The Love Of Money - Episode 304
31-08-25 (06:39)
Liz stared another moment before disappearing into the
hall, shutting the door behind her.
“Fuck,” I said, walking over to the office desk and
leaning against it, feeling a little woozy.
“You okay?” Chloe asked, keeping the gun trained on
the door for another few moments.
“Just dizzy.”
“Wouldn’t be surprised if you have a concussion,” Chloe
said, finally lowering the gun. She turned away from
the door and moved to the desk, eyeing me. “Tyler
clocked you pretty hard with that glass.”
“That’s what that was?” I asked as I realized half my
hair and part of my shirt were drenched in alcohol. It
was all I could smell. “He got me good.”
“So did you,” Chloe said. She placed her fingers on my
cheek, gently guiding me to look into her eyes as she
stared into mine. It wasn’t a moment of tenderness…
she was clearly checking on my pupil reaction and
ability to focus. However, a rare warmth in her eyes
made staring back at her more enjoyable.
“I think you’re fine.” She finally said, her fingertips
slipping away from my cheek. My bodyguard grabbed
her gun off the desk and holstered it.
“The only good news,” I groused. “Fuck!” I kicked at the
office desk. It barely moved. “This place is a mess…
what a fucking waste!”
“Maybe,” Chloe said. She held her hand up in front of
me. A small square of semi-transparent plastic sat in
her palm.
I blinked at it as the wheels in my head started turning.
“Is that…”
“A cap for a flash drive? Yeah. I noticed it while you
two were arguing,” Chloe said.
“This doesn’t mean much,” I said.
“Maybe. It could also be the cap to the drive they were
looking for. We could hand that laptop off to Psalter-…
there might be something worth finding.”
I plucked the cap from Chloe’s hand and stared at it. If
it did belong to the drive they were asking me for, then
whoever took it was likely linked to Roger and
whoever else was responsible for my kidnapping.
“Do you think he could track down whoever was
here?”
“Only one way to find out,” Chloe said, giving me a
little smile. From her, it was a ray of sunlight. She pulled
out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, looking
for Psalter-’s number.
“Holy shit! What happened!?”
Chloe and I glanced at the doorway to see Erin peering
around the corner. Her eyes were wide as she looked
around at all the extra-broken debris scattered across
the room. Emily was just behind her.
“Your… uh… Quentin? He passed us downstairs, looking
messed up as hell. What did you do to him?” Erin asked
as she stepped the rest of the way into the room. She
was looking at Chloe as she asked the question,
obviously assuming my bodyguard was the one who
roughed him up.
“That was all him,” Chloe said as she scrolled through
her phone.
Erin blinked and looked me over. “He didn’t get any
licks in?”
“Hit him in the head once with a tumbler before the
giant, and I stepped in,” Chloe said, holding her phone
up to her ear. “He did good. Needs some work, but Tara
and I’ll fix that eventually.” She walked away from the
rest of us and spoke on the phone in a low voice.
“Damn,” Erin said.
“Oh my god! He’s pissed,” Emily chimed in. “He just
stormed across the living room and disappeared!”
“He left the house?” I asked.
Emily shook her head. “He went to another room.”
“Where’s Natalie?” I asked.
Emily looked a little uncertain. “I… we didn’t see her.”
“Psalter-’s got a lead on VanCamp,” Chloe interrupted.
“A plane left an hour ago for Amsterdam, and he’s
ninety percent sure Roger’s on it.”
My interest was immediately piqued. After handing
Tyler his ass and now having a lead on Roger, I was
thirsty for more blood, and VanCamp had it coming.
“Tell Henry to get as many men to Amsterdam as
possible. I want him hunted down. I don’t care how
much it costs.”
“Got it,” Chloe said and started talking quietly into the
phone again.
“Come on,” I muttered, making a beeline for the door.
“Where are you going?” Erin asked, following close
behind. Emily and Chloe were in her wake.
“I told him to leave. Wherever he is, the only thing he
better be doing is packing his shit!” I said over my
shoulder as I headed down the hall. Emerging into the
living room, I looked around but couldn’t see any sign of
Tyler or Natalie. I didn’t like that at all.
“Eeeeyyyyy!” Baldy called out from his perch on the
couch. “You changed your mind!”
“Where’s Tyler?” I barked.
“Oh shit,” he said, recoiling. “T went that way, man.”
“Hahaha! You fucking snitched on your boy!” Shaggy
said.
“Mike, this is the guy! I’m not fucking holdin’ out on the
guy! Besides, T was messed up as fuck! I’m too pretty
for that shit!”
Shaggy was saying something in response, but I was in
too much of a hurry to catch whatever he said. I
headed down the hall in the direction he pointed,
checking every room on the way. The first door was a
bathroom with no one in it. The second was an
entrance to a kitchen. The third was some kind of
sitting room or study. It was cozy, smaller than the
average room I’d seen, with a man sitting in one of the
chairs and a woman straddling his lap. She was topless,
and they were making out, and I realized it was the
two I’d noticed earlier making out.
“You’re all leaving,” I said. “Get the fuck out.” I left
before they had a chance to respond.
