Standing, Jack towered over his cousin. “Get that out of your head, now. We still have a few weeks until the pre-trial hearing.”
“And it would be even longer until the actual trial,” Drew added. “A good lawyer could stretch things out for a while. Give us more time to figure this out.”
“Thanks.” Scott’s crooked grin held no warmth and his eyes narrowed in pain. “I don’t understand what the hell is happening. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to remember if I did something to anyone in this lady’s family. I need to do more digging to see if one of my projects affected her somehow. Anything else doesn’t make sense.”
“Or it’s something to do with this mill building,” she suggested. “We’ve had a bitch of a time getting permits through. I’ll see if I can dig up thehistory on it.”
“Or check out the other bidders who wanted it,” Drew suggested. “This could be a way to get you to sell.”
Running his hands through his hair, Scott took a deep breath. “This is an awful lot of trouble to go to just to get a building.”
Heather’s phone buzzed and she grabbed it from the table. Jian.
Looking at Scott, she slid her hand over the screen to read the text. “Jian has some information he says we should hear. Hewants to meet.”
“Jian? Has something else happened to the building?” Scott asked.
She shook her head. “No, it’s aboutCarla Findley.”
His eyes drilled into her. “How the hell does he know about her?”
“I told him.”
“When didyou see Jian?”
Heat crawled up her neck. He wouldn’t be happy about this. “I went looking for him afew days ago.”
“You went…” He held her upper arms, glaring. “What the fuck were you thinking going looking for him? His crowd is dangerous. You could have been killed, or worse.” Yeah, she knew what the worse was but she’d never tell Scott about that little incident.
“I know but you said I was under his protection now. And I was fine.” And she had been once Jian’s men had cometo her rescue.
“Jian? You mean the street gang guy?” Drew sat up straighter. “You aren’t still hanging around withhim, are you?”
“I don’t hang around with him. But occasionally I need a favor and he’s able todo it for me.”
“This won’t look good if the cops find out, Scott. It could make your case worse thanit already is.”
“Too late,” Scott replied. “They already know. Probably one of the reasons my bail was so high, even though I’m nota flight risk.”
Running her hand down his arm, trying to calm the anger she felt in him, she said, “What do you want me to say to Jian? Did you want to see what information he has?”
Scott shoved his hands through his hair again then rubbed them over his face. “I guess it can’t hurt. Tell him I’ll meet him at the mill in thirty minutes.”
“We’ll come too,” Drew said, standing beside Jack.
“No.” Scott shook them off. “Lawyer and ex-FBI. Not a good match for Jian. His trust only goes so far.”
Tapping her fingers on the phone screen, she said, “I’ll tell himwe’llmeet him.”
Scott pushed himself off the couch. “You’re not coming with me. I don’t want you anywhere near these guys.”
Standing, she followed him across the room. “You’re not going by yourself. I want to help. And don’t even try to give me the ‘it’s too dangerous’ lecture. You’ll be with me and I know I’msafe with you.”
Scott didn’t argue, simply entered his room to change his clothes. Strangely enough Heather wasn’t worried about meeting with the street gang leader. With Scott, she felt safe. He’d never let anything happen to her. And as much as she hated admitting to needing anyone, for some weird reason, she didn’t mind Scott wanting to protect her. It felt kind of nice.
