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Cain walked in. “There’s been some fallout from my club takeover.”
“I’m shocked,” Remy said. “Absolutely shocked.”
Cain ignored Remy’s sarcasm. “A few of the guys from the club roughed up some of the girls last night. One of them was private property—this tech mogul’s side piece. So he’s pissed. Dad wants us to go deal with the guys.”
“I’m going to just pretend your father is calling us out as white knights because of his deep respect for women,” Remington said.
Cain scoffed. “You don’t know my dad. He adores my mom.”
That was true. I’d spent my teenage years in Cain’s house. His family was weird, of course. All rich people are weird; their differences are in the particulars of that weirdness.
It had been easy for me to be Cain’s roommate because his parents let him live in the three-bedroom guest house on the other side of their pool. Because a pool house was a totally normal thirteenth birthday gift, right?
But we’d spent plenty of time over in Cain’s parents’ house, eating his mother’s cooking. Cain’s father was a hard man. I’d seen him kill people without a second thought. He took no joy in torture but didn’t mind it either. Like Cain, it seemed sometimes as if there was nothing behind those cool eyes and handsome features. No soul. But his eyes flickered to life when Cain’s mom walked into the room, and he turned into someone else.
Outsiders thought Cain must’ve had a twisted childhood to turn him into the handsome monster.
But he had the happiest childhood of any of us.
That didn’t change the fact his father was a pain in the ass, though.
“Dad needs this taken care of, and Remy hasn’t found Stellan yet for us anyway,” Cain said. “Come on.”
It made sense Cain did what his father asked, since after all, the family business would be Cain’s one day. But sometimes I wasn’t sure why I always followed Cain in some new circle of Hell. And yet… I nodded a goodbye to Remington—not that he noticed—and went with Cain.
When we were in my truck, Cain said, “Something’s been bothering me.”
“No shit.”
“Not Aurora.”
I doubted that.
“When I talked to my father… he didn’t seem very interested in Aurora.”
I dared a glance away from the road, because it wasn’t like Cain and his father had a lot of deep talks growing up. They’d bonded over weapons and intimidation and a love of Cain’s mom’s lasagna, but that had been about it. “And?”
“I told him I was trying to find her. He knows she’s my…” His jaw set as if he couldn’t bring himself to say the wordweakness.“Interest. She’s not like the other girls that were…replaceable. But he didn’t seem curious.”
“Like he…”
“Like he already knows about her,” Cain confirmed. “I don’t fucking like it. I don’t want him anywhere near her.”
It would certainly be in her best interest if we kept her far away from Cain’s family and their business. Probably for the best if we kept her away fromus,too. But we weren't exactly unselfish.
Cain gave me directions and explained the details of club life. We arrived at the house where the girls who needed a place to stay when they weren't at the club lived. Most of them were addicts and the house gave them someplace safe. But it never sat quite right with me. Weren't there plenty of girls that would love to be spanked and spoiled by rich men? Business was always going to be sordid, but there were levels.
We talked to the girls and reviewed the video footage. These men had just taken what they wanted from the girls without worrying about words like consent or sanity or wound care.
“I'll take care of you,” Cain promised. “which means I'll take care of them.”
It was unexpected, and on the way out, he asked me, “What the fuck are you looking at me like that for?”
“I just didn't expect you to care.”
“Of course I care. They're valued employees.” He said the words drily, as if he'd been debating between calling them valued employees and valuable merchandise, but hey, at least he'd made the right choice. “And I want them to be loyal to me.”
“I should’ve known. You’ve always got some ulterior motive.”
