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That wasn’t a relationship.
That was abuse, plain and simple.
I wasn’t lying to Ciaran when I told him that Andy was a master manipulator. I wouldn’t be surprised if Drew convinced Ciaran they were in love. That might explain why Ciaran was so distraught when they moved to Malibu. He was downright upset with Drew’s bland texts.
My fingers ached and I realized I was gripping the steering wheel to the point where my fingers had lost all color. Speculating until I was blue in the face was not going to help.
Until I knew for sure, I wouldn’t pry, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the not-knowing was killing me.
I wanted to protect Ciaran.
As we crossed into Nevada, we were about forty minutes away from reaching The Towers, which was next to Andy’s luxury high-rise condo, The West Flamingo.
Vaulteneau Enterprises owned both buildings. The condo Andy lived in was a gift from my dad when he graduated from USC. The asshole lived in one of the most desirable addresses in Las Vegas, free and clear, which meant he could pursue a career as a mental health practitioner that paid peanuts. I didn’t know where Andy worked, only that he worked with youth.
When we visited Las Vegas, we stayed in our two-story, four-thousand-square-foot penthouse in The Towers. We didn’t keep a permanent staff on the premises; however, the property manager ensured it stayed immaculate at all times given the fact that my dad was notorious for flying to Vegas on a whim.
With Dad and Theresa on the East Coast, and Dante living in Singapore, Ciaran and I would have the place to ourselves without the threat of anyone intruding. I’d be lying if that fact alone didn’t excite me. I wanted to be alone with Ciaran.
But it was clear Ciaran was going through something and the best thing I could do was be a solid presence tonight. In addition to that, the knowledge that we were under the wire to retrieve the fertility statue added a heightened layer of danger I wasn’t thrilled about.
It seemed like everything was converging at the same time.
I wasn’t sure we’d make it out unscathed.
As much as I didn’t want to pry, I still needed to find out where Ciaran wanted to go. It wasn’t like I was going to drop him off at some random place. Before I could open my mouth to voice my question, my phone rang.
It was Joan.
“Heya babes,” Joan said. “How you doing, Ciaran?”
“Doing my best to keep Matty in line,” Ciaran said with a grin. “He’s doing an adequate job of chauffeuring me to Vegas. Three point five stars.”
I heard Filipe’s laughter in the background. “If the swimming thing doesn’t work out, Matty, at least you have something to fall back on.”
“I assume you have a reason for calling?” I grumbled. To Ciaran, I scoffed, “Three point five stars? Seriously? The Ferrari alone should automatically qualify for four stars.”
“Priorities, boys,” Joan cut in. “Filipe and I were able to do some digging about the replica. It was one of our usual producers. They thought the job was for us, which was why they created the replica quickly enough to get it back into Customs at LAX.”
“That’s what I figured,” I said. “We’re not too far from Andy’s place. He texted a photo of the statue. I’m not convinced he thought we’d have our lives threatened by the embassy. I suspect he wanted to teach us a lesson, but at least we know where it is. Not sure if we’ll be successful in our attempt to make him give it to us.”
“Maybe he’ll see reason,” Filipe countered.
“I’m not that confident,” I said. “But I’ll let you know something as soon as it happens.”
I was about to hang up when Joan asked, “Not so fast, buster. How’d the conversation go with Zoey?”
In all the melee, the thing with Zoey had moved to a back burner.
“Yeah,” Ciaran added, a shade of guilt coating his words, “I’ve been meaning to ask as well.”
Studying his face, I wondered why he’d feel bad about not asking me about it until now.
I recounted for them my dinner conversation with Zoey and finished it with, “While I’ve given her until tomorrow to tell me if she’ll help us or not, the fact is, the blackmailing scheme is bigger than me. Coach Anderson has multiple videos, some of which may be from current members from the USC roster. Filipe, have you noticed anyone else on the team acting different?”
“If I had to guess, Jason maybe. He’s been on edge this season and has even started fights with you and a few of the other guys. It could be the pressure of being captain and the upcoming Nationals, though.”
That might explain why Jason’s been nipping at me this season. Has Coach been squeezing his throat due to a video that exposes Jason in a negative light?
