Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“Cadence,” Vargas calls after me, but I ignore him and stomp up the stairs.
“I’m getting changed.” Sassy comes darting in front of me. I can feel Vargas getting close, his heavy steps closing in behind me. I spin around right before I get to my door. Vargas almost runs right into me.
“Stop.”
I raise my chin, pushing my shoulders back to try to appear bigger than I am. It’s pointless. The man is twice my size.
“Stop?” He smirks.
“Why are you chasing me?”
“I rather enjoy it.”
Truth.
That’s a double-edged sword. Does he want to chase me because he wants me or because he wants what my father has?
“I want to get dressed.” I peek up at him through my lashes. “Please.”
“Fine. I’ll be in my office.” He reaches for me, but I pretend to not notice. I quickly slip into my room, closing the door behind me, then flipping the lock.
“Thanks for the help,” I mutter to Sassy, who is on the bed cleaning herself. “Now, where is my phone?” I dig through the bed, finding it wrapped up in my covers. “Oh crap.”
There are a million calls from my father and texts. “We’re in trouble.”
“Meow.”
“If I’m in trouble, so are you.” I plop down on the bed and do the last thing I want to do right now. I call my dad, praying he has no clue about my apartment.
17
VARGAS
Lingering at her door, I consider knocking, but I don’t. Instead, I listen.
“Hi. Wait–” She pauses for a while. “Dad, no, hang on … Dad! Listen, I’m fine. I’m safe. Everything’s okay.” Another long silence.
“Someone broke in, yeah. How’d you know–wait … Garfield. Ugh.”
I can imagine Grant Fraser losing his mind when he realized his ruse didn’t work. She didn’t go running to him when she was frightened. She came to me. Where she belongs. That thought should feel odd, maybe even forced–as if I’m trying hard to win her so I can screw her father over in business. But that’s not it. There’s something about Cadence, something that seems to tie me to her, drawing me closer over and over again.
“—I’m perfectly safe. The apartment has been repaired, new locks and everything… No, I took care of it.”
I smirk at her white lies.
“Dad, I’m not coming home. I’m fine.” She sighs, long and heavy. “I spent the night somewhere safe. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Business calls, my phone vibrating in my pocket. But still I wait. And listen.
“Fine. Okay? I’ll come by the office and have lunch with you. That way you’ll have proof of life and will quit worrying.”
My eyes narrow. I wanted her to have lunch with me. Dinner, too. Breakfast as well. In fact, I want her to take all her meals with me from now on. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s not going back to that apartment. It’s set up with plenty of security now, including a few inconspicuous cameras, thanks to Catarino. But she doesn’t have to go back, not when she’s already found a home with me. It’s safer here. Better.
Her room goes silent, the call ended.
I hover for a few more moments before quietly slipping down the stairs to my office.
Cat is waiting for me and looks up from his phone as I walk in. “I’ve been calling.”
“I know.” I drop my phone on my desk, face down. “Shouldn’t you be beating some intel out of one of Caesar’s men right about now?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “That was my plan, but I put out a few feelers after breakfast. Turns out Sal Caesar has been doing business with Remy.”
I arch a brow. “Remy hates Sal. Didn’t Sal–”
“Fuck his sister then dump her right after? Yeah.” Catarino smirks. “I guess Sal thought that was water under the bridge because he went to Remy’s shop yesterday looking for some serious weaponry.” He holds up his phone. “Remy just called me. He’s hot, fucking livid that Sal would dare show up on his doorstep.”
“Did he sell to him?”
Cat snorts. “Yeah. I mean, money’s money to Remy. But he didn’t waste any time in letting me know that Sal is planning something big. It’s like he’s going to try to break into Fort Knox.”
Or maybe he’s planning on stealing the only daughter of the richest man in the city. Fuck. Cadence is in even more trouble than I realized.
“Get a man on Cadence’s apartment. Maybe Lucio. He’s smart. Have him monitor it. She won’t be going back there except to visit, but I want the place watched all the same.”
“She’s not going back?” Cat schools his features, but I can tell he wants to grin.
“No.”
“So she’s moving back in with her father, then?” His lips twitch.
“No.”
“Well, that must mean”—he pauses dramatically, his eyes widening comically—“that must mean she’s moving in here!”
“Don’t be a smartass. You only have the brainpower to be half that word, and it’s certainly not the first half.”