Page 38 of Revelation (Love Isn't What It Seems 3)

“You got it, buddy. Okay, now have fun. I’ll pick you up on my way home. Love you.”

I watched him run to his class, with one backwards glance, he waved at me and I was forgotten.

I raised the phone to my ear and noted I forgot to mute it. Oh, well. “Okay, I am back. I’m so sorry. Who is this?”

A deep, man’s chuckle. “No worries. I quite enjoyed the conversation. This is Daniel Carrington.”

“Oh.” I groaned silently. I didn’t expect a direct call from Maxim’s partner. Ugh, I hope I didn’t sound like a violent person giving advice to a kid to fight back.

He chuckled again. “That was sound advice you gave him.”

I couldn’t tell whether he was joking. “It was the best I got.” I waited a second and when he didn’t speak, I continued. “Did you want to reschedule our appointment today?”

“Actually, I hoped we could meet at the restaurant.” I frowned. I hadn’t heard of an interview happening at the restaurant. “I have another meeting shortly after yours, and I wouldn’t make it on time if we met at the office.”

“Ah, sure. Just tell me where.”

I glanced at the time. It was early enough, and hopefully, I’d make it wherever this restaurant was. He recited the address, and I sighed in relief. It was the same distance from here to get to the restaurant as it was the office

“Thank you very much.”

“It’s no problem at all. You caught me at the perfect time since I’m in the middle of two locations.”

“Great. And I’ll buy you lunch.”

I chuckled. “It is a bit too early for lunch but thanks. Maybe just tea.”

“You might need something stronger after dealing with me.”

“I don’t want to blow my chances with drinking something stronger,” I joked. “I’ll leave that for the evenings.”

Now, he chuckled back. “I like you already.”

“I will see you in a bit then, Mr. Carrington.”

“Please, call me Daniel. See you soon then.”

Chapter Fourteen

Maxim

Holy fucking shit!

That’s what summed up the last few days. They were a clusterfuck. First finding out that Liberty and Layla were half-sisters. Then Layla’s father was the man my father was accused of killing. It turned out Liberty’s mother killed him in self-defense and our father wanted to protect her. We hadn’t spoken to my father in years, I barely even knew him. And all along, he was innocent. What a damn soap opera!

Liberty had taken Brandon and left. She was staying at Layla’s. Alexander has been going around like a wounded bear, snapping at everyone. So naturally, we all avoided him. Dad started to come around more. Truthfully, he was more around Liberty at the publishing house than around Alexander. But considering my brother’s state, I couldn’t read too much into it. I had no doubt my brother would find a way to get Livy back. I just hope he did it sooner rather than later, otherwise he might lose all the people that work for him. He was so much more bearable when she was around.

I listened to Daniel’s conversation with Layla, his lip twitching as if he was trying not to laugh.

Once he hung up, he met my eyes and grinned. “I like her.” I knew he would. I wanted him to like her but also warned him she was mine. “She agreed to meet me at the restaurant.”

I nodded. We were in the midst of meeting with Daniel’s guy, Peter, at his restaurant. Hence for the need to move his meeting. This was important, but so was securing Layla on our team. We were on the second floor of his restaurant, where he kept an office.

I looked back down to the full report Daniel’s guy dug up on Layla. And damn it, it wasn’t pretty. There was some shit going on there that nobody knew. I was pretty sure not even Livy knew it.

“Are you sure this is all?” I asked him. Like this wasn’t enough? Fuck, it was too much. I should ask if he was sure maybe half of this shit didn’t belong to another investigation.

Daniel and I both had full report copies.

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