I motioned her closer and she set the file on my desk.
“He met with a Carl Reiner a while back.”
“The arms dealer?”
She nodded. “Yep. There’s no record of Victor being his financial advisor, so he must be paying him in some other way. Anyway, Reiner invested in a new tech company that was supposed to go sky high. The night before the company went public, the owner’s partnership dissolved and they didn’t stop the company going public. Carl had invested millions. When word got out the next day that the partnership dissolved and there was no one running the company, the stock tanked and everyone lost their money.”
“How much did Reiner lose?”
“Close to fifteen million.”
“That’s a drop in the bucket for him.”
I ran a finger over my lip as I analyzed the paper in front of me.
“Reiner is not known to show mercy. Word is that he wants his money back on the bad investment.”
“What are Victor’s financials?”
“He could swing it, no problem. He just doesn’t want to. At least, that’s my guess.”
My head snapped up. “Even with his daughter’s life on the line?”
“He hasn’t received a ransom demand yet, so as far as he’s concerned, she’s on the run.”
“I think it’s time to place a call to Victor.”
“I’ll leave you to it.”
Becky turned and walked out the door. I picked up the phone as I quickly found Victor Adams’ number and dialed.
“Victor Adams.”
“This is Sebastian Reed at Reed Security. Have you heard from Vanessa?”
“No. I’m assuming she ran off with one of her friends. Took a trip somewhere.”
“Mr. Adams, I’ve been looking into you and I know that Carl Reiner is the man after your daughter.”
Silence filled the line which told me all I needed to know.
“Mr. Adams, Mr. Reiner is not someone you want to mess with. He has access to a shit load of weapons and he has more security than you’ve ever dreamed of. If you know where your daughter is, you need to get her somewhere safe. Whatever it is he wants, I suggest you give it to him if you want to live past the next few months. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”
“He wants millions of dollars back from an investment that went south.”
“I know. You have it, so give it to him before you bury your daughter.”
He sighed, “I don’t know where she is. She disappeared from a friend’s house and I haven’t heard from her since. I have every available man working on it.”
I wasn’t about to tell him that I had his daughter. I didn’t know how much he wanted to keep his daughter safe. He appeared to be a loving father, but then if he was, he would hand over the money to keep her alive.
“I’ll do some searching, but you could save us all the trouble and just pay the man.”
“I won’t pay him. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“But your daughter does. Get your head out of your ass. She won’t be able to hide forever and when they get her, they’ll torture her and make you watch.”
“I didn’t ask for your input. I know that you broke into my office building. Don’t think that didn’t go unnoticed. I don’t appreciate you calling and threatening me. If I ever see you on my property again, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer. As for my daughter, don’t worry about her. I can deal with Reiner on my own. Stay out of my business, Mr. Reed.”
He disconnected before I could say anything else and I slammed the phone down. You would think that the idea of his daughter being taken would be enough to change his mind, but apparently it wasn’t. She would be staying under our watch until we could figure something else out.
✯✯✯✯✯
It had been two months since my phone call to Victor Adams and we were no closer to coming to any sort of resolution to Vanessa’s problem. Reiner had been making threats toward her father and was draining his accounts. Adams was doing his best to move his money where Reiner couldn’t access it, but Reiner wasn’t giving up. If Adams wasn’t going to pay him back, he was going to steal it back. All our information was from what Becky was able to get through hacking into his accounts and emails. He hadn’t reached out to us again and he probably wouldn’t.
The problem was that Reiner hadn’t yet recovered all his funds and the longer it took for him to get his money back, the harder he pursued Vanessa. Becky came to me daily with reports of chatter about Vanessa Adams on the dark net. Most of it was chatter about her location, which were dead wrong, but there was now a bounty on her head as well. I was tempted to reach out to Victor again and plead with him to just pay the money back, but I wasn’t so sure if Victor was a stand up guy. For all I knew, he would turn Vanessa over just to prove that Reiner couldn’t touch him.
The good news was that Cazzo had a new therapist the day after he came to me and he assured me that he would have Cazzo walking in no time. Sure enough, he had Cazzo walking using the parallel bars by the end of the week. He wasn’t able to start walking on his own until a few weeks after that and he had to use a walker, but he was making progress.
He saw a massage therapist every day to work his muscles. They had atrophied after him being in the wheelchair for so long. The massage therapist worked directly with the physical therapist and a chiropractor to get Cazzo back on his feet. Apparently, the first physical therapist wasn’t using the correct treatments or having him exercise the way he was supposed to and that was why he was making very little progress. Once he was on the right course, I saw a little of the old Cazzo coming back every day.
Maggie was off chasing stories and driving Derek crazy. Lola seemed to be indifferent and Hunter got along with her best and was her close protection most of the time. We talked a few times a week, but I didn’t feel any closer to her over the past two months. All that stuff about giving her time and that she still loved me didn’t mean shit the longer it took for her to figure things out. I was getting irritated and I needed to know what the hell was going on with us.
