COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) (42 page)

Cassidy

I didn’t mean to overhear, but Jack was talking so loudly that I was surprised everyone on the floor didn’t hear. Brian’s secretary, a twenty-something redhead named Tina cracked her gum and stared at her computer screen, refusing to look up even when something crashed to the floor. I left my desk, but I didn’t go in. I just stood in the doorway of my office and listened.

“First your fucking girlfriend and now this. What the hell, Brian?”

“I don’t know.”

“This is Danny! People like us don’t just go missing!”

“I know, Jack.”

“Where the fuck is he? No one but you and I knew where he’d be last night. Your boys were supposed to be there…”

“They were.”

“But he’s gone and no one knows what the hell happened. That doesn’t sound right to me, brother.”

“We’re looking into it. If there’s anything to be found, Ian will do it.”

“Better…”

And then Jack was talking too low for me to hear.

Danny. The name was familiar.

I went back to my desk and began to sift through my phone looking for any reference…yes, there it was. Danny O’Hannah. His name was on the report I’d sent to Brianna’s kidnappers less than a week ago.

My heart sank deep in my stomach, falling almost to my toes.

Was I the reason this man was missing? What had I done?

I got up and began to pace, all these dark images floating through my mind. What had they done to him? Was someone dead because of me? And Rachel. Why had Jack mentioned Rachel in the same breath as this man? And Brian’s boys. They weren’t working with him, were they?

Please, God, please tell me that I hadn’t just gotten someone killed, that I hadn’t just placed not only Brian but also his entire family in danger.

I was still pacing when Brian came to my door.

“I need to head out for a while,” he said, his eyes avoiding mine. “Can you hold down the fort?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Not right now, Cassidy.”

His voice was dangerously quiet. I wanted to grab him and tell him what I’d done, but he walked away before I could make up my mind to do it. Then he did me the disservice of allowing me the entire afternoon to debate with myself.

What benefit would there be in telling him? What might happen if I didn’t? Could I really be quiet and watch people get hurt while I said nothing? What if Killian or Kevin, Ian or Kyle, Sean or Stacy got hurt? Could I forgive myself if, in order to save my child, Brian lost one of his? Or if Brian himself were hurt? Would I be able to lose him again?

I couldn’t. I knew I couldn’t.

What was I going to do? Was telling Brian choosing myself, my own happiness, over Brianna?

There was this little voice in the back of my head that said this was Brian’s world. Brian understood people like these kidnappers. I was in over my head, but Brian…maybe he could get her out. Maybe he could bring her home to me. Maybe if I told him, he could fix this.

It was the only thing that kept me leaning in that direction. I was so afraid…but I couldn’t do it alone anymore.

As if to punctuate my decision, the text notification binged as I climbed into my car.

You see what we can do. If you don’t want your little girl getting caught in a car without breaks, or hanging from the rafters of an old warehouse, you’d better keep on the right path.

I leaned out of the car door and lost my lunch.

I wasn’t strong enough for this.

Brian

I watched from a safe distance as the police cut Danny down from the rafters of the warehouse. All I could do was thank the heavens that Jack had been smart enough not to put this warehouse under one of the companies owned by MCorp. The last thing we needed was another death pointing back at us with a big, fat arrow that flashed neon colors.

Anthony was there, talking to the young beat cop who was the first to respond. I knew what he was thinking; I knew him well enough to understand that he would be on my doorstep in a few hours. He was a smart man. It used to be a game to stay a step ahead of him. Now…I was getting too old for this bullshit.

“Do we have any idea who might be behind this?”

“No,” Ian said.

“It’s going to come back on us,” Killian said. “This warehouse might not be owned by MCorp, but it won’t take much for Scarsorsi to put two and two together.”

“Especially since he and his partner were sitting outside this warehouse the night of the delivery.”

I knew that. I didn’t need them to point it out to me.

“A step at a time,” was all I had to say.

I turned and climbed back into the car, ready to get the hell out of here. Jack thought it was all too coincidental, and I was beginning to agree with him. I’d tried to convince him to postpone this deal Danny was working on. He was meeting with one of the leaders of the local gangs, trying to arrange a take of the drug action. I told Jack it was a bad time, but he wouldn’t listen to me.

“It wasn’t them. The local gangs wouldn’t have the balls to mess with Jack and his men.”

There was silence. Both Ian and Killian knew I was right.

But who else knew enough to be able to hurt us this way?

