Chapter 28 #2
“Mace’s working on a civil case. The charges were bullshit.
You and the rest of you guys better watch what you say about him.
He doesn’t deserve the hate, and he’s more than handsome.
He’s smart, funny, charming, works like a beast, and here to stay if I have my say about it.
You all better get used to him and show him the same respect you show me. ”
Tommy waved a dismissing hand, paying no attention to my outburst. “I say we don’t do anything rash. Nico’s replied. He’s seen the email. Let’s keep this between the three of us until we know more.”
“Tommy, I’m not kidding. Mace’s life was taken from him in a manipulation of the truth and a bed of lies.”
He continued to ignore me, only dropping out the new information he’d found. “When I was digging through Mace’s past, I saw the liquor store I sent you to is part of the bar that helped funnel people to Mexico. That’s really cool. You don’t see Texas that way very often…”
He locked a direct gaze on me as I interrupted him to finish the intriguing story.
“If I remember correctly, they’re learning it was used regularly as an underground railroad.
The same family has owned the bar and parcel of land for well over a hundred years.
They’re good people on the right side of history. ”
Tommy nodded, patiently waiting to add more to the mix. “I also found a band of bandits in the family in the later 1800s. A couple of brothers and their friends. They seemed like a Robin Hood gang. Before they were caught, they disappeared. I guessed through the railroad.”
Excitement lit his face; he snapped his fingers before pointing the index finger at me. “Slade, you need to make that movie. You have direct access to the truth. I can’t imagine how good you’d be as one of those brothers. Slade… Start your own production company.”
Huh. Maybe. I guessed. But we weren’t there yet and Tommy had to keep his lips zipped. “Remember that idea and your NDA. The idea goes no further than us until I bring it back up.”
“Unless there’re listening devices in here,” Tommy’s finger circled the house. “That’s the third reason I came.”
Tommy typed on his laptop until he edged off the barstool and brought the computer to me.
“I contacted Stuart Intelligence independently to find out who’s responsible for the leak on the inside.
If they can figure it out quickly, maybe you get your life secure again.
They’ll come and sweep the property and all your homes to find listening devices, and do a deep dive into where these files came from,” he said the last bit so quietly I almost hadn’t heard him.
Okay, that was productive. I nodded at Tommy, proud of him for seeing my problem with clarity and taking proactive steps to mitigate damage.
He leaned into me farther, still whispering, “My take’s that you’ve been weirdly happy with this guy.
I thought your frown was a permanent fixture on your face unless someone called ‘action’.
For me, I’m with you to the end. In theory, if it comes to it, pay me less if you have to, but don’t make me live here.
Austin, Texas, doesn’t seem that bad, maybe Dallas.
They dress to impress without so many yeehaws but I’m with you until the end.
I like this new direction you’re headed. ”
I nodded my appreciation. It meant a lot. I clung to the hope he provided.
“I’ll need a meeting with my financial planner…” I couldn’t remember his name. “William or Wilkins…”
“Wallace. I’ll ask for a meeting tomorrow night,” Tommy said.
I nodded again.
“What’s happened?” Mace’s husky, sleep-filled voice drew both our attention his way. I generally knew when Mace was around. The invisible tether between us tightened, but I’d missed his approach this morning. “I was gonna grab coffee and head to the barn. What’s goin’ on?”
Dressed in his farmhand garb—T-shirt, faded jeans, work boots and ball cap—Mace stopped as if his feet took root in the area just beyond the kitchen. He stayed there.
“Mace, officially meet Tommy. He’s come here to stay because I have to go back.” I tried for passive, but reality was a bitch resting heavily on my shoulders these days. My jaw set in defense to what I faced.
“Hey, Tommy,” Mace said.
Tommy went to him, hand outstretched. I appreciated the respect. They shook hands then Mace tucked his fingers into his front pockets.
“My name’s River. He calls me Tommy.” Oh yeah, I forgot about that. “His assistants kept quitting. The first one was named Tommy. He stuck with it,” Tommy explained.
