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

He laid back on his chair, trying to catch his breath. His hands were shaking so he clasped them together. It was getting difficult to breathe. He felt himself getting suffocated. He stood up and walked towards the balcony. He opened the sliding door with so much force that the entire frame shook. He didn’t care. He needed fresh air. Fortunately, there was a light breeze outside. The coolness of the air touching his face helped him calm down a bit. He took a few deep breathes and leaned hard against the wall.

“What the hell do I do now!?” he said out loud as if someone would magically appear before him to show him the way out. “Okay. Okay. Calm down and think rationally.” He told himself.

He took a few more deep breathes and felt his heartbeat getting back to normal. He needed to think with a clear head. He needed a plan. He knew the minute he saw the papers that he had to inform Aria. Then again, telling her would put them all in danger. He already knew these people were keeping an eye on him. He knew these people were dangerous. The level of how deep this thing had showed him they would do anything to get rid of anyone who would come in their way. It wasn’t just this company. No. There were others too, and there was one person controlling all of that. He couldn’t believe he got into this mess just because he couldn’t mind his own business.

No matter how much he cursed himself, Wayne knew there is no way he could keep out of it. He was already in this mess the minute he started the race with Aria to get the managerial position. Neither of them realized at that time that they were actually fighting to win a position that would only bring them down.

Aria should know. But how? Then again, would she want to be dragged back into this mess? She refused to return to this company, and rightfully so. She was moving on. Would it be fair for him to tell her? Wouldn’t it be better if she didn’t know? What if telling her only puts her in danger again? He was certainly in danger; why put this on her again?

He, of course, had to get these files back to the office without anyone noticing they were gone. It was stupid of him to get them out of the safe. But what else was he supposed to do? Damn it! He punched the wall in frustration. Okay, he told himself as he stood up straight. First things first, he needed to get these files back in the office as soon as possible. Wait. Scratch that. He knew he should make copies of these files. That might give him leverage… or get him killed faster. Either way, he knew he must make copies. Something had to be done about this. He could scan all the documents and store them in a drive. Then what? Send it to the police? With the scam so big, there was no way they didn’t have people working for them in law enforcement. He could send it anonymously. But, if a police officer working for them found it, they would instantly trace it to him. He was the only one outside their inner group who knew about the files. They would know that he looked at the files, and he would be dead before he even realized what happened.

Then what? He racked his brain, but he had already started scanning the files. He had to focus on one task right now. His head would explode otherwise. The task took up a few minutes, and he then saved the scanned files in a drive and permanently deleted them from his laptop. He carefully placed all the papers back in the files and carefully closed them. Wayne grabbed the drive and went in his room. He had to keep it in a safe place. There was a loose floorboard under his bed! It took him a while to find it. He placed the drive in a pillow cover, wrapped it up, and carefully put it inside, and then replaced the floorboard.

Okay. One thing is done. Now what?

Of course, he had to take the files back to the office and put them back in the safe before anyone found out. He had to wait for the morning to do that. Wayne knew doing something unusual now would only spark suspicion. He decided to go to work at the same time as he normally did and place the files in the safe. Hopefully, no one would notice, and their guy wouldn’t be there to pick the files up that early in the morning.

Wayne took a long hot shower and went to bed, his mind still pondering over everything he had learned in the past few hours. His mind kept telling him that Aria should know about this, but the other side of him was convinced that dragging her in it would be unnecessary. He soon fell into a disturbed and uneasy sleep.

Diaz smiled as she made her way out of the courthouse. She had officially filed the lawsuit on behalf of Aria. They would know the court date soon. She knew while there was not much she could do right now for Ellen or for herself, she could at least get some pain and suffering compensation for Aria after all that she has been through. The police officers should have done a better investigation. Aria was wrongfully accused and had to endure hell for months. She deserved to get compensated. It wouldn’t bring her back those lost months nor take away the mental torture she had to suffer; not to mention physical pain too. It would at least give her a financial boost so she could live a more comfortable life.

Her head was getting clearer now that Mark was