Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry to hear that, Belinda,” I say. “But he doesn’t hurt you, does he?”
She swallows.
“I can’t tell,” she finally says.
A sickening knot forms in my stomach. My mind whirls with thoughts and emotions, struggling to process the implications of her words.
“I see.” I can barely control the tremor in my voice. “Belinda, if anything bad happens, you should tell someone about it. Someone you trust.”
She looks at me, her eyes filled with innocent confusion. “I have. My nanny. She’s trying.”
I squeeze her hand. “I’m sure she’s trying her best.”
“You’re kind,” Belinda says. “I think I can trust you, Raven.”
Her words strike me, and I swallow the lump in my throat. “Belinda, I promise to do everything in my power to help you. But in the meantime, we need to go back, okay?”
She looks down, kicking at the floor for a moment. “I guess so,” she finally says quietly.
We return to the waiting area to find Declan McAllister pacing.
“You were gone a long time just getting a drink,” he says.
“She just wanted to talk a little bit,” I tell him. “I think she’s lonely.”
“She’s just fine. She has me.” He takes the girl’s hand. “You should mind your own business,” he says under his breath.
But I heard him.
And beside me, Falcon is seething.
34
VINNIE
“Wait. Do you know?”
“You feel like making a deal, Austin?”
“Am I dealing with the grandson of Mario Bianchi? Or with the man who loves my daughter?”
“The two are one and the same,” I tell him. “We can have this talk if you like, but I need your guarantee that it doesn’t leave this room. That there’s no surveillance system recording us.”
He frowns. “I can’t guarantee that.”
I rise from my squatting position and head toward the office door. “Then I suppose we’re done here.”
“No. I don’t want to be done.” He rises. “Come with me.”
We leave his office, and together we walk out the front door.
“I need to check with my driver and my bodyguard,” I say.
“They’re in the car?”
“Yes. The air conditioning is on. They’re fine.”
“They’re not dogs, Vinnie. They’re people. They can wait in the house if you like.”
I shrug. “This is what they’re used to. Trust me that the car is comfortable. But thank you for the offer.”
He leads me to a small bench off the porch of the house. “We can speak freely here.” He pulls out his phone. “See? Not recording anything.”
“All right,” I say. I take a deep breath in before continuing. “Here’s the deal. I want to know who Brick Latham was. And why he’s no longer alive.”
He gazes out onto his land. “I didn’t find out about his connections until after Raven already met with him. When I found out that she had a date with him—”
“And you found that out because you’re having her watched, correct?”
He snaps his head back at me, his eyes fiery. “I’m not going to keep defending myself for that. My wife doesn’t know about it, and I’d like to keep it that way. But after what went down eight years ago…”
“Right.” I’m still not sure I believe him about all of that. I think he had another reason for wanting Falcon in prison, but I’m just not sure what it is. “You don’t need to go through all of that again. I get it.”
“Right. So this Latham, he spent a lot of time with Raven that day here at the house. They worked on the setup for her nonprofit that she wants to start.”
“Right. I know all about that. A worthy endeavor.”
“Yeah, it is. A great idea for her. Because he spent so much time here, I looked into it.”
“Isn’t he with a firm that you do business with?”
“He is. Turns out he’s a bit…unethical, according to his partners. They’ve been trying to figure out a way to oust him for years.”
“Okay.” I press my lips together. “That doesn’t explain why you got involved.”
“No, it doesn’t. I did some research. Probably similar to the research you did when you found out about my infractions when I was a minor.”
Interesting. So Austin Bellamy is no stranger to the dark web. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“What did you find out?”
“He came into some money about five years ago. It was laundered through a dry cleaner in Austin.”
I nod slowly. “So I can understand that you wouldn’t want your daughter dating a money launderer. But I’m still not sure why—”
“I’m not finished,” he says. “He’s used the money to pay people off. No less than eight women have accused him of rape.”
Chills run through me.
“So you can see my dilemma,” he says.
“Yes, I do.”
“I don’t go around ordering the deaths of people,” he says. “This is only the second time I’ve ever done it.”
“Who did you have offed the first time?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Mr. Gallo.”