Greed

by Lana Pecherczyk

  “I’ll go with you then.”

  “Griff, you’ve been shot already today because of me. I can’t put you in danger again.”

  He almost laughed. He’d faced far worse than a soft man playing deadly dress ups. This morning’s injury won’t happen again. He’d been distracted because he denied his biology. Not anymore. Tomorrow, he would return to training with his new ability. He would involve Parker this time. The man had a mind for battle.

  “How about we start with your family home,” he suggested. “Check on your mother, just you and I. No one else”—his gaze snapped to where Doppenger watched nearby at her desk—“I don’t trust him.”

  He couldn’t reveal what he knew about Donald’s extracurricular activities without exposing himself.

  “I don’t want him there either.”

  As if knowing they spoke about him, Doppenger stormed over. He palmed Griffin between his pec and shoulder—right where he got shot. “That’s enough of you whispering in her ear.”

  The hit sent a stab of crippling pain through Griffin’s body.

  “Donnie,” Lilo cried. “He was shot! Be careful.”

  “I thought it was only a graze,” Doppenger sneered.

  “You dickhead!” Lilo shouted, but she hadn’t caught the clue that confirmed Griffin’s suspicions. Doppenger hit Griffin in the exact spot he was shot, and the only way he knew that was if he did the shooting himself.

  Griffin’s smile was slow as it spread. The man didn’t know he’d just signed his own death warrant. But he would deal with him later. For now, he had Lilo to worry about.

  “Touch me again, and you’ll lose an arm.” Griffin turned his back on the man to face Lilo. “We’ll go to your parents’ house tonight, then you can decide whether to involve the police.”

  “No,” Doppenger bit out. “You’ve known her for seconds. I’ve known her for years. If there’s anyone going with her, it’s me.”

  “You only want to go with her because you think it’s a story,” Griffin fired back, unable to help himself.

  Donald’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh really? Well, you’re only going with her because you want to get in her pants. Or have you already been there?”

  “Donnie!” Lilo exclaimed, mortified.

  “Step back, Lazarus.” Doppenger pushed Griffin again, aiming for the same spot, the same injury.

  This time, Griffin blocked. Idiot. Did he not see he was no match for him? It was clear Griffin’s physique was more robust than his. Anyone with eyes could see that.

  When Doppenger’s next strike bounced off Griffin’s forearm, the man growled and struck with his left. Griffin blocked effortlessly again. He could stop this with a finger to the man’s eye, but anything Griffin did would compromise his identity. His body was a deadly weapon, and if his background got out, the court judge would be unforgiving.

  “Stop before you hurt yourself,” Griffin said, but Doppenger doubled his efforts.

  “What’s so important about you, huh?” he hissed under his breath on a second lunge. “Why does everyone want you?”

  He punched.

  Griffin dodged.

  The shock of what he said froze Griffin. Why everyone?

  Doppenger’s fist connected with Griffin’s shoulder, tearing the wound open. Blood seeped through his shirt and blazer, and then Doppenger’s body collided with Griffin, taking them to the floor.

  “Get off him!” Lilo yelled. “You asshole!”

  “I’ve called security,” Bev shouted.

  “Never mind.” Doppenger rolled off Griffin and stood inspecting his hand, now covered in Griffin’s blood. “I got what I came for. I’m done.”

  Got what he came for?

  The greedy man walked away, cradling his fist as though it were precious cargo.

  Griffin had to contact his family. They needed to know about this. Too many clues pointed to Donald working for the Syndicate. Why else would he want a sample of blood?

  “Shit. What an asshole! Oh shit, Griffin, are you okay?” Lilo kneeled next to him. “What can I do—shall I call the hospital? Grace? Anyone?”

  “No.” He sat up and peered under the collar of his shirt to the wound below. “I’m fine. The bleeding’s almost stopped.”

