Page 13 of Captivated

She swallows hard and whispers, “Thank you.”

“I’ll see you soon,” I tell her, and before she can think about it, she replies automatically.

“Okay.”

I can’t help my smile as she climbs out of my car, knowing she probably wouldn’t have agreed if I hadn’t distracted her.

Cassie walks the short path from the driveway to the porch, and looks over her shoulder when she reaches the door on the left side of the duplex.

She digs through her bag for her keys, and her brows furrow as she comes up empty. I’m about to get out of the car to help, but she knocks on the door.

Does she live with someone?

Cassie quickly looks over her shoulder, checking to see if I’m still here, when the door opens and a man is standing there.

What the fuck?

The porch light illuminates his face, and it’s clear someone just recently used him as a punching bag.

Cassie’s hands fly to her mouth and she frantically looks over at me again before pushing the guy into the house and slamming the door closed.

Who the fuck is this guy?

Pulling out my phone, I dial Stefano. I need answers.

“Hey, Nico, what’s up?”

“I need your help.”

“Alright, one second. Let me get my laptop.” I’m lucky he chose to stay the night at The Aces after the meeting, and lucky he doesn’t go out or sleep much. “Okay, what do you need?”

“I need you to tell me who the guy at Cassandra Connelly’s place is.”

Stef is good in that he doesn’t ask questions. I can hear him typing away, finding out what I need without needing to know the reason. Whatever any of us need, no matter how crazy our request, Stef gets it for us without judging our level of insanity.

“She inherited the duplex from her aunt that passed away last year. She does have a younger brother, Sean, whose last known address was in New York. It could be him.”

I rub my eyes in relief while my jealousy wanes. He must be her brother.

“Are there any problems with him? He answered the door and clearly had the shit beaten out of him. Most likely tonight by the surprised look on Cassie’s face when she saw him. I don’t want whatever he’s involved in to touch her.”

“Yeah, give me a minute.”

Stef goes quiet again as he does his thing, and I don’t take my eyes off the house. I’m not leaving until I know she’s safe.

“He’s not in the system for anything. He’s barely on the grid. No job, no apartment, no car. Nothing.”

“Shit.”

“My thoughts exactly. He used to have a little money to his name, but that dried up a few months ago. If he got the shit beaten out of him, then it’s not for anything good.”

“Or legal.”

“Want me to dig deeper into them and see if I find anything?”

Yes.

“No,” I sigh. “She’s already pissed at me. I don’t want to add fuel to the fire when she finds out I’ve been digging into her life without her knowing.”

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