Page 13 of Floodgates

Alex pulled back to look at me. “Trace?”

“I have no idea.”

“Hazard a guess,” Cord said snidely.

“I don’t have one.”

“Maybe somebody thought shooting up the office and killing you would send Dimah Mashir a message.”

“Like what? Like ‘I’m going to shoot the bookkeeper so nobody gets paid’?”

Before Cord could tear into me, Alex excused himself to take a call. We both watched him walk to the opposite end of the room before Cord moved up close to me.

“He was a wreck on the way over here,” he said, leaning close.

“Which I’m sorry for, but—”

“Not enough to get another job, though, right?”

“I like my job,” I said, defending myself. “And I own half that business.”

“You’re putting your brother through the wringer for no good reason. Way to be a dick.”

“You didn’t even listen to me,” I sighed. “And I don’t tell him not to go undercover for months on end and miss Christmas with his family, so why should I worry what—”

“You could get another job.” He was relentless.

“It’s not a job,” I repeated. “It’s my business as much as Dimah’s. Should I say it again so you hear me this time?”

“It’s selfish,” he berated me. “Your brother’s in law enforcement; you should show some fuckin’ respect.”

“How so?”

“By not working with a member of the Russian mob, for starters!”

Russian mob. Was he kidding? “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You should think about someone besides yourself.”

I smiled slowly.

“Tracy,” he warned me.

There was no way to stifle my snort of laughter.

“Listen to me—”

“Did you really just say that to me? Think about someone besides yourself? Did that actually come out of your mouth?”

“You—”

“You’re giving me life advice? You? The man who doesn’t even get first names when he fucks?”

“Tracy—”

“The man who once had a quickie in a men’s room when he was on a date with somebody else?”

“I’m gonna kill your brother. Why does he tell you that shit?”