“Boss,” the three of us reply.
“Everyone all right?” Mal asks, pulling out a seat at the table and dropping into it. He’s Elaina’s older brother, a few years older than Sterling. But even though the guy dyes his slicked back hair back to its original sandy blond, he looks at least ten years older than his years. Grief has aged him, creating deep lines at the corners of his mouth and eyes, pulling them down and making him appear permanently sad.
“We’re fine,” I reply.
There’s a knock at the door and Sullivan answers it. A woman says something to him before he shakes his head and says something in reply. She walks off and he closes the door.
“Let’s get to it, shall we?” he says as he unbuttons his suit jacket with one hand and takes a seat at the table.
“Problem?” Sterling asks him.
“No.” He waves a hand. “Just someone calling for me. I’ll call them back.”
“Right. In that case, let’s get the first thing on the list out the way… Neil?” Sterling says.
He pins his eyes on Killian and Jenson where they’ve taken seats opposite me. I’d usually be the one he asks for updates. But now that I’m with Sinclair the majority of the time, keeping tabs on Elaina’s ex-lover has fallen on them.
“He’s paid upfront for another week at The Lanceford,” Killian says.
“Damn it,” Sterling mutters, running a hand around his jaw. “He’s not planning on going anywhere, is he?”
“Doesn’t look like it, Boss,” Killian answers.
“What’s he back in New York for? Have we figured that out?” Mal asks, leaning over the table. “He hasn’t been here since he and Elaina…” He glances at Sterling who gestures for him to go on. “He left after she died. Why come back now?”
“Could be a coincidence,” Jenson says.
“Or it might not be,” Killian adds. “Whatever it is, we’ll find out. We’ve got the guys watching him twenty-four-seven.”
Sterling nods. “Good. Keep it that way. We need to know what he’s doing here.” His eyes pinch as he thinks. But they’re bright in a way they haven’t been in all the years I’ve known him.
He’s a changed man since he met Halliday. Jenson jokes about her being twenty years his junior, and even Killian was skeptical when she blew into the Beauforts’ lives with all her crystals and talks about energetic vibrations and manifesting your dreams. But I saw the change in him immediately. It was there the day he first told me that Sinclair had hired him a dating expert to find him love. And it’s grown brighter every day since they became a couple and got engaged. It’s almost blinding now they’re expecting a baby together. Something Sinclair’s so excited about that she was showing me baby clothes on her phone this morning when I drove her to her workout with Brad.
Brad Garrett-Charles. The name makes sourness roll over my tongue.
“Denver? How’s my daughter? Any idea on who’s been sending her these threats?”
“No, Boss,” I answer. “I’m checking out everyone she knows. But so far it’s brought up nothing. There have been no further causes for concern since her car was damaged.”
And shit on.
I keep that to myself. The men at the table have matching grave expressions. They’re worried about her. Telling them some asshole or crazy fan took a dump on her car isn’t going to make it any better. Sinclair still hasn’t admitted as much to anyone. So for now, the information is for me and me alone.
“Good. She seems to be taking it well,” Sterling says.
“She giving you hell?”
Sullivan’s eyes meet mine as I look along the table to him.
I purse my lips. “She’s?—”
“That’s a yes.” His eyes glint. “You know my sister. The harder she is on you, the closer you’re getting to her.”
“Denver must be about in her panties then judging by the shit she gives hi?—”
One swift elbow to the ribs has Jenson’s cheeks puffing out as he holds back a curse. Killian flashes me a look, leaning back in his chair next to Jenson.
“Just look after her,” Sullivan says, ignoring Jenson as his phone starts ringing in his pocket and he pulls it out.
