Page 30 of Reckless

That got his attention.

“Where did you say you got this from?”

I leveled my gaze at him and crossed my arms over my chest. “I didn’t”

“Well, if I’m going to die getting this information for you, the least you could have done is bring a pumpkin cream cheese muffin to match my drink.”

“You don’t need any more sugar. Your doctor warned you.”

He waved his hand in the air. “That man doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Sure. I bet he made up your super high cholesterol numbers and borderline diabetes.”

“I don’t know why I tell you anything.”

“Because you love me.”

He leveled his gaze at me like that was up for debate but then the screen flashed black and then white and then red before it started looking like static.

“What the fuck?” Marco asked, clicking the mouse several times and then the back button.

A video started playing. Carmine Underwood was at his desk talking to two guys. One large with reddish brown hair and a full beard and the other who made my blood run cold. I was going to be sick.

“No fucking way,” I murmured. Goosebumps erupted on my skin, and I sat up straighter feeling my stomach tumble and clench. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“What? Who are these guys?” Marco asked.

“That is Carmine Underwood. I don’t know who the burly guy is but that?” I tapped the screen, “Is Callahan Leigh. The guy I slept with the other night. The guy that stood me up.”

“You’ve been holding out on me. Here I tell you everything, including my cholesterol numbers, and you don’t tell me you slept with someone who works for the Underwoods? Are you crazy? Wait, don’t answer that. I already know it’s a yes.”

“I didn’t know he worked for the Underwoods! He said he was in the restaurant business.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know!”

“You didn’t think to ask?” He gave me a dubious look and I winced.

“No?”

He gave me a look that I interpreted as him calling me a dirty ho for being so caught up in my horniness that I couldn’t manage to ask a basic question. Rookie fucking mistake.

“Can you restart this and turn the sound up? I want to hear what they’re saying.”

The sound fizzled and popped and then pounded out from the computer’s speakers. “Go wait for him outside. I’d like to have a word with my nephew,” I heard the crime boss say. Callahan nodded and walked out of the frame. I watched him with rage boiling in my veins. That piece of lying shit. Restaurant business my ass.

“Now that you’re back home, it’s time for you to start taking your responsibilities a little more seriously, Simon. One day, this place will be yours so it’s time that you start stepping up and acting like it. You understand me? I want intel. I want things done. And I want you to keep an eye on Callahan. Something’s… off about him. He’s changed. I’d hate to lose such an asset, but I don’t know if we can trust him anymore.”

“You got it.”

“And see if you can find me any more girls that could be a good fit for the compound. The guys down there are getting bored.”

The video cut out then, and my mind was going a million miles a minute, dissecting what we’d just seen. But I caught one thing that he said at the end that made everything in me seize up. After all these months of searching, I finally had a lead.

Carmine mentioned some compound, and I needed to figure out where that was. And while I was at it, I might pay Callahan a little friendly visit and see what information I could get out of him. It was only fair since the bastard lied to my face and stood me up. I’d make him regret it.

Chapter Fourteen