His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Forty-Seven

"Can you hear me?" Lia's voice was quiet through the earpiece. Noah was sitting inside his car behind the cover of the tinted windows. He rolled the window down slightly and gave her a thumbs-up, before rolling it back up. On his lap he had a police issued laptop - it was Lia's - and the recording playing on the screen was a live view of what Lia was seeing from a small camera attached to her lapel. Lia was standing on the porch of her small family home on the outskirts of Manhattan, waiting for the date she'd had no choice but to accept.

Noah was nervous and felt his heart pounding in his chest rapidly as a run-down ford pulled up outside. Brad pushed open the driver's door, which appeared to stick, and climbed out. He soon came into the frame on the laptop screen as he approached Lia. "Hey sexy, you ready to go?" His hands found her waist as he pulled her in, and his lips were puckered as he closed the gap. The screen darkened and Noah's eyes quickly shot up, looking out of the window. Lia put on her best seductive voice and answered him as she turned her head away. His lips connected with her cheek. Keeping his arm secured tightly around her waist, Brad led her over to the car and opened the door. His acts seemed gentlemanly, but they knew different. They knew about his past. Noah watched as he rounded the car to the driver's side and slid in. He placed the laptop into the seat next to him and started the engine. As the beat-up ford pulled away, he waited a couple of seconds before following them, making sure Brad didn't suspect a thing.

"Where are we eating?" Lia's voice filled the car from the laptop and Noah's eyes flicked over for a second before focusing back on the road ahead. Lia had asked the question specifically for Noah in case he lost them.

"Oh we're not eating." Brad's voice was raspy. "I'm going to get you drunk."

"I don't drink," Lia told him.

"Tonight. you will."

"I really don't want to, Brad. I have work tomorrow."

"We'll see." After a silent car ride, Brad finally pulled up in the parking lot of a club. It was still early and Noah parked in a free space a little way away from Brad's car. He pulled the laptop back onto his lap and reclined his chair a little, making himself comfortable. The camera connection dropped slightly as Lia entered the club, but soon regained its strength and the picture quality became clear enough for Noah to notice they were standing at the empty bar.

"What do you want?" Brad asked Lia.

"I'll have an orange juice please," she told the bartender.

Brad turned back to the barman. "She'll have a vodka and coke." The man behind the bar appeared to glance from Lia to Brad and then back again, but poured the drink anyway after noticing the money in Brad's hand. He handed it over and Brad guided Lia over to a booth secluded from the rest.

He sat next to her, clearly too close for comfort, and Noah fought the urge to go inside and beat the shit out of him. He had to give Lia a chance to do what she did best: extract information. Lia had turned her body slightly to the left, giving Noah a full view of each move Brad made. The camera was pinned to the collar of her shirt and in the cover of the dark club, it was invisible.

Brad's hand connected with Lia's leg and by the shaking of the camera, Noah could tell it made her uncomfortable. She sipped on her drink to take the edge off, and though Noah knew it was a bad idea, there was nothing he could do to stop it. Brad's hand soon crept higher on her leg as he talked dirty things into her ear.

Noah couldn't hold it in anymore and dialled her phone number, it was all too much for him to watch. It hurt him knowing that he had involved his friend in something so horrific. He'd put Lia in that situation and knew that if Brad did anything to her, it'd be his fault.