Dead Presidents (An Aria Raymond Thriller Book 3) by Thomas Ransom (that summer book txt) 📕

He scolded himself. Hopefully, no one knew, and no one would find out. He made sure of it. He was careful. No one could possibly know, could they?

While Wayne kept pondering on these thoughts, Diaz was leaving Aria’s place. It was late, but she was glad that she and Aria covered quite a lot of basics. Diaz was even more excited about both of them starting their own company. She was going to get the papers ready and get started on the process. She didn’t want to delay it any further.

Diaz also had one more client she was working for currently. Because it was lighter case load, she decided to take the rest of the night off. It has been a while since she took a break and relaxed a little. She couldn’t even remember the last time she binge-watched her favorite shows. “Damn! This is so wrong. I need to do this today.” She thought to herself. It was a perfect time. She was going to file a lawsuit for Aria, and she was taking a step forward toward her ultimate dream of opening her own law practice. She decided it was time to celebrate by taking a break. However, she needed sustenance. Diaz found a 24-hour grocery store and grabbed a few of her favorite snacks, a nice bottle of wine, and a small fruit and cheese tray.

Back home, she poured herself a glass of wine and grabbed a blanket from her room and tossed it on the living room couch. Diaz switched on the TV, lit a candle nearby, and dimmed the lights. She then started snacking on the fruit and cheese tray. Perfect! She thought and then snuggled in her blanket with her wine. It took her a while to decide which show she wants to watch. It had been ages since she had watched anything. Diaz picked a show and settled in.

It felt weird. Relaxing like this after such a long time. For the past few years, Diaz had been working nonstop. Within an hour, after two glasses of wine, she fell asleep on her couch with the TV still on. Sometime during the night, she jerked awake suddenly. She thought she heard a sound. After her kidnapping, it was hard for her to fall into a deep sleep. She would always wake up even at the slightest of sounds. Diaz looked around, but everything seemed normal. She figured it was just the TV. She turned it on mute and closed her eyes. There it was again! She instantly sat up and looked around.

Her heart was beating fast. She traced her fingers under the table and sighed. She had taped a sharpened knife underneath the table and a few other places after she had safely returned home. It could be her imagination. She had become a bit paranoid after the incident. This was also the reason she didn’t like staying idle, even for a few minutes. She was constantly working until she got herself so exhausted that the moment her head rested on the pillow, she would instantly fall asleep.

She heard the sound again. Diaz ripped out the knife from under the table and stood up. This was no paranoia. She had heard a sound. Someone was fidgeting with the doorknob. She tiptoed near her front door, and sure enough, she could see the shadow underneath. Someone was standing there. Her pulse quickened. She looked around for her cellphone. Shit! She had no idea where it was. Diaz was determined. There was no way she was going to let this happen again. She grabbed the knife tightly and walked closer to the door. She could see the doorknob twitching. The person was trying to pick the lock. She gulped and gently placed her hand over the knob and quickly opened the door in a split second.

“Woah!”

Diaz had raised her hand holding the knife and was about to take a swing when strong hand grabbed her wrist. It was a guy, alright. His face was covered with his long hair, and Diaz couldn’t get a good look.

“You could seriously injure someone with this, sweetheart!”

“Let me go! I’ve already called 911.”

“Woah, woah, woah! What did you do that for?”

The guy released her hand and swept his hair back. Instantly, the color drained from Diaz’s face. It can’t be! No. The guy’s handsome face broke into a smile. “God! It has been, what? A decade! Look at you. Still looking amazing as ever, Nicole.”

Diaz stammered. She couldn’t believe it.

“Missed me, baby?” With that, he stepped forward and pulled her in for a hug. “I sure missed you.”

Chapter 4: The Calm Before the Storm

“It’s just dead end after dead end!” Sergeant Jake threw a file across the room. Numerous papers spilled from the file and flew all over the place. There was a silence for a minute before everyone resumed what they were doing. No one dared to say anything to him. Detective Sanjay stared at him, unperturbed. Jake was getting worse than before. Sanjay understood why, but he was getting tired of this. No one on the force was going to say anything to him. The captain of the precinct was always on Jake’s side, mainly because of how good he was in his work. He would typically ignore the tantrums he would through now and then. However, Sanjay had noticed the captain looking irritated. The tantrums were more frequent and getting louder each passing day. Sanjay knew that the captain was bound to say something. Not just something, he would probably take action against Jake.

“It would serve him right,” He thought to himself. However, he and Jake had been partners multiple times over the years, and he was aware of his brilliance. He knew if anyone could knock some sense into him, it would be him. He was meaning to talk to Jake but was putting