CHAPTER 31
Thankfully, Shane had plenty to keep him occupied since it turned out they weren’t done with Anya Gorchakov. Rothgar described the take from Anya’s home computer as lackluster, one of several words the boss liked to use when he wanted to convey something was catastrophically disappointing.
Nobody’s fault. It was what it was. But the intel they’d retrieved from her house wasn’t going to be enough. Shane absently wiped the back of his hand against his mouth, thinking about the circumstances under which they’d retrieved it in the first place.
So, here they were, a week later. Rothgar’d moved on to a new plan, explaining the strategy to gain entry to and sift the so-called fashion co-op Anya shared with several other models. It was a warehouse loft in the Garment District, where a bunch of those pretty, lonely girls who only ate salad took photos of themselves for portfolios and social media accounts.
Precision timing wasn’t the focal point this go-around, and thank fuck Shane’s piece didn’t involve playing dress-up this time. He’d get the drop-off directly from Nick this time, a handover through the window. Easy enough.
The war room was humming. And not just because the team was working out the details of Anya’s takedown.
It was also humming because of the palpable tension between him and Dex, who was still holding a grudge over Cecily.
“If you don’t let it go, I sure as hell can’t let it go,” Shane murmured over his shoulder. He’d never get over Cecily—wasn’t even sure he wanted to—but, man, he’d surely love a vacation from thinking about how it had all gone so wrong and the ways in which he’d screwed things up.
Except Dex wouldn’t let him forget. “I still don’t know what’s worse. You sleeping with my sister and then getting clear of her, or you sleeping with my sister and not getting clear of her,” Dex whispered back.
“Damn it,” Rothgar hissed, raising a palm to stop Missy from passing out the plans. Every head in the room snapped up. Roth was glowering at Dex and Shane. “I’m about five minutes short of ordering the two of you into the ring.”
Shane looked at Dex. Not a bad idea. He wouldn’t mind taking a swing, truth be told. “Not a fair fight.” He gestured to Dex’s leg.
“Then I guess you’ll have to talk it out. Starting now.”
Shane hated it when Roth played Dad. The sooner this was over, the better. He sighed and then laid it out. “Listen, Dex. I’m sorry I messed with Cecily. Sorry about how it played out. You know I’m not a player, and what happened wasn’t some random shit. But I shouldn’t have touched her in the first place, and for that I apologize.”
Shane was already pretty tapped out on patience, and the too-interested expressions on the faces of the rest of the guys who’d gophered up to get a piece of the apology didn’t help. “We good here?” he asked Roth.
Rothgar’s arms crossed against the massive barrel of his chest. His mouth remained hard-set, and only his eyes swiveled to Dex. “You. Go.”
“Just leave her alone. She’s not good for games. She’s the real deal.” Dex’s voice rose. “I need everybody to just leave her the fuck alone.”
Shane cocked his head. “’Scuse me, but it’s been a week since I even saw her. James bothering her again?”
“Nothing specific, thanks to the message you sent him,” Dex allowed. “Cecily just feels uneasy. At this point, I’m trying to figure out if he’s left town.” He glanced at Rothgar, still waiting, still grim-faced, before turning back to Shane. “But it’s not your business, and it’s not your problem. Just need to know you’re going to leave her in peace.”
“Thought I’d done that.” Shane felt a wave of possessiveness sweep through him. He hated the idea of Cecily feeling unsafe. “And I know it’s not my business anymore, but, believe me, it’s still my problem, since I seem to be in love with her.”
The room went dead silent. Dex’s eyes widened. “You’re not very good at it,” he finally said.
Someone laughed and got shushed.
“Yeah, and don’t I know it,” Shane said.
From the look on his face, Dex apparently didn’t know whether to laugh or throw a punch. “You realize you just admitted that in front of everybody,” he said.
Shane ran a palm over his face, feeling the exhaustion set in. “Welp. I guess it happens to the best of us. She’s moved on, and she’s living the nice, normal life with Ally you always wanted for her. Speaking of which, Cecily living with Ally means you’re good for surveillance there.”
Missy cleared her throat. “There hasn’t been surveillance on Ally’s place for at least a year. She cut the—”
Shane’s, Roth’s, and Flynn’s heads swiveled around. “There’s no surveillance at Ally’s?” Shane asked in total disbelief.
A wave of dark, dark anger rolled out from the front of the room; Rothgar’s expression alternated between fury and some kind of really intense pain. “I thought we overrode that decision.”
“We talked about it, but she—”
“We overrode that decision,” Rothgar roared. “You are not telling me we don’t have eyes on Ally, are you? You are not fucking telling me that.”
Missy’s jaw set. She got up, her chair hitting the back of the desk from the force. “I’m telling you that. I understood that was the—”
“Even if Allison wants to go dark, she’s not gonna go dark. You get that? She never goes dark, not until we find out for sure that Apollo and Graham are one hundred percent gone for good.”
Missy blinked, desperately trying to hold back tears welling in her eyes. “Well, she is dark, and—”
Roth looked around at the men, his eyes settling first on Shane, then switching to Flynn at the back of the room. “Flynn, get over there and fix it,” he barked.
“Stop interrupting me, Roth,” Missy yelled. “I’m not just some stupid girl who lives in your house.”
“I don’t understand how this fell through the cracks,” Roth replied, his voice scary-low.
“Apollo is my brother.”
“How does something like this fall through the cracks?” he thundered.
Not a sound came from the rest of the room as tiny Missy went toe-to-toe with Roth towering over her in a complete rage.
“It was obviously a miscommunication,” she tried out.
“Was it?”
“It’s hard to remember everything that happened,” Missy whispered, still holding her own. “It was a long time ago.”
Rothgar nodded slowly. “But it’s not over, you understand. It’s never over until we see the bodies. Apollo was your brother. Graham was Allison’s. But they were part of this family too. They were ours.” His head turned slowly to the spot where Flynn was now standing. “Flynn, get Ally back into the light as fast as you can.” He looked over at Dex and Shane. “If Ally’s in the light, so is Cecily. Two birds. And then maybe we can get some fucking work done, right? We’ll pick this up as soon as you’re back.”
Flynn nodded and headed out. Rothgar and Missy stared at each other. “She doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Missy whispered. “She’ll never forgive and she’ll never forget.”
“I don’t give a goddamn if she forgives or not. I don’t care if she curses my name every night before bed. I just care that she’s safe. Don’t let there be a next time you keep Kings business from me.” Rothgar stuffed the latest plans in a folder and headed out, the door slamming behind him.