Razor Edge: Razor Trilogy Three (Razor Thriller Romance Novella Book 3) (7 page)

“Joel, I have to tell you something, buddy.
You can’t lose it on me now. Charlotte is pregnant. You’re going to be a
father.”

Joel stared at him in disbelief and then
raked his fingers through his hair. “No, no, no. She won’t let that happen. You
have to get Charley away from here.”

“Shit, Joel, I just gave you the best news
of your life and that’s your response? Look, you can’t fall apart right now,
man. I need you.
Tash
has Charlotte on the bridge.”

“Jesus. No, no, no...”

“We have to get to them and I can’t do it
alone. I’ll take care of my girlfriend and you take care of yours. So can you
do it? Can you go outside for Charley and your baby? Because I swear to God,
Joel, I’m not leaving this place without you!”

♫

MY HEAD throbbed violently. The blindfold
was removed and I blinked in the
gray
dusk light that
had fallen over the Bay. There was little traffic at this time before the
evening rush hour. A thick fog had settled over the bridge.
Carsten
Pullman held my wrists which were still bound and he pressed a gun against my
spine.

“What happened to the woman in blue?”

“She’ll be joining us shortly. In the
meantime, remember I don’t have to kill you to ruin your life. I could just
shoot your hand off. I’ll do minimal jail time and you’ll never play the
violin. So behave yourself. Let’s just get through this and we can all go home.”

“You’re completely crazy. The board won’t
accept your vote now. Best case scenario, you’ll be fired.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ll sue
the company for wrongful dismissal. The board doesn’t have to accept my vote.
I’ll have Joel’s proxy and that’s all I need to push Tallulah through and keep
my investors happy.”

He was so calm just like a true sociopath.
Carsten
Pullman truly believed he wasn’t doing anything
wrong. “Worst case scenario is you’re going to prison,” I said, finishing my
sentence.

He laughed. “If I go to prison, then everyone
is going to prison. I have the girl waiting to press charges. I have
Anastasia’s testimony. Daniel won’t be able to charm his way out of this one. Joel
will go to prison for rape and Daniel go will go to prison for assisting in the
commission of a crime. Razor Industries is going to need an experienced man at
the helm. I didn’t appreciate being pushed to one side or attending meetings
only to realize no one was listening to me anymore.”

“It’s just business. It doesn’t mean
anything. Twenty years from now you’ll be dead and no one will remember your
name.”

“Fuck, you are a little piece of work
aren’t you? Anastasia should’ve killed you when she had the chance.”

I froze. “What did you just say?”

“Anastasia was the one who pushed you off
the roof. Didn’t Daniel tell you?”
Carsten
chuckled.
“See, they make deals, these rich kids. They have their own secret society,
their own pacts. Anastasia protected Joel once, so Daniel protected Anastasia.
You see how that works? It’s just business. Now, why would that upset you? What
is Daniel Razor to you? He found you, gave you a wardrobe, fucked you, and then
he discarded you. That’s what they do. If you didn’t like the rules you
shouldn’t have joined the game.”

“I don’t believe you.”

That was a lie. I did believe him. I
believed every word the asshole said but I wanted to provoke him into telling
me more. When I had Anastasia and Daniel arrested for attempted murder, I
needed to have my facts straight. Phil would want details.

“You don’t believe me? Humph. I don’t see
why not. I have nothing to gain one way or the other. You dead, you alive—it
makes no difference to me. I only told you because I thought it was a piece of
information you might enjoy.”

“Why Anastasia would tell you such a
potentially damaging secret? I don’t believe you because I can’t see Anastasia
volunteering that information. And I know Daniel wouldn’t. So you’re making it
up.”

He laughed again. “I got it from the
horse’s mouth. Daniel’s girlfriend tells me everything. Confiding in one
another helps build trust.”

I still didn’t get it but now I was really
intrigued. “What does Anastasia have to do with you? I know about Tallulah and
why you need Joel’s proxy. And I know that you recruited Wilma to pose as his
dead mother.”

“My, you are a knowledgeable young lady.”
His eyes scanned the bridge, first in one direction and then the other. “Where
the hell is she?”

