Page 28 of Vicious Seduction
“Carolina Schultze? This is the NYPD. Open up.”
Oh shit! They’re here for me?
My first instinct was to assume they’d knocked on the wrong door. But that wasn’t the case.
Heart in my throat, I slowly opened the door and kept my hands in view. “Hello, can I help you?”
“Carolina Schultze?”
“Yes.”
“We’re here to execute a warrant to search your premises.”
I couldn’t have been more confused if he’d told me a three-armed monkey had broken out of a science lab and was hiding in my apartment.
“A warrant? To search for what?”
Their only answer was to angle their way inside. One man stood next to me as if ensuring I didn’t dive for a weapon while the others began rummaging through our stuff.
“What on earth is going on?” How did they get a warrant andwhy? “I have a right to know what’s going on.”
“Ma’am, it’s best if you remain quiet. In the event that anything—"
“Found it,” called the cop by the window who’d gonestraight for my sewing supplies. He held up a metal box I used for keeping zippers, of all things.
“That your box, ma’am?” the officer beside me asked.
“Yes, why?”
The man holding the box opened it, revealing a baggie full of white powder the size of my fist. My jaw hit the floor. If the men said anything else, I didn’t hear them due to the ringing in my ears.
I forgot how to breathe.
The world spun around me until strong hands gripped my arms on either side to keep me upright.
“That’s not … I’ve never seen it … I don’t understand…”
How could this be happening? What the hell was I going to do?
“Let’s get down to the station, and you can talk it over with the captain.”
Could I even afford a lawyer? How much would this sort of thing cost? And would it even do any good? They’d obviously gotten some sort of tip-off and confirmed the report with their discovery.Someonewas going to prison for it.
Could the stash have been Jessa’s? I didn’t think she was into drugs, certainly not selling, but nothing else made sense. How could that much coke end up in my apartment? I would have said the cops planted the drugs, but I’d been observing as the guy started looking through my workstation because everything over there was precious to me. I’d been watching intently, and that baggie had been exactly where he found it. In my box. How long had it been there? How did it get there? I had no answers.
I walked in a daze with the three officers surrounding me. They had the decency not to cuff me. Of course, it was pretty obvious I wasn’t concealing anything in my dress. I’d been too shocked to even grab a coat on my way out. No coat. Nopurse. I hadn’t even locked the damn door behind me. All I had was the blue silk gown I wore and enough crippling terror to last a lifetime.
The police station was eerily empty, though the place would likely be buzzing with activity in a few hours. For the moment, every available set of hands was out on the streets getting ready for one of the most chaotic nights in the city all year. If I’d had my faculties about me, I’d have questioned why officers were messing with executing a warrant on a night like this, but fear had scrambled my ability for logic. When it came to fight or flight, my brain had most definitely fled.
I was taken to a small interrogation room. It didn’t look quite like they did on TV—no two-way mirror and metal table bolted to the ground. The small closet-like room had two chairs and an empty desk against the wall. A rounded CCTV camera lens poked out of the ceiling in one corner.
It would be easy to assume the camera was there to record suspects, but as I sat alone battling back tears, I realized it had another purpose. Something about knowing someone was watching you at your lowest made everything ten times worse. The shame and fear. The pressure and uncertainty. All of it was compounded with the insufferable weight of eyes watching me.
When the door finally opened, my breath hitched with the start of a sob. I was on the verge of coming unglued until I saw who had joined me. It was so unexpected that I wondered if this whole thing wasn’t some wild hallucination.
Oran Byrne towered over me in the doorway. In his black dress coat over an immaculate gray suit, he was the spitting image of a romantic hero swooping in to save the day. His hair was perfectly styled, and he had a vengeful glint in his eye that would make anyone think twice about crossing him.
I rocketed to my feet with a burst of elation and relief. “ThankGod, you’re here! I’ve been completely freaking out and haven’t even had a chance to call anyone, though I’m not sure who I would have called. I don’t know if they’re keeping me or what on earth is going on. They just dropped me off in here and then disappeared. No one has even come to talk to me yet.” My babbling withered to silence when Oran’s face remained eerily impassive as he closed the door.