“Fine.” I took a breath, wondering how much he needed to know so he’d help me. “She seems to think he wassome upstanding businessman because, for whatever reason, he treated her like a princess and was a stand-up father. But he was a corrupt, murdering criminal who ran half the shit at the other end of this city, mostly drugs, but there was some murder-for-hire shit in there. He certainly had no qualms about killing to get what he needed. She’s determined to find out who murdered him, and I can either help her along or watch her waste her life away.”
“I’ll ask again, what’s it to you what she does with her life? How do you even know who her father was?”
“I saw a photo…” I spat out, gritting my teeth, “… and I recognized him from Hell. He was one of mine.”
Frank leaned back in his seat. “Ah.” I waited for some nugget of wisdom from the eldest of our brothers, but he said nothing more until, “What do you need from me?”
“You’ve been here a while. I want someone I can talk to who can give me information she won’t be able to find. Maybe if I can find her brother, he’ll know something. She said she hasn’t spoken to him since her dad died. Or even better, if I can just find out who did it and some evidence, then point the cops toward them and end this.”
Frank chuckled, slid his feet from his desk, and leaned forward again, watching me as he rested his chin on his fingers. “You know solving crimes isn’t what demons do, right?”
“Pretty sure they don’t become CEOs either.”
“Touché. But then again, you never really did fit in back home, did you,parvulus puer?”
“Don’t call me that.”
Frank’s lip lifted into something between a smirk and a sneer. The nickname sounded cute, but for us it was far from endearing—the termlittle boywas intended to offend. Beyond the difference between us in years, I was often at the receiving end of insults due to never quite holding the pleasure-for-violencestreak that was pivotal to so many demons.
And worse than insults.
Never by Frank, he’d tease, but he wasn’t the type to outright bully, not unless you seriously pissed him off. But demon siblings were hardly compassionate with one another, and everyone was left to fight their own battles.
“All right, I think I know someone you can talk to,” Frank said.
“Wh—”
“But,” Frank held a finger out, making sure I was holding his eye contact. I bared my teeth at him, not needing to be treated like a child. “You watch out for this guy, okay? He’s older than me and absolutely can not be trusted. I can keep him under control because I have money to satiate him and keep him mostly from trouble, and physically, I’m stronger than he is and can shake him up a bit. But I have no doubt he’s got his slimy fingers in everything he can get into to make extra cash. He likes to gamble and fuck, but he doesn’t fit in… humans simply don’t trust him. He can’t seem to blend in like you or I. He’s too dark inside.”
That was concerning, but I didn’t let it show on my face. “I can take care of myself—”
“Watch yourself around him. I fucking mean it, Cade.”
“All right, I got it, Frank.”
Frank stared at me for a moment longer, his dark curls falling over his forehead as he leaned forward to stare intently, probably an intimidation technique, and I’d never admit to him it was almost working. He sighed, then said, “For a handful of cash, he’ll tell you what he knows, but donottell him I sent you to him. I’ll never hear the end of it, and he’ll think he has the upper hand on me. One day I’m going to cut him loose, but for now, it’s a matter of keep-your-enemies-closertype deal. I’ve no doubt he’s in with every dodgy fucker he can get in with, so hemay know something or someone who does.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m not thrilled about you crossing his path. But if it’ll help ease your conscience about this woman, then so be it.”
“Who said I was feeling guilty?”
Frank’s lip twitched. “It’s written all over your face,parvulus puer.You never were a good liar.”
My stomach felt like lead within me. I didn’t want to have to lie to Nikki beyond the obvious of keeping my identity hidden. But holding this back from her wasn’t sitting well with me. I wished we could investigate together and I could be pivotal in her solving this crime so she could finally rest. Maybe it was slightly childish, but I wanted to be the center of her attention.
I wanted to help, then maybe Nikki could rest without ever having to know the truth about who Murphy really was.
Who was I to sully her memories with something as horrid as reality?
NIKKI
Cade woke me before he left in the morning. Although I managed to drag him back into bed, clutching onto his arms and pulling him on top of me, he’d rewarded my desire with a heated make-out session full of promises before he pulled away and told me he had to run some errands.
What errands could be more important than his mouth between my legs?
Or mine between his.
