“I’m here for information,” I said, surprising myself at how steady I managed to keep my voice. Why was I so afraid? I don’t even know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this man who made my skin crawl, and I suppressed a shudder at the idea of him coming closer to me.
Please stay in your chair.
Turning his head slowly, he was now looking at me, and although I couldn’t see his eyes, I could certainly feel the power of his gaze drilling into me.
“Who. Are. You?” he repeated.
“My name is Nikki, and I’ve been investigating my father’s murder.”
“I don’t know him.”
My eyebrows raised. “You might. Garrett Porter.”
The slightest twitch of Emrick’s dark eyebrow betrayed him, and he lowered his hands to his lap, drumming his fingers against his knee while he continued to stare at me. There was a movement of his cheeks like he was running his tongue along his teeth or rolling it in his mouth, maybe trying to decide what to say or do.
“What makes you think I know anything about it?” he finally asked.
“Anonymous tip.”
Somehow his laugh was worse than his gritted-teeth frustration, and he barked out a single note of amusement. Still chuckling, Emrick slid off his sunglasses, and I took a step back from him.
Black, his eyes were black. The irises were so dark they were barely indistinguishable from the pupil. I’d never seen anything like it, and there was something so distinctly unnatural about it. I’d have sworn he was wearing contacts, but he hardly seemed the type to bother.
No wonder he wore the damn sunglasses, he was terrifying.
Standing, Emrick made his way across the floor in a handful of strides, but he stopped in front of Cade, ignoring me almost entirely. They were similar heights, and while Cade was no lightweight, Emrick’s arms were huge, like he spent every spare second working out, and it simply added to the intimidation factor. To Cade’s credit, he didn’t flinch but held Emrick’s eye contact while they stared each other down.
“And where do you come into this?” Emrick asked.
Cade sneered at him. “None of your business.”
“Aww,” Emrick cooed, and I wanted to take Cade’s hand, more for my comfort than for his. “I think it is my business.” He turned his gaze to me, and I was hypnotized by the darkness of his eyes. Beyond the color, or lack of it, there was real darknessthere. I’d dealt with many criminals since being a cop, and I’d never felt this way in the presence of another human being before.
The thought hit me like a bolt of lightning—if this man tried to pay me off to keep my mouth shut, I might consider it just to get him to leave me alone.
Suddenly, I felt bad for Niles.
Fuck. We were in deep.
“What did your father do for a living?” Emrick asked me.
“He worked in real estate.”
Another laugh from Emrick, and I frowned. “Really? Are you sure about that?”
“I…” I’d had no reasonnotto be sure. Why would Dad lie to me? But the creeping feeling up my spine told me that Emrick knew something I didn’t, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. The urge to run made my feet tingle. I’d never been one to run from my problems, but this room and all the people in it, aside from Cade, made me feel ill.
“Tell you what, Nikki. If your boyfriend here tells you what he knows about your father, I’ll tell you what I know.”
I turned to Cade, still staring at Emrick, his jaw tense and visibly shaking with rage. Emrick was smirking, almost daring Cade with his eyes to initiate a fight. “Cade, what’s he talking about? You don’t know anything. We just met.”
When Cade didn’t speak, Emrick moved to stand closer to him, invading his space as much as possible without touching him, toe-to-toe and chest-to-chest, neither man moving as they stared hard at each other. “Oh, I think he knows a lot more than he’s telling you, sweet thing.”
“Shut up,” Cade snapped.
Emrick simply grinned.
“Cade?” I whispered.
