Free Flashback by Ella Ardent

thought he had betrayed the Plume? He spoke with force. “I didn’t
call them.”
    It was only then that Rex remembered the
warning he’d received before the raid, how the caller had spoken to
him as if they were old friends.
    Someone had pretended to be him.
    Someone had used his cell phone. Who?
    “Somebody made that call on that phone,”
Julius continued, apparently having made the same conclusion. “And
it can only have been you.”
    “No,” Rex said. “Not me. I swear it.”
    “I never imagined it was something you would
do,” Julius said. “I mean, I thought you were beyond such petty
nonsense. Astrological charts on billable numbers! You can betray everything with thoughtless frivolity.”
    Like putting down his cell phone.
    “I left the phone in the office when I argued
with Athena,” Rex said. “My wallet, my keys, everything was there.
Wait a minute. Tony had the phone at the bar later, said someone
had found it in the parking garage. Like I dropped it, but I
remember now. I didn’t. I had it in the office. Someone must have
taken it from there.”
    “I suppose you’ve been sharing this number
with everyone you know,” Julius snapped. “Everyone in the
vicinity.”
    Rex understood. “The Count was in the office
when I left, talking to Athena. Ask her if anyone else came into
the office, or if she left it.”
    “Well, I’m glad to hear that you’re so sorry
about your mistake. I can’t call off the police now, but I’ll tell
everyone at the house about your apology. Don’t call me again,
Maria. Thanks to the stupidity of others, I’m a busy man this
week.”
    And Julius hung up the phone.
    Rex heaved a sigh. Julius believed him. And
he’d talk to Athena.
    He drummed his fingers on the side of the
phone booth. Had Athena called the police on his phone? Rafe had
suggested as much, but if the person who had given them away had
used his cell phone and pretended to be him then that was
impossible. No one would have imagined that a woman caller was him.
Whoever had given him the warning would have immediately realized
he was talking to another person, a man instead of a woman.
    Besides, Rex really couldn’t believe that
Athena would destroy the Plume. They’d both worked so hard to build
it. It was true that they didn’t always agree, but he wished he
knew where she was. He wanted to talk to her again, not part
badly.
    What about the Count? Rex had never been able
to understand that man. He’d introduced Rex to Athena all those
years ago, then disappeared. Rex had always thought the other man
was ditching Athena, finding her a new partner maybe, or at least
handing her off.
    Why had he come back?
    Rex suddenly recalled that the Count had been
the one to invite Leya to the Plume. Coincidence? An opportunity to
divide Rex and Athena? Rex didn’t think Leya knew anything,
couldn’t imagine that she was part of any scheme, but he had to
ask. She was probably just a pawn in some scheme of the Count’s but
he had to know for sure.
    It was time for some answers.
    Rex wanted to head back to the quiet bungalow
immediately, but he forced himself to be cautious. Funny how he had
to think about doing what had been second nature to him for so
long. He felt vulnerable, as he never had before, and that threw
his game.
    He took a deep breath to compose himself. He
looked around, but there didn’t appear to be anyone following him.
He headed back to the house, taking a longer and more circuitous
route to ensure that he wasn’t followed.
    He heard Leya’s voice as soon as he stepped
into the house, and instinctively froze on the threshold. He
couldn’t hear her words, but her voice was low and intimate. She
laughed a little, the kind of laugh that lovers share, and he felt
a trickle of dread.
    What was going on? Was she going to turn him
in to the police?
    He strode into the main room of the house and
immediately felt like an idiot for his doubts. Her face lit up at
the sight of him and she hung up the