Page 73 of Hart of Darkness
24
Dillon
The front door of the skyscraper was locked, and a security guard was dozing just inside the entrance, his double chin hitting his chest. He wasn’t the same bellman who had been working the day I’d shown up to visit Duke.
“Duke lives here?” Maggie asked in awe.
I knocked on the glass to get the chubby guard’s attention. “Crime pays.” I banged again. “He started out as a loan shark and bookie. I think he’s into money laundering, although I can’t confirm that, and the only legitimate business that probably helps him afford this ritzy abode is his nightclub.” Duke didn’t talk to me at all about his businesses or how much he made. Frankly, I didn’t want to know. The less I knew, the less I could throw him under the bus with the cops if it ever came to that.
“Huh,” she mumbled.
The tired guard strutted toward us with a scowl. He was mad at us for waking him, when he should have been protecting the lavish building.
“Let me handle him,” Maggie said. “Try to look distraught. I hate to say this, but act like Grace died.”
Hearing that was more of a blow than I would have expected as my gut cinched. The reality was shecould bedead.
The elder man hadDanielsembroidered on his uniform shirt. “Is this an emergency?”
I schooled my features, hoping I came across as upset over Grace’s death. Actually, it wasn’t hard to do since I sometimes had those morbid thoughts.
Maggie tucked her long and very curly hair behind her ear. I was digging how she’d worn her hair loose around her shoulders instead of in a braid.
“I’m so sorry, Officer Daniels.” Maggie sounded downcast. “Mr. Hart here has to see his brother. We found out an hour ago that their sister is in the hospital.”
Daniels eyeballed me. “Grace is in the hospital?” He sounded as though he’d seen her only four hours ago.
My whole body wobbled. The fucking security guard knew my sister.
I applauded Maggie for not reacting.
Daniels opened the door wider. “Come in. I’ll call up to Mr. Hart’s penthouse.”
He’d said “Mr. Hart” as if Duke were some earl, prim and proper. I wanted to puke on the shiny waxed floor.
Daniels locked us in then hurried over to the phone on the desk he’d been sleeping behind.
Maggie took in the lobby as if she were in an art gallery. The walls were littered in ugly geometric art. At least it wasn’t my taste. I liked pictures and paintings of landscapes. They gave me the sense of faraway escapes that I could dream about.
I ground my back teeth together. The night was turning out to be epic. Grace was living at Dom’s. He’d seen her only two weeks ago. He’d then confirmed Maggie’s suspicion that Cory Calderon was one of the Black Knights, and now grandpa with the receiver to his ear knew my sister. Not to mention, Maggie wanted a relationship. She wouldn’t admit that, but I could tell she was changing her tune about having a steady man in her life.
I was on the verge of a temper tantrum. I shoved a hand in the pocket of my jeans as a savage laugh broke out in my head. Maggie thought I was a saint. Saints didn’t lose their shit and destroy things, and I was so fucking primed to shatter all the glass in the lobby. More than that, I was ready to rip Duke to shreds.
Maggie latched on to my hand. “I think this tops the night.”
I squeezed her hand, silently thanking her for being with me. If she weren’t, no doubt I would be a lunatic.
“Mr. Hart,” Daniels said into the phone. “I’m sorry to wake you, but your brother is here with news that Grace is in the hospital. I see. Yes. Yes. Sure will.” He lowered the receiver, regret coloring his mocha complexion.
I marched over to Daniels. “Get my brother on the phone.”
“I haven’t told you what he said yet.” Daniels’s tired eyes held fear.
I wouldn’t hurt the man, or maybe I would if he didn’t get Duke back on the phone. “You don’t have to. Your face says it all.” I bared my teeth. “Now get him on the phone.”
“But sir, he says Grace isn’t in the hospital.”
“Yeah? Then where is she?”If he so much as says she’s upstairs or some crap like that, Maggie will have to pry me off him.
