Page 49 of What Lies Within

“You got eyes on Terry?”

His lips hitch the slightest bit on one side. “I’ve got eyes everywhere.”

“But not where they took my daughter, right?” My heart rate kicks up, sweat prickling at my palms. Better the devil you know, except the devil before me is as unpredictable as they come.

He could be my friend one day, foe the next, and only he would know why.

Marco sighs, tracing a finger across the natural patterns in the stained tabletop. “Do you forget that I have a daughter too?”

“Of course not.”Gia.Absolute stunner of a girl—so much so that he sent her away to boarding school at age ten, and nobody's seen more than a passing glimpse of her since.

“Then you must know that I, of all people, understand the fire that runs hot through my veins when it comes to my responsibility for my family. For mydaughter." He smiles, wolfish and sure of himself. "If I had knowledge that could bring Maddie home, I wouldn't hesitate to share it with you."

I watch Deo's body language as he says this, his son's reaction to the promise from the devil's lips. And it's the steely resolve in the kid's hardened jaw as he tips his head in agreement that assures me Marco tells the truth.

Whether my ex-wife's husband loves his daughter or not, his respect for his son assures me he wouldn't knowingly place Maddie in harm’s way. Not when it would risk putting Deo offside and leaving him without a suitable heir for his crooked empire.

“Fine.” I give a tight nod. “Will you do it, though?”

“Already are, if you mean keeping watch over Terry.”

Smartass.“I mean, will you step in if he attempts to make a move on the club in my absence?”

"Why would he do that?" Forefingers pressed tight to one another, he brings them to his lips, studying me over the rise of his hands.

“Because these properties we’re searching? They’re his.”

“Provocative,” Marco murmurs.

“Isn’t it,” I say drolly. “Expectin’ a call from the asshole any moment.”

A slow smile spreads behind the arch of Marco’s fingers. “What’s in it for me?”

Deo sighs. “Seriously? They don’t have anything you want.”

Marco lifts a finger to silence his boy. "I know you're smarter than expecting a favor for free, Tyke, so what’s your offer?”

I roll my lips into a tight line. “What if it’s notmewho has something you'd want? What if it'shim.”

Asshole’s eyes light up. “What are you suggesting, Tyke?”

I scan the corners of the room and run my eyes along the lines of the table before me. I wouldn't put it past them to bug the place. For the assholes who use this place to want concrete evidence of conversations held, blackmail if you like.

But then again, they wouldn't want recordings of themselves for the same reason.

“Terry’s time is due.” I toe the leg of the chair before me with the cap of my boot. “I want him gone, but I don’t want the responsibility of the mess that’d create.”

“You think I do?” Marco raises a thick brow.

“I think you’re a little tired of playing with toys made for smaller boys than you.” He’s good at what he does, feeding on failing businesses like the vulture he is. But this man was raised for more, to be more than a petty investor. Like recognizes like, and I see that frustration coiled within him at being chained down, held back from his full potential.

In a perfect world, there would be no drug trade, but if I can't have that, I can at least have a man at the helm who's more friend than foe.

Deo watches his father with hawk-like intensity.

“I’ll consider it.” Marco sets his hands on the table’s edge, fingers splayed. “What do I get for babysitting duties in the meantime?”

I run my teeth over my bottom lip and eye the fucking exit in my periphery. “Your boy gets my blessin’ to keep seeing my daughter without me cuttin’ his fucking balls off.”

---