Page 91 of Midnight Racers

“Do you have her address?” I asked.

He lifted a pen from my desk and wrote on a post-it before sliding it across the table toward me. “You think Victoria is lying to me?”

“I think she has nowhere else to go and has Pixie with her.” I groaned and covered my face with my hands. “I fucked up.”

How had everything turned so bad so fucking quickly? That last morning, my head was filled with family shit since I’d discovered that my half-brother was being a prick and Lydia had been collateral damage. The nurse had obviously given him the same speech as me—that he would get the results and have to decide what to do with them.

“We all do,” Jordan said, standing. “You have no idea how many times I wished I could go back to that night when my world fell apart and I walked away from Megan. I said that to her one day and do you know what that infuriating woman told me? She said everything we went through proved that we loved each other and that I had to stop thinking about it. I’m going to pass her advice onto you.”

I continued to stare at the wall in contemplation after he left, finally picking up the post-it and checking the address on a map before I grabbed my helmet and headed out on my Harley.

Men like me tended to blend in, and I wandered through the affluent area of London after I parked my bike. Her car was nowhere to be seen and there was a light on at the front of the house. I stood with my back against a railing and pretended to be looking at something on my phone. I glanced up every so often, and after a while, a familiar figure came into view.

Not Charlotte, but the furry feline that tended to spend her days staring out windows to show the world how much she despised it. She even showed her ass to Matilda and Mavis when they stood at the other side of the window to watch her.

Pixie stood overseeing her kingdom and telling the world that her owner was very much in that house. I took a quick snap and sent it to Jordan.

Me:Guess who is staying with her mum?

About ten minutes later he replied.

Jordan:Maybe I should pay a visit to tell Victoria how concerned I am? I could take Megan as a peace offering.

Me:If I worked out she’s here, it won’t take others long.

Jordan:They probably think she’s still under our protection.

I stayed for a while longer hoping to see Charlotte, but had to leave before I drew unwanted attention to myself. Instead of driving home, I crashed at my apartment in London. Since I couldn’t sleep, I trawled through all the information from Craig’s phone.

He seemed to be in hot water since he hadn’t designed anything spectacular in a while. He spent a lot of time chatting to Dale, and they vented their frustrations to each other, Charlotte being the main source over the past few weeks. From what I could tell, both of them owed a substantial amount of money to someone who was looking for it to be repaid. Reading between the lines, Dale had promised him Charlotte’s technology since he was in charge of their team, but she left and Jordan had done what he always did, and threw several spanners in the works.

It seemed the pair had been conspiring before Charlotte even came to our team. Fate had intervened and removed her from the situation, so they had had to come up with a more elaborate plan.

Hence the home invasion.

The more I read, the more I fought the urge to pay them a visit. Since Dale had promised her work to someone, that put her in their line of vision, and I needed to assess the full threat to her safety.

I sketched out the information I had in a notepad, adding to it from different sources Craig had contacted. I really wished that I had Dale’s phone cloned since he had set up the deal.

By the time sunlight was creeping across the horizon, I had a reasonable understanding of what these two idiots had been up to. From what I gathered, Dale had helped Craig steal from Charlotte previously, deliberately blaming her for giving designs to her lover since Dale knew the password to her laptop. She had been removed from her old team in disgrace and her father had given her a job.

Over time, Dale had been giving some secrets away, and keeping others that improved his car to himself. The only part of the puzzle was: Who was the mysterious person they owed all the money to?

Gambling was a fool’s game, and these two idiots seemed to be up to their neck in debt because of it.

My phone rang and I grabbed it, hoping Charlotte had decided to call, but it was Lydia. “Hey, little cousin, what’s up?”

“Mum rang. The hospital says that Uncle Tom’s health has deteriorated, and if they don’t operate now, they won’t be able to.” Her voice sounded thick as if she’s been crying.

I couldn’t sort out Charlotte’s problem this morning, but my family I certainly could do something about.

“Stay there,” I informed her. “If you need to, turn off your phone. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out.”

“Thanks, Flynn. I know he’s your dad, but I can’t face going through with this.”

“Talk to you soon,” I said before hanging up.

Caffeine pulsed through my veins instead of blood, and I hauled my ass out of the house and onto my bike. I knew exactly where Tom Junior lived, and he was about to be properly introduced to his big brother.

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