Page 8 of Vail

I would never again refer to my life as dull.

4

JORDAN

Normally, I sat smugly in the jail cell and waited to be released. Not today. I was a caged bear ready to be set free so I could lay waste to everyone and everything in my path. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to get to Vail and Hartley.

Lana had been to the station twice. The first time was to speak to me and the second was to let me know Vail had talked with the police and they were working on releasing me. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but when the door opened and the fucker on the other side moved so I could step out, it took everything in me not to grip his neck and slam his head into the bars.

Albert sat outside with my Maserati, a calm presence I needed. Lana would meet me at my home tomorrow. I couldn’t handle any more legal bullshit right now. I paid a hefty sum for her to deal with shit like this, and that was what she was doing.

The guy I had on Gil wasn’t any help. It didn’t matter that he was an ex-FBI agent who did private work now that he’d retired. They wanted an impartial source. Not that Vail’s guy was, but it didn’t come from me. Vail had no criminal record and a PFA against his ex, as well as a reason to follow Gil. I did too, but again, no one gave a fuck about my source.

Thanks to Vail speaking to the cops and his guy, plus my solid alibi, there was no reason to keep me. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t drag my ass back in for something else in the future. They always would. But that wasn’t for me to worry about now.

“Can’t you drive any faster?” I growled from the back seat. The traffic was brutal, thanks to an accident.

“Unless you’d like a tour of the Dremest suburbs, this is the best I can do,” Albert said in his usual casual tone.

“Just get me home.”

“Perhaps you should call Mr. Weathers and Mr. Ayers. That would ease your mind for a bit.”

“I don’t want to speak to them over the phone. I need Vail to look in my eyes and see I had nothing to do with Gil’s disappearance.”

“I think you’ll need more than that. You’re a master at spinning tales, sir, and Vail knows it.”

“There is no reason for me to lie to him. I told him I wouldn’t go after his ex, and I didn’t. I don’t break my word.”

“Mr. Ayers hasn’t been with you long enough to know everything about you. Yes, he knows what matters, but there’s much more to you than that. Those of us who’ve been with you for a while can read you.”

Malik could too. For years, he was my second-in-command. Sometimes it was like he knew me better than I knew myself. I shouldn’t have thought of him, but his letter still sat in my mind. A handful of sentences replaying over and over.

When you find love, Jordan, hold on to it with everything you have. Don’t let the one you give your heart to slip away. Fight, cherish, and do what you have to so the person you love sees the real you.

He told me to hold on to love when I found it. I had, but it felt like sand running through my fingers, the granules drifting by so fast I couldn’t grasp them. What I had left were bits that didn’t equal a whole. Maybe that was because I didn’t feel whole. At least not until I had them.

For a while, I was complete. I had men I would die for and who knew what I did, yet didn’t tell me to stop. They understood I couldn’t.

Then the fucking cops showed up and threw cuffs on me.

A growl worked up my throat.

“If you think that’s going to get me to move faster, you’ve been in prison too long,” Albert said. “You’ve clearly forgotten how vehicles work, as well as traffic lights and crosswalks. Cars don’t fly, sir. You won’t even let me get hybrids for your fleet. Did you know you can save money by switching to…”

Jesus, was he seriously going to talk about electric cars?

I tuned him out and focused my attention on the buildings slowly creeping by my window. My thoughts kept going to Vail and Hartley, wondering what they were thinking, what they’d said to one another.

“…not to mention what it would do to help the environment,” Albert said. How long was he talking about that for?

We pulled into the garage beneath the building. I was practically vibrating with the desire to get the fuck out of the car and into the elevator so I could see my men.

The moment I had my feet on the ground, Barry was waiting for me. “They searched the building, sir.”

“I figured.” I slammed the door behind me, not missing Albert’s quiet tsk. “Obviously, they found nothing because I had nothing to do with that piece of shit falling off the radar.”

“No, but Vail and Hartley were here when it was searched. Barrett was with the other cops.” I wasn’t certain if I liked or hated him more for being there. I guess if he was, he could reassure them.

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