Page 55 of The Fallen Man
“They did right after Absolex went under. That’s when I switched names. I haven’t seen anyone in a while, though. Not since the last time I moved.”
She didn’t mention the Russian outside her door or how he’d shown up outside of work. She didn’t want Vince to think she couldn’t handle things.
“I can’t fucking believe your dad this to you,” said Vince. “Do you even know what he did with the money after cleaning out your college fund?”
“No. Went on some big bender, apparently. The cop I talked to said they found him in San Francisco, where he’d rented out the penthouse suite of some fancy hotel before tossing half a kilo of coke around the place and taking a swan dive off the balcony. The last communication I had from him was some bullshit pile of work papers, and he just rambled on about how everything was the Deveraux’s fault, and he was going to get them. Or something. I don’t know. Honestly, I only looked at it once andshoved it into the pile. It’s not like he was really even talking to me. He just rambled on.”
“The Deverauxes have a lot to answer for,” Vince growled.
“Do they? I don’t even know. I think Dad knew that research was falsified, and I think, at minimum, he put the lives of veterans at risk by selling a defective drug to the VA.”
“Eleanor Deveraux targeted him,” said Vince. “Never mind the collateral damage.”
“Maybe she did,” she said with a shrug.
“And I bet that whole fucking family of hers helped tank the stock. One of the kids does investment banking or whatever.”
“The market doesn’t work that way,” she said. “You can’t just wave a magic wand and tank a stock. And honestly, I really don’t fucking care anymore. It’s not like I’m going to meet any of the Deverauxes anytime soon.” Vince seemed on the point of saying something. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, cutting him off. “I’m not getting caught up in Dad’s vendetta. I don’t’ need to be best friends with the Deverauxes or anything, but I just want out from under all his shit.”
“No offense, but did he have to off himself? Like he couldn’t walk out into traffic and maybe have it look like an accident so you could at least get the life insurance?”
Caitlin laughed, startled by Vince’s idea. “Well, J.P. Granger didn’t care about anyone, including me, when he was alive, so I don’t see why he’d start caring when he committed suicide.”
“Such an asshole,” said Vince, shaking his head. “I’m really sorry, Katie. I wish there was something I could do.”
“You gave me a job, Vince. I called everyone I knew when the school kicked me out. You’re the only one who came through, and I really appreciate it.”
He smiled ruefully. “Wish I could do more.”
Caitlin shrugged. As far as she could tell, no one could help. She just had to put one foot in front of the other, and maybe oneday, she wouldn’t feel like she was being crushed to death every time she woke up.
9
Jackson
VAR events
Jackson leaned on a cocktail table, watched Katie tend bar, and tried not to feel like an idiot. He’d slept with at least five other women in the room. His eyes sought them out. They all looked nice. He had good taste. His eyes flipped back to Katie. She reached above her head to grab a bottle on a high shelf, going up on tip-toe, and he felt himself almost groan out loud as her skirt shifted an inch or two upward. None of them could compete with her tight, round ass, her long legs, her perfect breasts, the elegant curve of her neck, or big eyes.
“Jesus, would you look at that bartender,” said a guy at the table in front of him.
“She could be my hostess with the mostess,” said his friend, and Jackson found his hand clenched around his drink.
Jackson consciously let go of his drink. He didn’t get jealous. He didn’t give a shit about women. He hadn’t given a shit about women since he started dating. Yeah, there were one or two in the past that he’d gotten twisted about, but even then… it only went so far.
Katie leaned across the bar to listen to a customer’s order. The customer was well-dressed in a carefully casual way that had high fashion written all over it and whatever he said made her laugh. Jackson took a breath and reminded himself that Katie hadn’t even asked him to call her.
But three days later, he was kicking himself, and when Dominique had asked him to be her boyfriend stand-in and take her to this event, he’d said yes based on the fact that it was a VAR-catered event, and he thought Katie might be working it.
The guy at the bar leaned in and touched her arm, and not only didn’t she pull away, she patted his hand.
Jackson looked over at Dominique chatting with a bevy of society women. She would not miss him if he ducked out, and since this was a VAR event, she didn’t really need him for security. Besides, Katie was obviously not thinking about him at all.
Another man approached the bar and slapped the first guy on the ass. He jumped and then turned around and, with a laugh, kissed the ass slapper.
Jackson paused. OK, back to plan A:accidentallybump into Katie and see if she’d be interested in round two.
“I’m going to talk to the bartender,” said the guy in front of him, finishing his drink in one long swallow. “Bartenders are always poor. A good tip and I bet I can get her on her knees.”
