Chapter 44
Lovelyn
On the drive to the warehouse, ‘Hello My Old Lover’ by Dove Cameron played on the radio, and Kane held my hand, changing gears with our combined grip. His thumb drifted over mine.
I remembered something I’d meant to ask last night, lost when the needs of our bodies had stripped everything away.
“Did you see Primrose Marchant after the care home?”
“I went. The gates stayed locked. She told me over the intercom that she’d call me when she needs me.”
“Sounds ominous, but it might not be that bad. I feel sorry for her when I think of our conversation.”
“I don’t. She holds the power of my mother’s care over me. Even when I get the sale money, that only gives me six months of funds. When she says jump, I’ll have to. It was another reason why I thought you’d be better off without me.”
“Why? She isn’t dangerous.”
He gave a noncommittal grumble.
“Worst-case scenario, if she asks for something you don’t want to do, refuse. You’ll have money to cover the bill short term, and I’ll volunteer to help care for your mother. I did it with mine, and I am unemployed, after all. I’m sure Blair and I can find a way to get along.”
“You’re a fucking angel. It won’t come to that. Even if it does, I’m used to doing the difficult thing. Now tell me what happened to your job.”
I did, smiling at how he cursed my father and Lyle out.
On our approach to the warehouse, he kept hold of my hand, taking care to guide me around puddles that reflected the neon pink of the club signs. The last time I’d noticed that, Kane and I had been destined for a fall. Now, I felt invincible with him.
The crew member who unlocked the door congratulated us, as did a group of staff stocking the bar. In the main corridor, we passed the dark-haired brothers. The Atherons, I recalled.
Kane gripped my hand tighter.
The one with longer hair tied back with a strip of leather raised an eyebrow at him, and Kane pointedly glanced at me.
“Consider my reply changed.”
Whatever that meant, I was lost, but I didn’t have time to question men and their grunt-based communication as we continued on to the office.
Tyler admitted us. Arran sat behind the desk, with Shade and Riot bracketing him.
All four men had skeleton bandannas tied around their throats, and the overly bright visitor’s lamp shone at us.
Quite the intimidating sight.
Kane reached out a long arm to tap it lower.
Arran smirked and gave us an appraising once-over. “Congratulations to the happy couple. Kane, how’s that burning need to leave town?”
“Magically vanished,” Kane intoned.
Arran chuffed a short laugh. “So I assumed. To be discussed later. There’s more pressing shit to handle first. Tyler?”
The team leader held up a tablet displaying a CCTV screen of the interior of a room. A man thumped at the door, yelling soundlessly, a bed and a shelf of sex toys behind him.
Lyle.
I swallowed a knot in my throat at Lyle’s furious expression. “He’s been in there since last night with no one answering him?”
Shade turned a blade over in his hands, angling it to the light as if to check for imperfections. “He has, ever since arriving with a boner for ye. Then from the moment we cut off his screen, screeching like a stuck pig about how important he is and what a mistake we’re making.”
Kane took a deep breath behind me.
I hung my head. Arran had asked me for intel on Lyle when he was allocated to the Marchant ship. A case I felt out of touch with and couldn’t check on anymore. “I should’ve told you I had history with him when you asked. It didn’t seem important at the time.”
Arran shook his head. “You’re not beholden to me, Lovelyn.”
I wanted to say how I wasn’t anything now. That my father fired me, and I couldn’t do searches or provide information to the skeleton crew anymore. But the words lodged in my throat.
“Can I see Lyle? I’m assuming you’re going to have a chat with him, but while he’s still able to speak, I want to make sure he knows the facts.”
I reached for Kane. He’d stood behind me, never not touching me in some way. I raised our joined hands to make my point.
Arran’s lips twitched. “I’m not yet settled on his fate. The hotshot detective has been sniffing around for a while, making connections into the business and power dynamic of the city. His name came up in Cassie’s research.”
I widened my eyes. I had to find out in what capacity.
Arran stood, stalling my thoughts. “You get five minutes with him. I want my people back, and he’s had long enough to consider what he’s brought down on himself.”
We all filtered out of the room and travelled in the lift upstairs, exiting to the hotel floor that Kane had shown me what felt like forever ago. Tyler had left our ranks, but with the anger rising in my gut, I felt ready to take Lyle on solo.
He’d lost me my job. He’d tried to break into my house and had left a boot mark on the door my mother had painted.
Outside a door, Arran stopped. He eyed Kane. “Do we need a game plan?”
