Tom sits at a table with a blond woman who has barely any clothes on. They hunch over a napkin as he explains the numbers to her. Pointing at things with his pen.
She grins and hugs him. Stiffening, he shakes his head and looks behind him.
“Can you back this up?” I lean forward, trying to determine if he knew someone at that table or just glanced that way to avoid looking at the woman’s breasts. The latter isn’t likely.
“Sure.” Drew rewinds it. There’s a lot more of Tom explaining the basics of addition to who I assume is Crystal. Until he backs across the screen and talks with a guy in black at that table before backing away to the door.
Drew hits play when Tom comes into the room and we watch him walk to the table. He pauses and talks with one of the guys before he talks with the big guy who gestures toward Crystal. Tom glances at her once before he nods and heads over to her.
They shake hands and sit down with napkins and a pen.
What the hell is Tom doing? They could potentially be the mystery client he brought in. But none of them look familiar.
“Do you know those guys?” Dante points to the table of men.
Drew blows out a breath. “Not off the top of my head. I have a manager who deals with the day-to-day operations. I can look up members, but we don’t have facial recognition software.”
“I don’t recognize them.” Finn glances at me.
“What exactly is happening with Tom?” Drew sits down and leaves the video playing in the background.
“He just up and left after sending a bunch of texts telling me to let the guys protect me.” Sara watches the video like she’s going to pick up on a clue.
“He left us a note saying to watch out for Sara and their family.” Dante watches the video with the same discerning eye.
“Do you know why?”
Finn shakes his head. “He’s had a new client he was secretive about, but that’s nothing new with Tom.”
“Neither is running off.” Sara stretches forward to reach her glass.
“What makes you think this napkin has anything to do with his disappearance?” Drew asks.
“It fell out of his desk at work. It wasn’t in his drawer, but hidden.” Sara takes a drink. How many is that for her? She seems fine, but the color never leaves her cheeks and her eyes are a little glassy.
“Or it fell between the drawers and he didn’t open that drawer.” I blow out a breath. “What date was this?”
“About two weeks ago.” Drew presses a button and a server comes in with refills on all our drinks. “I don’t know what to tell you. He wasn’t here to see me. I don’t think I was even on the property when this took place.”
Drew smooths his hand over his jaw and I notice Sara watching him, how she used to watch me. A muscle in my jaw ticks. We need to look into this Drew. Tom isn’t around to do the usual background check.
I don’t trust this guy and definitely not with Sara.
“I wish I could help you more.” Drew wraps his arm around Sara’s shoulders and draws her into his side.
I wish I had a reason to lay this guy out, but I don’t. She isn’t mine. She can’t be mine.
Sara smiles up at him as she sighs.
Fuck. I’m not ready to deal with this. Tom should be here. He’d do what he always does and run this fucker off.
“We should go.” When I stand, everyone looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. I have and it’s fucking green as hell.
“We’re already here.” Finn gestures to the room. “It’s a comfortable space with free liquor. We can get to know Drew a little better to make sure he’s a decent guy for Sara. Do the due diligence Tom would have done if he’d known she was dating someone.”
“We have time.” Dante shrugs. Dante is usually the voice of reason. The one who makes sure I’m not about to go unhinged.
Drew meets my eyes and smiles. “If this space doesn’t suit you, we could move out to a private booth in the club. Or even one of the private rooms, if you’d like a more personal show.”
