So, I figured I’d give it a little breathing room. For both of us. I knew this all had to be hard for him. It was hard enough for me, and I wasn’t the one being shit on in the media and pressured by my own family.
I’d met Chaz for dinner, to distract myself, then did a little stress shopping. Then ended up back here, inevitably. I really didn’t want to face that big bed that smelled like Dane all alone, though. Maybe I’d fall asleep in front of the TV in the living room? I figured I’d take a bath and try to relax first.
But there was a box, right in the middle of the floor, not quite in the living room or the kitchen or the entranceway. Just waiting where no one could possibly miss it.
It was about half the size of a shoebox; a plain black gift box. But if it was a gift, why the hell was it on the floor?
I glanced over my shoulder, for some reason. The steel door was firmly closed behind me. Darrell had seen me to the first door, then headed home for the night once I was safely inside.
I walked deeper into the penthouse, dropping my purse and shopping bags on the kitchen island. “Dane?” I called out his name and went looking through the apartment. He definitely wasn’t here.
I knocked on the little door at the back of the kitchen, then nudged it open. The staff kitchen was clean and empty.
I walked back out into the main kitchen. No one was here.
I went over to the black box. I picked it up and turned it around in my hand. No ribbon or wrap, no tag. No logo on the box.
I lifted the top off. Inside, a single object sat in the otherwise empty box. A flash drive. One of those little USB sticks that held digital files. It was sleek and black and when I picked it up and turned it over, there was a little piece of tape on one side with a single word written on it.
DEVI
A weird, creeped-out feeling shivered up my back.
I dropped the box on a chair and pulled the cap off the flash drive. Definitely a USB connection. Why the hell did someone leave me a USB stick, in a gift box, on the floor of the penthouse?
I looked around as goosebumps spread all over my body.
That box was definitely not there when I was here last night and found Dane’s note.
I dug my laptop out of the overnight bag I’d taken with me to Katie’s last night. The only thing that I could think of was: sex tape. Had someone sent me Dane’s sex tape? The implications of that were freaking me the fuck out.
Someone was in the penthouse?
Or did the security staff drop it off for me? Had it come in the mail?
Did Dane have something delivered to me?
He wouldn’t have left it on the floor, every part of my instincts screamed.
No, there was something very creepy about this.
But I put in the USB stick and opened it. Inside there was a single file. It was an .mp3 file. Audio.
What the fuck?
I played the file and cranked up the volume on the laptop. And voices started coming out of the speakers.
“Why are you going on about alimony right now? We’re still getting divorced?”
“That was the deal.”
“I figured the deal had changed.”
“Why?”
The shiver that went up my back this time was horror movie level.
Jesus Christ.
