Before Jansen could answer, Cole reached into the pocket of his suit and produced a vape pen, which he handed over. Jansen stared at it for a moment.
Cole huffed sharply. “If you don’t want it, just say?—”
“I didn’t say that.” Jansen snatched the vape pen away. It had a cartridge locked and loaded already, too. And it was even spearmint, Jansen’s favorite.
He was already going to owe Cole a hell of a lot for this, and the vape pen and spearmint cartridge were only adding to thatdebt, but whatever. He hadn’t had a vape since before the party and he’d had a rough fucking night.
Just put it on my tab,he thought as he put the pen in his mouth.
“Let’s sit down.” Cole moved to one of the chairs in the room and sat. He gestured at the other.
Jansen was wary, but he accepted the seat. His whole body was sore from getting tackled and then not sleeping, so this felt a lot better than standing. It even seemed to make his arm hurt infinitesimally less.
This wasn’t an interrogation room like the cop shows always showed. No two-way mirror. No table between them. Fairly comfortable swivel chairs. He didn’t see any cameras, but that didn’t mean they were unmonitored.
As he blew out a cloud of vapor, Jansen eyed Cole. “So what the fuck do you want?”
Cole blinked, then laughed. “I’ve got someone coming to look at that arm, and you’re going to get spicy with me? All right, then.”
Jansen kept his glare fixed on the rich fuckwad. “You wouldn’t be here, and you wouldn’t be asking anyone to do shit about my arm, unless you wanted something. So let’s just cut to the chase and get to the part where you tell me what you want.” He smirked. “Or did you just want to bend my ear about cubism?”
The groan and the eyeroll were even more satisfying than when Cole had slammed the door in the faces of the guards. He fixed his glare on Jansen and hardened his voice. “Listen, if you want to stay here and let your arm hurt while you wait for your rescheduled arraignment…”
Jansen’s smirk dropped. “What do you mean, ‘rescheduled’? I thought it was this afternoon.”
“It was.” Cole grinned. “But your attorney requested a delay because, gosh, somehoweveryoneat the firm is unavailable today. Besides me, anyway.”
Jansen drew back. “Did you… You didn’t kill them, did you?”
“What?” Cole scoffed and stared at him, features contorted so hard with offense that he looked a lot like his mother. “I wouldn’tkillanyone, least of all to get access toyou.”
“So… how are all the attorneys indisposed at once? Or is that just a convenient coincidence?”
“I mean…” Cole half-shrugged. “It’s notlikelybut also notimpossiblefor one partner to have a burst pipe, one to have all four tires flat, and another to have her catalytic converter stolen, all on the same day. Especially not when one of theotherpartners had a minor but cosmetically disastrous fender bender in his Aston Martin this morning.”
Jansen cocked his head. “You did all that. Just to get to me.”
“I had some help.”
“You? Help?” Jansen was about to say“that’ll be the day.”But… well, maybe it was today, because here was Cole, and apparently the entire law firm was out of commission. “You did all of that to—Jesus, man. Are you some kind of psychopath? Oh, wait. You’re a billionaire. Of course you are.”
Cole narrowed his eyes. After a moment, he shrugged and rose. “Fine. I’ll leave you in the hands of New York’s finest.” He started toward the door. “I’m sure they’ll take care of that arm.”
“Wait!” Jansen sprang to his feet—wavering of course, because he was still dizzy—and grabbed Cole’s arm. “Okay. Okay. You win.” He nodded toward Cole’s chair. “You said we don’t have much time, so let’s do this.”
The frosty stare held for a moment, and Jansen was sure his mouth had gotten him in trouble again. He’d blown his chance. And shit, even if Cole wanted something, hewasgetting him medical help, but of course Jansen had to fuck that up.
Cole glanced at the clock on the wall, then met Jansen’s gaze again. “Here’s the deal. I’ll make sure you get out, get medical attention, and have any charges dropped. All I need from you in return is one answer.”
Jansen watched him silently. Cole looked like he was waiting for a smartass retort, which… fair. But Cole had all the cards right now and Jansen was pretty fucked, not to mention in pain. Not many options other than playing Cole’s game.
“Fine. What’s the question?”
Cole pinned him with that cold stare. “Where is Marcus Ekström?”
A laugh almost burst out of Jansen. No one hated anyone like Cole Dalton hated Marcus Ekström, so whatever he wanted with the guy, it couldn’t be good.
Then again, Jansen wasn’t crazy about Marcus right now either. He’d duped Jansen and Eli into going after the penguin, and it hadn’t even been the real goddamned penguin. Had Marcus known?