I rounded a corner and saw Liz leaning against a wall
next to another door. “Is he in there?” I asked. She
didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. Her presence was
enough for me to know that Tyler was in that room. I
stalked past her and paused at the door. “If I open this
door, are we gonna have a problem?”
“You promise that both of us can walk out of here?”
“I can just get Chloe to shoot you,” I pointed out.
“He’s paid me to provide security. You’ve got six armed
guys in this house, so I don’t stand a chance, but I’d be
bad at my job if I didn’t at least try to get him out
safely.”
I could respect that. After all, the woman was just
doing her job… just like Chloe. It wasn’t her fault that
the man who paid her so well was a piece of shit.
“If he leaves willingly, I’ll let him go, but Natalie stays,”
I said.
She rolled her eyes, sighed, and muttered, “Knew I
should have gone military.” Then she opened the door
for me.
Natalie was sitting on the bed with her hands grasped
above her knees, watching Tyler, who looked like he
was explaining something. When the door opened, they
both looked up at me. Tyler glared at his bodyguard
and started to speak, “I told you—”
Liz cut him off. “He’s got six armed people in this house,
sir, and I’m unarmed. He’s promised to let you go if we
both leave now.”
“Marcus!” Natalie said, gesturing at Tyler’s face. “Did you
do this to him!?”
Well, I wasn’t off to a good start here.
“Is it true!?” She added.
“Is what true?” I asked.
“Tyler’s saying you conned his grandpa into stealing his
inheritance?”
“What?” I asked, sounding as incredulous as I felt.
Tyler chimed in, “It’s true! Baby, you have to listen to
me. He’s kicking me out of the house! I’ve been coming
here since I was a kid! He’s a fucking con artist!”
Natalie looked from him back to me, looked at me in
disbelief, and said, “He says you’re brothers?”
“He’s right,” I said, “I’m related to Colin Gerrard, but I
didn’t con him. I never met the man in my life.”
“Then why did he give you all that money?” Natalie
asked.
“Exactly!” Tyler said. “I’ve known my grandpa my whole
life! This guy gets everything!?
“Natalie, I don’t know why he did it, but Tyler is lying to
you,” I argued.
Tyler pointed an accusatory finger at me. “He’s the one
who’s been lying! Ask my whole family! No one got
anything because he weaseled into my grandpa’s life!
Call my aunt! Call my sister! Ask either of them!”
“If he’s been so honest,” I pointed out, “Why didn’t he
tell you his last name was actually Gerrard?”
“He said it’s because he didn’t want me to make the
connection,” Natalie said. “He said when he first met
me, he thought I probably hated you and didn’t want
me to draw the connection. When he found out we
were friends, he was too scared I’d be mad that he
didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression of me
just because of my family name!” Tyler said.
“Liz,” I said without taking my eyes off Tyler. “You’ve
got two minutes to get your employer out of here.”
“Mr. Gerrard,” Liz said as she stepped into the room.
“You’ve paid me for security, and right now, this is the
best I can do. We’ve got to go.”
“Let me at least get my stuff!” Tyler said.
“Buy more stuff,” I said.
“Marcus,” Natalie started to say.
“Natalie, he’s said some heinous shit about you. I don’t
know what to believe, but I’ve given you a promotion
you deserved. I’ve been in love with you for a while
and thought you felt the same way about me. I
understand falling for this guy. For about five minutes, I
thought he was gonna be a good guy, too. He’s not.
He’s a lying snake, and you have a choice—you can
leave with him if you want, but we’re done. I’ve been
nothing but a good friend, a great boss, and have
shown you nothing but patience. I think I’ve earned at
least a sliver of trust from you, and I’m telling you not
to go with this man. He’s using you.”
Natalie stared up at me for what felt like an eternity.
She chewed on the inside of her cheek while her
bottom lip trembled, and there were unshed tears in
her dark eyes. Then she looked back at Tyler, her eyes
narrowing as she grimaced in what looked like physical
pain. A single tear slipped free and rolled down her
caramel skin.
“Tyler,” she cried out, her voice cracked with emotion.
“Please tell me this isn’t all true!”
“Natalie,” Tyler said, and I could understand why she
fell for the guy. Not only was he handsome, but he was
good. Sure, his story was flimsy. Natalie had to know
that I didn’t have the kind of time, personality, or
resources to con my way into the life of a savvy
billionaire, and she wasn’t stupid enough to actually buy
his story about why he hid his name—not without
jumping through some serious hoops. Still… he looked
genuine as he squeezed out a few tears himself. The
swollen, bloody nose helped sell the pitiful act.
“Nat,” he said, his voice cracking as he dropped to his
knees. “Don’t let him win. He’s already done so much
damage to me… please, baby…” He grabbed her knees,
genuinely looking like he might burst into tears. “Please
don’t let him take you away from me. You’re all I have
left.” He lowered his face until it hit her knees and let
out a very real-sounding sob. Natalie reached out with
a trembling hand to run her fingers through his hair. She
looked back up at me; her cheeks were tear-stained.
The look in her eyes said she had no idea what to do. Don't forget to leave a Comment 