“Who?”

And then she stepped out of the fog,
sauntering toward us slowly, her hands in her pockets, her long blonde hair
bound back in a French braid.

Anastasia.

“There were two of you,” I said, finally
understanding.

“We meet again,” she said with a sweet,
welcoming smile.

“It was you I saw in the hall right after I
got off the phone with Wilma. And when you were having your engagement meeting
with Daniel, it was Wilma Joel saw in the redwood forest. Which one of you
followed me though the woods that day?”

“That was me. I wanted to get a look at
you. You were about what I expected. Cheap.” She turned to
Carsten
,
dismissing me. “I parked the van at the Roundhouse. Are we almost done here? I
don’t want to be around when he arrives.”

“This won’t take long. Are you sure you
don’t want to watch?”

“It is a little too melodramatic for my
taste. The bridge, the fog ... Daniel will appreciate it though.
Nice that you remembered.”

I suddenly realized why Carson had chosen
the bridge as the place for the exchange. “Daniel was going to jump off this bridge
when he was sixteen and Joel stopped him. He started living for Joel’s sake.
It’s a message.”

“More or less.”
Carsten
shrugged. “I think he’ll
understand. It’s poetic.”

Anastasia shivered. “I’ll get a cab from
Marin back to the hotel. I don’t want to run into him on the walkway. Text me
when it’s all over. Make sure he knows you used my phone and I’m protected,
Carsten
. I’m no good to you if he finds out I’m involved.”

She barely glanced at me as she walked
past, burrowing deeper and deeper into the fog until her electric blue trench
coat was completely out of sight.

“What did she mean by ‘text me when it’s
all over?’”

Carsten
sighed. “Listen, these kinds of decisions are never easy. One has
to weigh the pros and cons in every major takeover. There will always be
collateral damage. You, unfortunately, are disposable because I don’t have
anything on you that I can use. I can control Daniel by threatening Joel with
prison. But you are another matter. Once I have Joel’s proxy, I won’t need you
anymore and I made a promise to Anastasia. She wants rid of Joel and I can’t
blame her. However, until my position is secure I will need Joel in order to
control Daniel. So I’m offering you up instead. It’s not great, but it’s the
best I can do and she’s willing to accept it.”

I tried to pull away. “You’re going to
throw me off the bridge.”

“Close.
I’m going to dangle you off the bridge until I get the proxy and
then I might let go. I’m an old man. My hand could slip.”

He had a gun. I could run and he could
shoot me. Maybe he’d miss, maybe he wouldn’t. Or I could stay where I was and
hope that Daniel arrived with half-a-dozen cruisers from the SFPD.

What would those mercenary
Dawsons
have done in my place?

I looked discreetly for an exit.

“And here he comes now,”
Carsten
said softly. “Who is that with him? Fantastic—it’s
the freak! The proxy arrives in person. You must be very important, Miss
Dawson. Even his own mother couldn’t lure him out of the house.”

I turned to hear Daniel and Joel running
toward us through fog that seemed to be thickening by the minute.
Carsten
grabbed me around my middle and slung me up to the
railing before I could stop him. He shoved me back and my arms swung out into
space. The blanket of fog below gave the illusion of safety, like there was a
big mattress to catch me if
Carsten
let go. For a man
in his seventies he was pretty strong.

Daniel shouted and then I heard Joel. His
voice was strained, close to a panic attack. Joel was battling terror with
every step. What was he doing here? I thought crazily. Daniel shouldn’t have
let him come. He can’t handle open spaces.

“Joel! It’s me, I’m okay.”

“Shut up,”
Carsten
snarled. “He’s here now.” He pressed the gun to my temple. “Daniel, son, stay
back and let Joel come to me alone. I won’t hurt her. I swear. I don’t want to
hurt anyone. The proxy is all I need and then we can all go home.”

Daniel emerged from the heavy fog that had
collected on the walkway. His face was glistening with sweat and mist but his
eyes were hard and unreadable. “Fuck you,
Carsten
.”

