Expose (Billionaire Series) (13 page)

Once we arrived back at my apartment, we both collapsed on my
sofa, completely tapped out after the events of the day. It was a while before
either of us spoke or moved—both of us too wrapped up in reliving the surreal
experiences.

I was still preoccupied with what Kathryn had told me about
Mathis – could it have been the shock talking, or was she mistaken? I could
hardly dare to believe that Mathis really talked about me with so much reverence
to her – especially when all he did was scold me for being irresponsible. Did
he really see me as strong and smart?

I frowned, trying to see myself as either of those things. I
had never thought of myself as at all remarkable. I got on with my life, did my
job pretty well, and I had at least one good friend who valued my company, but
overall, I couldn’t help but think I was pretty average, especially compared to
someone like Mathis. Although he seemed to care about me, I couldn’t really
understand what I had to offer him.

Next to me, Sharon groaned, drawing out the sound as if she
had just run a marathon, and waking me from my thoughts.

“We need to order pizza,” she decided, her problems clearly
more of the body than of the mind. “That’s the only possible solution to this
mess.”

I realized as she said it that I was starving – I hadn’t
eaten all day and it was almost dinnertime.

“Agreed,” I said, my mind sluggishly switching track from
hypothetical to practical. “Hawaiian okay for you?”

“Of course!” Sharon said.

As we waited for the pizza to arrive, Sharon peered at me,
her curiosity clearly ignited again now that the thought of greasy, cheesy
goodness was about to become a carb-laden reality.

“So – can you please tell me if what I think happened
actually happened?” she said.

“What do you think happened?” I asked, stalling a little,
feeling slightly embarrassed to discuss my actions.

“You saved Mathis from that gunman! I saw you lunge like a
cat or something a second before the gun went off, and I saw you knock the gun
into the air. At least, that’s what I think I saw – and then you were on the ground
and the gun was gone, and the next thing I know you’re running off and jumping
barriers. It all happened so fast it was hard to take.”

“It did. Happen, I mean,” I said. “I knocked the gunman away
and he threw me on the ground like a rag doll and hightailed out of there.”

“Oh my god, Amanda,” Sharon gasped. “That makes you like a
hero, or a heroine, or something.”

“No, not really,” I sighed. “I
just
saw the gun and it
was
just
a kneejerk reaction to knock it away. I didn’t even really know
who it was pointing at.”

“Come on, do you expect me to believe that?” Sharon said.
“You knew it was aimed at Mathis – or was it meant for the politician guy, and
Mathis being there had nothing to do with it?”

“I – I think it was aimed for Mathis,” I said hesitantly,
deciding that Sharon, at least, deserved to know the truth, since she already
knew so much of the story. “Do you remember what I told you about the night of
the garden party? The mob boss was so mad – I bet he retaliated by sending a
guy to take Mathis out.”

“Oh what the hell!” Sharon shuddered. “He was right next to
us. Do you realize what could have happened? You could have been killed!”

“I didn’t think,” I admitted. “I just acted…and that’s it
really. And Shaz, if I hadn’t, Mathis could be dead!”

“You… You’re crazy, you know that?” Sharon said, looking at
me in wonder. “I’m glad you’re my friend. I think you’d be terrifying to have
as an enemy.”

I laughed, a slightly crazy laugh, as my emotions were still
on the fritz. “I don’t think so. I was just lucky.”

“Do you have any idea how many people would stop a bullet for
the person they loved?” Sharon asked. “Not all that many, I can tell you.
Mathis is far luckier than he knows.”

“He doesn’t know,” I said. “I’m not going to advertise the
fact that I had anything to do with the gunman.”

“Well, that’s maybe for the best,” Sharon said, “although
it’s a waste of good romance – Mathis should know that he owes his life to
you.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “I’m just glad it’s over and
hopefully, that’ll be the end of things.”

“Wow. If I did that for Ryan, I’d never let him hear the end
of it,” Sharon said.

“That’s different. You and Ryan fit together. I think Mathis…
He’s always out of reach. I don’t want to hold this over him so he has to be
grateful to me. He should be free to make his own choices, even if they don’t
include me.”

“You’re too modest for your own good,” Sharon sighed.
“Honestly, if I want something from a man, I make damn sure I get it.”

“Mathis is different,” I insisted. “I could never try to
control him. It wouldn’t be fair. Besides, if he found out that I’d put myself
in danger –
again
– he’d probably just flip out the same as Ryan.”

Sharon laughed, and I joined in, breaking a little of the
tension which had followed us home from the event.

***

Our pizza arrived, and as we ate, we tried to distract
ourselves from our hectic morning with other matters. Sharon filled me in on
the drama of the wedding she had attended, the same bride whose shower I had
helped at, and I smiled weakly as she described the bride’s sister’s shameless
flirting with the tipsy best man.

