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But there was one thing she hadn’t yet told me.
One piece that didn’t quite fit into the whole picture.
“Why didn’t you ever call the police on him?” I pointed her face up at me. “You told me he’s untouchable, but you never told me why.”
She closed her legs around mine. “David comes from a family who’s involved in underground activity where he’s high up in the chain of command. You’d think the police would be dying to get their hands on him and his family, but it’s the opposite. He’s in bed with the police—delivers an envelope of cash to the chief on the first of every month like clockwork.” Her voice continuously softened with each sentence. “David and his family can do no wrong in Atlanta. So, you see, I couldn’t go to anyone for help.”
I’d suspected David was a bad dude, or Lily would have gone to the authorities. Therefore, I wasn’t taken aback by the news. I just wondered how nefarious his family was, so I asked, “What type of illegal work are we talking about, Lily?”
“He supplies companies with illegal workers to keep their labor costs down. It’s an empire, working off nothing but cash, that’s completely off the books from both ends—theirs and the clients who hire them.”
I almost wanted to laugh.
They could supply the entire East Coast with workers, and they still wouldn’t bring in the revenue that the Spade and Cole families did.
If she’d said Mafia, organ trading, sex trafficking, drugs, or guns, his family’s connections would run deep in a world that I wouldn’t want to become the enemy of—but I would for her.
Sure, he had local connections that ran through Atlanta PD, possibly extending through surrounding states, but that didn’t give him ties on a national level.
That also didn’t downplay what he had done and continued to do to her; it just showed what I would be dealing with when I faced the bastard.
“Listen to me.” I positioned my lips above hers. “I know what you’re afraid of. I know you think I’m going to end up like Preston, that you were avoiding any type of commitment so you didn’t get me involved. It’s too late for that. I’m already involved, and I’m getting you out of this fucking mess.”
“Brady …”
“And I’m doing it because I care about you. Because, at this point, I can’t imagine my life without you. And because I won’t allow him to destroy another second of your life.”
She flattened her hands over mine. “If what happened to Preston happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself, Brady. I won’t survive it. I barely survived it then.”
“Not something you even need to think about, never mind worry about.”
She focused on my eyes, so much emotion still pouring from hers. “I can’t imagine my life without you either.” She ran her thumbs over my lips. “Or what I did to deserve you.”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
She didn’t immediately huff out a laugh, but it happened after a bit of silence. “Okay.”
“I need you to wrap your arms around me and kiss me.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Lily
Inever understood or could relate to the saying, You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Until now.
Because even though Brady had promised me that David wouldn’t have access to me at the Beverly Hills location of the Cole and Spade Hotel, where I had just moved, I still scanned the lobby every time I walked in. And I inventoried all the faces around me after I stepped inside the elevator, prior to pressing the button to my floor, doing it again before I opened the door to my room.
The same was true this morning when I walked down the tarmac toward the Daltons’ private plane, wondering if David would somehow pull up out of nowhere. Or when I climbed the steps and entered the cabin, I questioned if he would be sitting in one of the seats or couches. Or when I walked toward the galley, would he be there in the back, waiting for me?
When it came to David, I never knew what to expect.
So, I’d learned to anticipate him wherever I went.
Would that habit ever die? I couldn’t imagine it would. Nor could I fathom a day when I wouldn’t fear his capabilities.
But the past two days, since the flowers had been delivered to Brady’s house, my brain had taken a slight mental pause from David. Because, during those two days, I’d been completely wrapped up in Brady.
