Page 71 of Pulse

“What the fuck.” Spec shot halfway across the table. His hands smacked the table with a loud slap. “Tell me you’re not about to fucking extort us because you’re fucking recording. I’ll—”

Curly lifted a hand. “Brother, don’t finish that sentence,” he said, his voice cracking into the room like a whip.

“Fuck.” Spec sagged back into his seat. He jammed a hand into his hair. “Sorry.”

“No need,” Talia said, though her heart had lodged in her throat. “I promise I pose no threat to you or this family you’ve built. I do, however, have some information that might be difficult to hear. Before I share it, I’d like some assurances from the two of you.”

Spec turned to Curly. “You gonna agree to this shit?”

Curly leaned forward. “Talia, I already know.”

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She blinked. He knew? “I-I’m sorry. You know?”

Nodding, Curly rubbed at a nick in the wooden table with his thumb. “I know who your father is. I know he was a defense attorney during my trial, and he took bribes to do a shitty job and overlook police corruption.”

She leaned back. There were few times in her life she’d been truly stunned, and this was one of them. “I… how…”

“What the fuck?” Spec turned to his president. “You hired the daughter of a man who screwed you over?”

Curly ignored his enforcer and kept his gaze on Talia, who felt like she was upside-down on a massive roller-coaster loop. “You underestimated the strength of the background check I did before we hired you.”

She was going to be sick, and they hadn’t even discussed the reason she’d come to talk to them. “Is this about revenge?”

“It better fucking be,” Spec muttered.

“No. I’ve been following your career, and it seems you’ve spent it trying to right your father’s wrongs. You specialize in wrongful arrests and fighting for the underdog.”

He had no idea.

“I do. And you hit the nail on the head. I’m here to pay his penance, but, um… that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about this morning. It’s different and more serious, I’m afraid. But I would love to revisit this with you.”

“Great,” Spec said, rolling his eyes.

Any other time, finding out Curly knew her secret and had hired her anyway would have been an enormous relief. Today, it barely registered. “Like I said, I need your assurances before I begin.”

Curly tilted his head, studying her. “You’re not here to harm one of my men or their ol’ ladies.”

“No. Quite the opposite. And I’m sorry to be so cryptic, but I need you to hear my terms and agree to them before I divulge more.” If it weren’t for the countless hours in a courtroom, her hands would shake, and she’d squirm in her seat. These men had stares that would scare the devil.

Curly’s lips flattened into a thin line. He tugged on a curl—his namesake—as he thought.

“Where’s Pulse?” Spec cut in. “You two have been all chummy lately. I’m assuming he has something to do with all this drama.”

“He’s at his house.”

Spec’s eyes narrowed. “He know you’re here?”

“He does not. And to answer your next question, he would never have agreed to let me come here. I’m guessing he’ll drop me faster than you can say throttle once he finds out I’m here.”

“What are your terms?” Curly asked.

“You agree to hear me out completely. That means no flying out of here in a fit of rage until I have said everything I’ve come to say.”

Curly nodded. “Agreed.”

She looked at Spec. “And you?”

The poor man’s jaw looked one more pound of pressure away from shattering. He spoke through clenched teeth. “Fine. Next?”

---