Carsten
glanced at me, half-amused, half-baffled and then turned back to
Daniel. “Is that your response to this situation? You still haven’t grown up. I
warned you this would not end well if you continued to block the acquisition of
Tallulah. Where do you think your
paycheck
comes
from? We work for the shareholders, boy. They run the show. Nothing you do here
is going to change that.”

“Fuck you,” Daniel repeated. “If you think
I’m going to hand over control of Razor Industries, you’ve underestimated my
resolve. You’ll bankrupt the company in a year.”

“So? I’ll be rich, you’ll be rich. What
does it matter who
isn’t
rich as long
as we are? Is it the family name you’re worried about? No one gives a shit
about the family name anymore. From what Anastasia has told me, you and your
brother have already damaged the family name. Now be a good little boy and let
Joel pass before I lose my grip on his girlfriend. Or is she your girlfriend?
It’s hard to keep it straight with you two.”

Daniel moved to get his phone out of his
pocket.

“I wouldn’t,”
Carsten
said coldly. “I know a girl who is ready to accuse Joel of rape if anything
happens to me. If I go to prison, we all go to prison. Put the phone away.
That’s it. That’s better. Now, Joel—do you have something for me? Come closer.
Don’t be scared. Don’t be a snivelling coward. What would your mother think if
she saw you like this?”

I pulled myself further up to catch sight
of Joel moving behind Daniel. His eyes were wild but not with fear. This was
hate. I’d never seen him like that.
Carsten
didn’t
seem to notice.

“I have the proxy in my pocket.” Joel drew
near to
Carsten
, keeping his eyes on the man. “Hand
over Charlotte to Daniel and the proxy is yours. Not before.”

He withdrew a sheet of notepaper from the
back pocket of his jeans, unfolded it and held it out for
Carsten
to examine. Joel’s signed voting shares, a block large enough to sway the board
to acquire Tallulah and put
Carsten
Pullman in power.
Daniel would be sidelined in his own company.

“Joel, don’t.” My protest was feeble. I
didn’t want to die but I thought I should give him the option of saving his
brother’s company over me.

“Danny, grab Charlotte.”

Carsten’s
eyes went from Joel to Daniel who was coming closer and then back
to Joel again. “Wait. Put the proxy in my jacket pocket first. I’m not letting
her go until I have that.”

Joel slung his leg over the edge of the
bridge. “Let her go or I jump and you have nothing.”

“No!”

Daniel flung a hand out to his brother.
Carsten
yanked me off the railing and hurled me to the
walkway. It all happened so fast. Joel lunged for
Carsten
.
I can still see his body poised against the lights of the bridge, the cables
and inky sky above. He landed on Pullman, wrapped his arms around his neck and
dragged him to the rail.

“Take care of her, Danny.” Joel tugged hard
and both men almost went over the edge.

“What the fuck are you doing?”
Casten
screamed and fought Joel’s grip. “You’ll kill us
both!”

“That’s the idea.”

Joel slung his leg over the side.

“Joel, no!”
Daniel yelled. “Don’t! Jesus, man, I’m begging you, don’t do this!
He’s not worth it!”

“Danny, I have to or it’ll never end. You’ve
protected me long enough. If I’m gone, they can’t threaten you anymore. Just
remember what I told you about Alexandra and watch out for Charley. I love you,
brother.”

“
No!
”

Joel pushed off gracefully, backward, like
he was strapped to a parachute and falling out of a plane.
Carsten’s
eyes flared wide, unable to escape—Joel was using him like a shield. Both men dropped
over the edge, falling through the thick fog. Two hundred and forty-five feet
below was the cold, rough water of the strait. In four seconds, Joel and
Carsten
would hit the water at seventy-five miles per hour.
They would die from the trauma caused on impact. If they survived that, they
would drown or die of hypothermia.

There was no chance for survival.

I lay on the walkway, numb and in shock as
Daniel screamed his brother’s name. He was leaning dangerously far over the
edge; his arm outstretched as if he could snatch hold of him somehow and pull
him to safety.

“
Joel!
”

He threw his head back and roared with a
cry of such anguish, I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see the tears running down
his face.