It had been awhile since Nick last visited Florida.

It was probably back in college, when he was in his freshman year. He and Glenn had gone down for spring break. That was a crazy time.

Nick had geared himself up to speak to Glenn last night. He’d hoped he would have returned yesterday, and now that he was here it was going to take even longer to confront Glenn.

He wanted to tell Glenn about Mia. It felt like they were sneaking around, and it didn’t sit well with him, especially since Mia didn’t know that Glenn had warned him away from her.

He didn’t want to tell her that part. He didn’t think it was appropriate because he was sure that would cause more contention between her and Glenn. Nick didn’t want to be the cause of that. There had been enough disagreements over the last few weeks and they all didn’t need anymore.

Nick was annoyed with Glenn, but he had to remember that the guy was just looking out for his sister. Whichever way he reasoned it to be, that was what it came down to. And it didn’t come as a complete surprise to Nick, either, since the warning had come years earlier.

He just wanted to get it all off his chest so he could be free to enjoy being with Mia. He knew he could have called Glenn, but this had to be done in person. It couldn’t come from a phone call.

He’d only been away for most of the day but he missed her. He’d messaged a few times, opting for that rather than calling because he knew he’d be on the phone to her for hours. It would defeat the purpose of him coming here. He’d call her later if he got the chance.

Now he had to focus on the mission at hand. He was sitting in a rental car outside of a cheesy motel that overlooked the swamps. It was a rough area with the most undesirable types passing by.

This was the location they’d gotten from their intel. He’d been here for just over two hours, staking the place out and going over the information Sawyer gave him. They’d gotten the location, images of Alan, credit card transactions, and details of license plates for a black sedan.

They’d set things up so that if any of the cards were used they’d know. The cards would also automatically become invalidated from the minute the pin numbers were used. Sawyer’s call to him this morning was all about this. Five of the cards had been used in the same convenience store in Fort Lauderdale.

The fact that five were used, or any at all, showed desperation. Most criminals, or people who wanted to keep things under the wraps, paid for everything in cash.

They’d gotten the CCTV footage of Alan using the cards. That was this morning at six thirty. It was now four in the afternoon. He would have been worried about the time, but since coming here he’d gotten word that the black sedan had been spotted around town three times. This was apparently where he was staying. Nick thought that coming here was best, rather than chasing a car around town. The police had eyes on the car. It was their job to chase. His was to investigate in the way he felt would get the job done. That sometimes meant making sure you had the best position in the game.

That’s where he was now. Being here meant he could keep watch for any unusual activity and plan the next move.

Nick looked up and gazed across to the front of the motel at the sound of a screeching car.

He smiled to himself. It was a black sedan. As it stopped, out jumped the man of the day.

Alan himself. Idiot.

Nick was going to enjoy this.

He got out of the car and took out his baseball bat. It was a prop that scared most people, and Nick supposed he looked scary, too, in his leather jacket with Oakleys on his face and badass attitude. He looked like a bounty hunter.

He waited for Alan to go inside before he followed. Best to get the object of prey in a small area so he wouldn’t have anywhere to run, except where he wanted him.

Alan went up the stairs to the second floor. Nick followed, keeping an even distance and trying his best to look as inconspicuous as possible with his bat. Not that anyone would have noticed. The receptionist was too busy doing her nails and the people who were in the foyer were playing poker.

As Alan opened the door to room thirty-five and put one foot inside, Nick grabbed him by his neck, shoved him the rest of the way in, and closed the door behind them.

Alan yelped when he saw Nick and looked like he was going to shit himself.

Nick laughed at the weakness of this idiot who’d caused so much trouble.

“Who are you? Please don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything,” Alan cried, holding up his hands.

Nick wouldn’t use the bat on him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do anything. He landed a fist in his face, cracking his nose, and as he reeled back from the pain, shrieking, Nick landed another fist in his stomach, sending him to the floor.

Aside from all that this guy had stolen from Mia and the distress he caused her, Nick couldn’t help the annoyance he felt that this piece of trash had been with her. He’d had his hands on her, slept with her, pretended to care for her and took advantage.

This was the filth that Glenn was comparing him to. Someone like this who would never have the feelings Nick had for Mia.

“You know it’s always best to check first before you prey on innocent women and steal their money. They may know a seriously pissed off ex-Marine who wouldn’t joke to kill you and take your head as a trophy,” Nick balked.

Blood poured from Alan’s nose.

“Mia? You know Mia?” Alan asked in disbelief.

Nick kicked him in his shins, making him cry. That was enough. He wouldn’t do any more damage. This guy was weak and Nick didn’t need to exert his strength on him.

That was just to teach him a lesson for what he did to Mia, and to make the rest of this mission a little easier.

“Don’t say her name. Don’t you dare.” Nick pointed at him. “Tell me what you did with the money. All of it. Right from the business money to her inheritance, and don’t fuck with me. I will beat you to death with this.”

Alan cried some more.

“Talk, you fucking piece of shit!” Nick came at him with the bat and hit the wall behind him. “That’s your head the next time I raise this.”

