Ghosts Thomas Thorne fanfic

Chapter 19

"James, what did you think of the proposal? I'm not sure buying Michael and Eagle would be the right move financially speaking."

James pinched the bridge of his nose, looking out of the cab window; his mind had not really been focused on the business meeting. He knew he had to go back to the house tomorrow. Once he'd killed Lila, he had been so busy with the cleaning up that he hadn't thought about going back there. Another failed attempt to preserve his image. Moving to the country was supposed to save his relationship so that he could concentrate on building his empire.

"That whole meeting was a waste of time, Johnson. They're making consistent losses, and they have a dire reputation for their treatment of their tenants. I know that I wanted to branch out, but this would be a burden. I can't afford to devote my time, money, and effort to a dying company, not at this stage in my career." He had already known that the proposal wasn't worth listening to, but he needed to clear his head.

When James finally flopped onto his hotel bed, he was exhausted, but his tired brain didn't stop the events of that fateful night from being replayed in his head. The blood. There was so much blood. He remembered bleaching the concrete floors and scrubbing until there was no trace of death and burning his clothes so that the police wouldn't find any gunshot residue.

Then came the planning. He was to come home from his business trip to find Lila missing, countless ransom messages would be left on the answering machine, but of course, he had been too late. The Bulgarian mafia had agreed to take Lila's body abroad and plant it with someone that they needed put away. The Hamptons still had contacts that did not necessarily stay on the right side of the law for special cases such as these; Geoffrey had made it clear that the situation with James's mother was never to be repeated.

He did not feel remorse, but he just wished he didn't have to do it. He had originally wanted a hitman, but his grandfather had told him that if the job needed doing, it was James's fault for choosing the wrong woman as his fiancée, so it was his job to put it right.

Thomas. Who on earth was Thomas? The CCTV had been checked so many times and Lila hadn't left the property, just as no one entered. He could find no clues on her phone either, of course, there were a few people by that name in her contacts, but Lila hadn't contacted Thomas Brown, the painter decorator, or Thomas Greenwood, her old school friend. There was no sign of any suggestive messaging with anyone. James had heard the confession with his own ears, but it made no sense.

He needed answers. He needed to search the house anyway to make it seem as if he was looking for his 'abducted' partner, so he could look for more clues.

The name Thomas was circling around James's mind for hours until the fatigue finally overcame it.