“And I’m going to be a grandpa.”
“Yes, you are.” Raven gave him a tight smile. “I should get going. Avery and Mom will want to cut the cake.”
He nodded. “Oh, and Raven, don’t worry too much about this wedding. You know, the event isn’t half as important as the marriage that follows. I speak from experience.”
The force of her father’s words hit her straight in the gut. “The marriage” in his case was the one in which he left her mother, the one which she was raised in, believing as children do that her parents were very much in love. She wasn’t ready to hear how the family she remembered had all been a big mistake to him.
She opened the office door and ushered him out, gesturing toward the exit. “You know the way.”
He hugged her then, and she stiffened in his arms. “Happy birthday, Raven.”
Relief flooded her when he finally headed for the door. She hoped to heaven she hadn’t just made a terrible mistake.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Nick showed up at the station the following Monday, feeling like his soul had been torn out, fed through a meat grinder, and then tucked back into his skin. After a day of brooding over beer and nonstop football, he was ready to admit he was completely smitten with Rowan. Too bad he’d basically called her a liar and kicked her out of his apartment. There was probably no coming back from that.
The fact was shehadlied to him, damn it! And tinkered with his brain. He’d been right to call her out. So then why did everything feel wrong? Everything. It hurt to breathe. He’d completely lost his appetite. And what little sleep he’d had since she left was riddled with dreams of her.
Thankfully, he made it to his office without much contact with other human beings. He rang Soren, and it wasn’t long before his partner appeared in the seat across from him.
“So, what’s the story? What did you find out about the Sumner case Friday night?” Soren cradled his coffee mug in his hands and blew across the top, breaking apart the curls of steam that rose from the dark brown liquid.
Nick thought for a moment. He needed to phrase this in a way that could be pursued by the department without making him look like a nutcase who thought vampires existed. “There’s a secret room, a VIP area on the lower level of Wicked Divine. It appears they’re part of a fetish club, some BDSM type of thing. You were right about that. The, uh, submissive partners have those tattoos we saw on the victim’s wrist. The dominant partners pretend to be vampires and drink their blood.”
Soren laughed nervously. “Vampires?”
“It’s as disgusting as it sounds. I couldn’t stay long without blowing my cover, but my theory is that the dead girl was the victim of a session that went too far. Worse, I think a lot of the blood donors are there against their will. I saw signs of human trafficking.”
“No one is going to believe that.” The idea seemed to make Soren oddly jittery. He cracked his neck and sipped his coffee.
“I think a search warrant would be a good start. Take a team into Wicked Divine. See what we can find out.”
His partner shook his head. “That’s not going to be easy.”
“No?”
“Come on, Nick.” Soren lowered his voice. “You’ve lived in New York your entire life. You must know that Michael Verinetti has friends in high places. Maybe we should, uh, focus our energies on leads other than Wicked Divine.”
Nick’s chest tightened. What the fuck was he hearing right now? He narrowed his eyes on Soren. “I plan to proceed cautiously. There were some wealthy patrons down there last night; I get that. But a girl is dead and someone needs to be held accountable for that. I saw others who may be there against their will. We can’t turn our back on that.”
“But, I mean, maybe we could pursue it without involving Wicked Divine. I’m just saying you don’t want to rock that boat unless you have absolute proof in hand. In fact, you might have trouble getting the warrant.” Soren’s voice deepened, becoming threatening. “Even if you did obtain a warrant, you might find your life becomes far more complicated once you do.”
Nick’s jaw clenched until the muscles hurt. He wanted to shake Soren. Why was he protecting Verinetti? He hadn’t seemed to have much of a connection to Wicked Divine before.Fuck—it had been Soren’s tip that had brought him there in the first place.
“What happened last night, Soren? What did that girl say to you?”
Soren’s tongue ran along his front teeth, and Nick noticed the way he tightened his grip on his coffee, his eyes shifting around the office. “When I spoke with Kendra, she told me the group was consensual. I didn’t know about the biting, okay, but… she mentioned there are some big names in this group. Names we don’t want to be on the bad side of, especially you.”
“Me?”
He leaned in and lowered his voice. “I told you the Stevensons suspect you in the theft of the Raindrop of Heaven. You might even say theyaresure and willmake sureit was you if they need to. They have you on the security tape going into their room. That was the last time anyone saw the jewels in their residence. Nobody wants to have to report you. You’re a good detective. But if you keep pursuing these crazy theories of yours, he’ll be forced to take action.”
Nick’s hands balled into fists. Stevenson was there Friday night, at one of the tables in the auction house. He’d acquired land on NAVAK’s behalf. Soren worked as security for Stevenson. Soren had hounded him, personally, for weeks about filling in for him at the Stevensons’ Hampton beach house because of plans he had with his wife for their anniversary, despite cheating on her with this Kendra person. Soren had been oddly forthcoming with that little tidbit. Now he was accusing Nick of stealing jewels that Rowan claimed she’d replaced.
Nick swore under his breath. He’d been set up. By Soren.Fuck, he wanted to kill the guy. He wanted to reach across his desk, grab his damned head, and slam it into his desk until he bled.
He lowered his voice, the tone becoming as threatening as Soren’s. “All they have on that video is me walking rounds. And housekeeping and regular security were in that closet after me.”
