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“Dad, I’m not coming home. I’m fine.” She sighs, long and heavy. “I spent the night somewhere safe. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Business calls, my phone vibrating in my pocket. But still I wait. And listen.
“Fine. Okay? I’ll come by the office and have lunch with you. That way you’ll have proof of life and will quit worrying.”
My eyes narrow. I wanted her to have lunch with me. Dinner, too. Breakfast as well. In fact, I want her to take all her meals with me from now on. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s not going back to that apartment. It’s set up with plenty of security now, including a few inconspicuous cameras, thanks to Catarino. But she doesn’t have to go back, not when she’s already found a home with me. It’s safer here. Better.
Her room goes silent, the call ended.
I hover for a few more moments before quietly slipping down the stairs to my office.
Cat is waiting for me and looks up from his phone as I walk in. “I’ve been calling.”
“I know.” I drop my phone on my desk, face down. “Shouldn’t you be beating some intel out of one of Caesar’s men right about now?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “That was my plan, but I put out a few feelers after breakfast. Turns out Sal Caesar has been doing business with Remy.”
I arch a brow. “Remy hates Sal. Didn’t Sal–”
“Fuck his sister then dump her right after? Yeah.” Catarino smirks. “I guess Sal thought that was water under the bridge because he went to Remy’s shop yesterday looking for some serious weaponry.” He holds up his phone. “Remy just called me. He’s hot, fucking livid that Sal would dare show up on his doorstep.”
“Did he sell to him?”
Cat snorts. “Yeah. I mean, money’s money to Remy. But he didn’t waste any time in letting me know that Sal is planning something big. It’s like he’s going to try to break into Fort Knox.”
Or maybe he’s planning on stealing the only daughter of the richest man in the city.Fuck. Cadence is in even more trouble than I realized.
“Get a man on Cadence’s apartment. Maybe Lucio. He’s smart. Have him monitor it. She won’t be going back there except to visit, but I want the place watched all the same.”
“She’s not going back?” Cat schools his features, but I can tell he wants to grin.
“No.”
“So she’s moving back in with her father, then?” His lips twitch.
“No.”
“Well, that must mean”—he pauses dramatically, his eyes widening comically—“that must mean she’s moving in here!”
“Don’t be a smartass. You only have the brainpower to be half that word, and it’s certainly not the first half.”
He lets go and smiles. “She’s under your skin. I fuckingknewit!”
“The fuck you talking about?”
“That day when you came back from negotiating with Fraser, there was something different about you. Something …” He shrugs. “I couldn’t put my finger on it. But then you started watching Cadence, and that’s when I knew. You were seriously wanting her. Like, fucking insane stalker vibes.”
“I wasn’t stalking her.” I wave a dismissive hand. “I was just … keeping tabs on one of my enemy’s assets.”
“You were stalking her.” He snaps his fingers. “Then boom, when you finally met up with her and spent time with her, you were hooked even worse.”
“Is there a point to all your blathering?”
“No.” He nods. “It’s just, I knew it. That’s all.”
I want to argue with him, to put him in his place, to tell him he’s full of shit. But there’s no point pretending. Cat knows me better than anyone. And the simple fact is–he’s right. That curious slip of a woman has me chasing my tail, has me wanting more, has me tied up in thoughts of her. Even now, I can’t get her out of my mind, and I’m fuckingworried. That’s not something I usually feel, but with her, it’s different. I want her safe. I want her here.
“Your eyes glazed over. Thinking about Caden–”
