Joshua
I pulled the phone away from my ear, frowning. That was the third unanswered call I’d made to Kayla in the last two days I’d been gone. Immediately, I began dialing Carter’s number.
“Hey, what’s up?” he answered.
I heard a lot of bustling in the background.
“Are you on shift?”
“Yup. Twenty-four hours.”
“Fuck.”
“What’s up?” Carter asked, his voice turning serious.
“I need you to check on Kay for me when you get a chance. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Hm, since when?”
“Since I left the other night. I just need you to check in on her, make sure she’s all right. I’m handling things with Townsend Real Estate.”
“The other night? Well, I know Michelle’s spoken with her since that night. They made plans just yesterday to have lunch sometime this weekend.”
My head jerked back and I pulled the phone from my ear. He couldn’t be talking about the same Kayla I was referring to. NotmyKayla. Since when did she and Michelle become such good friends yet she can’t even pick up the phone for me.
“I don’t know, bro, but it sounds like you fucked up.”
My head snapped up. I hadn’t noticed I’d said that last part out loud. “I didn’t fuck up,” I mumbled.
Carter fucking chuckled into the phone. “That’s what we all say. Anyway, I’ll check on her to make sure she’s fine when I get off.”
“Thanks.” I tossed the phone onto the black leather seat of the town car I was riding in.
“Woman problems?”
My eyes rolled over to Brutus who sat at my right. “The only problem with my woman you need to concern yourself with is the information I requested.”
“I had to pull my staff from Kayla’s background search to work on McCloud.”
“Well, this is almost over. I want that information as soon as I return to Williamsport.”
“Noted,” Brutus replied before stating, “We’re here.”
“Let’s get this shit over with.” We were going to confront Wallace McCloud. And by confront I meant eviscerate him.
Through some more questioning and digging, Brutus was able to confirm the information that we received from Damon and James Cunningham. The man, Tim, turned out to be one of McCloud’s cousins, who he’d blackmailed into doing his dirty work for him.
Now, we were sitting outside of the house where that chicken shit, Wallace McCloud, had been in hiding. The building that Kay had been looking through with her realtor that day had been purchased from McCloud’s once-thriving realty company by Townsend for much less than its asking price. While we purchased it for about ten million, with the work we’d put into it, we nearly doubled the building’s resale price. McCloud’s lack of business savvy had led him to a series of poor business decisions, which had forced him to sell the building at a discount. Apparently, now he was blaming Townsend Real Estate for the demise of his company.
“This is where he lives?” I questioned with disgust. The house we were sitting outside of was a small two-story home that had seen better days. The once blue siding was in need of replacement. The roof obviously needed fixing and part of the white gutters hung inches below where they were supposed to be attached to the roof. We were a couple of hours outside of the city of Chicago.
“His grandmother’s house,” Brutus answered. “He decided to hide out here after his wife divorced him, taking more than half of his assets. He’d moved the rest of his money to the Cayman Islands, thinking that’d keep it safe until everything with Townsend blew over. He knew we were looking for whoever was behind this mess.”
“He has money in the Cayman’s but leaves his grandmother to live like this?” I lifted an eyebrow. “Let’s go.” I pushed the car door open, waving the driver off.
I pounded the door with my knuckles, not caring whether or not I’d push the damn thing off its hinges. I stepped back when it sounded like footsteps were moving toward the door. Out of the blue, an image of a frightened Kayla pushed to the surface of my mind. I instantaneously cracked my knuckles. As soon as the door opened and I saw Wallace’s stupid fucking face, I reacted.
“Ahh!” he yelled as a result of the right jab I sent to his jaw.
