Shae’s head fell back against the seat. “Do you think they’re okay?” When Toni told her that Damask’s men were close and ordered Hunter to take her away, she hadn’t put up much of a fight. She wasn’t looking forward to being in another shootout. However, on the way out, they were passed by two windowless black vans. Nothing good ever happened in a windowless van.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” said Hunter. She glanced over at him. They’d been in the car for about fifteen minutes, and she swore that was the most he’d said to her in that time. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You know, that’s usually what I say when I’m not fine.”
“Well then, I guess that makes you a liar, doesn’t it?” She immediately felt bad for snapping at him. “I’m sorry you got stuck on babysitting duty.”
“No, it was a good choice. Hart knows that the team is capable of handling a lot, and your safety is a priority right now.”
“My safety is a priority? I thought your number-one priority was clients.”
“I think you can consider yourself one of our clients now. We’re all invested in keeping you safe.”
She shook her head. “We still don’t know why Damask is trying to kill me. This whole thing makes no sense.”
“A lot of times murder doesn’t.”
“No. I’ve seen a lot of crime shows. The murder usually makes sense. There is a motive—there’s a reason. Like, there is such a thing as random joy killings. Maybe teenagers who get bored and decided to see what it feels like. But they don’t hire a bunch of guys to do their dirty work. I’ve never met Damask before a few months ago, and all of a sudden I’m right in the middle of all this shit.”
“What changed a few months ago?”
“I guess he got in business with my dad at some point, but it’s looking like he did that to get to me.”
“Well, if you’re right, and I think you are, there is a reason. Once again, what changed? Did you piss someone off? Did you have any shady business dealings?”
Shae rubbed her forehead. Hunter really didn’t know her if he thought she was getting involved with shady business dealings. Hell, she even drove the speed limit when she wasn’t frantically trying to get away from a shootout. Before she met Tristan, she pretty much never did anything illegal. The product of being the daughter of a man who took a few too many liberties with the law. “The only business dealing I’ve have had lately is buying Seaside Escape.”
“He wants the property then.”
Well, duh. “I know, I know. I just can’t figure out why. I mean, it’s a nice house, but the land is small. You don’t usually get a lot of land with beachfront property, you know? It’s not like he can redevelop it into anything. And I’m not like all the people he steamrolled out of their houses. I’m not even close to going to foreclosure.”
“Maybe you’re thinking about it wrong. You see him as wanting your house for business. Maybe this is personal. Considering how little the property is worth relative to how much most of his properties are worth, it’s not about money.”
“If he wants me to leave so badly, why doesn’t he just burn it down? I don’t have enough in savings to rebuild the entire house from scratch.”
“Do you think he hasn’t thought of that yet?”
“No, it has to be something else.... If he didn’t burn down the house, that means....” Shae’s eyes widened. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it before. If he didn’t burn down the house, that meant there was something inside that he wanted. “Oh my God. I have to go back.”
“There’s no way in hell I’m taking you—” At that moment, a cell phone rang, and he immediately answered. “Yep?” She noticed he didn’t give his name. The bare minimal information, even on a burner phone. “Sounds good.” He hung up the phone and looked over at her. “You want to rob a bank tonight?”
Shae didn’t realize how scared she been for Tristan until she saw him hop out of that black van. She took back everything she’d ever thought about black vans. She immediately jumped out of Hunter’s car and ran straight into his arms. He let out a little huff of surprise and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. She enjoyed the comforting feel of being held in his arms and tried not to read too much into it. “Are you okay? What happened? Where’s my dad?”
“Umm.... Fine, shooting, he took off the second we were clear. I have a feeling he did not enjoy his time with me.”
“He’s safe?”
Tristan shrugged. “He didn’t have a mark on him when he left me, but that doesn’t mean Damask isn’t going to give him any trouble. I offered to let him stay with us, but he decided he could take care of himself.”
Shae had her doubts about that. Manuel had always been king of his world, but this wasn’t his world. He was ruthless and cutthroat, but this was over his head. However, she also knew he was a determined and prideful man. If he didn’t want to accept help, she couldn’t force him. She would just have to hope he’d be okay, and focus on the bigger issues. “Tristan, I think I understand now. I think I know what Damask is looking for at the house.”
Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but everyone else started to file out of the van. Toni rubbed her neck, as if she’d been sitting still for too long, and Shae didn’t miss the small drops of blood on Gage’s shirt. “Oh my gosh, are you—”
“It’s not mine,” he said quickly.
“Hunter said something about umm, you guys doing some, umm, banking tonight?” There was no one around, but Shae didn’t want to say anything stupid out loud.
They’d pulled into a rundown-looking motel. Shae also noticed that they’d all backed in. As though they were trying to keep their license plates hidden if someone did a casual drive-by.
Toni nodded. “That was the plan, but right now it’s too late, and I think we can all use a shower. We’ll regroup, wait for Melissa to catch up and head to the bank tomorrow.”
“They won’t think it’s weird if we rent out like six different rooms?”
Toni gave her a “aww, honey” look.
“We’re getting three rooms,” said Scott. “Toni and I, Hunter and Gage, and then you and Tristan.”
She thought it was odd that she was the pick for Tristan, but she supposed she’d already been sleeping in his room. And to be honest, she hadn’t complained about it all that much.
“I’m getting all the rooms and paying cash so they don’t ask too many questions. That way, the clerk will only see my face. I think we’re far enough away that no one will be looking too closely for us. We’ll head to the bank first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll plan on reaching St. Pete around ten, and that will be a slow part of the day for the bank. Does that sound good?”
Everyone nodded and hung back for a few minutes while Scott handled the rooms. Tristan gave her a rundown of what happened at the house. The entire thing sounded utterly terrifying. It was odd how he talked about it as a normal, everyday occurrence. When she considered how many men they were up against, and how unscathed everyone was, she was shocked and impressed. Gage looked as if he had a bruise forming on the side of his face, but no bullet holes, no broken bones, no hospital trips.... She always assumed they were good at what they did, but she didn’t really understand the full extent of it until now.