Lights out

I rubbed a thumb over her stocking-covered skin, wanting to soothe her. If not for our audience, I would have dragged her right into my lap. The need to have her in my arms when she was upset was only getting stronger by the day – more proof of how hard I had fallen.

She turned back to Nico. “Are the cops going to question me?”

He shook his head. “Unlikely. With no other trace of you found, there’s no reason. If anything, they might want to speak to you about your run-in with him to get a feel for what kind of headspace he was in that night, but I don’t think it’ll be for weeks yet, if it even happens. They’re too busy chasing down other leads and looking into missing women reports. Something like twenty hookers have disappeared in the city over the past four years.”

“Sex workers,” Aly corrected.

I sat back in my seat, stu

Nico raised a brow at me. “You should know better than anyone how little cops care about hookers.” He held up a hand. “Sorry. Sex workers.”

I went completely still. Shit. He knew about my dad.

Aly reached down and threaded her fingers through mine. “I’m going to say this once. That is the last reference like that you make.”

Nico’s gaze sharpened on her. “So you know?”

Junior looked between them. “Know what?”

Nico hadn’t told him? Thank fuck for that.

“Nothing,” Aly said, glaring at her uncle. “Right?”

He held her gaze for a long moment. It felt like another battle of wills was happening between them, this one silent.

“I’m the only family you have left besides your kids,” she reminded him.

He frowned but finally nodded. “Fine.”

Aly blew out a breath. “What else is going on that we should know about?”

It turned out, a lot. A twenty-person task team had been formed to take over the investigation, including local police as well as FBI agents. Their first priority was finding Brad, but the second was finding his victims. Cops were canvasing the city streets, finally looking into all the missing persons cases they should have given a shit about to start with. Brad’s childhood record had been unsealed, and a criminal psychologist was using it to help build a more complete profile of his crimes and potential escalations.

His past victims were being reinterviewed. Judges and lawyers were getting subpoenaed in relation to his previous settlement cases. One of the FBI analysts was pouring over his phone records as they hunted for burial locations and tried to match his GPS data to areas where women went missing.

It was a huge case, and because of that, it made Aly’s name just one word in a vast ocean of information, easily overlooked.

The longer Nico talked, the more I started to believe we just might get away with what we’d done. Brad had left his phone behind when he went to Aly’s. He’d disabled the GPS in his vehicle. Her house and my car had been scrubbed clean. Even if a neighbor had caught him on a door camera approaching Aly’s house, there was absolutely no physical evidence that he’d ever come near us.

Junior swore no one would ever find Brad’s body. Brad’s car had been stripped to the frame, and its pieces were scattered throughout other vehicles across the city. Hell, the cops thought Brad was still alive. When Nico said he intended to keep it that way, with several pla

Did I feel like we were completely in the clear? No. But I did feel like I could stop looking over my shoulder every five seconds, and for that, I would be forever grateful to Nico.

We spoke for nearly an hour, Aly peppering her uncle and cousin with question after question until Nico pinched the bridge of his nose and begged off, claiming she was giving him a migraine. He promised to call if anything else came up, and only then did Aly rise from her seat and say that she was ready to go. Nico invited us to stay for dessert, but she declined.

On the way out, she stopped in to use the powder room, and I gathered our coats and waited for her by the front door with her uncle.

It was only the second time I’d been alone with him, and, hoping to smooth over some of the earlier awkwardness, I extended my hand. “Thank you again for everything.”

He ignored my offer to shake, going so far as to slip his hands into his pockets while he eyed me. “I did it for my niece. Not you.”

“I understand, but I’m still grateful.”

His expression flattened. “I don’t trust you.”

“Okay,” I said, because what else was I going to?

He stepped close, and though he was about half my weight, it looked like he pla

I laughed.

In my defense, I’d held it in as long as I could. God, he was so predictable. I’d been ready to kiss his ass as long as he remained civil, but I’d had a feeling it wouldn’t last, which was why I’d taken a page out of Aly’s book and was ready with Plan B.

