Page 14 of The Apprentice
He reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped, staring at me carefully. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going? I deserve to know.”
“To find a rat,” I said.
“The same rat we’ve been trying to find for overeightyears? We keep getting led on chases with dead ends. Diaz was good at covering her tracks. She knew we would figure out she had an informant, and she made sure we wouldn’t learn who it was.” He shifted closer to me. “What’s different now?”
“A retirement,” I said with a shrug.
“Stop speaking in riddles,” he snapped. “I hate it when you do that.”
I chuckled. “I’m not. A detective who worked with Diaz is retiring, and withencouragement, he decided to shed some light on the situation.”
“Money, you mean.” He crossed his arms.
“Yes, money.”
Fionn frowned. “Why is he good with taking bribes now if he was clearly not okay with it before?”
“Because divorces are expensive, and when your ex-wife takes half of your retirement fund to spend it with her new, younger lover, situations change.” I tilted my head, letting Fionn comprehend what I’d said. “So, we’re going to take a drive to Mastic Beach and have a talk.”
“Mastic Beach?” Fionn poked his tongue into his cheek. “Sounds like this detective’s been taking money from someone already.”
“He has. Folliero.”
Fionn straightened as soon as I delivered the news, frown deepening. “They’re bribing cops who could give us answers and didn’t tell us? What happened to being associates?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. We’ll figure it out later. Sloan wants this rat situation settled first. It’s been going on long enough.”
Two maids walked behind Fionn and caught his attention for a short moment. He waited until they were gone before he turned his gaze back to me. “But whoever this rat is clearly hasn’t said anything else to the cops, have they? None of our other businesses have been affected.”
I hummed. He had a point. “Only because Diaz is dead, and they were probably worried about being found out. Your uncle knows there is a rat, and theratknows he knows, so whoever this guy is, he’ll be keeping his head down. It’s why he’s been so quiet.”
“So, we chase our tails until we find answers.” He snorted. “Howfun.”
I couldn’t help the smile that teased my lips, even if I’d wanted to. Fionn’s snarky replies had always amused me morethan they should, and it brought out a side of myself I shouldn’t explore, the one that demanded I take Fionn over my knee for his insolence and spank him raw. While we’d been playing for eight years now, I hadn’t actually smacked his ass for being naughty yet. To me, spanking came with a type of intimacy I couldn’t explore with Fionn. I was Daddy Daire in the bedroom, but I wasn’thisDaddy, and despite what I called him, he wasn’t my boy. Not really. I pushed the thought aside. “We’ll take one of the Company cars and head out now. The traffic will be chaos.”
“When isn’t it? It’s New York.” He turned and waved his hand at Mr. Hopper. “Call a car to meet us at the front.”
Mr. Hopper nodded, but not before his mouth curled in disgust. Or, that might be his usual expression. I typically didn’t give him a second glance at the best of times. While he was good at his job and Sloan trusted him, he wasn’t the most pleasant person.
Fionn swept past me and grabbed his long wool jacket from Mr. Hopper near the front door. He slipped it on while he walked down the few steps at the front and turned back to look at me with raised eyebrows.
“Are you coming or what?”
My gaze moved down the length of his back to his ass, but there wasn’t anything to see while he had his jacket on.
Not the way I’d like to right now.
Keeping my mouth shut, I followed him outside. The frigid air had bite today, with flurries of early December snow falling from the sheet of gray clouds that hovered in the sky. Winter hadn’t seriously begun yet, but I was dreading the bad weather to come. Once it began to snow, it was extremely unlikely that I’d be able to ride my bike, and I’d have to drive my SUV instead. As much as I loved my SUV, there was nothing quite like feeling the freedom that came with riding my Ducati.
I didn’t bother to grab my helmet from my bike or move it. Everyone knew both belonged to me, and no one would dare touch them. While I was civil and rule abiding, for the most part, I was overly protective of the Ducati and that wasn’t a secret. I didn’t get angry often, but when I did, even the toughest men feared me. Except Sloan, who’d always been amused by my anger.
I glanced at the sleek black fuel tank that gleamed in the early morning sun and couldn’t help but smile. I’d worked hard for my baby, and I would raise hell if something happened to it.
“You love that thing,” Fionn commented, surprising me.
I studied him, taking in the pursed lips and tight jaw. “Yeah.”
“More than what’s good for you.” He flipped a sour look over his shoulder toward the bike.
