Chapter Seven #2
“You know, I always wondered how my son landed someone like you,” Noah Sr. begins. “You’re smart, beautiful, and obviously resourceful. Way out of my son’s league, so I knew you’d leave him for someone who was going places.”
“That’s not why Noah and I broke up.”
“I can see now that I was wrong,” he says. “You’re not as smart as I thought if you wound up here, dressed like that.”
“We’re both here,” I point out.
“So we are. I wasn’t surprised when Noah told me you broke up, but to find you here… I’m disappointed. You’ve downgraded, and it’s such a waste.”
I meet his gaze. “Let’s not pretend that any of this was about your son. We both know that you only cared when it was convenient.”
“I always felt that attitude of yours needed adjusting.”
I stare at him and say nothing.
“But as you said, we’re both somewhere we shouldn’t be,” he continues. “So, it does make me wonder.”
“About what?”
Noah Sr. gestures to the nearest woman in a uniform and waits until she’s in front of us. “I’ll have a whiskey sour.”
The waitress nods and disappears.
“We could be of use to one another. Rumor has it you’ve got yourself some powerful… friends these days.”
Panic and fear claw their way through me. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
Noah Sr. studies me, his dark eyes giving me chills. “You can deny it all you want, but I know the truth.”
I stiffen. “I am not going to help you.”
Noah Sr. laughs humorlessly. “You haven’t even heard my offer.”
“I don’t think it will matter.”
He stops laughing and looks at me coldly. “I am not a man who goes back on his word, London. You do me a favor, and I’d owe you one. I am a powerful ally to have, as you’ll come to learn.”
I search his face. “Who said anything about wanting an ally?”
Noah Sr. leans across the table and lowers his voice. “I can tell you’re going to need one.”
I press my lips together and lean away from him.
Where is Carlisle, and why hasn’t he stepped in?
Because you know what’ll happen if he does. He knows you don’t want to draw attention to yourself, and what happens if word spreads that he intervened with one of the biggest clients.
As much as I hate being exposed, and to Noah’s dad of all people, I know it’s for the best that no one else, least of all Carlisle, gets involved.
Noah Sr. has to believe I’m just here having a drink.
It’s the only way I’ll get him to leave.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself when the waitress returns with his order and a smile. When she leans over to set it on the table, Noah Sr’s eyes roam over her slowly, but she pays him no mind. He offers her a bright smile full of expensive white teeth, and she blinks at him.
She shoots me a sympathetic look on her way past.
Noah’s dad reaches for his drink and eyes me over the rim. His eyes remain on my face, and it takes every ounce of self-control I have to sit there and not react. Noah Sr. is nothing compared to some of the bloodthirsty enemies Mason has gained over the years, but I know he can’t be trusted.
And he’s got clout with every major politician in the area.
I’ve known since the day I laid eyes on him that he couldn’t be trusted, but not wanting to break Noah’s heart, I’d kept it to myself.
What good would it have done?
Noah is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. Deep down, he must know what his father is like, and if he doesn’t want to confront that, that’s his prerogative. It’s not your business, and it’s too late for you to do anything about it now.
At this point, anything I tell Noah would seem mean and spiteful.
I’ve taken enough from him, and I have no intention of adding his dad to the mix.
Noah Sr. clears his throat, and I realize he’s still looking at me intently. He takes a long drink of coffee and carefully sets it on the table between us. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“I can see that you’re thinking about an alliance. I’m sure Noah told you that I’ve got some pull in the city. Having me in your corner would help.”
Ice settles in my veins. “What makes you think I want your kind of help?”
Noah’s father gives me a chilling smile. “My dear, everyone thinks they’re above the kind of help I offer. But sooner or later, things get hard, and people have to make the hard choices. Just like your father did. Noah told me all about his… predicament.”
“I don’t know what Noah told you, but I’ve taken care of it,” I say.
Noah Sr. chuckles, and the sound makes me even more uneasy. “So I’ve been told. I don’t know how you attracted the attention of a man like Mason Payne, but I have to congratulate you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Or what a man with his power could want with Mason.
A man of Noah Sr.’s influence could get a meeting with one of the most powerful mobsters in the city if he wanted.
Why is he coming to me?
Because you have Mason’s ear, and with that comes certain… expectations. Noah Sr. wants a foot in the door, and for some reason, he can’t get it on his own.
Noah sips his drink quietly, his eyes not leaving my face. “You should learn to lie better if you’re going to survive in this world.”
I hold his gaze. “Like I said, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Noah Sr. reaches for a napkin and pats his mouth. Then, one hand moves into his jacket pocket, and I go still.
Every muscle in me is screaming to run, but I know it will only paint a bigger target on my back.
We have enough enemies as it is, and I don’t want to add Noah Sr. to the mix.
Whatever he believes, he needs to think Mason is privy to my every move and thought.
Noah pulls out a card and leaves it on the table. “That’s my personal cell. When you decide you’re ready to play with the big dogs, you give me a call.”
I look away from him and say nothing.
“I can make people disappear, London,” Noah Sr. says, his mouth next to my ear. “I can give them new lives. Anything you can think of, I can make happen. All I need is an audience with Mason, and I’ll get you anything you want.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Anyone with two eyes can tell that you’re in way over your head, and the day will come when your parents might need my help. Think about what I said. Enjoy your…drink.”
He turns to leave, stops, and frowns. “Oh, and if you hear from my son, tell him to call me.”
Once he’s swallowed whole by the crowd, I scramble from the booth and make a beeline for the bathroom.
Underneath the fluorescent lights, I empty the contents of my stomach and turn Noah Sr.’s words over in my head.
My ears are still ringing, and my palms are sweaty when I exit the back door and find Carlisle waiting for me by the car.
“Do we have a problem?”
“I honestly have no idea, but he’s always given me the creeps. Can you keep an eye on him and warn me if he comes back?”
I can’t have Noah’s father seeing me meet with my contact.
Not unless I want things to spiral further out of control.
I spend the rest of the time at the club sequestered in a booth in the back, unable to ignore the bile in my throat or the pounding in my head.
Noah Sr. is a lot of things, but he’s not wrong about being out of my depth.
I’d rather take my chances with Olivia’s crazy scheme than go to him for help.
But I find myself pocketing the card anyway, and it feels heavy as Olivia returns a short while later, and we go back to the manor.