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Crossing my arms over my chest, I frowned at the television screen. It’d have been fuckin’ helpful if that cop hadn’t opened his big fat mouth. Yammerin’ on about things he knew he shouldn’t have said. Had half a mind to call him up and ream him a new one, but I also knew he’d likely been told to leak what he’d said to the press as a way to get ahead of the story.
That’s the way my silent partner worked.
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I let out a heavy sigh. “Not sure I’m the one you need to be talkin’ to, Frankie.”
“My name is being splashed across the news again, Lee.”
“It’s not your name—”
“It is too!” Frankie snapped, and I was thankful it wasn’t me who’d opened my big mouth. “Even with the name change, every time they bring up Bridgewater Security, someone in the press has to point out that I’m an owner. That was the whole point of changing the name.”
“You want me to buy you out?”
Couldn’t help but cringe. Also couldn’t help but flinch when Frankie slapped her hand against the tabletop. “Vinny!”
This time, I decided to turn. Frankie was glaring at Vinny, who had a too-sweet smile on his pretty-boy face.
These two.
Swear to God, they’d be the death of me.
Frankie had signed off on the name change, turning LS Security into Bridgewater Security in an effort to distance herself from the exact kind of shit that was currently splashed across the TV screen. She was part-owner in the company, the one who gave me a chance when everything in my life had been a steep-ass mountain climb with setback after setback dragging me down. She shouldn’t be complaining, really. Her case was the one that got her name splashed across the news in the first place. Wasn’t my fault we kept catching high profile cases that the press loved to talk about.
Enter Vinny. Frankie’s cousin and my silent partner. The man who’d taken the company from where Frankie and I had started it and helped bring us to the next level. It was Vinny who’d told the cop to open his trap, I was sure of it. The man was always trying to drum up new business, and what better way to do it than to ride the headlines for weeks? Free advertising, or some bullshit like that.
“I’m just saying, Frankie. You complain each time we get press, but you have yet to accept my offer. I’ll buy you out. We can take out a front page ad or call a press conference if you want. Let the world know you’re no longer an owner, so they’ll stop bothering you.”
Frankie narrowed her eyes at Vinny before turning that untrusting gaze on me. “What I want is to understand how we got in this situation to begin with.”
“We—” Vinny started, but Frankie’s hand snapped up, and the quick movement was enough to silence the man. Though I didn’t dare look directly at him, I could see the way he tugged at his collar, as if the damn thing was choking his words, rather than Frankie’s demand.
Wasn’t no way out of this. It was time to bring her up to speed.
Plopping down in the closest seat, I trained my gaze across the table, to the only woman who’d ever had me by the balls.
“You know that kid that went missing last year, after Jen was abducted?”
At the mention of her sister-in-law, Frankie pursed her lips. She still hadn’t forgiven us for that. “Levi Rebik?”
“That’s the one.” Frankie raised her eyebrows, and fuck if it didn’t feel like she was about to cause me pain. I rushed on, “We were contacted by two people on the East coast. One was a cop and Levi’s old mentor. Said his bosses wouldn’t let him follow up on the missing person’s case, so he was trying to find the kid on his own.”
Wasn’t about to tell her the cop had been put on unpaid leave due to his boss’s orders to leave the kid alone.
“I assume that’s why you went after Donald Baker again?”
“We didn’t go after him.” But we did. We absolutely did. Donald Baker was the CEO of Guardian Group, the company where Jen and Kelly had worked. Same company the people responsible for abducting them worked for. Old Donnie was as guilty as they came. He just hadn’t been arrested yet. “The cop found out about him and wanted to meet him.”
“He wanted to meet him.” Frankie tapped her fingertips on the table, and it sounded like a funeral drum. “So you decided to tag along?”
It took everything in my power not to wince. Not to scratch at the tightness in my chest or grab a drink to wash away the painful stabbing in the back of my throat. “Rylan offered to go with. Wasn’t about to let him take off without cover. You know how he is.”
It wasn’t fully a lie. Not really. Rylan was a wildcard, but he was one of my best.
“Was it Donald who put Rylan in the hospital, or was that someone else?”
Clearing my throat, I chanced a glance at Vinny. The man had his chin tucked like it was his fucking tail. Lot of good he was.
“Donnie’s bullet only grazed Rylan’s side.”
