“I have a problem, and I need you to fix it for me. Can you do that for me?”
My uncle had started our second meeting with that question.
“I thought I’ve already shown you that I can handle a problem. I helped with my dad.”
“Yeah, but you were motivated for that. Your father is your father. You and Ashton did well. I’m proud of you, and I heard about the new doc and how you maneuvered around her. That’s not always an option, but it was smart this time.”
I glanced at Ashton and knew he was pissed off by that, but he wouldn’t say anything. I wouldn’t have, either, if the roles were reversed. Both our families had a hierarchy. The heads were gods.
“What’s the current problem, Uncle Steph?”
“Billy Garretson.” He tossed a file down on the table between us, and I was staring at some guy.
Ashton went still beside me, and me, I turned into ice because no fucking way was that a coincidence. “Who’s this?”
“He’s a worker in upstate New York—there’s a shipping facility we need access to, and he’s the one who can get us in. He’s been refusing, and I’ve been told that you’ve taken to his niece recently.”
“Niece?”
“He’s married to the niece’s aunt, Sarah. She’s a sister to Chelsea Montell.”
Montell?!
I loved my uncle, I did, but right now I was envisioning myself taking a long and dirty knife and gutting him with it because that’s what he was doing to me.
“Your reports are wrong. That’s over, not that anything even started.”
Uncle Steph had stared at me then, long and hard. His jaw clenched once before he sat back. “For some reason I have a feeling that won’t be an issue. We’ve not moved on your new woman because of her father and the fact she’s a parole officer, but you know her. We have an opening now. I want you to use her, do whatever you need with her to get her uncle on board. I need into that shipping facility, and you know what will happen if someone continues to stand in my way.”
He had meant bodies. Lots and lots of dead bodies.
I was staring at her now as she slid into the seat beside me, closing the door. Her movements were jerky, stiff.
I wanted to go to Katya to get away from the family, but I wanted to go there because she was there. I wanted to watch her work, like I had the last weekend when she had no clue I was there, and mull over what I was going to do. But her supervisor sent her up instead of our normal bartender.
I had no idea why there was a change, but I walked in and saw her, and I was livid.
I’d wanted another day before I made my move. I needed that time to think of every option because that’s what I did in my job as a hedge fund manager. You thought of every avenue, every angle, every direction the money might go, and then you decided which one to sell, which to buy, and when. It was a thrill if you did it right, and even if you didn’t, you learned.
That time had been taken out of my hands, and I’d not reacted in the right way.
“You are a cop.”
She watched me, not blinking, not looking away. She wasn’t hiding. “I have not asked who you are. Ever think there’s a reason for that? I’ve not looked you up or asked for a favor. I could. It’s easy for me, but I haven’t. I didn’t go up there knowing you’d be there. I meant what I said at bowling. Stay away from me.”
I almost smirked at her, because she meant every word, but her body didn’t. “And yet you’re in my vehicle.”
“You said ‘Get in.’”
“Since when do you do what you’re told?”
“What do you want, West?”
So someone had told her who I was. “You know my name now.”
“I was told Tristian West. I wasn’t told anything else, and I’m going to be honest, I haven’t decided if I’m going to do a search or not.”
There was that, but it wouldn’t matter within twenty-four hours. “Your father was killed when you were in high school, and your brother was convicted of the crime.”
She reached for the door handle. “Stop the car.”
“Your mother’s a drunk. You’re working two jobs to take care of her and your brother’s debts.”
She reached for the door, but I moved, reaching over her and grabbing it before it could open. Or I tried. She turned, grabbing my arm, twisting, and I was shoved away from her instead.
“Don’t.”
The car door was still open, but Pajn had pulled the vehicle over.
She didn’t release my arm, just leaned in. “Do not move on me again. You did it once. I won’t allow it a second time.”
I pulled my arm free and moved, slower this time, but she didn’t move back.
That brought us close, real close, and this was not what I had intended to happen. Having her so close, feeling her again, I was staring at her lips.
I knew how she tasted, and I wanted another touch.
I was moving in when she sucked in her breath and jerked out of the way. The door was still open, and she reached for it, but she didn’t get out yet.
Pajn was waiting for my order on what to do, so right now, I was waiting for her.
“Why did you wait for me?”
“To apologize.”
Her eyes clouded over, and she looked down. She didn’t say anything else before she got out of the vehicle and shut the door.
“You want me to go after her?”
I shook my head. “Take me to my downtown office.”
I needed to do some work of my own.
My uncle said they hadn’t done anything about Billy Garretson because of his niece’s job and her father. He hadn’t expanded and I hadn’t pushed because a part of me didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to fully wade into that world except for the random times I already had, helping with what my uncle needed me to do. But this was different. This was personal, and I was nearing a line where I needed to know all the angles before I proceeded any further.
For now, I’d do what I excelled at for my normal work.
Research.