“Most of it’s gone. I spent it. Please don’t kill me.” He winced, rocking backwards and forwards, holding his face.

“Most? What of the rest?”

“It’s in an account.”

“How much, asshole?” Nick wasn’t joking or playing around. He knew that most of it would be gone.

“I have thirty thousand left. It’s in an account in my brother’s name,” Alan babbled. “He lives about fifteen minutes from here.”

Nick grabbed him up from the floor and raised him into the air. He couldn’t believe that out of all that money only that much was left. It was small, but he’d get it back. “Great, let’s go visit your brother, and this better not be some kind of game or you’re dead.” He meant that pure and simply for the fact that he would defend himself if he had to. Often times these wise guys would bring someone else into the equation, like now, and it would be a trick.

Nick was in no mood for that.

* * *

Nick was glad that Alan was playing nice and doing as he was told. The man shook all the way to the luxury apartment complex he led him to.

Before they got there, Nick called his police contact for back up. They got there just as Nick arrived with Alan.

Everyone was prepared in case this turned into some crazy showdown, but thankfully it didn’t. Alan’s brother was even weaker than him. When Nick found himself face to face with a short, round, bald man who looked like the Monopoly man quivering in his bed socks, he knew he had this in the bag.

They took them back to the station where they unveiled at least ten more instances of theft. Having the brother’s name pieced it all together.

Most of the money was used to fund a sex-trade business in South America, and the rest went to paying off debts from previous heists. They’d hoped to use the money Nick recovered previously and the paintings as their profit.

It made Nick sick, all of it. He was at least hoping that they’d bought a yacht or a house, anything that could be sold to recoup some of the money. Now all Mia would have from what she lost was thirty thousand and the ten thousand they tracked to the Bahamas the other week. It wasn’t much, but perhaps it would help in some way with her plans for her spa retreat. He arranged to have it back in her account as soon as they cleared and verified it.

It was late by the time he was done at the station. It was after midnight. He wanted to travel back to Chicago, back to Mia, and he would have if Glenn wasn’t there. Nick planned to speak to him about Mia the minute he saw him, but since it would be too late to do that if he travelled now, he chose to wait until tomorrow. He wanted to make sure he did things properly.

Nick got back to Chicago the next day at noon. He messaged Mia to let her know he was on his way, but he didn’t know if she was home. Glenn would most likely be at the office so that would give him a chance to be with her for a while, alone.

He’d missed her a lot and just wanted to hold her. When he spoke to her last night she didn’t seem to care about the money too much, only that he was safe. She seemed more eager to have him home with her than anything else.

He rushed up to her room.

“Mia,” he called for her, pushing the door open, but froze when he saw Glenn sitting on her bed with her phone in his hand.

Glenn lifted his head and met Nick’s stare head on. The coldness in his eyes was evident, along with the anger.

He’d been reading Mia’s messages.

Nick wouldn’t have a leg to stand on because he’d messaged her several times, and none of those messages could be classed as the run-of-the-mill friendly ones. Especially the one asking her what underwear she was wearing, and the one that followed her reply asking for a picture.

“She’s not here, Nick,” Glenn eventually replied.

Nick would never deny anything, he wouldn’t. That’s not what worried him here. It was how Glenn had found out.

“You read her messages?” Nick stated, trying to act cool and calm.

“Yes, I did. Thank God my sister can be a ditz sometimes. Or I wouldn’t know what’s been going on. I would have been stupid enough to think that my best friend respected me. I would have been the idiot to think that he wouldn’t screw around with my sister behind my back.”

Shit. This was going to go all kinds of wrong.

“Glenn, look. I’m sorry. That’s not what happened. I was going to tell you.”

“Tell me?” Glenn laughed a crude, sarcastic laugh and stood up, looking even more angry with his red face and nostrils flared.

“I wanted to see you face to face and tell you.”

“Okay Nick, go on, tell me. I’m here, you’re here. Tell me how you did exactly what I asked you not to do.” Glenn’s eyes widened.

“It’s not like that,” Nick defended. This was insane. He couldn’t believe that it really had gotten to this point. “You never asked me once how I felt about her. You just assumed I’d treat her like dirt and hurt her. It was me who was there for her during this difficult time. While you were acting like a complete prick, I’ve been trying to fix things.”

“Nick, you did what you did because you have feelings for her. Don’t act like some kind of hero. There was an ulterior motive. Play the nice guy so she’d sleep with you.”

“Fuck you, Glenn, you know that’s not true. You know it, and you know I would never take advantage of her.”

Glenn laughed again, standing taller and straightening up. “You won’t take advantage of her, Nick, because it ends here. You will stop seeing her today. No more of it, and you’ll tell her yourself that it’s over.”

Nick simply stared at Glenn in disbelief. If this were another situation he would have responded straightaway with his fists, but the shock of what Glenn was saying gripped him to his core.

“No. I won’t do it. You can’t tell me what to do. Mia’s a grown woman who can choose who she wants to be with,” Nick said, trying to remain calm against the heat of his blood pumping wildly in his veins.

