Empire of Lies

Meredith Now

Hours later, the alarm clock reads 4:09 a.m., but I can’t bring myself to walk over to the door just yet. My heart is still racing like it’s on acid, and I haven’t been able to sit down for fear that I need to be ready to run.

The adrenaline ru

I wait until the clock reads 4:52 and finally force myself to make my way to the door. Holding my breath, I look through the peephole and see nothing.

The grey Impala is long gone and all the men who were there before are nowhere to be found.

Not trusting my own eyes, I walk over to the living room windows and slowly tilt the blinds. I look up and down the street, seeing nothing but darkness. The lanes of the resort are free and clear.

Grabbing my duffle bag, I step out of the room and make a run for the other side of the resort. I don’t look over my shoulder once. I keep ru

When I make it to the new building, I swipe my card against the room’s keypad and quickly shut myself inside.

Locking the chain on the door, I walk to the desk and pick up the phone.

“Puerto Vallas Resort,” a soft male voice says. “How may I help you?”

“I need your help in arranging some transportation to the airport.” The words rush out of my mouth.

“Right now, Miss?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“I can do that, but you’ll need to settle your room bill before you leave, Miss. You still owe for the last four nights.”

“I’ll pay it all in cash.” My voice is trembling. “Please call me a cab now. Please.”

“It won’t make one bit of a difference if I call, Miss…” His voice is suddenly softer. “I’m so very sorry.”

“What?” My heart drops. “What are you saying sorry for? Can’t you just—”

A series of loud knocks suddenly sound at the door, and I drop the phone to the ground.

The knocks come again, much harder and louder this time, and I move to the other side of the room. I’m wondering if I should risk hiding under the bed or jump out of the window, but I don’t get the chance to choose.

Something heavy pushes against the door and the lock falls right off. It swings open and I find myself face to face with the barrel of a gun, and—

Michael?

Glaring at me, he slams the door shut and lowers the gun.

We stand still staring at each other as tension and emotions quickly suffocate the room. I’m suddenly overwhelmed with all the pain and the confusion, with the twisted ass game in my chest that’s setting up a new, emotional tug-of-war.

Suddenly, my fear shifts to anger. Sexiest man alive or not, soon to be ex-husband or not, this man is in as much danger as I am right now, and it’s mostly his fucking fault.

“I need to leave this resort,” I say, shattering the silence. “As soon as possible…”

“I believe those were my exact instructions three weeks ago.” He clenches his jaw and parts his lips as he slowly looks me up and down. “Please tell me the part when I told you to check into this goddamn resort and not the one across the river.”

“It was in the part when you left me here alone to fend for myself.”

“Right after I saved your life?” A large vein swells in his neck. “Right after that shit?”

He takes a step forward and I take a step back. Two steps from him, two more from me. We go back and forth until my back is pressed against the wall, until he’s the only one with a move left.

When he closes the gap between us, he stares directly into my eyes—looking torn between yelling at me and fucking me on the spot.

“Since I remember how much you like playing the question game,” he says, “I have more than a few that you’re going to answer.”

“I’m not going to do anything except leave.” I try to step around him, but he grips my waist—hard, and holds me in place against the wall.

“Like I was saying,” he says, pi

“Because I didn’t trust you.” My chest heaves up and down. “And because I didn’t have to.”

“Come again?”

“I. Didn’t. Trust. You.” I enunciate every word, and feel tears pricking my eyes. “You abandoned me after tearing my entire world apart, not giving me a chance to process it.”

“What fucking more did I need to give you, Meredith?” He hisses. “I showed you the goddamn video, told you exactly why I did what I did, and you still think this is some type of twisted game? I tell you that the person you’re closest to takes out a hit on you, one that I don’t go through with, and that’s not enough?”

“It’ll never be enough.” Tears fall down my face. “And I guarantee that I will hate you for the rest of my life for doing this to me.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t have saved you.” He presses his forehead against mine, his gaze heated. “Maybe I should’ve never gotten involved, fucked you, or wasted my time marrying you.”

“On some nights, I honestly wish you hadn’t.” I glare at him. “The life I’m currently living isn’t much of a ‘life’ at all.”

He says nothing. He just stares at me, his gaze colder than it’s ever been.

I stare right back, not backing down—not showing any sign of vulnerability.

He releases his left hand from around my waist and lifts it to my head. Then he slowly runs his fingers through my hair.

“You dyed your hair another color like I suggested, for your new life,” he says. “Why couldn’t you follow the other instructions?”

“Because those instructions came minutes after you said you would be finalizing our divorce.”

Silence.

“Is that why you came looking for me?” I say, wondering how the hell he found me. “To throw more salt in the wound and tell me that we’re legally over? If so, you could’ve saved the gas; no divorce is needed if there’s a death.”

He doesn’t get a chance to respond to that.

Knocks that are ten times louder than his suddenly sound at the door.

“Housekeeping!” A deep male voice says. “Is now a good time to clean?”

Michael glances at his watch. Then he shoots me a concerned look. “Who the hell have you been talking to at this resort?”

“No one,” I say, shaking my head. “Well, not by choice.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

The knocks come again and again. This time, there are other deep voices, and I know they belong to the three men who were standing outside my old room hours ago.

Michael doesn’t ask me anything else. He covers my mouth with his hand and pulls me into the suite’s bathroom. Then he pulls me into a utility closet. He slides a panel behind us, shielding us from view, should someone open the blinded door.

“Don’t say a word,” he warns, and within seconds, the door to my room is kicked open.

Footsteps hit the bathroom floor and someone opens the door to the utility closet and quickly slams it shut. They pull out all the vanity drawers, rummage through the private closet, and knock their guns against the tinted shower glass doors until they shatter.

“I thought the guy at the front desk said she moved to this room,” one guy says. “Did he give us the right number?”

“2206,” another guy says. “This is it.”

“In that case, we’ll need to wait here for an hour or so until she gets back.”

“If she gets back…”