“Amanda, you seem distracted,” Sharon sighed after a little
while. “I don’t mean to bore you with these stories. If you want to be alone
after everything that’s happened, I understand – I’ll have to face the music
sometime. If you want to kick me out, just say so.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “It’s just… now that I’m home and
away from it all it’s killing me, wondering what happened after we left –
whether they got the gunman. It could change everything.”

“Well, we can see if it’s on the news yet,” Sharon suggested
thoughtfully.

I leaned over to grab the remote, and a second later, the now
extremely familiar sight of the car show venue flashed onto the screen. Sharon
grabbed my arm, and I turned up the volume quickly.

“…near miss earlier this afternoon when prominent politician
and favorite for mayor Walter Rossi was the target of a terrorist attack at an
event he was endorsing as part of his political campaign,” the news anchor
reported with an ambiguous expression.

“So it was the politician they were targeting and not
Mathis?” Sharon addressed the television.

“Well, it looks like that’s the official story in any case,”
I responded. “Whether it’s true or not, I’m not so sure. It looked like that
gun was pointed straight for Mathis. Besides, who’d want to kill Walter Rossi?
He seems like he’d make a decent mayor.”

“He certainly throws a hell of a garden party,” Sharon agreed
absently.

I turned back to the TV screen, where the camera was doing a
panoramic of the venue. I personally thought it was a little over-the-top; although
it had only been a single gunshot, there was red tape everywhere, along with
ambulances and makeshift tents. Most if not all of the guests had long gone,
but security, police and reporters were rife.

“The report, as we have it, is that the gunman’s aim was
thrown off by the movement of the crowd, leading him to miss his target.
However, several witnesses claim that a young woman knocked the gun from the
hands of the gunman, although these rumors cannot be confirmed.”

“Oh my,” murmured Sharon. I ignored the sick feeling in my
stomach, hoping nothing would come of it.

“The gunman cannot yet be identified, but police have
confirmed that a man has been arrested and is currently being questioned in
relation to the attempted murder.”

“Oh wow,” Sharon murmured again, louder this time. “Amanda –
that could be the guy! That whole crime group might get blown wide open!”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” I said, but I couldn’t help but
feel a knot of tension in my stomach as I imagined that the crime group responsible
for the threats to Mathis might be arrested and gone for good.

We sat glued to the TV, anxious for more reports to come in
about the culprits of the shooting. Variations on the same theme came up every
few minutes; seemingly this was a top piece of news and every reporter worth
his or her weight was staying put at the scene until something else happened.

At one point, the news program even began showing reruns of
some of the interviews reporters had conducted with officials and witnesses. I
recognized one of the bodyguards who had surrounded Mathis and the Rossi’s, stating
that they had caught a man running from the scene with a gun in his hands, and
that he had been taken into custody.

I was just getting tired of the endless repeats of the same
information when Sharon gave a little scream and I focused on the screen again,
anxious to know what had startled her.

My heart did a horrible lurch as the next interview came on
and I found myself looking at my own face, taut and white, and Sharon’s
bewildered and slightly panicked face next to me.

“The whole scene was a blur,” I heard myself say, and I could
see the red flush creeping across the cheeks of TV-me which would tell anyone
who knew me well that I was lying through my teeth. “I didn’t see a thing.”

I felt a faint buzzing in my ears as the screen shifted and
someone else was talking. I was relieved that they had cut out most of the part
which suggested I’d had anything to do with stopping the bullet. Really, it was
a useless clip. Still, it made the entire thing more real again, seeing our
faces on TV.

“That was surreal,” Sharon said beside me.

I nodded in agreement, still feeling dazed.

A few minutes later, the umpteenth recap was cut short by a
new bulletin. Sharon and I both sat bolt upright, eager to hear any new
information.

“Police have just made a public statement that the culprit of
the attempted murder of Walter Rossi has been positively identified as Carl
McKinley.”

The screen switched to a police spokesman, next to a large
photo of McKinley. I didn’t recognize him, but I hadn’t even registered his face
or build when I’d knocked the gun aside – all I had seen was the bulge in his
jacket where the gun was.

“Carl McKinley is a known member of a crime organization
we’ve been tracking for some time. He’s confessed under questioning to
attempted assassination and has agreed to give names and details of other
members of this crime group. We’ve already made seven arrests of key members
based on this evidence and we’ve been waiting to make a public statement until
these people had been safely located and neutralized. This is a great day for
the police department. We’re proud to be able to make this city a better place
and get dangerous men off the streets.”

The press conference exploded with questions, and I listened
intently.

“Is it confirmed that Walter Rossi was the target of the
attack?” a reporter asked. I tensed, wondering if the criminal would have
exposed Mathis.

“We are charging him with the assassination attempt on Walter
Rossi,” the policeman said. I noted how carefully phrased this was, and wondered
if there was something they weren’t letting on to the public.

“Can you identify the other members of the crime group?”
another reporter queried.

“Not at this time, but we can say that the leader of the
group has been named, and he has been positively identified as the man behind a
lot of the organized crime in the city – this is the hard evidence we needed to
bring him down, and fresh evidence against him is turning up as we speak,” the
policeman said.