“What does that mean?” asked Shae.
“It means he’s paranoid, and paranoid criminals always have a backup plan. You know what they say. There is no honor among thieves. If Damask goes down for any reason, he’s going to try to take a bunch of others down with him. It’s how he would protect himself. So, if I can find his secret stash, then I can find a way to bring him down.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’s not going to keep location to his stash on his phone.”
“You’d be surprised at all the stupid shit people keep on their phone. It just takes some logic and digging. Either way, this isn’t my only plan. This is plan A. We still have plan B, C, D, E, and F.”
“What are those?”
Toni let out an exasperated sigh, apparently finished with this line of questioning. “I’ll let you know when we need those plans. Until then, this is what we’re doing.”
“That’s all great,” said Gage, “but what’s the meeting for? We already knew you were digging through his phone.”
“The meeting is because I may have found something. It might be nothing, but it’s worth looking into. Damask has a safety deposit box at a bank in St. Pete.”
Shae blinked in confusion. “He banks in St. Pete?” It seemed so far from the cities he’d be doing the most business in.
Toni shrugged. “I think he used to live there. But the point is that safe deposit boxes always have some juicy stuff hidden in them. I figure for us it should be easy to get in, and if it’s nothing, we can always rule that out as a stash.”
Shae scoffed. “Breaking into a safe deposit box is easy?”
“It depends on who you know.” Tristan winked.
She nodded. “All right. What do I need to do?”
“Hey, I’m all for you helping,” said Toni. “But I think you can sit this one out.”
Shae was still adamant that she wanted to help, but she couldn’t fight with that one. There was nothing she could do to help break into a bank, and, frankly, she didn’t know that she wanted to put herself in that position. “Have you looked into my father?”
“Your father. Yeah. He’s a peach.”
She was more than aware exactly how her father came off. “Do you know what he’s doing with Damask?”
“From the emails I’ve read, it looks like they’re doing a deal. A pretty big one from what I can tell. Your father and Damask have roughly similar net worths. Blackthorne has a larger annual revenue than your father’s company, but that’s not saying much. If they’re doing a deal together, it would be a big deal.”
“They’re not being subtle about it if her father is showing up to Blackthorne events,” said Tristan.
“They’re kissing each other’s ass,” said Shae. “If they’re both the same size, each of them has something to gain and lose with the deal. They both want it to go through.” Everyone looked at her, and she shrugged. “I know how these things go. A lot of compliments and wining and dining and tax-deductible meals. It’s all a big show of self-importance.”
Shae sounded calm about everything, but the more she thought about it, the more uneasy it made her feel. She knew her dad wasn’t exactly a good man, but thinking about him being in business with someone like Damask was starting to get to her. It’s funny that he accused her of letting him down, but she felt it was the other way around. She was supposed to have this strong and respectable father who was a highlight of the business world. She was supposed to brag about him and tell people how great he was. About all the wonderful things he’d done for the industry, and how smart he was. But he wasn’t smart. He was playing the system. One more crook making it harder for anyone honest to succeed in the world. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. “So am I done here?” she asked. “It’s not like I can help anyway.”
Hart looked at her questioningly, but he ended up nodding. “You don’t need to be here for the rest of this. But if you want to stay and keep updated on what we’re doing, you’re more than welcome.”
She’d had enough for one day. She gave a quick, insincere smile before she turned and left. She was just out of the room when she heard footsteps behind her. Footsteps that she recognized. In fact, she was pretty sure she could recognize Tristan’s footsteps anywhere now. It was as if she were tuned in to him. “What?” she asked without stopping.
“I figured you might be hungry. Want to head to the kitchen and raid the fridge? I think Toni went shopping today.”
“You can’t just give me brownies every time I’m in a mood.”
“Well, that’s silly. I don’t see why not.”
She let out a little laugh. “Listen, I am in a bad mood. I’m probably going to be in a bad mood all night. You really don’t need to hang around out of pity to make me feel better.”
“I don’t know what part of this read pity to you. Besides, I’m good at cheering people up. I always know the right thing to say.”
“Is that how you get people to trust you when you rob them?”
“Well, it started with me getting people to like me when I was on the streets, begging.”
Shae narrowed her eyes. She thought back to how little she knew about him. He’d mentioned his father and how he’d pushed him into the water, but that had been back before she knew who he was. She didn’t know what was just a fabrication to get her to like him and what had actually happened. And at what point did the begging come in? Before or after he’d been thrown into that water?
She just didn’t know what to do with him. “Look, Tristan, I don’t want to be cheered up right now. I want to be angry. I want to feel bitter. Considering you might very possibly have had a worse childhood than I did, I’m not in the mood to have my pity party with you.”
“You keep using that word,” he said. “Pity. I don’t know why you think I pity you.”
“Of course you pity me,” she said. “Hell, I pity me. People trying to kill me. I’m hanging around with a bunch of people who don’t even want my help, but I’m too afraid to go home. I really don’t see anything that’s not to pity right now.”
“Well, do you want to know how I see it?”
“Not really.”
“Too bad. I see one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known, who is surrounded by people who like her and want her to be safe. I see someone who came from a privileged background and let that go even when it was one of the hardest decisions she’s ever made. I see someone who’s too smart for her own good, too pretty for her own good, and feels things even when anyone else would tell her to push those feelings down and just do what’s expected of her. I don’t see one damn thing to pity here.”
Just when Shae was about to throw herself into his arms and tell him that was the nicest thing she’d ever heard, Hunter showed up behind him. Shae shifted her weight and tried to act normal. “What’s up?” she asked.
“You’re not going to like this. Your dad’s here, Shae.”