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“And Lexa? What will you do about her?” Her eyes darkened with concern. “She’s a target. If Santino gets his hands on her, you probably won’t ever see her again.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I assured Paige, already making plans for how to protect my woman. “Don’t worry about her.”
After she left, promising me she would call her dad on her way to her new temporary apartment, I grabbed my keys. Lexa was so damn stubborn; I knew I wouldn’t be able to protect her on my own. And if I didn’t tell her father what Paige overheard, he would definitely kill me. Not that I would blame him.
I was using my truck until my cruiser got fixed. I’d been informed by my secretary that morning that Bash Reid was footing the bill, no doubt in hopes Campbell would go easier on his daughter. But we both knew she would be better off taking a chance on getting in front of a judge than accepting any offer Campbell tried to make. The dirty bastard wouldn’t go easy on her simply because of who her father was.
The parking lot was half full when I pulled in and walked around to the garage bays. My cruiser was already in one, and Bash was standing beside it, writing down the damages on a clipboard.
“Got a minute?” I called out, grabbing his attention.
His eyes were so much like Lexa’s that when he turned them on me, all I could think about for a moment was her.
Tossing the clipboard onto a huge toolbox, he walked toward me. “What do you want?” he growled, stopping a foot from me.
“We need to talk,” I told him, glancing around at all the other mechanics. “It’s important.”
Something in my tone must have conveyed to him I wasn’t joking around. Those blue eyes narrowed for a moment, before he nodded toward the shop. “Let’s go to the office.”
Following him inside, I saw that a teenage boy who looked a lot like Bash was behind the counter, taking care of the half-dozen customers in line. “Max, I’m going to be in the office for a bit,” Bash told him. “Someone comes back this way, tell them to mind their own fucking business.”
“Yes, sir,” the boy said with a nod, his blue eyes narrowed on me just like his Dad’s had been earlier.
In the office, Bash motioned toward the single chair sitting in front of a tidy desk as he closed the door behind him. “What’s this about?”
“I assume you know who Carlo Santino is?”
His entire body seemed to jerk at the mention of that name. Opening the door, he stuck his head out. “Max!”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“You have five minutes to get everyone out of the shop. Once you do, let me know.”
“Ah, come on,” the boy complained. “I can barely work this damn computer. I’m not Lexa!”
“Damn right, you aren’t. Now get your ass to work and get these people out of here.” Slamming the door, he leaned back against it. “Don’t say another word until he tells me they’re all gone.”
I nodded my understanding. Then I got a text from Paige, telling me she’d talked to her dad and that she needed to talk to me. I told her I would meet her for lunch and put the phone back in my pocket, waiting.
Eight minutes later, there was finally a knock on the door. “I’m done,” Max said when Bash cracked it open. “You gonna kill the sheriff and didn’t want witnesses?”
“Shut up, boy. Now I want you to stand outside the front door. No one comes in this building. You hear me? Not even your sister.” Max’s eyes widened, but he nodded. “Good. Now, go.”
Holding the door open, Bash watched his son do as he was told before shutting it again. Facing me once more, he crossed his arms over his chest. “What the fuck is this about Santino?”
“First, you should know Paige, that woman I’ve been seen around town with? Sh
e’s the special investigator into Campbell. This morning, she overheard a phone call Campbell was having. He was speaking in Italian, so she only understood part of the conversation, but from what she did hear, he was speaking to Santino.”
“Dirty motherfucker,” Bash groused as he walked behind the desk and took a seat. “Always knew he was in someone’s pocket. Probably a lot of someones, but I never suspected it would be Santino. I should have, though.”
“Paige heard him mention Lexa.”
The air in the room suddenly seemed to crackle with a dangerous energy, and I was sure I’d just seen lightning flash in the man’s eyes. “My little girl’s name passed that fucker’s lips while he was speaking to Carlo goddamn Santino?”
“That’s what Paige told me,” I confirmed, popping my knuckles on my uninjured hand. They ached to pound on both Campbell and Santino. Either of those bastards simply thinking of Lexa stirred the monster just below the surface. “Just hearing Campbell talk to Santino spooked Paige, so she’s talking to her father about getting another investigator on the case. But I knew I needed to tell you about this. I’ll focus everything on Lexa.”
He nodded, which surprised the hell out of me. “I want to tell you to fuck off, but Lexa is so damn stubborn, she will throw a fit and a half if I put my own men on this. If we don’t tell her and just make sure we have eyes on her at all times, we should be good.” His face was gray, his jaw clenching and unclenching. “This is already a fucking nightmare. When Fontana took her, she nearly died. I can’t let that happen again, Davis. I’ll lose my mind.”
