The gravel crunched under my boots as I stormed away, and I refused to allow myself the luxury of turning around and seeing what I hoped was a stunned look on his gorgeous fucking face. I didn’t want him to follow me to my car, trail me in his damn truck, or even worse, shove me in the back of his truck again under some bullshit excuse of protecting me.
Because he was justtoo damn handsome.His fucking words.
And because I didn’t want him to see me cry.
Without work to distract me, I had nothing.
Even the lure of the investigation wasn’t beaming as bright as it usually did. Because who was this man I was avenging? Now knowing that Urban was the hub of the business, I dove into research about the club for a while and found surprisingly little on it. There were more articles about minor drug busts from smaller clubs around the city than there were from Urban. It was almosttoo clean.But what did that tell me? Basically nothing. Because all I had to go on now was what people had told me, and I didn’t feel like I could trust any of them. It felt like everyone had been lying to me about everything, and I didn’t know who to believe.
Even the simple fact that Idoubtedmy father’s character bothered me. Why was I so ready to accept what Cade had told me? I’d known Dad for much longer than I knew Cade, so why take his word over family?
Becausea voice in my head told methere are too many things you ignored.
Meetings with men who definitelyweren’tin real estate, accounting, or whatever other drivel I was sold. The gun I’d found in the drawer in his study that I’d never mentioned to anyone. That time he’d come home with what looked suspiciously like blood splatters on his clothes, which I readily believed was paint. The way he avoided photos being taken of him as best he could—really, I had none of him that I could recall. The ridiculous hours, the secrecy whenever there was a phone call.
Fuck, was I as blind, stupid, and naïve as the cops I’d beentalking shit about?
Garrett—or Mitch, I didn’t even know what to call him anymore—had invited me into his family as though I were his own daughter. Was I so taken with that, I was willing to forgive and even ignore a few missteps?
What I needed was proof, or at least the word of someone I trusted, and it didn’t feel like there were many of those left. Snatching my cell from the kitchen counter, I typed out a text before dropping the phone and pacing, impatiently waiting for a response. Minutes later, it vibrated, buzzing across the counter in my otherwise silent home, and eagerly I grabbed it again.
Niles:I’ll come by in a couple of hours.
It was the longest two and a half hours of my life, and when he knocked and I swung open the door, Niles swept my body with his gaze, not even bothering to hide the disapproval in his eyes.
“You look like hell,” he said, stepping inside as I closed the door behind him.
“Thanks. Want a drink?”
“No, I can’t stay.”
“Good, because I just want to ask you a question, and I need honest information.”
“Is this to do with Torres?”
I shook my head. I’d almost forgotten her, it seemed so long ago, a flicker of a happening that had been dampened by the tidal wave of information and doubt that plagued me now. Torres and Kim, victims of someone’scleaning uphouse, cutting loose ends and ties to this city.
Shit,why couldn’t I think straight?
Was the mystery fucker trying to silence me simply to protect himself? It seemed obvious that would be his number one priority. But if he were after my father because of the business they were in and not the assets which Emrick admitted he hadtaken, then there were dangerous people involved.
This was sounding less and less like real estate, and every minute that passed felt like another dagger in my soul. I was falling apart at the seams and barely holding myself together because I didn’t know who I was anymore. So long with a goal in sight only to have it slapped out from underneath me left me without stable footing and a whole world of questions I didn’t have before.
“No,” I sighed. Did I really want to know?Steeling myself, I finished, “I need you to tell me about Mitch Murphy.”
Niles’ shoulders tensed, and he shoved his hands in the pockets of his tan jacket, looking off to the side at nothing in particular while his jaw worked double time as though attempting to grind his teeth into stumps. “Why are you asking?”
Waving my hand dismissively, I pressed on. “Irrelevant. I need to know who he was.”
“Tell me why, Nikki.”
“I…” I licked my lips, realizing the irony of my next words, a direct reflection of what Cade had said to me. Cursing internally, I moved forward. I wasn’t here to question Cade’s motives or to think about him at all. “I can’t tell you.”
Niles stared hard at me, sighing before checking his watch and looking at me again. I could almost see the cogs in his mind turning, trying to figure out why I’d be asking about a man like Mitch Murphy, wondering if I was doing the opposite of instructed and investigating while suspended.
Of course, I fucking was.He knew me better than that.
“He disappeared years ago, and no one’s heard from him since.”
