Page 13 of Hell of a Mess
“Do I need to list the reasons why that woman is off limits to you? Starting with, we don’t know who she is or who she belongs to.”
I shoved back the stool I had been sitting on and stood up. “It’s Locke you need to be worried about. He’s not been to the goddamn house this much in his life.”
“She’s off-limits to both of you. Something I never thought I’d have to tell you, but since you brought her home, you’ve been acting territorial. Having your coffee in the basement, reading to her.” He glared up at me accusingly.
“Don’t confuse me with you. There isn’t any of that fucking romantic shit in my DNA. I felt sorry for the kid. She is stuck in a basement and doesn’t know who she is and has been broken. I was being nice.”
Bane covered up a laugh with a cough, and I swung my gaze over to him.
“What? You got something to say too?” I asked.
He shrugged, not bothering to mask his amused grin. “I didn’t know you read.”
I didn’t have time for this.
“Are we going to dissect my every move or find out the son of a bitch who did this and get Lace back to where she belongs?” I demanded. “This footage isn’t showing us shit. We need to findthe motherfucker who is hiding this from us. Why is that taking so long?”
Bane sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “He left the country. You know that. We’re trying to find a way around going into Sovereign House and making a mess. It’s a cleanup the boss doesn’t particularly want.”
“Yeah, well, I changed the boss’s goddamn diapers. He needs to let us make that decision.”
“Easy, Luther,” Linc warned me.
It was true. We’d both been there when Blaise Hughes was born. We had watched him grow up, along with our sons, who worked by his side. It didn’t mean he would take my comment lightly. He’d put a bullet between my eyes most likely. Goddamn cold fucker was powerful because he was feared. More so than his father had been. Garrett used his charm until it wasn’t enough. Blaise didn’t share that charm.
“Look, we have a name,” Bane said. “Let’s run it into the missing persons system. It’s been long enough that she’s got to be listed.”
“I’ll call and let Doc know. He’s found nothing from her DNA,” Linc said, standing up.
I started for the door. Staying here was just pissing me off.
“Where are you going?” Linc asked, sounding pissed off. Not that I cared.
“To find out what else she remembers.”
“She doesn’t—” he said.
“Yet,” I shot back before swinging open the door.
Ransom Carver, however, stopped me from exiting as he approached with a scowl on his face, as if he had something to tell us that we weren’t going to like.
I waited, deciding I needed to find out what this was about before leaving.
“You know something?” I asked him as he reached me, and Istepped back so that he could enter.
He nodded with a grim smile on his face. “Sure as hell do. I decided to pay the guy who orders the liquor at Sovereign a visit. We’ve got a good relationship, as I’ve given them deals on shipments more than once. Seems that Sovereign was sold”—he paused, his eyes locked on Linc—“five days ago.”
“Sold?” Linc asked as his brows snapped together. “Why isn’t there a record of that? Wilder would have found it when he did his digging.”
Ransom nodded. “I asked the same fucking thing. It hadn’t been for sale, but a buyer offered the owners more money than they could turn down. It’s been kept quiet and out of the media. Seems some billionaire from overseas bought it.”
Linc stood up. “Did you get a name?”
Ransom smirked then. “Do I look like a rookie to you? Of course I got a name.” He held out a piece of paper that looked like it had been ripped off something in a rush. “We never mention where we got the information or the name. Raul knows he’s protected. I promised him that for the name and info. Not to mention, Sovereign House is one of our largest clients in the state.”
Linc snatched the paper out of his hand.
“Arun Al-Bahrani,” Linc said. “Why do I know that last name?”
