CANE
My fucking head hurt. Pounded. Throbbed.
It could have been because my blood pressure was so fucking high that my head was about to shoot off my body like a cartoon character.
That would have been a funny vision if I hadn’t been ready to lose my shit. And losing my cool in front of the private investigator sitting on the other side of my desk at Alexander Industries probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Max gave me a look to keep myself in check, and I glowered at him all cool and collected.
How can he always be so calm? One of these days, I’m going to make sure he goes ape-shit crazy, just for the fun of it.
I rolled my head around my neck, trying to loosen the straining muscles in my body.
“So what do you suggest we do?” I asked, sitting back in my chair.
I really hope he suggests that I just destroy him …
“Well, Cane, there isn’t a lot we can do at this point. The witness that says he saw a man who looked like Simon the night of the waterline bust isn’t going to talk to the police.”
“Fucking punk,” I muttered, waiting for Nick to go on.
“But there is security footage of an Avalanche in the area that night?” Max glanced at me and then back to Nick.
“There is. But do you know how many dark Avalanches there are in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area? It isn’t clear enough to get a license plate number, so there’s no hard evidence that we can do anything with.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”
“Do I even want to know what that means?” Nick raised his eyebrows.
“No. No, you don’t.” Max flashed me a warning look. “Cane’s just running his mouth.”
I leaned forward on my desk, frustration eating away at me. “So what? I just wait around like a sitting duck while he goes around tearing up my job sites and assaulting my girlfriend? Fuck that!”
“Cane,” Nick said, his voice even, “stay calm. We’re doing everything we can at this point to ensure Powers doesn’t do anything else to you, your assets, or Ms. Stanley.”
I looked Nick over. His face had changed in the roughly ten years since I had met him. It was harder, more seasoned, but his eyes were still the assessing, evaluating ones I remembered.
He was one of the best PIs in the state—and one of the few willing to take on a case from a rambling kid who had just lost his dad. As his investigation progressed into my dad’s case, Nick and I became close. He never had gotten married nor had children, so I don’t know if he looked at me like a kid or a friend. Regardless, he saved me from drinking myself to death on more than one occasion.
“I know, Nick. But you know who this son of a bitch is. I want him eliminated as a threat, and since I’m guessing you aren’t going to support me killing him …”
Nick shook his head. “If anyone knows what that family is capable of, it’s me, Cane. But we have to do things in order.”
“He’ll slip up,” Max chimed in, looking between us.
“Max is right. Simon will slip up, and we’ll nail him to the wall. Think about it: we know that the police are watching him due to his involvement in apparent drug activities. We have a guard watching Jada twenty-four seven. We have undercover security at Benjamin Estates as well as rewards out for information leading to the waterline burst. We are doing everything we can.” Nick eyed me shrewdly. “What would have helped the most is for Jada to have contacted the police after the assault.”
I shook my head, scrubbing my hand down my face again. “They wouldn’t have done anything anyway. It would have been her word against his, and you said so yourself; the security cameras there didn’t catch anything.”
“He’s a slippery one, but I think that’s genetic,” Nick said, shaking his head. “But wewillget him, Cane. I promise you that.”
THIRTY-THREE
Jada
“This looks great,”Cane said, flashing the server a brilliant smile. He looked devastatingly handsome as usual. “Thank you.”
The server flushed and glanced quickly at me as if to apologize for being charmed by my man. I smiled back at her, telling her it was okay. I understood. Females just didn’t have a chance around him.
My father always said you could tell someone’s true nature by how they treated waiters and bellboys. If that was true, Cane was a keeper.