  He wasn’t fine. And the bleeding was worse. He should have rested this afternoon instead of sparring and training. He might heal faster than normal, but he wasn’t invincible. The sense of Doppenger’s greed signature got weaker as the man left the building. Damn it. Griffin should run after him, but he would risk tearing the wound more. Resting a few minutes and notifying the family would be better.

  Lilo whimpered. “Can I help?”

  She needed to do something, so he took her hand and used it to apply pressure to his shoulder. “Please hold that firmly while I send a message.”

  She pushed her palm to his wound despite the sticky blood. “Okay. I got it.”

  Careful not to show Lilo the screen, Griffin shot a text to Parker.

  Identity of the imposter is Donald Doppenger. Works at Cardinal Copy. Potential link to the Syndicate. Just collected a sample of my blood. Someone needs to track him immediately. I’m wounded, but not critical.

  When he put his phone away, he noticed Lilo’s hand trembling on his shoulder. For a minute he thought she’d seen his message, but her eyes were locked firmly where her hands covered his wound.

  “Lilo,” he said. “Lilo, look at me.” He slid his fingers around her neck and grasped, much like he had in his office. “I’m here.”

  A smile caught between pain and relief tipped her lips. “You’re here,” she repeated.

  But the scary thing was, those words and that connection calmed him more than it did her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Lilo drove with Griffin to her parents’ house on the east side of town.

  Home to the city’s elite and exuberant, The Eyrie was a fortress of protection with cliffs facing Menagerie River on one side, and a highway on another. Guarded by security guards day and night, it had a wall so high and thick that even birds had trouble getting over. The crime rate inside was virtually zero and offenders were limited to recalcitrant teenagers out for a little midnight fun. Any real criminal daring to show their face was never seen again. If the residents knew the reason they slept so soundly was because mafiosi lived inside its walls, they’d probably think twice about residing there.

  But Lilo knew. She’d seen the evil behind the designer clothes and polished silver. She’d seen the blood behind the fake plastic smiles in her own enormous backyard. Nothing was as it seemed in The Eyrie, and she’d been smack bang in the middle of it.

  “Thank you again,” Lilo said as the car turned into the driveway leading into the complex. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you doing this.”

  “Lilo.” Griffin rolled down his driver side window. “That’s the fifth time you’ve thanked me since we left Cardinal Copy.”

  “Yeah, but, I know we only met this morning, so I understand this is a big deal. And after the day you’ve had. Being shot, then having a douche like Donnie purposefully hit your injury, I think you’re being incredibly generous. I still think you should be home resting.”

  “It’s not a big deal. I’ve been hurt worse.”

  “You have?”

  He shifted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Plus, Grace said you’re family to her. Grace is my family.”

  A warmth followed his words as she let them sink in and she turned in her seat to inspect him. Everything about him oozed manliness, from the cut of his jaw to the thick column of his neck, from the way his elbow rested on the window to the way his hips sprawled forward in the seat. Why was it men always looked so damned sexy when they drove?

  Or maybe it was just her hormones. That neck had been so warm and inviting when she’d touched it. She wanted more and bit her finger to stop drooling all over him.

  Griffin looked out his window, inspecting the s
ecurity booth coming up, and the guard checking the ID of the vehicle in front of them.

  “Do you have clearance to enter?” he asked Lilo.

  She was still imagining indecent and insane thoughts about this neck. What was wrong with her? She fanned her face.

  “Lilo?”

  “Yes. Sorry. What?”

  “Do you have clearance to get through the gate?”

  “I left, but my parents have always had an open door policy for me.”

  “But you’ve never taken it?”

  “No. I can’t forgive what they did.” Fake—even with her. She could never trust them.

  Griffin hesitated, but kept darting back to Lilo. She almost smiled at his transparency. “It’s okay if you want to know what they did.”

  “Only if you want to share.”

