Page 39 of Walking Red Flag

The man at the front waiting area, sitting in a seat next to the door, was the first thing that caught my attention.

Why did he catch my attention?

Because the moment we walked inside, upon seeing me, he licked his lips and started stroking his junk.

“And who is this with you, my friend?” The repulsive man’s beady eyes went from me to Cutter and back.

Cutter looked at the man and dismissed him. “I’ll be an hour, tops. You can order us food in about forty minutes, and then we can eat before we get on the road again.”

I was shaking my head. “Why would I want to stay here?”

I moved to his other side when the beady-eyed man started to lick his lips.

He moved to the side so that he could see me better, and I continued to circle around Cutter’s body, feeling so uncomfortable that I was practically leaning into him.

“I know I probably should’ve mentioned—” he started, but I interrupted with, “Probably?”

“Okay, so I definitely should’ve said. But you looked like you needed a break, and I might’ve needed some incentive to get me here.”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

He licked his lips. “My brother is going to ask about why Keely isn’t here, and I’m going to have to explain that she refuses to come.”

“What?” I asked.

“There’s a story,” he admitted. “Pretty much, some things happened to Keely…”

He hesitated as if he wasn’t sure how much to share.

“My dad was hurting my sister when my brother, Copper, caught him. Copper killed my dad, who was rich and important. My brother went away, and he’s been there for fifteen of his seventeen-year sentence,” he blurted. “About three years ago, one of my dad’s top aides was convicted of rape, and he’s also in prison. Which just so happened to be at the same prison that my brother’s at. My sister hasn’t confirmed it, but I have my suspicions that the reason that my sister refuses to come anymore is because of the aide.”

My stomach sank.

My dad was hurting my sister…

A dad hurting a daughter in any way was reprehensible. But I had a feeling the way he was hurting her went beyond that…

Disgust.

Pure disgust.

“Copper went down for your dad’s murder?” I asked, focusing on the major player, seeing as I was about to meet him.

“Yes,” he said, his eyes studying mine.

“Y’all should’ve gotten a better lawyer,” I grumbled. “Because I’m reading between the lines here but sounds like he maybe deserved it.”

He snorted. “We tried. My dad was just really…big.”

“Who was he?” I questioned.

“We don’t share the same last name,” I said. “When my dad died, we took my mom’s name. You’d know him as Castanon.”

“Castanon as in Castanon Industries, the biggest real estate mogul in the South?” I asked.

“That’s him.” He lifted his lip in disgust.

“I’ve heard a lot about him,” I said. “But I thought he was still alive seeing as his company is still thriving.”

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