Cold dread curled through me, my body instinctually recoiling from the receiver. We knew better than toeverwish that job on anyone else. None of us could handle him the way Rack did. I silently thanked the stars for the role he played in this family.
Sensing my shift in thought, Rack steered the conversation back on course. Always the professional. “You’re calling about the item you sent a picture of?”
I looked down at the syringe still in my hand. “Yeah. Do you have any idea what it’s from? Is it something we produce?” It was nearly impossible that I wouldn’t already know, but I still had to ask.
“It’s definitely not ours. We don’t make injectables. Too close to drug production for the human government. We won’t know anything until we test the substance and break down its makeup.”
“Do you need me to ship this to you?”
“No. The last time your brother visited, he bought the vacant building in Whitefish and built a mini lab. Have your IT man Gil swab it and run some preliminary tests. By the time I get the results… he should be out of his…creative mode.”
Thinking back, I remembered Calix being the one to hire Gil. Damn double agent.
“Come on, Rack,” I called out playfully, “you know we call it his asshole hour.”
Rack’s parents had been good friends with ours, so when they died when he was thirteen, my parents took him in and raised him alongside us. You would think some of our rowdiness would’ve rubbed off on him, but that never happened. He was always a stickler for the rules and the “proper” way to do things.
When we all took over as bosses, he distanced himself, drawing lines of propriety we all hated, except for Ezra, who shrugged it off, saying if that was how he wanted it, she wouldn’t stop him. Ezra, Calix, and Rack had been thick as thieves in high school, the three of them setting the tone of what to expect from the Syndicate children before Aniyah, Riot, and I got to those grades. So, maybe she understood him better than the rest of us.
This time, Rack gave a low chuckle, and I smiled. Buried under all the formality, he was still the boy I had grown up with.
“Yes. He’ll be in a much better state to examine the results.” His voice shifted back to business. “I’ll send you the coordinates for the lab.”
“Don’t think I won’t have words with him about building a lab here without my knowledge or putting in one of his men and masking them as mine. But since it’s helping me now, I’ll keep it short.”
“That’s wise, Miss Rossey.” I rolled my eyes. “If it makes you feel any better, he’s done this in all of his sisters' base locations.”
I took a deep sigh before firing back, “Thanks,Mr. Rack Marlo,” and hanging up. There was no getting through to that man! Maybe that was why he was with Calix. Birds of a feather and all that jazz.
“That dude’s weird,” Zeth muttered, shaking his head. I almost agreed, but I knew Rack had to have his reasons for being like that, and I wasn’t in a position to pry.
With answers on the way, I slid back into boss mode, turning to Zeth and handing him the syringe. “I’m sure you heard. Cal built a lab in town and apparently has someone in place who can run the tests. Get this to Gil and have him run the test. Tell him to send me and Rack the results ASAP.”
Zeth’s hand circled around the syringe, nodding at me before his eyes flicked to Conrad then back to me. “Why don’t we go together?”
I shook my head, pinning him with a look that said I needed him to follow along with what I’d ordered, not what he thought was best. Plus, the test had to be run immediately, and it would be faster if we split up. “Conrad and I will check the rest of the place, see if Donnie stashed any more.”
Turning to Conrad, I asked, “Can Zeth borrow your car? I promise he’ll return it.” Taking Zeth’s concern about the turned vampire to heart, I still wanted to grill Conrad, and letting him have access to his own car would make that harder. It only made sense to have Zeth borrow his.
Conrad studied us, his hand slowly going into his pocket. His controlled features and sharp eyes gave nothing away. My hands fisted as I started to wonder if I was going to need to demand his compliance—because I would if I needed to. Being a boss, you always needed to be ready to flex your strength. I just liked giving people the illusion that I could be nice about it.
He pulled out his keys, a large grin splitting across his face as he handed them over to Zeth. “Of course.” His deep green gaze settled on me. “Whatever I can do to help the Syndicate.”
Even as he said it, I felt it; he knew something was off, yet he still walked right into it, facing me with his head held high. There was something incredibly… admirable about that.
I really hoped I wouldn’t have to kill him. It would be a shame to get rid of those good looks, great body, and savvy business mind.
10
NOVA
“You know, when you asked me to stay behind, I thought you were either going to kill me or I’d finally convinced you to have sex with me. I did not expect to tear apart a dingy trailer from top to bottom, laminate board to laminate board, using me for manual labor.”
Ripping out the last drawer from the second bedroom dresser, I dumped its contents on the bed. “You never know,” I called out absently. “The night's still young. Killing someone doesn't take that long.” And it all depended on what he said.
As for the latter… it was tempting. My body ran hot just thinking about it.
He puffed out a laugh, but I could see the hesitation in his body, the way his back was never turned toward me. It was cute that he thought that would help him.