  “They paid for my love.” Seeing his confusion, she elaborated and told him all about her discovery on her sixteenth birthday. “After that, they weren’t so careful hiding their criminal activities. I once saw my father torture some poor guy in my basement, all because the man owed him some money.” She shook her head, lost in the memory. “When he caught me watching, he bought me a new diamond bracelet. As if that was enough to excuse his deeds. So you see, not only are they criminals, but they never once showed me an ounce of honest affection. I was just another transaction to them. I was too weak to go to the police back then, but now I’m doing this job, uncovering criminal activity, and putting murderers behind bars. It’s my way of making up for never doing the right thing back then.”

  Two intense eyes bored into her, then the car in front of them moved and Griffin put the vehicle into gear, shifting them forward.

  “Name?” The security guard leaned into the window and eyed them.

  “Lilo Likeke—I mean, Liota—here to see the Liotas on Parkham Way.”

  “And you are?” The man shifted his attention to Griffin.

  Lilo covered his thigh with her hand. “My fiancé, Griffin Lazarus.”

  Griffin tensed, but smiled briefly at the guard.

  “Right. ID please.”

  Both handed over their cards.

  “I’ll be a moment.” The man went back to his booth and picked up the phone, most likely calling Lilo’s mother for confirmation.

  She looked at where her hand rested. He didn’t complain, and she made sure to keep her pressure firm. It was a nice, solid thigh. Sturdy and warm.

  “Fiancé,” Griffin eventually said.

  “Sorry. It’s the easiest way to get you in.”

  Reluctantly, Lilo removed her palm and placed it in her lap. “My parents are very suspicious of strangers. Fiancé was the first thing I could think of.”

  Within minutes, the guard was back, holding out their cards. “You’re free to go, Miss. Welcome back to The Eyrie.”

  Lilo’s stomach churned as they drove away and wished she’d kept her connection to her rock beside her, but stared out the window instead. The neighborhood had only grown more extravagant, with Lilo’s parents’ house the icing on the cake. The monolith structure sat high on a hill overlooking the rest of the community like a king over his subjects, and the snow covering it sparkled like diamonds under the moon. Three-stories high, the federation style home sat behind a white picket fence and sprawling front lawns. Powdered rose bushes lined the boundaries and a single frozen oak tree sat in the middle, a ghostly swing swaying in the breeze. It was a suburban home turned into a luxury mansion. Lilo reached into the back of the Escalade to get her jacket and scarf. The walk from the road was long and cold.

  Griffin parked and got out to wait by the picket fence. She tried to maneuver herself in the confines of the car to put her coat on. It took some time, but she managed it, then surrounded her neck with a woolen scarf, and put her beanie on her head. A few minutes later, she realized she was procrastinating.

  Come, on, Lilo. You can do this.

  The passenger door opened and Griffin stood there blowing hot air on his hands. “Everything okay?”

  She smiled up at him. “Just a little nervous. It’s been a few years.”

  He held out his hand.

  I’m here, his eyes seemed to say.

  A rush of raw emotion flowed over her. The shadows of the street lamp cast his handsome structure into hard angles as he watched her patiently. No pressure, no demands. Not like Donnie at all. She slipped her hand into his, appreciating it for what it was.

  “Thank you.”

  “Not a problem. We’re about to be married, after all, what’s a little holding hands?”

  He was amused at his own joke, and that made her laugh.

  They walked through the picket gate and along the cobbled path up to her old front door. The internal house lights were on behind the frosted glass, indicating someone was well and truly home.

  Still holding Griffin’s hand, Lilo rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, a shadow darkened the glass at the door, and it opened.

  “Hello Renata,” Lilo said to the housekeeper, and then held her breath. Logically, she knew she wouldn’t be turned away—they’d let her in at the gate after all—but her heart couldn’t help being afraid they’d refuse her.

  Renata was a short, portly woman in a maroon dress. Her brown hair had been cut close to her scalp, and she had fire engine red lipstick on. Lilo couldn’t say exactly why she thought it, but it never seemed like Renata enjoyed her job at the Liota household, despite her working without complaint. Perhaps she’d seen too much like Lilo and was too afraid to leave. Whatever the case, Renata’s eyes lit up upon landing on Lilo and she touched the pendant she wore around her neck.