It was poker night and as much shit as I had going on at the office, it had only been six months since my buddy Ryan’s wife, Cassandra died. He was doing a shitty job of holding it together and so we all did what we could to try and drag him out of his depression. He seemed alright when his kid, James, was around, but on poker nights he was quiet. He was basically a walking corpse most days.
I stopped at the liquor store and picked up a couple cases of beer. One of the other guys was bringing the pizza. I pulled up to Ryan’s house in the country, seeing a few of the other guys had just pulled up as well. Another truck was pulling in behind me.
Logan stepped out of his truck and made his way over. I hefted one of the cases of beer into his arms and leaned back against my truck.
“How’s he doing?” Logan worked with Ryan and had the best understanding of how he was holding it together.
“Not good.” He shook his head and sighed. “He’s barely there at work,” he said, pointing to his head. “I don’t know what more we can do for him. He’s so lost right now.”
“Life has to go on. He hasn’t even cleaned her stuff out of the house.”
“Would you?” Logan questioned. “If it was Maggie?”
“Maggie and I aren’t together any more, but no, I probably wouldn’t clear out her stuff.”
“What happened?”
“Hell if I know. She’s in Pittsburgh trying to figure that out. I don’t know what’s going to happen from here.”
“Man, you should have locked her down a year ago.”
“I don’t think she would have gone for it. She’s always been looking for something and apparently it’s not something I can give her.”
“Shit. You never said anything.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to see it.”
He ran a hand down his face and clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s go get shit faced.”
“Not gonna ha
ppen. A few beers is all I can do. Work’s a pain in the ass right now.”
“I hear you.”
We walked to the door where the other guys were meeting. I wasn’t the only one that brought beer. Drew had a case and so did Sean. Ryan opened the door with a scowl on his face that I tried not to take offense to. He had been pushing us away more and more every time we saw him.
“What do you guys want?”
“Poker night. We brought beer,” Drew said.
We pushed our way inside and over to the kitchen where Ryan couldn’t slam the door in our faces. We had all been trying to act as normal as possible around him, knowing that if we kept bringing up Cassandra, it would gut him.
The night turned bad really fast after that. The guys were bitching about their wives and complaining about their kids being a pain in the ass. I glanced over to Ryan and saw him in the foyer looking pissed. It was obvious he didn’t want us there and I considered making myself scarce, but if the other guys felt this was what Ryan needed, I would go along with it for now.
However, not too long after we had been there, Ryan started yelling at all of us for being inconsiderate assholes that came to his house and shoved our lives in his face. I just thought he didn’t want us to be there. I hadn’t considered that he was pissed that we were talking about our lives. All this time, I thought that things had to be as normal as possible so he didn’t feel like we were babying him. Turns out, we were all dead fucking wrong and we were doing more harm than good.
“Do you think I need to hear about how your lives are moving on while I’m hanging on by a fucking thread? Sean, I’m really fucking sorry that you have a new baby girl and your wife wants you to help. That sucks for you. And Drew, sorry that you were blessed with two little boys and now you don’t get any sleep. That must be fucking terrible to know that you’re going to have such a big, loving family. Go fuck yourself. About the only one here I do feel sorry for is Cole and I bet he’d rather kick my ass than have me feeling sorry for him.”
He was losing it. I could see the anger and fear in his eyes. He was on the verge of breaking down and he didn’t want us around for that.
“Get the fuck out of my house. I didn’t ask for any of you to come and I sure as shit don’t need any of you over here feeling sorry for me.”
“Ryan, we’re trying to help. You can’t just sit here alone whenever James goes to his grandparents. You need to live,” I said, hoping that one of us could get through to him. I wanted him to know that we weren’t abandoning him.
“I am living. The only way I know how. You all have your wives and families to go home to, so go and leave me the fuck alone with my memories.”
Logan stepped toward him and gripped his shoulder. “You don’t have to be alone. I can’t fucking stand to see you like this.”
Ryan shoved Logan’s hand off his shoulder and stepped back from him. “I am fucking alone! You can’t stand to see me like this? I don’t want to see any of you. You come over here and try to act like nothing happened. Like my whole world wasn’t ripped apart. I have to sit and listen to you bitch about your wives or your kids and all I can think is how fucking lucky you are to still have your families. Meanwhile, I’m over here trying to hold it together so James doesn’t see me fall apart every other minute of the day.”
Ryan walked to the front door and held it open. “You may think you’re helping, but seeing all of you is just another fucking reminder of what I lost. Just get out. Don’t come back and try to help me or make sure I’m okay because I’m not. If any of you show up on my doorstep again, I won’t answer the fucking door.”
I didn’t want to leave, especially when he was falling apart. It felt like I was failing so many people in my life and I couldn’t handle to lose one more person, but he didn’t want us here and it wouldn’t do any good to try and stick around. He would just yell and scream at us. We all headed for the door, not really sure if we were doing the right thing. I paused outside the door when I heard Logan’s voice.
“You’re my business partner and my friend, but above that, you’re family. I’ll step back for now and give you space, but I’m never going to leave you alone. You’re drowning, man. Don’t wait too long to ask for a life raft.”
