Page 21 of Rivals Next Door

I snorted as she grabbed her handbag and marched out of my office with her shoulders squared. If there was one thing that Olivia never lacked, it was determination. She wasn’t an easy target and though I disliked her, I respect her. My respect wasn’t enough for me to back down though.

I brooded in silence for a few minutes, eying my laptop. It called to me, just begging me to boot it up and do something slightly unfair. “No, I won’t do it myself.”

I’d keep my hands relatively clean. Besides, I promised myself I’d lay off the hack jobs when they didn’t involve helping people.

Plus, my secret identity as the White Knight had been made public by a goddamn nosey journalist. I managed to spin the tale, letting the public think I got the name because of my line of work and not because that was the name I used as a hacker… I’d been forced out of cyberspace to lay low for a while.

I picked up my phone and dialed the number of an old friend, Andrew, who had carved out a niche for himself in the world of private investigation. A raspy voice from years of smoking greeted me.

“Alexander Knight. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Andy, how’s it going?”

“Depends. What kind of trouble are you going to get me into?”

I grinned. Andrew and I went way back to high school. “As if you weren’t a troublemaker yourself.”

“Sure, but I stopped being reckless years ago. You on the other hand…”

I rolled my eyes. He sounded like Jamie. “Relax, I’m not calling about anything extreme this time.”

“What? You mean no government hack job or pursuing dangerous criminals?”

“Jesus, Andy, you know I don’t like discussing certain things over the phone.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I asked you to look into a gangster once, and it was for a good cause.” I had no regrets about my extracurricular activities.

Andrew grunted. “Whatever. Shoot, I owe you big time, anyway.”

“You sure as hell do.” He was one of the people the White Knight helped.

I got up and began pacing the length of my office. “I need comprehensive intel on every associate, friend, or potential ally of the Brentwoods.”

“You mean, the royal family of Massachusetts Brentwoods?”

“Correct.”

“And why can’t you do this yourself? You’re very capable.”

I looked skyward. “The press has been on my ass since that… government thing. I’m laying low.”

“Right, I forgot about that. Can’t have anyone knowing Alex Knight, the media’s favorite bad boy, is actually a hero,” Andrew teased.

“Shut up about it, Andy,” I sighed. My best friends didn’t even know about my secret gigs.

In a more serious and professional tone, Andrew continued. “The Brentwoods have a wide network and digging up dirt without alerting anyone will require some finesse.”

“I’m not looking for dirt. This is nothing shady. I just need to know who might be willing to throw their weight behind the CEO of BioTech.”

“Hmmm,” Andrew hummed. “Okay.”

“That’s it? No more questions?” It was shocking.

“Hey, man, you’ve saved my ass and plenty of others who deserved to be saved. You get to misbehave once in a while without question. Besides, I’m going to charge you an arm and a leg for this.”

I snorted my amusement. “Gee, thanks.”

“Plus, you aren’t asking me to do anything illegal this time.”

“It was for a good cause,” I reminded him.

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