Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Damion’s hand presses to my lower back, warm with comfort, as Kellan adds, “The guy we captured is a nobody. He’s a grunt man.” His attention shifts to Damion. “I don’t know what the fuck your father was thinking involving himself with these people. They’ll hold him and your company captive, and I’m talking blackmail and threats of bodily harm.”
“My father tends to believe he’s uncrossable and more dangerous than anyone else in the room. But the interesting part of this equation is Caleb.”
“Blake’s filled me in on Caleb,” Kellan replies.
“Caleb’s lethal, but for some reason, he’s on the wrong side of my father which means my father is on the wrong side of Caleb. Caleb convinced my father is sending the mob after him therefore Caleb wants my father dead.”
“Which might sound like good news,” Blake comments. “They kill each other off and this is over, but neither party wants a mess to clean up. They’ll want a coverup in place. In other words, Damion, it opens you up to being framed for the murder, and you have a hell of a lot of motive.”
I’m officially freaking out in my head and I twist around to face Damion. “How do you know any of this? I’ve heard nothing of Caleb wanting your father dead, or fearing a Russian hit.”
“Sorry, baby. I had every intention of telling you. I met with Caleb this morning. That was the general gist of the talk. He wants out. He feels he has to kill my father to make that happen.”
“Oh my God,” I say, pressing my hand to my forehead and then dropping it. “That meeting could have been part of him setting you up.”
“We tapped it and recorded it,” Blake assures me. “It’s clear from the audio. Damion wasn’t in on this, but it’s incriminating if he doesn’t go to law enforcement, and that is exactly what we need to do at this point. I have a guy I trust. I’ve teased some of this to him already. We need to bring him in, let him hear the audio, and allow him to help shelter you, Damion.”
Damion stares at him a couple beats, his lips pressing together, voice tight. “Because you think my father’s going to end up dead?”
“Being frank here,” Blake states, “I’ve done a lot of digging on Caleb. He has a reputation for getting the job done and not getting caught. If he takes a job, it ends his way. If he says he’s going to do something, he does it. He clearly told you today that your father is as good as dead.”
“Will this trusted member of law enforcement place West Senior in protective custody?” I ask. “Because if Damion’s father finds out about Caleb coming after him, won’t we write Caleb’s death sentence with the mob? I mean, I know he’s not a good guy, but—”
“He did warn me about trouble heading Alana’s direction more than once,” Damion adds, indicating agreement with my line of thought. “I don’t believe he intends to take me down. He’s at odds with my father, not me.”
“Even if that’s true,” Kellan counters, “you have motive and there’s big money at stake. You’ll be looked at by law enforcement. In my opinion, alerting law enforcement now is your salvation. Use them to set him up.”
“You said that involving law enforcement gets tricky,” Damion replies, his attention on Blake now. “My father knows he’s close to getting kicked out the door. He’s planned a way to take me down. He’s that devious. What if that backfires on me?”
“It will,” I say. “Your father will make sure it does. I’ve seen how calculating he is. I can’t do the interview and risk triggering him.”
“Speaking of triggering him,” Damion says grimly. “The board meeting is tomorrow morning.”
“Can you put it off?” Blake asks. “Buy us some time to think this through?”
Damion steeples his fingers and rests them to his mouth a moment before he says, “I don’t know. I can try, but if I do, we’re going to need to have a whole lot better plan to end this than we do now, which is no plan at all. I don’t think I can get more than a day.”
“What does he fear?” Kellan asks, glancing at me. “Would your mother know?”
“My mother’s on her knees for that man. If she was able to think outside her own needs, I doubt she’d tell us.”
“He’s too arrogant to be afraid,” Damion mutters, his hands settling under his blue jacket on his hips.
“He sure as hell better fear the Russians,” Kellan says. “If he crosses them, they’ll come after him. I’d tell you all ways to piss them off and make sure he ends up dead, but that’s not the Walker way.”
“No, it’s not,” Blake says. “We’re good little fuckers that way, and therefore we don’t go to jail and get to keep protecting our clients.”