He walked out the door and clasped a hand on my shoulder, signaling it was time to go. It felt so wrong, but I was following Logan’s lead right now and respecting Ryan’s wishes. I got in my truck and looked one last time at Ryan standing in the doorway of his house staring at all of us and looking utterly broken.
My drive home was filled with thoughts of all the people I knew that were suffering right now. Cazzo, who was barely holding onto his sanity without full function of his legs. Sinner, who almost died and then almost gave up the love of his life. Ryan, who was still struggling to get by day to day now that his wife was dead, and also care for an eleven year old that he was now a single parent to. The more I thought about it, the more useless I felt.
I pulled into my driveway and killed the engine, staring at my house that no longer felt like a home without Maggie there. I desperately wanted to talk to her right now, but I wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to me. Before I could change my mind, I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. When her voice filled the air, I sighed in relief.
“Freckles,” I croaked out. Hearing how shattered my voice sounded, I cleared my throat.
“Sebastian? What’s wrong?”
I rested my head against the steering wheel, happy that I had her on the phone, even if it was only for a few minutes.
“Sebastian.”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“What’s going on? You sound upset.”
I sighed and ran a hand over my tired face, my beard just a little too long from not shaving. “I saw Ryan tonight.”
“Oh. How is he?” she asked quietly.
“Not good. He kicked us all out. Said that we were making it too difficult for him and he didn’t want to see us anymore.”
“He’s hurting.”
“I know, but it felt so wrong to leave him.”
“Sometimes you have to let people deal with things in their own way. I know it was hard to walk away, but you have to respect his wishes for now.”
“Maggie, I’ve known him since we were kids. I just don’t know how to walk away. Everything’s falling apart.”
She didn’t say anything, knowing that I was talking about more than just Ryan, Cazzo, or Sinner.
“You can’t hold yourself accountable for what’s happening. You didn’t kill Cassandra. Cazzo was hurt on the job, but you know that it comes with the territory. He knew the risks going in. Sinner wasn’t even working for you when he was taken. None of that was your fault.”
“But I’m their Captain, the boss. What happens to them is my responsibility. Look, just do me a favor and keep your security with you at all times. I can’t handle any more shit right now. I need to know you’re safe.”
“I promise.”
“I’m serious, Freckles. Becky found this guy. He’s an arms dealer and he’s very dangerous. I’m sure by now he knows that the three of us were at Victor Adams’ office. If Becky could find him, he can find us.”
“Okay, I promise. I won’t let them out of my sight.”
“It’s the other way around, Freckles.”
I could practically see her rolling her eyes at me and I chuckled.
“Okay, I get it. I won’t leave their sides.”
“Thank you. So, tell me how everything’s going. How’s freelancing going?”
“It’s okay. I’m not getting as many stories as I’d like.”
“I don’t understand why they would make you jump through hoops when you broke one of the largest stories Pittsburgh has seen.”
“I get the feeling there were a lot more people involved at the paper than what I knew about. Everyone shot me dirty looks when I walked through there, and then-”
She stopped suddenly and cleared her throat.
“And
then what? Does this have to do with how you ended up with a knot on your forehead while you were in the bathroom?”
“Look, it’s no big deal. It happened months ago and nothing’s happened since.”
“Freckles, if someone threatened you, I need to know about it.”
“Because you don’t have enough to worry about?”
“Fine, then at least tell Derek. He can’t protect you if he doesn’t know about stuff like this.”
“I don’t even know who it was. He had me pushed up against the wall and I couldn’t move. He was just angry because I took away something that was going good for him.”
I could imagine her pinned against the wall and unable to move. I ground my teeth together so I wouldn’t start yelling.
“It doesn’t matter if he was angry. He has no right to touch you like that.” I bit out.
She sighed heavily. “It’s in the past now. I have Hunter with me whenever I go in the building, and believe me, he hasn’t left my side.”
I closed my eyes and squeezed my fist tight to keep from lashing out. She wasn’t going to tell me any of this or her security team. This could have happened again and no one would have known.
“From now on, one of them follows you everywhere. If you go in the bathroom, Lola goes with you. I’m not taking any chances with you.”
“I get it, Cap, but I need you to lighten up a little. Remember when we first met and you were so lighthearted about everything? I want that Cap back.”
“I didn’t know you then. You were just a pain in my ass.”
“Guess what? I’m still a pain in the ass and I always will be. You know I go after what I want and that’s not likely to change anytime soon, but I will make sure I have someone with me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, at least there’s that.”
“Don’t worry, Cap. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Maggie
I FELT BETTER after getting off the phone with Sebastian. For the last two months, we had been dancing around each other, neither wanting to say anything about our relationship or lack thereof. Tonight was different. He opened up to me in a way that he hadn’t in a long time. I hadn’t seen Sebastian’s vulnerable side since Cal died. I knew I wanted to be with him. That much was clear to me, but I couldn’t figure out what the hell was holding me back.
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