It didn’t make sense to me. It was almost as if…well,
shit
. I was never a paranoid man, but it almost felt personal. First Rachel, then Danny? Danny was one of Abigail’s kids. He was seventeen when she took interest in him. He never lived at our house, but she helped him get his high school diploma and go to college. She even talked Jack into giving him a position in the mailroom at MCorp. It was from there that he began working for Jack, but Abigail never knew that. To her, Danny was just another young man of whom she was proud to watch receive his college degree. He was just another one of her kids.

There were dozens of them. Some, like Danny, worked for Jack, and some got out and made good livings legitimately. She’d kept track of them all.

Someone else clearly had, too.

I was the only one with a connection to both Rachel and Danny. I was the connection to MCorp, the connection that brought out the press and the cops and whoever else might be interested in what was going on. When it all came together, it would be my head on the chopping block. Not Jack’s. If someone was attacking, it wasn’t Jack and his people who were the target. It was me.

“Whose car is that?” Ian asked, as we pulled up to the house, pulling me out of my own thoughts.

When he spoke, my mind went straight to the cops. But I looked up and recognized Cassidy’s car. It was almost a relief.

“That’s dad’s assistant,” Killian said from the back seat, as all three of us spotted Cassidy stepping around the car.

“Hey,” I said, drawing her to me the moment I reached her side. “I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am that you’re here.”

“We need to talk.”

She’d said that before, but there was something in her tone this time that caught my attention.

“What’s going on?”

“I think I might know who’s behind all of this.”

“All of what?”

“Pops,” Killian said, coming up behind me. “Scarsorsi.”

I turned and, sure enough, Anthony was pulling up behind Ian’s car. Both my boys, tall, dark Killian and pale, blond Ian, stood with their arms crossed as Anthony and his partner got out of their car. I took Cassidy’s hand in mine and pulled her behind me, glad for her presence and for the strength it offered me, but not thrilled that she would have to be a witness to what came next.

“Anthony,” I called, watching as he approached me.

“How are you, Brian?”

I shrugged. “Been better.”

“We just have a few questions, then we’ll let you get back to your evening.”

“I’d invite you inside, but I really just don’t want you in my house.”

Anthony smiled despite the darkness of my statement. He knew I meant every word I said, yet he still pretended to see the humor in it.

“I suppose you’ve heard that Danny O’Hannah was found hanged in a warehouse belonging to a friend of yours.”

“I have.”

“He was one of Abigail’s, wasn’t he?”

Ian took a step forward, but I gestured for him to stay where he was.

“He was.”

“Do you know where he was working when he died?”

“MCorp.”

Anthony nodded, not even bothering to write down what I said, suggesting to me that he had his phone recording our conversation.

“Do you know what he was doing at the warehouse?”

“I don’t.”

“Do you know who might have had reason to hurt him?”

“I was under the impression that it was a suicide,” I said, tugging Cassidy closer to me even as she made a low, strangled, moaning sound. “And I was under the impression that suicides weren’t something the police bothered to investigate.”

“Yes, well, when it happens in a warehouse that is a known location of criminal activity, it raises a blip on our radar.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m CEO of MCorp. I assure you that keeps me busy enough.”

“I’m sure it does.” Anthony glanced at Killian and Ian. “But your sons sure look like they know a little something about this. Would you mind if I asked them a few questions?”

“It’s a free country, Anthony. But I’m sure you’ll understand if I ask you to bring them down to the station where they can have a lawyer sit in with them.”

His eyebrows rose. “Do you have something to hide, Brian?”

“Not a thing. But I’ve been railroaded by the police before.”

Anthony laughed. “Are you still smarting about that? It was years ago.”

“It was an illegal search and seizure.”

“That’s what you said. But the judge saw it differently.”

“Probably because he was your father-in-law at the time.”

Anthony glanced at Killian and Ian again. “Stick around, boys,” he said. “We’ll probably be back.” He focused on me for a second, then his eyes moved over to Cassidy. He checked her out, his eyes moving over the skirt that clung to her curves like a glove. “We haven’t met.”

I tugged Cassidy further behind me. “You were just leaving.”

Anthony nodded, new interest lighting up his eyes. “I was.” But then he took a card from his pocket and held it out to Cassidy. “In case you know something you think might help us with this investigation.”

“I have nothing to do with it,” she said softly.

“You never know. Sometimes we hear things we don’t think are important, but then they become that one piece of information that could change everything.”

She hesitated, but she took the card. Anthony smiled again, turning back to his car.

“Later, gentlemen.”

