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

Once they were in Sanjay’s apartment, Sanjay asked again, “Nicole? What happened? I mean I know what happened, but you seem to know one of the guys.”

“It was him! It was him all along.”

“Who?”

“Mark. Mark Sullivan!”

“Yeah. I was shocked to see him. I always thought he was among the rare politicians who are actually doing good for the community but…” he stopped as he saw Diaz. Looking at the look of shock and betrayal on Diaz’s face, it dawned on him that there was something between the two of them. “Nicole… did you … did you personally know him?”

Diaz broke down finally. Sanjay sat beside her but let her cry. Even without her saying anything, Sanjay knew Mark and Nicole shared a connection. He could tell from the sorrow in her eyes and the way she was crying. Sanjay’s heart broke watching her like this. She was one of the strongest women he knew. He felt infuriated at Mark for breaking her apart like this.

It took Diaz more than an hour to finally speak up, “We were together for years. Mark and I. Both of us were ambitious and he always wanted to be a politician. His charismatic nature always won over everyone he met. However, I soon realize he was toxic for me. He cheated on me, he never left any chance of putting me down, and he almost made me give up on my career. I hadn’t heard from him in years and then he just walked into my life a few months ago. Apologizing, declaring his love, and whatnot. I was stupid! So stupid to believe in his lies again. I should have known the minute he told me we should keep our relationship a secret. He knew about Aria’s case and everything. Uggh!! This is why he was so interested… I can’t believe he took so many lives!!!”

Sanjay was speechless.

“I am going to make him pay. I will kill him if I have to!”

“No! You can’t do anything stupid, Nicole. You are angry right now and rightfully so and we have to think of a plan to really take him down the right way and expose him for who is really is.”

“I can’t bear it… I just can’t! I want to slap him and tell him I know. I know what he has been doing…”

“That won’t do anything. We have to think logically.”

“You don’t understand…”

“Yes, I don’t. I can’t even begin to comprehend what you must be going through, but I can’t let you throw away your life like this. He is a politician who is behind all this mess. He can easily make you disappear, or worse. Think about it. There are better ways to get back at him.”

Diaz sighed and stayed quiet for a while before finally nodding in defeat, “You are right. I can’t… I know. It won’t do any good.”

“Sleep on it and we will think of something now that we know who is behind this. We will bring them down.”

Diaz stayed over at his house that night. They were both exhausted and shocked at the events that had unfolded that night. Sanjay knew Diaz didn’t have the energy to drive to her apartment and they both agreed it would be better to stay at one place. Plus, Mark might visit her place, which could certainly be a disaster. Sanjay offered her his room and he made his bed on the couch in the living room. He found it hard to go to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Jake’s lifeless body. He still couldn’t believe it. How can he not be alive anymore? Was it his fault? If he had listened to Jake and been more careful, maybe he would still be alive. With these thoughts swirling in his head, he finally drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

In what seemed like a few seconds, Sanjay woke up with a start. What was that? Where was he? It took a minute or so for everything to come back to him. Shit! He sat up on his couch. The sound of a car engine starting had woken him up. He could hear the car’s tires screeching as it moved toward the end of the street. Sanjay got up to get a glass of water and noticed the room of his door was partially open. Hoping Diaz hadn’t woken up from the sound, he made his way toward the room to shut the door. She had a stressful day and needed as much sleep as she could.

As he was about to close the door, he noticed the bed was empty. “Nicole?” He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He checked the bathroom, but the door was open, and no one was inside. Where on earth did she go at this time of night? He wondered, grabbing his cell phone to give her a call. She probably wanted to be alone but there was a major chance Mark would be at her place. Where else would she go? He heard her cellphone ringing in the bedroom. Shit! Okay. No need to panic. She probably went for a walk to clear her head. He thought but then he stopped short. No! No, no, no! His gun was missing from the holster. No! He frantically checked everywhere. No! Sanjay always made it a point to keep his gun in the safe the minute he entered his apartment. This was the only time he had left it out since he was preoccupied with so many other things. Crap!!!! No Nicole!! Sanjay saw his keys were missing too. He ran outside and saw his car was gone.

A few blocks away, Nicole was speeding to her house. Sanjay’s gun hidden in her purse. She had made up her mind. This will end tonight!