Chapter Twenty-Three
Friends are there for better or worse… and then some friends just make it worse.
ANGEL
Present
I watched the small man in a white lab coat squirm in his high back leather chair.
“How can I help you, Mr. Knight?” The good doctor tried to sound in control and failed miserably. His gaze nervously swept from me to the infant in my arms.
“I need your discretion.”
“Of course.”
“The kid is sick. Run some tests. Make him better. Do it quietly.”
His gaze flitted back to the kid. “I—I wasn’t aware you had a child.”
“I don’t.”
He flinched. “A—and where are his parents?”
He’d already figured out the answer. “His father is MIA, and his mother is unavailable.”
“Why, may I ask—”
“You may not ask. I’m sure your wife’s trips to Paris and your kid’s private schools aren’t paid for with questions. If your morals are getting the better of you…” I pulled out my gun with a silencer and laid it on my lap. “I can take care of that.”
He paled at the sight of the gun. “I can assure you my morals remain corrupted by your money. I’ll just need something viable to tell my staff.”
Mian’s kid wheezed and coughed causing my patience to evaporate. “I don’t care what you have to tell them, just get it done. If this kid dies, I’ll consider you responsible.”
I stuck around for the diagnosis, and when the Doc told me the baby would need a close watch for a few days, I kept one of my men on guard in case the Doc’s conscience got any ideas.
Lucas called as I pulled up to my next stop. I was nervous as I answered the phone and wondered what trouble Mian might have found in the few hours I’d been gone. “Is she behaving?”
“Like a tigress in captivity for the first time,” Lucas muttered. “How’s the kid?”
“Doc says it’s an infection called respiratory syncytial virus.”
“Is it as bad as it sounds?”
“Doc wants to keep him for a few days, so I’ll be here longer than expected. They have him on a fucking ventilator.”
“Son of a bitch…”
“Doc isn’t taking chances, and neither am I.”
“What do I tell his mother?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t think she has a right to know?”
Lucas had been questioning me more often than normal since the day we found Mian in my father’s house, and sometimes, it took more patience than I possessed not to lose my shit. For the sake of brotherhood, I decided to focus on the other half of my business trip.
“I paid another visit to Jonny. Ross has been moving quietly, but Jonny thinks something’s up.”
If Ross put her up to robbing me, then he’d know the buyer. Even if Mian was as innocent as she claimed, it still meant that either Ross had someone on the outside who could get their hands on the book, or he knew someone he could sell the information to. I intended to find out.
There was one question that bugged me the most?
Why would Mian bother pawning a watch when she had so much to gain from selling the book? Theo had never moved so carelessly before to not collect at least half the money upfront. There were too many holes that shed light on Mian’s innocence, but I couldn’t ignore the evidence that made her look guilty either.
“So we’re not setting her free?”
“The book is still missing, and as long as it is, she’s still a suspect. If we find the book, and if she’s not behind it, we let her go.”
“She’s not going to take that well.”
“She’s not in control here.”
“Right. Because you have a handle on your feelings for her,” he said sarcastically.
“You have something you’d like to say?”
“Nothing that you’d listen to.”
“Try me.”
“You’re too soft on this girl. If you really feel nothing—if you really want to find your family’s book—then remember what she did to your family by stealing your legacy. Remember what her father did to yours. Fuck man, this isn’t just about you. Art was the only pops Z, and I had ever known, and that motherfucker took him… from all of us .”
“What do you suggest I do, Lucas?”
“Find something else to motivate her because I can’t and won’t hurt a fucking infant. I don’t even feel right insinuating that I will.”
I took a deep breath, but when the ice in my veins failed to thaw, I embraced it. “I’m sitting outside her apartment building.”
“What the fuck? Why? I told you I already checked it.”
“I thought I’d check again and maybe find a clue on how to motivate her. I know her better than either of you do. If there’s something there, I’ll find it.” Silence filled the line. “Don’t question me again. Ever. If you do, I’ll begin to wonder if I can trust you .”