Page 50 of Reluctant Surrender

Alex gave a toothy grin. “Like a songbird.”

“And what did he have to say?” I turned to Andrezj.

“You’re not going to like it.” Andrezj opened the door, exposing the mess of a man puddled on the floor. He’d live, but he was going to hurt for a while.

“Why would I like anything about this?” I asked him, stepping inside the room. The stench of blood and sweat mingled in the thick air of the room.

“This is Jared Carpenter.” Andrezj toed the man’s shoulder.

“Carpenter?” I brought my eyes up to Andrezj.

“Yes. He’s Camille’s older brother.”

I clenched my jaw. “You’re right, I don’t like this.” I hadn’t talked with Camille yet about what Maggie found. I hired new accountants to scour over the last few years of finances to find when it started and to pinpoint exactly who was doing it.

“It’s not going to get any better.” Andrezj frowned. “He works for one of Bertonelli’s crews.”

“Was he the only one?”

“No. There were two of them that stopped our truck. Pulled out right in front of him, blocking the alleyway so he couldn’t get around. The other guy pulled a gun, so we put him down, but this jackass was the one driving.”

“Did you find out where the order came from? Is this from Sammy himself, or is this one of his crews taking on their own game?”

Andrezj lifted a shoulder. “We couldn’t figure that out. Like I said, he was the driver. Low guy on the job. Probably just started working for the family.”

“So I have one Carpenter stealing money from the club and another Carpenter trying to hijack my liquor and Bertonelli is in the middle there somewhere.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I need to talk to Camille first thing tomorrow.”

“You want us to bring her in?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll meet her at the club.”

“You think any of this has to do with Maggie? Bertonelli trying to get back at you for that game she ran?”

“No, the timing isn’t right on that. But he could definitely be seeing this as an opportunity for himself. Just in case, I want someone with Maggie at all times.”

“At her job again?” he asked.

“Yeah. Keep it casual. I don’t want her job affected.” I looked down at Jared. “Drop him at a hospital.”

“You got it.”

“Oh, my god!” Maggie’s voice penetrated my skull. I spun around and found her standing in the doorway. Her eyes were fixated on the beaten man at my feet.

“Maggie.” I stepped toward her. “You shouldn’t be down here.”

“You… did you do that to him?” she asked, bringing her hands to cover her mouth as she spoke. Like she wasn’t sure she should let the words loose and wanted to shove them back in.

“No. I didn’t.” I shifted my position to block her from seeing the mess. “Go back upstairs,” I said in a low voice. As much as I wanted to give a direct order, I could see the shock on her face. Her defiance was practically guaranteed if I took a hard tone with her.

“I…” She brought her gaze back to mine. Something changed there. Like she’d just seen a monster climb out from under her bed. “I came down because… I didn’t think… I should have.” She took a step backward. “I should have known.” She turned on her heel and ran across the open room to the stairs. The door slammed shut.

“Well, fuck,” I muttered.

Andrezj stepped up behind me. “What do you want to do about Camille?”

I stared at the stairs Maggie had just run up. It couldn’t have surprised her, what she saw. She’d been hanging around her father’s office since the first time I’d had a meeting with him. There couldn’t have been any illusions over what sort of man I was.

“I want to know if she’s working for Bertonelli, too. Put a man on her. She’s to be watched at all times. Every fucking move she makes, I want to know about. I want her phone tapped. I want to know who she talks to and what they talk about.”

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