THE MEETING WENT exactly as expected. Bones and I had climbed out of the Hummer and followed Father's associates into a warehouse where we inspected a load of new computer processors. I made the opening offer and, as the old man had predicted, they hemmed and hawed about it being too low. I shrugged and started walking away. They countered. The cycle repeated a few times before I gave them my final offer. They told me they'd need time to see if they could find a higher bidder. I gave them twenty-four hours.
Once we were back in the Hummer, I checked my phone and saw that I had a text from Markie.
"Thanks for the beautiful roses. I'm allergic, but it was a really sweet gesture."
"What roses?" I asked aloud.
Bones's brow furrowed. "Someone sent her roses?"
I called the hotel manager, but he knew nothing about the flowers. Freaking the fuck out, I burned rubber toward the hotel, calling Markie.
She was fine. Hearing her voice settled my nerves, but only slightly. I needed to see her. To see for myself that she was okay.
"Why the fuck would someone send her roses?" I asked.
Bones shifted in his seat, and turned to look out the window.
"What?" I asked.
"I have a theory."
I eyed him. Bones always had a theory, and usually it was the craziest shit I'd ever heard.
"Don't look at me like that. It's solid."
"Okay. Talk."
"Well, you know I looked into her background. Her parents were cops."
Shit. I swallowed. "And..."
"She was going for her bachelor's in criminal justice, probably following in the footsteps of her old man. Straight A's, professors fuckin' loved her. She had a long-term relationship with some guy, they break up, and she suddenly drops out of school and leaves the country."
"Lots of people drop out, Bones." Then what he said really hit me. "She had a long-term relationship?"
"Yeah, some guy in Idaho. We're talkin' fuckin' high school sweethearts."
Goddamn. Bones had dug until he hit bedrock on her. "So they broke up. Shit happens."
He shrugged. "What if the boy went psycho and she fled the country to get rid of his crazy ass?"
Seemed like a pretty big stretch to me. "She's been in Africa for a year, Bones. And she didn't go home."
"No, but she did have the orphanage pull a background check on her. If I can find this shit out, he can find her. What if he was watching for her? Just waitin' for her ass to come back."
As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. A crazy point, but a point nonetheless. Chances were good that the two of them had just went their separate ways. Still, Bones could usually sniff out when something didn't smell right.
Worried, I pressed the gas pedal to the floor. I don't think I breathed again until she opened the door. Then my breath caught for an entirely different reason. She was wearing a goddamn bathrobe! And judging by the eyeful of cleavage it showed, nothing beneath it. I had to get the fuck out of her room or I was going to attack her. And I still had to figure out where the flowers had come from.
"Any note or anything?" I asked Bones as I entered our suite.
"Yep, but you aren't gonna like it." He held a card up.
I plucked it out of his fingers and read it.
You're sexy as fuck. Tell your boyfriend he should watch your fine ass more carefully.
"What the fuck is this?" I asked.