He was gone in a cloud of dust, his partner disappearing as silently as he’d stood there. Killian watched them go, tension clear in his shoulders.

“I’m Ian,” my son said, holding his hand out to Cassidy as though that was the perfect moment to meet her. And maybe it was. She seemed relieved when she stepped around me to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Cassidy.”

His eyes widened at the mention of her name, though I couldn’t imagine why. He studied her with an almost clinical precision, his eyes staying tight on her face. Killian came up behind him and jabbed him in the ribs to draw his attention away.

“I need to get back to the office, try to stay ahead of this.”

Ian nodded, glancing at me briefly, the darkness that suddenly came into his blue eyes a little startling. It was too much like the accusation I’d seen in Stacy’s eyes when I went to see her in New York.

Kevin chose then to come out the front door.

“What was that all about?”

I turned, realizing that I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him about his early return just yet. He was in disheveled clothes, but he managed to make even those look innocent.

Everything about Kevin was naive. Innocent. Harmless.

“Brother!” Ian called, picking him up in a bear hug.

“When did you get home?” Killian demanded.

“Last night.”

Some of the tension left my shoulders as I watched them greet each other. But then Cassidy tugged at my arm.

“I really…I have something I need to talk to you about.”

I let her lead the way into the house. She held the tips of my fingers and made her way up the stairs. I was exhausted, but I followed, my thoughts on so many things that I couldn’t keep them all straight. But rather than making an attempt to seduce me, Cassidy walked to the windows on the far side of the room and looked down on the boys, where they were still talking in the driveway.

“It never occurred to me that I was putting your family in danger. I knew…I just didn’t want to know.”

“What do you mean?”

She didn’t speak again for a long moment. She just stood there, looking out, as though the answers to all the world’s problems were there. I walked up behind her, laying a hand gently on her shoulder as I, too, watched the boys revert to their childhood roles, teasing Kevin with playful smacks and pushes.

“They’re good boys. Love each other more than full-blood siblings would, I think.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t realize she was crying until she uttered that one syllable. I turned her and watched the tears stream from her eyes.

“What’s going on, Cassidy?”

“They have my little girl, and they’re making me do things…”

“What?” I grabbed her by the shoulders, shook her a little. “What are you talking about?”

She pulled away, rubbing at the tears on her cheeks, crossing the room to the small loveseat set in the corner. She sat, but she didn’t stay long, immediately standing again.

“I was going to tell you that day. I came to your room, so excited, the plastic test stick in my bag. I thought you would be happy, but the moment I walked through the door, I could see that you’d made your choice.”

I wasn’t much in the mood for riddles.

“What are you taking about?”

“My daughter is yours, too, Brian.”

She couldn’t have shocked me more if she’d poured a bucket of ice water over my head. My mind went blank, and for a moment, I couldn’t figure out how such a thing could be possible. But then I remembered that day; I remembered the joy draining from her eyes.

I’m sorry…

“I went there that day to tell you I was pregnant. But Abigail was just leaving the room, and you were standing by the windows and I just knew.”

“You were pregnant.”

“I was. I wanted to tell you, but—”

“You didn’t. You knew, but you kept it from me?”

“You told me you were going back to Abigail and the children.”

“But if I’d known—”

“What? What would you have done?”

She laughed, this bitter sound that was filled with all the hurt and the anger and the pain she’d endured these last twenty-some odd years. I crossed to her, but she wouldn’t let me touch her. She held up her arms, warding me off. I stopped, staring at her, trying not to see the hurt little girl I’d once known in the eyes of this beautiful, lying, deceiving woman.

“You could have told me later. You could have dropped me a note or made a phone call.”

“To what end? She doesn’t even know.”

And that…that was a blow. I stumbled back, as though it were a physical blow, knocking the back of my legs against the loveseat as I fell into it.

I had a daughter, but she didn’t even know I was her father.

“Who does she think her father is?”

“My husband.”

“But you would have been…”

She just shook her head, looking at me as if I was a fool. And maybe I was.

“We have a daughter, and you didn’t tell me all those years ago, and you didn’t tell me when we found each other again. All this time…when were you planning on saying something?”

“She’s been kidnapped.”

The pain that washed over Cassidy’s face tore something inside of me. I wasn’t sure I could hear much more without being torn to pieces. I dragged my fingers through my hair, tugging at it harder than necessary to reassure myself that I was still alive, that I was still capable of feeling pain.

“These people send me videos of her once or twice a week. She’s still alive, as of a few days ago. But they won’t let her go until I give them information on you and the things you and Jack do.”