“Look,” I said. “I’m sure this routine works on most people, but you know who my father is. Nothing you can say will ever compare to what I lived through with him.” I lifted my phone out of my pocket and waved it at him. “Also, I recorded that entire conversation in your study and already sent a backup to a private server I own, so now we’re even. You have shit on me, and I have shit on you. Don’t ever threaten me, and certainly don’t try to call in your favor for covering up for me, or I’ll dismantle your entire organization from the inside.”

I lifted my phone and tapped the screen to drive my point home. All the lights in the house flickered. Nearby, the alarm by the front door started beeping. Nico rushed over to it and punched in the code before it could go off.

“Hun?” Moira called from deeper inside the house. “What was that?”

I answered for him. “Must have been a power surge!”

Then I turned my attention back to Nico and did something I hadn’t done in years. I went to that cold, dark place in my head where I used to hide when Dad was at his worst. There was no pain inside it, no emotion. I didn’t give a fuck about anyone or anything there, not even myself, and I knew it showed on my face because this was the same place I’d gone to all those years ago when I scared off Tyler’s shitty ex.

“I don’t care about you, one way or the other,” I told Nico. “And your family seems nice, but I don’t care about them either. You could all disappear tomorrow, and I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. And no, I’m not threatening you, just stating facts. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“That you’re a psycho, just like your father,” Nico spat.

“Nah, I’m not that far gone. I’m able to care about some people. And I care about Aly. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect her, go as far as I must. With my skills, I’d make a much better ally than I would an enemy. So, I’m going to offer to shake one more time, and we can try this conversation again.” I extended a hand between us. “Thank you so much for everything.”

Nico’s face looked like a thundercloud, red creeping into his cheeks that spoke of a deep well of rage. I’d have to be very careful around him and his sons from this point on, but if my father had taught me anything, it was that bullies like Nico only responded to threats and violence, and I would never let someone like him push me around again.

I waited several seconds, still in that emotionally detached state, holding Nico’s gaze as I let him decide if he wanted to be my enemy or my friend. Part of me hoped he made the wrong choice. I hadn’t gotten the chance to really flex my hacking skills for years, and the thought of slowly leaking mob crimes to the FBI one at a time made me smile.

I think it was the smile that decided Nico. He shuddered and, with a grimace, finally slipped his hand into mine. “You’re welcome.”

“I truly appreciate all your hard work keeping your niece safe,” I told him, which was true.

He frowned. “You’re pretty fucked up, kid. Aren’t you?”

An indrawn breath a

In a blink, I came back to myself, my smile becoming more genuine than creepy as I released Nico and turned to face his niece.

“He was teasing,” I said. “I made a dumb joke. Right?” I asked him.

His gaze slid from me to Aly. “Right.”

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Thank Moira again for di

Aly frowned as she reached us, sensing something was off. “Are you ready?” she asked me.

“I am,” I said before turning back to her uncle. “Can’t wait to do this again next month.”

Nico looked a little green at the idea, but he managed to say goodbye to Aly and see us out the door without giving anything away.

“What the hell did you say to him?” she asked as we made our way toward my car.

“I told him he had a nice arse.”

Aly choked on nothing.

“What?” I said. “He does.”

I unlocked the doors, and we climbed inside. She turned to me as I started the car, her eyes narrowed to slits. “You threatened him, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but in my defense, he started it.”

“What about trying to stay on his good side?” she asked.

“Turns out, he doesn’t have one.”

She punched my arm. “Are you out of your mind? Do you know what he could do to you?”

I turned to face her. “The better question is, do you know what I could do to him?”

That brought her up short. I could see the wheels spi

I reached out and smoothed her hair back from her face, looking for an excuse to touch her. “I understand the risk, but I don’t think it’ll ever come to that. Nico is a smart guy. He knows a truce between us is preferable to setting his whole world on fire just to prove he has the bigger metaphorical dick.”

She grimaced. “Gross. No relative dick talk.”

“You understand what I’m saying, though. The threat was just a threat. He needed to realize that he can’t bully me like everyone else. And he also needed to know that he can’t push me out of your life just because I’m not Italian enough for his liking.”

Her gaze shifted from my eyes to my mouth and back again. “Did you have to wait until I was out of the room to do it? I would have liked to see you go all alpha on him.”

I cocked a brow at her. “Alpha, huh? Is that something out of your porno books?”