Page 165 of What's Left of Us

He grabs the door. “As of right now, you’re trespassing on private property. So, I highly recommend you leave before it becomes a problem.”

“I want to speak to my wife.”

“My daughterdoes not wish to see you.”

“She’s. Not. Yours.”

Nikolas grins. “Evidently, she’s not yours either.” As he begins shutting the door, he pauses with a contemplative look on his face. “If I were you, I would take what pride I have left and stop while I was ahead. You’re only going to get yourself into a place you can’t get out of. And, trust me, the consequences will be dire.”

“Is that a threat, Nikolas?”

“It’s a promise. One I know too well.”

“I’m not going to give up until this is over,” I state, standing my ground.

A grim expression is painted over his facial features. “Then I suppose it’ll be a race to the graveyard, Detective.”

He shuts the door in my face, leaving me gawking at the wood knocker in the center of it.

As I walk to the truck, I see the curtain of an upstairs bedroom quickly close. I grab my phone and type out a message, staring at the window that somebody is watching me from.

Me:I’m sorry

There’s no response on my phone.

But I see the curtain flicker again.

Nobody appears.

Nostrils flaring, I get into my truck and slam the door closed behind me.

Me:When you’re ready, you know where to find me

Me:And if I don’t hear from you…

Me:Then I guess I have my answer

CHAPTER FIFTY

Georgia/ Two Years Ago

Evan Maloney, myfather’s lawyer of twenty-five years, is soaking through his suit as he sips his second glass of water. Bullets of sweat drip down his face as he looks over the paperwork that Leani found locked in a safe in their bedroom.

The combination was my mother’s birthday.

“I’m not supposed to do business outside of Nikolas Del Rossi,” he says for the third time in the past hour of being in the study he’s met my father in countless times, tugging on his shirt collar to loosen it from his pudgy neck. “When you called, I thought he would be here.”

Unfortunately for him, my father was called away to a cryptic call to the Del Rossi Group headquarters, where he thinks cops will be raiding the business. They won’t be, but Leani said we needed him distracted, and that was the first thing I could think of to get him to leave.

Whatever he’s planning on hiding will more than likely take him a few hours.

“As you can imagine, Nikolas is a little tied up at the moment. Which means you can explain to me why we found a document stating that I own shares in both MDR Inc. and The Del Rossi Group. I’m not an expert on any of this, but fifty-one percent means that I hold majority stakes in the company, so this meeting is perfectly justified.”

His throat bobs with a nervous swallow. “I haven’t seen this document before in my life,” he states.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Lincoln’s stories all these years, it’s how to tell if someone is lying. His hands are shaking as he holds the paper, his eyes won’t meet mine, and there are sweat stains around the collar of his shirt.

Leani passes me the second document that she took from his locked desk drawer. I didn’t get a chance to ask her how she knew how to pick locks. Apparently, there’s a lot I don’t know about her.

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