Scion's Freedom (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free

and picked up his keys. He followed her motions but didn’t look back up when she stood. He was fixed on the broken mirror pieces. Fingers touched his jaw and throat.
    “Sorry. I couldn’t catch you before you fell. I think you’re OK. It seems to be just a scratch.”
    “Whoa. I didn’t think I had that much. Maybe you’re right. I think I’ll call a cab,” he muttered. He seemed more disoriented than anything. Cassy was sure he was going to be fine in a few days. He pulled out his phone and started dialing. “Want to share?”
    “Oh, no. My car is one floor up. I’m fine to drive. Sorry about your evening, but I think I’ve had all the excitement I need for one night. Good-bye.” She waved and walked away.
    Erica sat in the driver’s seat of her car waiting with the engine running. “Have a good time? Your cheeks are nice and rosy,” Erica teased. The smile on her face was more of a gloat. At least she did not add the phrase, “I told you so.”
    “I did. He was a very good time. How about you?”
    “You should have been there. Frankenstein was good, but Little Boy Blue knew how to blow his horn,” she winked. “They were delicious. A positive, my favorite!”
    “Thanks for talking me into coming out tonight. I needed it more than I thought,” Cassy said with her best smile.
    “You’re welcome. What are friends for? Now let’s go. I feel the sun rising.” Erica peeled out of the parking garage, and they headed home for the day.

Chapter 3
     
    Over the next few weeks Cassy noticed Erica spent all her time with the box of files and her laptop. Peeking in her room revealed Erica’s face hidden by paperwork or with a perplexed look and a pen crossways in her mouth. She had chewed through half a dozen pencils before switching to ink pens. The only time Cassy could remember her so focused was when she worked on a story about the impending economic collapse later called The Fall. The story had been stifled by an editor bent on not panicking the public with the truth.
    Cassy heard a gasp and a heavy thump from Erica’s room near sunrise. Moving quickly to see if there was a problem or to help clean up the mess, Cassy followed the noise. Papers were everywhere. The box had fallen into the floor. Erica, however, sat motionless on the bed staring at her screen.
    “Erica? Are you okay? I heard…Erica?” Cassy could see her eyes flying back and forth across the screen. She was reading at top speed. There was no point in trying to talk to her when she was like this. Cassy bent down to rake the scattered papers into a pile.
    The one on top caught her attention and froze her mid-motion. It was a list of names with dollar amounts beside them in one column and dates in a third. The headline was partially covered with correction tape, but the words “Quarterly Payout” were still visible. She stood with it clutched in her right hand.
    “What the hell is this?” Erica did not look up from her work. “Erica, what have you been sent? Erica Jordan! Answer me, please,” Cassy demanded. She fixed her silvery gray eyes on Erica’s face in an effort to compel her. The weight of her demand fell on Erica, forcing the transfixed woman to lift her head in response.
    “You know I hate when you do that. I’m in the middle of reading something important.” Erica turned one corner of her mouth down in disapproval. “Do you need something?”
    “Not really. I thought you might want help cleaning up the mess when I found this.” She lifted the top page. “What is this? What are you working on? There are names on here that could get you in a lot of trouble.”
    “Do you remember the story I did predicting The Fall? The one that never went to print even though they paid me for it?”
    “Sure. How could I forget? We had to hide out for years after The Fall. Is this related?”
    “Yes and no. I think The Fall was orchestrated by the same people who are in charge of the current rebuilding projects and social