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He wanted to know more. But he also wanted all her trust, guardrail free.
If he took that next step, he’d be hard-pressed to defend himself.
Curious as to what a fresh day would bring, Nikolas closed the search engine. He jotted down a few notes on a small steno pad he kept on his home office desk. Things he needed to do or didn’t want to forget.
His list for tomorrow was already in progress, begun earlier, when he’d wrapped up for the evening.
Call hospital to check status on Payne Colton.
Update call to Selina Barnes Colton.
Consider man named Ferdy.
He wrote down the last in a rush as his computer powered down.
And hoped like hell Nova would tell him what he needed to know first.
* * *
Ferdy stared down at the sightless eyes of the man who’d double-crossed his boss, attempting to skim several percent off the top of a very lucrative cocaine shipment, and wondered what his life had become. When had he freaking become a damn hit man?
He was an entrepreneur, damn it. A connoisseur of fine wines and good restaurants and fancy cars.
He was not some run-of-the mill thug who killed when it suited the big boss.
Yet here he was, taking care of business and seeing that the boss’s message was delivered with swift justice.
The small park in the Bronx was well lit but not even daylight normally penetrated the deep copse of trees that he’d used to cover up the hit. What he still couldn’t figure out was how dumb a guy had to be to follow a near stranger into the trees to begin with.
Ferdy had made some excuse about avoiding late-night joggers and dog walkers and the stupid son of a bitch had shrugged his shoulders and followed him into the darkened area. The additional enticement—that he had some hot kilos he’d needed to unload—had sweetened the deal and in a matter of moments the dumbass was following him into the trees.
The thug had fallen into a pile of leaves and Ferdy was tempted to move a few to cover up the guy but he didn’t dare touch anything. Besides, his shoes were soggy enough.
He’d never had a real taste for killing, which might have been why he was good at it. It was a means to an end, nothing more. He was a man who went after what he wanted and if something stood in his way, then he dealt with it. This guy had the bad luck of pissing off the boss and since Ferdy was still trying to worm his way back into good graces, he’d drawn the short straw. But he took no pleasure in the act.
In fact, he’d believed himself above all this, at a stage of his career where he could let others do his dirty work.
But that damn shipment had fouled it all up.
Satisfied the thick layer of leaves had masked his footprints, Ferdy walked back to the concrete path that wove its way through the park. His gaze was sharp as he looked for those imaginary joggers but he didn’t see anyone. Nor was there a dog walker in sight.
Just him and his thoughts.
Invariably, those thoughts traveled a path back toward Nova.
It galled the hell out of him that he couldn’t find her. Her disappearance smacked of disrespect and it wasn’t something he would tolerate.
He’d already begun to bore of her before she’d left on her own, those big green eyes often looking crushed after he’d correct her over something. He wanted to keep her in line but he was annoyed he never saw her damn spine. That’d have been fun to beat out of her.
Instead, she looked like a damn sad sack and he was sick of her. Besides, the boss had a pretty hot daughter and he was already thinking of ways he could court some additional favor by marrying in and then continuing to work his way up from there.
All in the family.
Only he still had to find Nova. She was a loose end and he still got an itch between his shoulder blades about why she’d run.
The only reason she’d have done it so suddenly was because she knew something. It hadn’t been a coincidence that she’d run the same day the shipment got held up. No freaking way.
Which meant she knew something.
