Page 78 of Royal Pain

Still, I could live anywhere else with a family. As I pulled into the parking garage of what had been my father’s corporate offices, it was impossible to take my mind off Evangeline.

The ominous feeling remained but I had faith in my men.

I parked in one of our secure spots, ensuring I hadn’t been followed, as I’d checked several times during the drive. I’d also checked the cameras countless times before leaving the house. Jeff was right. You couldn’t be too careful.

As I headed to the private elevator, a strange sense of being watched fell over me. While it wasn’t my usual method of operation, I whipped out my weapon, holding it in both hands and walking the perimeter in a wide arc.

I’d spent the remainder of the night with my iPad, sitting in the chair I’d fallen asleep in, watching Evangeline sleeping fitfully. Her nightmares had continued, the girl even murmuring some horrible things she’d likely gone through. I’d researched every article written on Weathered Heights, digging as deep as the internet would allow. It was interesting how I had a feeling someone in their employ had an internet scrubber.

Hell, we did as a corporation.

However, I had access to a portion of what some would call the dark web thanks to Jeff. I’d found some interestingarticles written by two different reporters who I couldn’t locate. They certainly didn’t work for the same people as they had before. One included a San Diego-based internet newspaper that handled very opinionated pieces, nothing held back. They weren’t as political as they were about shaking up criminal activity and ruthless corporate activities. Why a reporter had attached themselves to doing two articles about Weathered Heights and what he called the Council of Evil Men was beyond me.

It would be a good thing to contact the current editor in chief this morning given the man was no longer registered on their reporter roster. Nor could I find his name anywhere. That was disturbing as fuck.

And telling.

Then there was the state legislator from Connecticut who’d quit politics not long after having a run-in with Dreyfuss Winston, Heidi’s father. Plus, there’d been a few other shorter articles from people attempting to buy legitimate houses for sale in the community and the crazy shit they said they had to deal with, including threats from unknown people. And being told they weren’t worthy of living there.

The entire story was insane.

But I had no doubt very truthful.

I covered about fifty feet in all directions within the garage. There wasn’t even a single person getting in a vehicle. I knew every place someone could hide as well and there was no one. Obviously, the night before had truly bothered me.

After storing my weapon once again, I returned to the elevator, actually stepping inside this time. At least we had keycards forvarious aspects of our world, including this elevator. That helped tremendously with security.

All of our employees at the various companies had been put on notice that there could be odd occurrences. Travis was watching the girls, who were leaving this morning. We had a lot of power set in position, including our location, but that didn’t mean their stealth operations couldn’t come up and bite us.

Maybe I should have followed my longing to enter the military and become Black Ops. My father hadn’t forbidden me to do so. He wasn’t that kind of dad, but my mother had nearly been hysterical, terrified she’d lose her only son.

However, they’d sat me down, given me options, and allowed me to make my choice. Jeff had also helped, telling me I was far too unruly to make it through boot camp. Still, he’d been a good friend and over the years, had taught me everything I knew about weapons. He’d also provided different methodologies in security and protection services, identifying hackers and explaining how vulnerable most corporations were.

With a photographic memory, I’d been able to maintain almost one hundred percent of the information.

As I rolled in through the massive all-glass doors, the receptionist waved at me, genuinely happy to see me. As our father had gotten older, he’d become a bit of a curmudgeon. At least we’d brought fresh ideas and different actions.

I found my brothers already inside Valerio’s office. We all had exceptional views but he’d taken over Pops’ space, which had afforded him the best corner of the building. There was a bird’s-eye view of the ocean, which always brought a level of peace.

“We were almost worried about you,” Braxton said.

I laughed and shut the door. “After my guest’s run-in with a bear last night, I was being extra cautious in telling Jeff and Ron what I needed.”

They both narrowed their eyes like I’d turned into a green alien.

“Don’t ask. A silly but dangerous occurrence.”

“Yeah, I’ll say,” Valerio snorted.

“Did you discover anything?” I looked from one brother to the other before grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge. If I had more coffee, I’d be far too jittery to operate at one hundred percent.

“The chatter out there is nonexistent, which means we should be concerned. Now, I hired some men to do a little snooping on the organization, including driving through the community. I learned early this morning as soon as they left, they were stopped by the police, hassled, and taken down to the precinct.”

I think I was staring open-mouthed at Valerio. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah. They were locked up with a bogus charge only to be released later with a warning to be careful where they went in the city and it would be best for them to consider returning home.” Valerio was laughing.

“Who don’t they own?”

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