“You bastard, after all I’ve done for you this is how you treat me?” Glenn flared.

“Are you kidding me, Glenn!” Nick cried. “Are you hearing yourself? You want to turn me into the guy that will break her heart.”

“Yes. That is what you get for your lack of respect.”

“No.” Nick shook his head. “I won’t do it.”

“You will, Nick. Because…” Glenn held his gaze. “If you don’t, I will destroy you. I’ll make it so that you never work anywhere again. That business of yours will be history. And I’ll destroy whatever image Mia has of you. I’ll tell her every vile thing you did in your drug-induced state and amplify it a hundred times to make you look like shit. By the time I’m done with you she won’t want to know you.” Glenn widened his eyes again and really looked at him with contempt.

“Go ahead and do it, take what you want from me. You don’t scare me with your threats,” Nick cried. “If you want, I’ll shout it from the rooftop that I used to do drugs.”

“Look at you, like some kind of hero. You think you’re so smug. Okay, threats won’t work on you. I’m almost impressed, and would probably be more impressed if I didn’t know you for what you are.” Glenn straightened up. “Ask yourself this. Are you good enough for her? Do you really think you are? I don’t think you are. You’re far from it. You’re the selfish, arrogant bastard who got his own father killed.”

The punch Nick landed in Glenn’s face came so suddenly it shocked his system. It was like the action skipped past his brain and went straight to his fists.

He couldn’t have prevented it. It came from hitting the one nerve he couldn’t control.

The subject of his father was a very, very delicate one for him. One no one should mention. It took him years to separate his responsibility in his father’s death, and even now it still plagued him. It was the kind of situation that happened and wasn’t directly his fault, but it happened because of him.

It was that part, that aspect, that destroyed him back then when it all happened, and Nick went through the darkest time he’d ever had in his life.

After hard work, he’d managed to deal with his guilt, and that came from years of therapy and support. Years of accepting that his father wouldn’t want him to suffer for a sacrifice he made.

Glenn knew this. Glenn knew the truth about the night Nick’s father died. He knew everything, and Nick never imagined that Glenn’s knowledge would make him dangerous.

“Sick bastard,” Nick seethed, looking at Glenn and shaking his head. “How dare you?” Nick felt like beating the crap out of him for being so evil, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel the truth in his accusations.

“How dare I what? Point out the obvious to you? Is that what you want me to say?” Glenn retorted. “There’s no lie in it. It was your fault. What happened was your fault. Just think how Mia will feel about you when she hears you helped kill your own father.”

“Why would you do this to me?” Nick needed to ask, he had to know because it was crazy. Crazy and cruel. Nick thought Glenn was his friend. He was like a brother to him, and just like that he’d turned on him. All because he didn’t want him to be with Mia.

“I just told you. You aren’t good enough for her, Nick. I’m trying to show you why. It is as simple as that. I didn’t tell you before to spare your feelings, but I’m done with you,” Glenn snarled. “My sister is a sweet, innocent woman who allows her heart to get in the way. She always has. If you have any genuine feelings for her ask yourself this—what kind of man would think he was good enough for a woman like that if he was responsible for his own father’s death? Ask yourself!” Glenn shouted.

Nick couldn’t answer, he couldn’t think. Glenn’s words weakened him, opening wounds that went deep into the pit of his soul.

Glenn had the audacity to smile. “Good, you look like you’re finally beginning to see things my way. Now tell her it’s over, or I assure you I will literally destroy you.” Glenn stared him down as he walked out, leaving him. His words echoing in Nick’s mind.

He wasn’t good enough for Mia.

Nick slammed his fist into the wall, feeling distressed. The darkness of the past had started worming its way into his mind and working its way through his body. That dark place that nearly killed him years ago swamped him like a mass of negative energy, and in his mind’s eye he could see his father dying all over again. It was clear, so very clear. Those memories had never faded from his mind, they’d just been pushed to the back so he could deal with what had happened. But they were never far, and just now Glenn reminded him of the guilt that riddled his soul.

Nick’s world had changed forever when his father was killed.

He’d been stupid to think he could escape it, a fool to think that by simply pushing it to the back of his mind he’d be able to have some kind of a normal life.

It was true. He wasn’t good enough to be with Mia. It was true, and that was why Glenn cautioned him all those years ago.

Glenn saw him as the arrogant, selfish idiot who got his father killed. Of course he wouldn’t want him to be with his sister. There was no question in it now. No cause for wonder.

But how was he going to end it with Mia? The thought made his heart break into several pieces. It made his soul shatter.

She’d be so hurt, so heartbroken, and it would be because of him. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when he felt like this. They’d been together for days, but in his mind it was years. The whole time.

It was always.

Glenn knew the significance of that day. That he would use it against him to highlight how unsuitable he was for Mia was pure evil. But he, Nick, couldn’t deny that he spoke the truth.

It wasn’t just the worry over him taking advantage of Mia. Glenn didn’t want Mia to be with Nick because he saw him as a bad person.

The guy who got his father killed.

It was true, that was true, and Mia deserved better.