Shiny silk suits and a gleaming Rolex reflected the morning light.Vaughn’s goon squad.Not the usual two henchmen who were always with him, but Silicon Valley muscle was unmistakable all the same.“You set the alarm?”
“Yeah.You think that’s enough?”
“Should be.I don’t know why they’d go in.”Just in case, Nic opened the home monitoring app on his phone and kept his eyes glued to it until they hit the freeway.All clear, he closed the app and put a hand on Cam’s thigh.“Thank you for getting us through that.If it’d just been me, I would have barkedNoat everyone.”
“That’s not your usual sort of press appearance.”
Nic had to do them occasionally as Assistant US Attorney, but for those planned appearances he made it his business to have answers to all the questions that could possibly be lobbed at him.That was his job as a lawyer.This morning had been a surprise.For them both.
“Yours either,” he said to Cam.
“Maybe not me, but I’ve been out to clubs and events with Jamie enough to know how to counter a press ambush.”Cam’s best friend, and Aidan’s husband, was a former basketball star and now coach.“I learned the value ofno commentreal quick.”
Nic was reminded of something else Cam had said during their mad dash to the truck.“You saidourprivacy.”
Cam shot him a sweet smile and dropped a hand over his, weaving their fingers together.“Yeah, baby, because this isourlife.I meant what I said last night.You’re not going through this alone.”
Nic was leaning across the console to kiss his lover’s cheek when the phone in his hand vibrated, lighting up with Mary’s picture.“Fuck!”He should have called her right away, before she had a chance to see the news.“Mary, I’m so sorry.I was on my way to tell?—”
“Are you okay, Dominic?”Warmth filled her voice and flowed directly to Nic’s chest, her concern for him palpable.She’d come to live with them when he was six, shortly after his mother’s death, and she’d become a second mother to him.She’d stayed until almost the bitter end, trying to preserve something for him that wasn’t worth saving, definitely not at the expense of her safety.Mel had hired her away on a part-time basis until she was ready to fully retire.“Dominic,” she called again.
He swallowed around the lump in his throat.“I’m okay.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Take care of you.”
“If I want to take care of you too, I will.Now, what do you want for supper?”Stubborn Italian woman, always trying to feed him.
“You don’t have to?—”
“I’m cooking at Melissa and Daniel’s tonight.You and Cameron will join us.”
On second thought, that was a better idea than him leading the press to her doorstep if any were following.Or worse, Vaughn’s goons.“Sounds good.But you call me before then if you notice anyone or anything off.”
“I think I’ll go grab groceries now, then hole up with a book until it’s time for dinner.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”They exchanged dinner details and were about to hang up when Cam whispered, “Heart condition,” reminding Nic of the other reason they’d been headed to Mary’s place.“Mary, wait,” Nic said, catching her before she hung up.“Did my father have any concerns lately about his health, his heart in particular?”
“None that I knew of.”
“Okay, thanks.We’ll see you tonight.”
“She okay?”Cam asked once Nic ended the call.
He nodded.“Go on to the office.We’ll meet her tonight at Mel and Danny’s for dinner.”
Cam moved into the far-left lane, gunned the engine, and shot past the slower-moving traffic.“Safer for her too.”
“I hope so.”
“She’s going to be fine.”Cam grasped his knee.“And so are you.”
Nic wasn’t so sure.If Vaughn was behind this morning’s surprise press attack, if he was behind his father’s death, then who or what would the gangster use next to pressure Nic into giving him what was left of his father’s estate?Or more?Nic needed to make his move—now—before Vaughn made a deadlier one.
The elevator dinged for the thirteenth floor of the Federal Building, the FBI’s offices, and Nic exited after Cam, close and in step but not otherwise flaunting their relationship.Their personal one was no secret; they’d agreed no hiding.They arrived and left together each day and ate lunch together when their schedules permitted.But on the clock, they were professional.They didn’t want any whiff of impropriety on the cases they worked.Their jobs and the people they protected daily depended on it.
Aside from a few respectful nods, no one bothered them on their way across the bullpen to the war room they’d set up in the conference room between Aidan’s and Cam’s offices.Climbing two flights of stairs multiple times a day was a small price to pay for keeping this case confined to a small, trusted circle.Which did not include Nic’s boss, US Attorney Bowers, who they suspected was on Vaughn’s payroll.While Bowers knew they were investigating Vaughn and had been trying to stick his nose in and block them for months, he hadn’t had access to the files or their case strategy, locked behind three doors in the Bureau’s domain.Seeing as Bowers did everything he could to avoid Aidan, it was the safest place in the building.