  Oh great! It was delivered in time.

  “Miss Lilo. Is good to see you.” Renata swept her judgmental gaze over Griffin, taking the time to stop at way points over his body: his broad shoulders, his strong arms, his face. She pouted and turned back to Lilo with a pleased flash to her eyes. “And this tall man is fiancé? Will he come to coffee date next week?”

  “My name is Griffin Lazarus, ma’am. Pleased to meet you.” Griffin held out his hand. “I’d be happy to come along to a coffee date with you.”

  Lilo smiled at Griffin. She knew he was probably acting and had no intention of coming to a coffee date with her old housekeeper, but she kind of wished he wasn’t. It felt good to imagine all of them together.

  Renata lifted a brow at Griffin, unimpressed. “I will know if I be pleased after I meet you. Come. I take you to the Mrs. She is packing for trip to vacation house on Menagerie Island, and well, you will see. She make big mess. Guess who will have to clean.”

  Her abrupt manner came from a good place. Renata was more of a mother to Lilo than her own kin, often being the one who did all the hard parenting like helping her with her homework, teaching her to bake, and make her own bed. If Renata hadn’t spent the time to ensure Lilo grew to be a capable young woman, Lilo would probably still be living there, hopelessly under her rich parents’ thumbs. And it cost Renata nothing more than time.

  They walked through the overly wide hallway, passing the gallery wall of photographs, still portraying the happy family before Lilo left. Griffin tugged her hand as they came to a large picture of Lilo and her parents. It had been taken on her sixteenth birthday, the night everything went dark for Lilo, yet they hung it in a place of pride. She couldn’t tell if they were delusional, or deranged.

  “This is your father?” Griffin’s brows lowered.

  “Yes. Dad and mom and… I don’t know who that girl in the meringue is.”

  “That’s you, clearly.”

  She tried to hide her blush by turning her head. That dress was hideous, but so were her parents’ outfits. Her father wore a cerulean blue polo shirt with a camel colored sweater wrapped around his shoulders. Being an Islander, his skin was already on the brown side, but somehow he’d managed to make it look tinted orange with fake tan. Next to him stood her mother with her trifecta of plastic. Fake bobble breasts, botox face, pouty pink lips. Her oli
ve Italian skin turned a complimentary shade of orange to her father’s. To be honest, there were more fake things about her mother than she could count. Lilo wasn’t even sure which features she inherited from her mother’s side. No, that wasn’t true. They had the same brown eyes.

  Griffin moved to another photograph. Ridiculously, it was of Lilo in her room, surrounded by her crystal animal figurine collection. Looking at the obscene materialism she was brainwashed with made her sick. To think there were people in the world—in their own city!—too poor to find their next meal, yet there she was surrounded by thousands of dollars of shiny rock.

  “I can’t believe I used to be impressed by that sort of thing,” she murmured.

  “What impresses you now?” he asked quietly, focused intently on her.

  “None of this, that’s for sure.” She waved around at the expensive decor lining the tables in the hallway. Some of it looked terrible, but it had a price tag, so her mother had wanted it. “I guess, I’m more of an actions speak louder than dollars kind of girl.”

  He stared at her.

  It made her uncomfortable. “Can we go?”

  She tugged his hand, and they continued along the hallway into another room.

  Now it was Lilo’s turn to stop. The room had been ransacked. Torn cushions were turned from couches, all with the stuffing pulled out. Side tables had tipped over. Drawers were out, exposing bits and pieces of paper and clutter. Everything had been pulled apart, and it wasn’t the only room. The designer kitchen was in pieces with cutlery and pots and pans everywhere, and as they continued to follow Renata, they learned the rest of the house wasn’t far behind. Surely this mess couldn’t all be from her mother packing for a trip.

  “Renata, have you been robbed?” Lilo asked. It didn’t make sense, not with the extensive security at the complex. Unless it was someone who lived inside the community.