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Once again, Sersha was Ms. Popular. “What?”
“Tonight,” Tulip said, leaping to her feet again. “I’ll grab a cab and come pick you up around eight?”
Words failed her. Mouthing nothing, she appealed to Steeple, but he just crooked an expectant brow. This was happening whether she wanted it to or not.
“You’ve gotta back her up,” Steeple said. “I can’t let her go in alone.”
Tulip wouldn’t get answers. Still, being present, she could ensure the woman stayed alive.
“Nothing happens in the club before ten,” she said on a sigh, retrieving her phone from her pocket. “I’ll text you my address.”
“Give us a minute, Tulip.”
Without question the woman followed their boss’s request.
“You need to be honest with me now,” he said the moment the door was in the frame. “If the McDades threatened you—”
“They didn’t threaten me.”
“You dropped the McDade story so fast, and flipped back to the Manzanis, I don’t know what to think. It’s understandable if the attack knocked your confidence. The paper will cover whatever therapy or rehab you need. Is that what it is? The attack? Because you’ve been back on the horse, running at full steam recently. I thought you were doing good. But if Tulip’s walking into danger—”
“There were no threats. Are no threats.”
“I don’t want you banged up again.”
“That wasn’t the McDades either. And, by the way, just for the record, you didn’t care about me walking into Stag alone. You didn’t send me with backup.”
“I didn’t know you were going to Stag until after it was a done deal.” Good point. “And given your family connections, anyone would be crazy to screw with you.” Something they all thought before her attack. “You’ve also grown up aware of the dangers these families pose. And you know some of the players involved.” Evander “Vex” Manzani anyway. “Tulip is enthusiastic and motivated. She’s wanted something to sink her teeth into for a while. No offense, but you kind of handed her the opening.” Her mouth opened in outrage as she folded her arms. “Everyone expected you to pick up the story of Razer McDade appearing at his cousin’s door. It’s the biggest story we’ve had in this arena, in this city, for months. People are hungry to know. Instead, that seemed to be the catalyst for you to cut ties. You’ve had time to take the story on your own and chose not to do that.”
Anyone else would want to get into the nitty gritty of it. She, in contrast, avoided the subject and the family. For reasons. Her reasons. Reasons that couldn’t be shared.
“Look…” Steeple continued, “if you really don’t want to do it, I won’t force you. But if anything happens to Tulip out there on her own—”
“It’s on me, right?”
He shrugged. Connel wouldn’t hurt Tulip just for showing up. But if she asked the wrong question in earshot of certain parties… Hell, if she got herself cornered by some asshole, it could mean big trouble.
“Have you spoken to him?”
She snapped from her mind’s meandering. “Have I spoken to who?”
“Helios Manzani.” Shit. That wasn’t the man on her mind. Not even close. “You’re still trying to engage with him, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s a process. It’s taking more time than I’d like. We’re writing, but he won’t agree to a call or visit yet.”
“Then this is ideal. Something to keep you busy while you work the other story.”
Yeah, ideal… providing Connel, or any of his men, didn’t see her. If they did, how did she explain showing up at Stag unannounced after all these weeks?
TWO
“YOU LOOK GREAT,” Tulip said when she got in the cab.
Anticipatory energy buzzed around her. The woman was psyched liked this was a slam dunk. Nothing was guaranteed. Experience taught her that. Tulip may only be a couple of years younger than her, but her aura suggested a lack of awareness.
“What do you know about the McDade family?”
“What everyone knows. What’s been in the news. I searched our archives too.” The Chronicler had newspapers in many major cities around the country. “You were attacked.”
