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“You may go up to see Mr. Thomas using the private elevator, sir.”
Damon Thomas and his son Chadwick wait for me. The pair are a live demonstration of past meets future—except for a glaring height difference, Chadwick resembles his father down to the letter.
Both men stand to greet me.
“So it’s true,” Damon says, his hand heartily gripping mine. “You’re back, in the flesh.”
“The one and only.”
“You’ve been missed.” Chadwick steps toward me with admiration in his eyes and a thirst that I’ve sensed from him before.
Though he and his father are close,Iam the man he’s modeled his career after. He could’ve followed Damon into the technological field. The billion-dollar company would’ve been his to inherit.
Instead, Chadwick pursued a law career. He worked to become assistant district attorney in Easton. Almost a mirror reflection of myself in the past. I was Northam’s first African American ADA. Chadwick is Easton’s.
The three of us sit down around Damon’s massive desk overlooking the wide window of the eighty-eighth floor.
“To what do we owe the honor?” Damon asks, stippling his fingers.
“I’m sure you’ve guessed,” I answer. “I have been away long enough. It’s time I reclaim what’s rightfully mine.”
“Northam.”
“That’s right. It’s my city for the taking. My birthright by virtue of who I am.”
Damon tilts in his executive-sized chair for a gander out the window. “I feel the same about Easton. What do you need? I assume you’re going to reclaim your title as mayor?”
“Actually, that’s not top of the agenda. I have more pressing matters to handle.”
From the chair beside mine, Chadwick’s posture straightens, and he leans forward in interest. His father turns back around on the wheels of his chair for a straight look at me.
“I’m guessing I know just which matter you’re speaking of.”
“Enough is enough,” I say, my hand smoothing down my tie. “I have tolerated all that I am willing to put up with. Polk failed to do what I instructed him to do—lock that deplorable trash behind bars. Now he’s dead, and they’re still together.”
“I heard,” Chadwick says, scowling. “He was killed by another mobster.”
“Yes, the same one who shot my daughter. The latest enemy of Mancino’s that has taken it upon himself to target her as payback. It’s time to up the ante. It’s time to force them apart for her own good.”
Damon’s hand comes up for a stroke of his chin. “Have you given any consideration as to how? In the past, the rose necklace was instrumental in your efforts. It kept you abreast to what she was doing and when.”
“I have a new idea. Something that will ultimately drive them to opposite sides. All while I come out smelling like roses. Father of the year.”
“Ernest,” Damon says with a nervous grimace, “perhaps there’s no separating them. She loves the man. He loves her. Why force the matter?”
“My daughter has almost been killed at the hands of his enemies. She has been brutalized in the most despicable ways. He hasfailedto protect her, failed to provide her the loving and peaceful life she deserves,” I say, my pulse thumping hard and fast despite my composed tone of voice. No other topic riles me up as much as this. No man alive I hate greater. “My daughter is stubborn. She’s still under his spell. But for her safety and the life she carries—my legacy—I will do what I have to do. I will ensure she leaves him.”
“Ernest is right, Dad,” Chadwick chimes in. “Delphine is an amazing woman. She deserves more than the likes of Salvatore Mancino.”
He spits out Salvatore’s name with a level of bitterness that I approve of. As it turns out, I’m not the only one who isn’t a fan of Mancino’s.
It comes as no surprise—Chadwick has long made his interest in Delphine known.
“Alright,” Damon sighs. “Just tell me what you need. How Thomas Tech can be of assistance. You have free use of my resources.”
“We’ll begin immediately. She’s due soon. Which means we have to get her and my grandchild far away from him.”
“And if she objects?”
