Sweet Little Lies

Chapter Fifty-Two

Dev got out of his car and stared up at the building in front of him. His car beeped at him as he locked it, beginning to walk towards the hotel. Confused, he checked the address again. Yep, he was in the right place.

Why was Greta Bianchi staying at this beat up old hotel? It was in the middle of oldtown, not the safest place in Queenstown, but it was a good place to hide out if she was wanting to go unnoticed. Maybe this was where she did her work? Did she rent out a room and have her setup here, so her mom wasn't spying on her?

Somehow, he doubted that Isabella Bianchi knew of her daughter's skill with computers. If she did, there was no way she wouldn't have used that to her advantage. There were about a million and one ways to make a fortune doing the things Greta did.

Dev was more than ready to see just how good she was. His online footprint was nearly invisible, so she never should have tracked him in the first place. He prided himself with how good he was. It was the reason Harry had sought him out and brought him into the fold of things. They were friends before - maybe more acquaintances since Harry Styles wasn't the type to have a load of friends - so it wasn't too much of a surprise, but Dev knew that if he didn't have the skills he did, then Harry never would have come to him in the first place with his crazy plan.

He sent a message to Greta, telling her he was there just as he stepped into the lobby. It was... underwhelming. He knew the Bianchi's were having some money issues, but surely they had enough to afford something better than this.

There was a stench of old cigarette smoke wafting in the air and what looked like mold growing in the far corner near the elevator. The lounge chairs were a gross yellow with stains on the seats that Dev really did not want to know what they were from.

His phone buzzed, and he read the message. Top floor, Room 625.

Short and sweet. That was what all their correspondence had been like. Greta Bianchi was very much to the point. Harry had spoken to him before this, telling Dev that she was a little awkward, rambled when nervous, and a bit naive, but he hadn't really seen much of that.

They had been messaging back and forth all morning, and the vibe that he got was very straightforward and analytical. That was the case with a lot of the computer whiz-kids he had known in school, but she was self taught. At least, that's what she says.

The elevator dinged open, revealing a tin box that looked like it was rusting over.

He was going to die in there. Nope, no way, not gonna happen.

Dev backed away, looking around until he found the doorway to the staircase. When the door shut behind him, the sound echoed up the metal stairway, adding to the ominous feeling he was getting.

Someone has definitely been murdered in this place.

While he was walking up to the top floor, he thought of the other thing Harry had told him.

Greta and Angelo were his half siblings. That was a reveal he wasn't expecting, and part of his job today was to suss out the situation. Harry was fairly certain that Greta was being honest about wanting to team up with him, but they could never be too careful.

By the time he reached the top, he was sweating. At some point, he had unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt and pushed up his sleeves. It was rather chilly in the stairway, but walking up six flights of stairs was not easy. Dev was in shape, but he didn't work out every day.

He followed the arrow pointing to the left, walking down the hallway. It reminded him a little of the shining, half expecting to turn around and see a pair of twin girls at the opposite end. Muffled voices came from behind a few doors as he passed, a door opening farther ahead, a large man with a scar running down his face over his right eye walking out of it.