Mace’s lip twitched, but he asked, “Why do I need him here?” His concerned gaze slid back and forth between Tommy and me. I left my spot where I’d been staring at the window, absently closing the lid and discarding the laptop on the counter beside my abandoned coffee cup.
“Tommy’s here, hoping to make it easier on me to leave.” This time, I felt my face scrunch into a frown. More than anything, I wish Mace would agree to come with me this time. The way I pictured my face became a reality on Mace’s as he analyzed my response.
“I feel like there’s more to it. Ya’ll are keepin’ secrets.”
The good thing about Tommy was that he was great at reading a room and went back for the laptop and the missing earphone, simply inserting it in his ear and working on the keyboard from his spot on the barstool. He couldn’t hear us, but we could hear the snappy beat of whatever he listened to.
I reached for a new coffee mug and filled it from the pot, trying my best to downplay the heaviness weighing on me.
“We’ve received another picture. Whoever this is, is purposefully fucking with me.
I’m heading back to handle it. That and production has fixed whatever problem had them giving us time off.
” Yeah, I was tired of waiting on my team, my employees, creating nothing more than additional billable hours.
The reality that I was a pawn in my own damned life landed like a boulder inside my gut. Fuck those people.
“What’s the picture of?” Mace asked, having me come to him with the fresh coffee. Of course, Mace’s detail-focused brain went straight to the information I’d wanted to keep from him, no matter how I tried to swerve him another direction.
“I’ll figure this out.” I sidestepped the question, handing him the cup.
“Is all this my fault?” Mace asked, not defensively but curiously, genuinely wanting to help stop the unauthorized information leaking. “What was the picture of?”
“It’s a shot of you, and it’s not your fault,” Tommy said, bouncing his head to the music while giving up the lie behind the expensive headphones.
“The photo’s me?” Mace said, still rooted in his spot at the kitchen entry but now with a coffee cup in hand.
“Yes,” I said. I stared at him but was still completely unable to read his thoughts.
“Can I see it? Maybe I’ll remember who was around.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Tommy said, pulling the earphone from his ear again.
I stared between the two men, my protective side reared and ready to do battle. My insecurities, the ones I never let rule me, charged forward. If I didn’t do something, anything, the burden of my celebrity would end everything, like it had so many times before.
Shit.
“Let’s have coffee on the patio. Tommy can make us his famous waffles.
It’s about the only meal he does well. There’re full of delicious carbs...
” I rambled on for distraction, shoring up the decision that I wasn’t ready for Mace to mentally leave the cocoon of the love fest we’d established last night.
Which meant I needed to move him out of the discussion.
When I had my cup of coffee in hand, I found Mace standing to the side of Tommy, staring at the laptop screen. One hand was on the counter, the other on the back of Tommy’s barstool. He’d placed his coffee cup on top of the counter.
“This was in the last couple of days. That’s the shirt you bought me the last time you were here.
It’s the plaid with our logo.” Abruptly, Mace lifted.
He gathered his fingers behind his head, intently focusing on something unseen.
“The auction had come through, and I took the blind mare. Remember that? I was watchin’ the mare, givin’ her room, wonderin’ if I had what it took to handle her properly.
No one was there with me.” Mace’s stare landed on me.
“What does that mean? Can a drone take that kind of picture? Surely I would have heard.”
“Maybe,” I said. Quality outdoor drone cameras, I imagined, were easy to come by, but Nico should be on top of those.
It also drove the point home that it was an inside job.
My stomach churned. Likely, by someone who had access to my schedule.
“Mace, hang tight. I need to speak with Nico. Tommy, I’ll head to his place, don’t tell him I’m coming. ”
Tommy nodded, on my same page. Who else did I have to trust? I went for my Jeep keys, and cell phone. Probably needed some shoes on too.
“I like the beard,” Tommy said faintly to Mace.
“Barely a coverin’,” my guy answered. From his tone, I bet a small blush stained his cheeks at the compliment.
He was adorable. I loved him completely, and I better not lose him to a bunch of insider bullshit.
I was out the front door, taking long strides to my ride.
I had to get a hold of this. A million in Bitcoin. Right.