Page 42 of Her Guardian
I tense up immediately and dig my phone out of my pocket. I don’t have a single message or missed call.
“It says there was something written on the wall at the scene that… said Arthur Dykstra is innocent! The police haven’t released any information about what it actually was,” she rattles off.
I keep staring at my phone. There was a murder in Las Vegas? A serial killer? A serial killer who kills the children of crime bosses. And nobody called me?
“Who did he kill?” I ask flatly, feeling some sourness in my mouth. I grab a cigarette and light it.
“Oh!” She scrolls through her phone. “Liam Brennan. His father is a businessman. That’s what they all say, of course.”
“Shit, Lloyd Brennan’s kid?” I shake my head. “Damn it. He’s the same age as Emilio’s son.”
I start texting a few people, trying to figure out why nobody has reached out to me. Massimo is in charge now, so it wouldn’t be on him. Probably not even Rowan, since he’s the boss’s bodyguard, and likely to be the second in command until Emilio’s kid is old enough.
But still,somebodyshould have reached out. I’ve been sidelined a long fucking time, but I’m still a ranking member of this damn family. Still hold the position of Bodyguard Capo, which is only given to those assigned to protect a member of the boss’s immediate family.
I look up, take a drag from my cigarette, and see Sarah is still scrolling through her phone. Frantically scrolling, as she continues to read. I look back down at mine as it starts lighting up with responses. It doesn’t take me long to realize nobody reached out because nobody really noticed I wasn’t there.
Fallen from grace? Fuck, I might as well be a ghost.
Sarah runs to her laptop, opens it, and hops on the bed. She winces when she touches down on her ass, but finds a comfortable position.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m going live!” she says excitedly. “I don’t have my equipment here, so I’ll have to do it old-school, but this…” She looks up andher eyes are radiating the same excitement in her voice. “This is my thing! The Mafia Prince Killer! I don’t know if it’s a copycat, or if Arthur Dykstra is really innocent, but I’ve got to get a podcast up with the details as they become available!”
I shouldn’t do this. Oh, fuck, I shouldn’t do this. This is a really, really bad idea.
But she’s so excited. Maybe more excited than she was when I was inside her. Those pretty blue eyes—they make bad ideas seem like good ones.
“Or we could go to the scene of the crime,” I offer, shrugging my shoulders.
The color drains out of her face, along with the excitement. Both of them quickly return.
“Wait, what?” She looks around and lowers her voice like she’s afraid the neighbors might hear. “We can do that?”
“The Brennan family answers to the Morandi family,” I say. “And so do plenty of cops. If I want to go somewhere in Las Vegas, nobody is stopping me.”
“Even doors,” she laughs nervously and takes a hit of her vape. She quickly closes her laptop and nods. “Okay, but can I talk about it on my podcast? Won’t that be a problem?”
“Well, I don’t think you should describe it in detail or anything, but you said the police haven’t released what was written on the wall, right?” I wave a hand toward her.
“Holy shit.” Her eyes light up. “That always leaks! I’d have the scoop, and it wouldn’t even be that surprising!”
“Exactly,” I say, reaching for my suit jacket. “But we really should take something to eat on the way.”
Sarah nods in agreement and starts getting dressed. I pile some food that looks like it will travel well into a few napkins and wrap it up. I shouldn’t do this at all—dragging her along to a crime scene. But fuck it. My family doesn’t seem to give a damn about me tonight, and I can do something for her nobody else would.
I need to look into this anyway. Since Massimo is the boss, and his baby hasn’t been born yet, there’s no immediate danger for the Morandi family, but there’s still plenty of others in Las Vegas we are supposed to take care of. The Brennan family certainly won’t feel like we’re doing our job well tonight.
“Ready!” Sarah says, grabbing her purse and scrolling through her phone.
“Alright then,” I sigh, walking to the door. “Let’s go.”
So much for boundaries.
Here I go looking for trouble again.
CHAPTER 16
