“What kind of activity?”
“Taking calls outside while pacing and appearing on edge, but the man could be going through something personal. We’re putting him under watch.”
“I know this security team we’ve hired signed the contracts I drew up, but make damn sure they aren’t for sale to the highest bidder.”
“I know the owner personally. I promise you. We’re golden.” He narrows his gaze on me. “You don’t just walk away from a cartel, Shane. I dealt with these people when I was with the CIA. And if that’s where we’re at, our problems are far bigger than the police.”
“I’m aware of that.” I push off the desk and turn to the window, unbuttoning my jacket and settling my hands on my hips. Seth joins me, both of us staring at the thick, black clouds. “What I don’t understand,” I say, “is how the hell Derek doesn’t.” My mind tracks back to my father’s office yesterday. “Derek made a point of reminding me that BP is my acquisition and I’m linked to anything that happens there.”
“A threat,” Seth says wryly, leaning a shoulder on the steel beam running along the window. “You could walk away, Shane. Get the hell out of here.”
“If I do that, my father and brother will end up dead. And my mother could end up collateral damage.”
“What about you? What happens when they ruin your life?”
“I’ll take my chances.” I turn to face him, hands still on my hips. “At this point, we don’t know anything. Derek aspiring to work with the Martina family, and doing it, are two different things. And as much as I’d like to take the direct approach and bulldoze him for answers, he won’t be honest and it will only alert anyone who might be helping him to stay off our radar.”
Seth gives me a disapproving look. “There are a lot of things I could say to you right now, but I won’t.”
“Good decision.” I glance at my desk where the envelope Jessica brought me lies, realization coming with cold, hard clarity. “Son of a bitch. My father just gave me the proposed paperwork for an investment that’s an obvious cover for a payoff.”
“That Nina person,” Seth assumes.
“Yes. That Nina person, who left the trucking division abruptly a month ago and is suddenly worth the hundred and fifty thousand dollar investment my father wants to make.”
“And the trucking company is a perfect target for running drugs. It would be easy to come to the conclusion there’s already activity happening there.”
“Whether there is or not, if we are thinking about this, then Martina will be thinking about this.” I scrub my jaw. “I need to shed that division.”
“Not only will that send up red flags to your brother, and your father if he’s involved, but it’ll risk a potential riff with Martina that you don’t want to go into blindly, if at all.”
“Which means I need to control them instead.”
He reaches into his pocket and offers me a flash drive. “That has enough damning information on Riker Ward, the CEO of that division, to do that and more. It also has equally invasive information on the rest of the board, aside from Mike, and therefore, offers you the power to command them all.”
“Unless my brother, or father, beat me to the punch,” I say, accepting it.
“Derek’s too busy paying everyone off to know how to really control them.”
“Don’t underestimate Derek, and since my father handled this payoff for the trucking division, I lean toward his involvement. And he is all about control. Which brings me back to my questions about Mike. But the highest priority right now is finding out if we’re already in bed with Martina.”
“Which, in turn, brings me back to the transportation division. Send me to Boulder, and I promise you, with the dirt I have on Riker, he’ll tell us exactly what’s going on up there and what that payoff is for as well.”
I lift the flash drive. “Spare me the reading time,” I say, placing it in my pocket. “What’s the dirt you’re referencing?”
“Riker’s gay,” he says. “Which wouldn’t be a problem except for a few important details. He’s not only in the closet, he’s married to a woman, has three kids with her, and a father who’s a conservative politician. And yes, I have proof. The man is in bed with so many men I wonder how his wife doesn’t know. And before you ask, I’m thorough. She doesn’t.”
I suck in a breath and let it out. “I don’t want to be the person that screws up this family’s life.”
“He’ll never let me tell her,” he assures me. “And I wouldn’t without your approval anyway. You know that. But for the record, this family’s life is already screwed up and it’s fucked up that they don’t know it.”
I hesitate all of two seconds. “Do it.” The truth is, my fleeting moment of guilt was wasted on a man who revels in breaking the law.