Page 35 of Hart of Hope
“Which is why I don’t need to do your dirty work,” I said. “If you’re here to push me to talk to the gangs for you, fuck off. And how did you know where I lived?” I needed to confirm that he’d had me followed.
“Really, McCauley. I’ve had one of my men on you. She must be tearing out your heart for you to let your guard down. Whoeversheis.”
He wasn’t wrong. I’d been too caught up with Grace and worried that I would ruin my friendship with Duke if I acted on my attraction to her. The main reason I’d never fallen for a woman was that feelings and love could get a person killed, a motto that Duke I had lived by since we’d met.
I shut the door and went into the kitchen. “Did you plant Sabine in my restaurant as a mole to watch me?”
He looked at me as if I were one banana peel away from a mental health center. “Fuck, no. Why would I do that?” He occupied a barstool.
I shot him a dubious look. “You’re on my ass. She stole some of my important papers right after you slept with her.”
“I told you that I had met a potential client before I showed up at your restaurant. I’m not lying. She was the one who mentioned the good food at Rogues. That was the only time I’d been in Nashville, and the first time I met Sabine was in your restaurant. She’s a good fuck, but that was it.”
I studied him intently, and he was giving me the vibe he wasn’t lying. If that was the case, then what in the fuck was Sabine up to? Was she that desperate to lure me into her bed?
“Who’s the client?” I poured two glasses of bourbon.
“Loretta Lopez. Do you know her? She’s the one who recommended your restaurant.”
I slid a glass across the marble counter. “Never heard of her.”
I couldn’t track the names and faces of all the patrons who’d dined at Rogues. It didn’t matter anyway.
“Look, I know you said to fuck off. But I’m in a bind,” Arturo said. “And I’m not beyond begging. Someone recently stole a drug shipment of mine.”
I brought the glass to my mouth. “And you think it’s the gangs?”
He bobbed his head. “I’ll admit they prefer to deal with you or Rosario. I might be a dick, but I would like the facts before I start killing people.”
“Did you look within your own ranks?” Nine times out of ten, the guilty party was someone inside the organization.
“My enforcers wouldn’t dare,” he said with a growl. “They value their lives.”
He wasn’t about to leave me alone, and frankly, I needed to get him off my back. Plus, a small part of me knew if the tables were turned, I would hope someone I knew in the industry would help me. Losing a drug shipment came with a hefty price, particularly if he had buyers lined up.
“What’s in it for me?”
“What do you want?” He took a drink.
“You off my back.”
He chuckled. “That’s it.”
I crossed one ankle over the other. “If I ever need anything, then you owe me one. We’ll leave at that.” I didn’t plan to callhim ever again, but if I was ever in a tense situation, it would be good to know he owed me.
The condo phone rang again.
Now, who was here?
“Mr. McCauley, it’s Stew again from the front desk. I’m so sorry to bother you, but you have another guest in the lobby. A Grace Hart.”
“Grace?” I asked myself more than Stew.
The bourbon turned to acid in my stomach. She couldn’t be here, not at the same time as Arturo. She would automatically think I was back in the drug game when I’d told her I wasn’t. I hadn’t lied. But I didn’t have the bandwidth to explain why the head of the Mexican cartel was in my condo. Nor did I want her telling Fran. My daughter would assume the worst.
My instinct was to send her away. But the selfish part of me, the part that was aching to see her again…
“Mr. McCauley?” Stew’s voice registered through my haze.
