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I had originally warned Junior how my dad would try to control me from the inside when I was made part owner of PJS. To my surprise, he hadn’t. He let me handle my role at the company on my own.
“Tell me what happened with Dexen,” he said.
“Multiple break-ins. It started off as someone in his home, nothing taken or disturbed. Yesterday they broke in while he was there. I don’t know if they thought he wouldn’t be home or what. Maybe they were hoping he was asleep. Either way, they tore apart his office and left before he could confront them. They also evaded the cameras.”
“He has an alarm on his house, correct?”
“Yeah, but all it caught was a dark shoe on a previous break-in. Nothing discernible. The cops dusted for prints. Nothing showed except the people he’d expect to be in there. Not surprising.”
My dad rubbed his hand over his silver beard. “What could he have that someone would want?”
“Not a clue. Dex said it’s all business things in his office.”
“Was his safe cracked?”
My eyes narrowed. “How do you know he has a safe?”
“Everyone has one.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled. He was right. Dexen ran multiple businesses. He was bound to have a safe. I had one too.
“Do you want me to station one of my guys outside his home? See if they can catch this asshole who decided to invade Dexen’s space?”
I couldn’t decide if I was more shocked or grateful for the offer. I ended on skeptical. “Why?”
“Fuck’s sake, you’re my blood. Why would I not want to protect you?”
“I’m not always at Dex’s. Sometimes I’m at Greer’s. When I’m not, I’m home.”
“Greer’s home is solidly protected. I don’t think anyone can get in there but a professional. Even then it’s iffy. And your home… Let’s just say no one will touch you there,” he said darkly. He had people watching me, following me, but to what end? It wasn’t only for protection unless it was to protect himself as well. Whoever went after me would do it to get to him since I did nothing but work and hang out with Greer and Dexen.
Raking my hand through my hair, I turned and looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows. No one could see in, but the view out was as good as it got in East Dremest. Buildings all around. The moon I had a hard time seeing before was easily visible now, high in the sky with a lone cloud drifting in front of it.
Words slipped past my lips before I thought the better of them. I was taught not to show weakness, yet here I was doing just that. “I can’t lose him. Not like I did before and not in a more permanent way. Same with Greer.”
My dad stepped over to stand beside me, hands in his pockets, and looked out the window. “They’re a vulnerability. I’m not saying it to piss you off. It’s a fact. When you have enemies, they will come for those who matter most. It’s why you’ve been targeted.”
“I haven’t recently.”
“So you think. We won’t go into the last two men who thought they could fuck with my blood.” I would have asked but he wouldn’t have told me. He only divulged what he wanted to when it came to his business. At least now I knew it wasn’t him or one of his men who was looking for something in Dexen’s home. But then who? If he was picking off other people after me, it wasn’t them. They gunned for me, not Dexen.
“You could get out of it.” Fuck, I didn’t know why I said that. Like I had some desperate need to have a father for once? That wouldn’t happen. Getting out of what he did would make us all safer.
“It wouldn’t matter. If I walked away, they’d think I was weak and come for me, for you, your men. Once you reach the top, you don’t give it all away. Maybe if you wanted it, I could hand it down to you, but you’ve made your position clear. While I don’t like it, I respect it. For all I’ve pushed you, all I’ve tried to get you to take what’s yours, you don’t want this life. You’ve paved your own way.”
“Except I haven’t because you forced me into PJS. I was happy at my shop.”
“Happy maybe, but were you fulfilled? PJS is thriving thanks to your designs.”
I shook my head. “It’s not all me. There are teams of people, a whole company.”
“Yes, but they didn’t have your ideas in their heads. They didn’t have you and Greer working together on projects which improve vehicles.” Junior had told me my dad liked to check in on me. Junior didn’t tell him much, only enough to keep him satisfied I was doing well there.
Sighing, I asked, “What are we doing right now? We don’t have talks like this. I’m surprised you didn’t kick my ass out when I wanted to know if you were involved in this shit with Dexen.”
“I should have but it’s you, so I waited to see what else you’d say, and now we’re here.”
“I think bonding time is over. It’s weirding me out.”
