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The door slammed shut behind him, and he spotted Chloe sitting at her desk outside his office. Then he zeroed in on the man with the briefcase sitting in front of her desk. Porter caught a glimpse of the side of his face, noticing the man was likely in his early fifties, with wrinkles surrounding his eye. When Porter reached the desk, the man looked at him, and Porter saw nothing in the man’s blue eyes. No warmth. No tenderness. Simply a hard shell of a man stared back at him.
“Good. You’re here,” Chloe said, rising from her chair. She left all the papers at her desk and waved out to the man. “Porter Marshall, this is Rocco Sanders.”
Porter noted that Chloe had tightness in her expression and in her voice, telling Porter that she didn’t like the man sitting with her, but that he was also a very good lead.
Rocco stood from his seat and offered his hand, so Porter shook it and said, “Pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Rocco replied.
Porter lowered his hand and stretched out his fingers. Even Rocco’s handshake was too firm, too focused on proving his strength, and Porter’s shoulders stiffened in response. He respected dominant men, as he understood them, but men who dominated with force and out of fear were nothing he could respect. “Please follow me.”
He entered his office, which had a desk at the back and a filing cabinet against the wall, hearing Rocco and Chloe following behind. His heart rate kicked up and he hoped that whatever Chloe had discovered would finally put this situation with Kenzie to rest.
Porter sat in the chair behind his desk, and Rocco sat across from him as Chloe dropped down next to Rocco and said, “Mr. Sanders, would you please show Porter what you showed me?”
Rocco opened his briefcase. “I work…” He hesitated, and his voice drew tighter. “I worked for Adrik Petrov for ten years.”
Anger rose in Porter’s chest that Rocco was connected so personally to Adrik, but he tamped it down. “What did you do for him?”
Darkness filled Rocco’s eyes. “That isn’t important.”
Porter wanted to snort at him, yet right now his thoughts were only on Kenzie. If this criminal, which was exactly what Porter thought he was, had a means to help her, he didn’t care about anything else. “All right. Go on.”
Rocco reached down into his briefcase and pulled out a stack of photos, then placed them on the desk. The first shot was of a coffee shop. The next one was a shot of Adrik coming out of the store with a gas can in his hand. From there, they painted an uglier picture as Adrik was in each one, and they showed that Adrik had set the coffee shop on fire.
Porter lifted his head to Rocco. “Where did you get these?”
“I took them.” Rocco leaned back in his chair, with not a single trace of guilt rippling across his expression. Porter had seen it before; most criminals had no loyalty. Some did, of course. Most, though, would turn their backs on anyone.
Porter gave Chloe a quick look, and she lifted her brows, reflecting that they had exactly what they needed to confront Adrik. Though Porter needed to know more about where this information came from. If they went to Adrik, it couldn’t backfire in their faces. “Why would you take these pictures of Adrik?”
Rocco shrugged. “Call it a way to protect my own ass.”
Porter snorted now, hating that he had to go to these measures to get to Adrik. Dealing with Rocco didn’t sit well, but at times one had to take the lesser of two evils for the greater good. Kenzie deserved to keep her store, and he wouldn’t let some scumbag railroad her. “What did Adrik do to you?”
Hot rage flared across Rocco’s features, intense enough that Chloe shifted away from him in her seat, but Porter leaned forward across his desk as Rocco said, “Adrik feels powerful, like nothing could ever touch him. He assisted in my downfall that made me lose everything I had, including my wife. Now I am returning the gesture. That is all this is.”
Porter examined the photos again, surprised by what he saw. “From what I’ve seen of Adrik, he has sent others to do his work for him. Why would he risk himself setting this fire?”
Rocco gave a menacing grin. “The owner of the coffee shop got Adrik arrested for harassment when the owner wouldn’t sell to him. When Adrik skirted the charge, this was his payback.”
Chloe interjected, “But why would he do it himself, knowing that all fingers would likely be pointed at him?”
“Because he has a God complex,” Rocco retorted. “He knows no one can touch him. He has half of Vegas in his pocket. And he trusted all of who were with him that night.”
“Including you?” Porter offered.
Rocco gave a firm nod. “Including me.”
Porter regarded Rocco, wondering over his intentions. “Why are you bringing these forward now?”
Chloe injected, “Through my digging, I realized that a year ago Rocco was taken off Adrik’s payroll. I approached him and here we are.”
Rocco inclined his head. “Call it revenge or justice, but Adrik will get what’s coming to him.”
Porter sighed, disliking this personal vengeance Rocco had for Adrik. Not that he didn’t think Adrik deserved to have his world ripped apart, but it complicated things. It made it a little too personal. “I’m sorry to tell you that we will not be using these to get Adrik arrested. This is for a personal matter.”
Rocco grinned with a few teeth missing. “I don’t care what you use them for. As long as it in some way fucks Adrik, then we’ll be squared up. Besides, the legal system can’t get him. This is my way to ensure some payback and I get what I deserve.”
