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“I can’t let you do this alone,” Logan growled, but I cut off any further argument.
“You can, and you will,” I said firmly. “Now shut up or you’ll blow my cover.” Then I pushed the door open so he couldn’t protest any more without risking our targets hearing him.
My stepbrother glowered at me as I strolled away from the car, but he didn’t chase me down, so he couldn’t think I was inthatmuch danger. He had to know I was right. I was the best possible option to run this maneuver.
Even if I was just as terrified as I was exhilarated to be doing it.
A few other people ambled along the walkway, checking out the shops, going in and coming out again. I matched their pace, doing my best not to give away how eager I was to get close enough to eavesdrop.
I was really doing this. I was a full member of the Vigil now, a key component in the investigation that would bring Dad’s murderer to justice if we could see it through. The knowledge sent a little thrill through me despite my nerves.
When I reached the shops, I peered through each of the windows in turn, drawing closer and closer to the three men. They were speaking in lowered voices, quieting down completely whenever anyone walked right by them. I stopped at the clothing store, tipping my head to the side as if contemplating the summer dress on the mannequin in the window.
“…doesn’t want us hanging around in there anymore,” the guy with the gun was saying in a gruff voice.
“It doesn’t matter,” the redhead replied. “The deal’s already done.”
“Not until the payout arrives. They’re taking their sweet time.”
“Oh, it’ll come, or they’ll regret it.”
They dropped their voices even lower, and I couldn’t make out their next words. I sidled even closer, still gazing at the window, but studying their reflections rather than the clothes on the other side. My mouth had gone dry.
Before I could get close enough to hear them again, the third guy muttered something with a hint of a snarl—and jerked his finger across his neck in a brief but unmistakable throat-slitting gesture.
My skin went cold. They were talking about killing someone else.
The next thing I knew, the three men broke apart. One of them went back into the accounting office, another strode toward the far end of the strip mall, and the redhead got back into his sedan. My pulse stuttered at the thought that we should be following him again, but there was no way I could sprint back to Logan’s car in time without drawing way too much attention to myself.
I meandered back in the direction I’d come, only picking up my pace after the car had pulled out of the plaza. Then I hurried the rest of the way to the car, my thoughts whirling in my head.
I had no idea what deal the men had been discussing, but I was sure of one thing. Whatever business the three of them were wrapped up in, it was both serious and deadly.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Beckett
“Everything about the transaction went smoothly?” I checked, leaning back in my leather office chair with my phone to my ear.
Lana, my family’s main administrative contact for the less savory parts of our business, made a noise of agreement. “In spite of the initial squabbling, when push came to shove, they coughed up what they needed to without a fight. I think the earlier pressure you put on them did the trick. If they get out of line again, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Perfect, thank you. I’ll let my dad know—I’m sure he’ll be pleased too.”
I hung up and glanced at the door to my small office in the family home—the one I’d been using since I’d returned to the fold four years ago ready to take a real place in the business. The truth was, I didn’t know exactly what response I’d get from Dad, if much at all. But he was still the Storm while I was just the heir to the metaphorical throne, and I’d never want him to feel I was shutting him out of the day-to-day happenings of our work. Even if it wasn’t clear how much he really cared about those happenings anymore.
That was the last situation I’d needed to resolve today before I could take some sort of break, although really the job was 24-7 if anything urgent came up. I pushed to my feet and headed down the hall to our expansive house’s real office area, three times larger than the room I’d claimed for myself.
I knocked on the door in my usual gesture of respect and opened it at Dad’s bland, “Come in.”
I found him sitting behind his huge maple desk, leaning his broad body back with his laptop poised on his thighs. He tapped a few more keys before setting it on his desk and focusing his gaze on me.
“I thought you’d want to know that the problem with the appliance store was sorted out without any hitches,” I said quickly. “We got everything they owed us, and they didn’t make any more fuss about it. Lana thinks they’ll be okay from here on.”
Dad hummed with an approving nod, but his expression didn’t shift from its mildly weary expression. His gaze drifted away from me as if my news didn’t interest him all that much. “I’m glad to hear it. You handled that conflict well.”
The praise would have warmed me more if he hadn’t sounded so mechanical about it. My chest tightened even as I put on a smile—the business smile I used with clients, not the kind of smile I’d have liked to be able to aim at my father.
Nothing had really been the same since I’d come back four years ago… and I knew that was mostly my fault. Three years before that, I’d made a decision that’d shaken his faith in me and the business.
