Page 45 of Bastard

“Don’t be. I know the rule. But this is important.”

The rule being no one at the house except our tight little circle. David was definitely someone I’d make an exception for. “I take it the information you’ve been tracking down finally materialized?”

He nodded once. “Should we sit? You look like you’re going to fall over?”

Now that he mentioned it, sitting sounded great. I started for the study not really feeling like wasting energy on words. I went straight to the bottle of Wild Turkey and poured a shot, then offered the bottle to the others. Sam waved me off, David nodded. So I poured myself another and one for him before gingerly sitting down beside Sam on the couch.

She took my hand. Soft. The complete opposite of everything else about this day. “David can connect my dad to Georgia, and Georgia to the records going missing in Calos County.”

“There were no obvious connections. Georgia and Toni weren’t from the same social circles, they didn’t go to the same schools, and they didn’t work for the same companies. I’ve been operating on the assumption the Rossi’s were chosen for financial reasons and location. They needed money and Georgia needed to place her daughter somewhere safe. It all worked out. But it turns out…”

Sam tugged on my hand. “They met as kids. They both attended the same camp in the Keys. Dad talked about it all the time and even sent me one year to a similar one. It’s an intense week of education about the marine environment of the Keys. You have lessons, go on snorkeling expeditions, do some water sampling and science studies. I still talk to two of the kids I went to camp with. It’s so intense and fun that you really bond with the kids you’re with. Georgia and my dad went to camp at the same time and years later he winds up adopting her missing daughter.”

There weren’t enough coincidences in the world to make this accidental. Georgia picked him because she trusted him. “So there’s no doubt now? Georgia arranged everything from top to bottom?”

Sam nodded. “And these tapes I’ve been going through? Her fears were valid. He and Randall increasingly discuss the necessity to streamline the top of the companies and eliminate anyone who stands in the way.”

“Did they use those words? Eliminate?”

She nodded again.

“I need these tapes.”

“I thought you’d say that. I have a copy for you.”

Good. This was good. Progress, even painful, was useful. “What are you going to do about Georgia?”

“Confront her. I’m not going to turn her in to the FBI or anything. Hopefully she understands that now that we’ve gotten to know each other.”

That wasn’t going to go well, no matter how well-intentioned Sam was going in.

“Well, unless you have any questions, I’m going to let you collapse. I know how hard I crash after a fight.”

Sam and I both stared at him. David the fighter? I mean, he had the lean body of someone who was proficient in martial arts, but he was so mild-mannered it was hard to picture him in a brawl like the one I’d had tonight.

“Yeah no. I don’t have any questions. And you’ve got a little bit of a drive ahead of you.”

“It’s not an issue. I’ve had some developments at Excel that may end up connecting to Sam in the end. I’ll be in touch.”

“What developments?”

David looked to Sam. “She’ll catch you up. Feel better Jace.”

I let Sam lead me upstairs to the bathroom. I didn’t protest when she walked us into the shower fully clothed, stripping me first and then herself. She inspected my body, murmuring things I couldn’t hear when she found each new bruise or cut. Eventually I stuck my head under the water and let it pound some sense back into my skull.

“So are you going to tell me why you got into a fight or is that a secret?”

“We’re headline news. The heiress and the bad boy.”

She winced. “I saw.”

“Yeah, well so did every club on the east coast that’s got a vendetta against the Red Right Hand.”

She gasped.

“It’s okay.” I pulled her into my arms to calm her down, brushing her wet hair and following the water down her back. “I’m okay. It was a flex. Clubs do it all the time.” As long as they didn’t all band together, we’d be fine.

Or I found a better solution to revenge. It would probably be financial because the only thing as exciting as revenge is money.

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