Chapter Seven
Cam was on his phone when he stepped off the elevator onto the twelfth floor.“That’s Roxie Cannon, with two n’s in the middle.I need whatever you can find, all the way back to birth.She works as a barmaid at a dive called The Ruckus here in Cobalt City.Beyond that, all I know is that she claims to have spent her childhood in the foster care system.”
He was already nodding when he heard the disclaimer come from the other end of the line.“I know juvenile records can get tricky.Privacy laws, yeah, yeah.Just do whatever you can.”
He disconnected as he headed down the hallway past Lexie’s office.The investigative firm he was using wasn’t local, but they were the best.He wouldn’t trust this task to anyone else.
He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something just wasn’t right with the women’s stories.They just didn’t jive.Like the two of them, night and day.
How could identical girls have been split up like that?Gone on to lead such different lives?
He shook his head.He really didn’t like leaving Lexie alone right now.She was vulnerable, and she was hurting.Yesterday had been life changing for her, and she was too trusting for her own good—except when it came to him.
He scowled.Whatever Julian had summoned him for had better be good.
He knocked on the CEO’s office door.When he walked in, he found he wasn’t the first to arrive.Lexie’s hotheaded brother already looked to be in a huff.
“The fallout from that billboard is beginning,” Landers said as he paced around his father’s office.“Tristan Caine is backing away from the deal we discussed last week.”
On the golf course, Cam noted as he shut the door behind him.Caine owned a local chain of discount stores that would account for a very small percentage of sales.Still, a lost deal was a lost deal.They couldn’t afford it.
“He says we’re too controversial right now, and I’m getting the same pushback from others,” the sales manager continued.“They’ll follow soon.”
No doubt the others were fraternity pals he counted on to do business.Cam leaned against Julian’s desk and crossed his legs at the ankles.The only reason Caine even associated that billboard with Underhill Associates was because Tristan knew Lexie as Landers’s sister.If the sales staff had concentrated on getting bigger, more diverse accounts, nobody would have made the connection.
Landers shook his head, but his perfectly cut hair fell right back into place.“The bastard shut me down, but then had the balls to ask if Lexie was seeing anyone.Can you believe it?”
Cam clenched the edge of the desk.Bastard was right.There was no way in hell that preppy college boy was getting within a hundred feet of her.
“Where is she, anyway?”her brother demanded.
“She didn’t come home last night,” Julian said from his spot by the window.
Finally, the question Cam had been waiting for since he’d stepped into the room.He didn’t like how long it had taken for these two to wonder about her whereabouts and her safety.“She won’t be in today,” he said flatly.
That, at last, took Julian’s attention away from what was happening outside.“She called in?”
“I took the message.”
Her father nodded thoughtfully.“Yes, well, I’m sure she’s working on getting that billboard removed.Once she puts her mind to something, it gets done.”
Didn’t he mean once she was tarred and feathered and ordered to do it?Cam’s temper spiked.He shouldn’t have come in, not for this.
“What was she thinking?”Landers asked for the thousandth time.“Did she need some extra cash?Hell, I would have floated her a loan before letting her do something like that.”
She hadn’t doneanything.Besides, who was this lazy punk to be telling his older, smarter sister what to do?
Cam pushed away from the desk and went to pour himself a glass of water.He’d promised Lexie he wouldn’t say anything, but damn it was tough not defending her.“Did you need me here for something in particular, Julian?Because I spent enough time on this subject yesterday.”
Underhill drummed his knuckles against the window.He seemed to be doing that a lot these days, just watching the activity twelve stories down.People came and went.Cars passed by and traffic lights flashed.The older man didn’t see much of it.
“Dad?”Landers said.
Julian blinked and looked at his son.“Go back to Caine and offer him a ten percent discount.See if he bites.”
Landers rolled his eyes.“Ten percent discount, all because Lexie decided to try to be sexy.”
Try?Cam nearly coughed up his water.
