked my legs
under me, hugging the corner as far away from him as possible. Daniel didn’t
seem to notice. He was very preoccupied.

“Joel came across some anomalies when he
started designing the new offices. He was sourcing materials, doing his usual
research—Joel isn’t a normal guy—when he’s working on a project, he needs to
see every component. He started looking into Tallulah Cement. We were embroiled
in a takeover bid for the company on
Carsten’s
recommendation. The deal was set to be nailed down at the next board meeting
when Joel came to me with his findings. Tallulah had made its profit by selling
cement mix at an inferior ratio than industry standard. So far, there were no
reported incidences of the cement breaking down, but in ten to twenty years,
there would be. Joel and I kept this to ourselves but we were going to vote
down the takeover bid at the meeting.”

I didn’t say anything. So far I was
following the conflict Joel had created for Razor Industries.
Carsten
Pullman was a pretty powerful force in the company.
If he initiated the takeover, he would not be happy to see it squashed.

“
Carsten
met with
me to confirm he could count on Joel’s and my support.
Carsten
is like an uncle to us so it wasn’t easy to tell him we had reservations. I
thought he would agree with me that we should back out of the deal. Instead, he
told me that what happened ten years from now would be the stockholders’
problem. He’d make sure he got our shares out in time before the collapse.”

I’m really stupid when it comes to business
but I understood what
Carsten
was up to. “Razor
Industries would acquire Tallulah Cement in Seattle in an aggressive takeover
bid right before they announced construction of new offices in Seattle. A
public offering of Tallulah stock would be issued. The value would climb
because of the announced construction and then
Carsten
and the Razor brothers would sell their shares for a profit. Everyone else
would lose their shirts when Tallulah went belly up due to cheap cement killing
people.”

“Joel wouldn’t go for it and I was going to
vote it down because even if I got rich off the deal, Razor Industries could be
in danger. The lawsuits could tank the company.
Carsten
said the two were separate corps and there was no way it could affect the rest
of our holdings. I said it would only take one judge looking at news footage of
a collapsed bridge to disagree and the company would be bankrupt. If it could
be proved that we had prior knowledge of the faulty cement we could be held
accountable and we had prior knowledge. Joel was our prior knowledge. He’s a
majority shareholder. He doesn’t have a seat on the board but his objection to
voting for the acquisition would carry a lot of weight.”

“How did
Carsten
take the news?”

“He wasn’t happy but he seemed to accept
our decision. The board meets at the end of this month.”

“That’s what—Thursday? Two days from now. Do
you have enough to vote down the takeover bid without Joel’s proxy?”

“Without Joel, I can’t prove his findings
to make my case. And without his proxy, I don’t have a large enough voting
block to defeat the bid.”