I shook my head. “I know what I want from him, and that’s to leave me alone.”
“He means do I need to be told to keep my fists to myself.” Kane breathed in. “I’m good. This is Lovelyn’s show.”
Arran unlocked the door.
Inside the room, Lyle lurched forward. “About fucking time. You have no idea who—”
His words dried up as he took in the men at my back, all now with masks raised, aside from Kane. My very own wall of mildly murderous support. His focus sank to me.
“Lovelyn?”
The camera view hadn’t shown me just how dishevelled and stressed the detective had become.
Gone was the neat, well-kept professional.
His fair hair was ruffled, and his shirt crumpled, but the red eyes and darting gaze spoke volumes.
His spell in a different kind of prison than he was used to had rattled him.
Losing all sense of self-preservation, I stalked inside and pushed him in the chest. “Where the hell do you get off?”
“Me? When your father finds out—”
“Don’t interrupt. I’m talking. You’re a cop. You’re not above the law. You tried to break into my house while I was sleeping, Lyle. You sent messages to scare me.”
He opened and closed his mouth. “You can’t prove anything.”
The confirmation in his words only boosted my righteousness. He might as well have signed a confession and stapled it to his forehead.
“Oh really? I saw you with my own eyes, and I have a neighbour who will happily play witness.” Mrs Hampton would enjoy the ruse.
I advanced a step, backing him to the shelf of sex toys. “Then I’m sure my friends here would be willing to document how a new detective was clamouring for tickets to watch a live sex show. Not sure how shiny a promotion’s going to look after that news spreads.”
“Like anyone would believe you.” Lyle flicked his gaze to the gangster wall at my back, then to the camera in the corner of the room.
A tell. He was nervous.
I pushed my advantage. “Apart from the fact you came here and had your hand in your trousers while watching the show? Against that, I’m the model of respectability.”
“Easy to tip off the press for your walk of shame out of here,” Shade quipped from behind.
I smiled cruelly. “You lost me my job. Be prepared to say farewell to your career.”
Lyle went to speak, then swore and turned away. When he came back, his features were twisted in emotion. It made him appear younger. The gentler, relationship-inexperienced version of him I’d dated.
I wanted to throat punch him. “Tell me why you did it.”
“For us. We were good together.”
My surprise caught me, but then I saw what I’d missed when we were dating. The want in him. The almost shy attraction I hadn’t shared.
Kane curled a possessive arm around me, tension in his touch. “Another word like that out of your mouth and ye won’t be leaving this room of your own volition.”
I interlaced our fingers to underscore his point. “There is no us. We broke up, and I’m with Kane. Do you understand? My choice has been made. I’m not interested.”
The challenge in his eyes fizzled out, all his energy gone. Lyle was backed into a corner, and he knew it. “I accept it. What hope did I have after that scene in the game? Can I go now?”
This was my time to leave. I was done with him, and it was over to Arran and his crew to bring Lyle to heel in other ways. But then a thought came to mind. I’d considered myself useless without the information I could provide to the skeleton crew.
Maybe there was one last act I could supply.
I twisted to Arran. “Can we have a word outside?”
The crew leader inclined his head, tugging his mask down when we exited. “Something wrong?”
I swallowed, wringing Kane’s hand in mine. “I can’t work for you anymore. My father fired me, so I don’t have access to police data. But I have something I can use with Lyle as a bargaining tool to get your people back. I didn’t want to speak without asking you first.”
Saying it out loud felt so horribly final. Lovelyn Wells: currently between careers and crimes.
Arran listened as I explained about the Marchant family and the relatives who’d invested in the businesses that could influence the vote.
“The very people who benefited from the trafficking were trying to gain power over the company. It’s a clear motive he can investigate, but also, it gives him an out. Something he can agree to then walk out of here with his head held high. Do I have your permission to strike a deal?”
I peeked from Arran to Kane, seeking his, too. It was his family after all. He only gripped my hand tighter.
Arran considered my words. “Genevieve mentioned something about this. If you think you can use it, go for it. I’d rather have him onside than underground.
He could prove useful yet. And Lovelyn?” He tugged his skeleton mask back up.
“If you think you’re done with my crew, guess again.
With or without access to the police systems, we don’t let good people go that easily. ”
My bottom lip trembled, but I managed a nod then got myself under control. I might have lost one job, but not both.
Returning to the room, I took the single chair and settled my focus on Lyle.
“Before I leave you to the capable hands of these gentlemen, I have information on the Marchant case you’ll find interesting.
In exchange, there are two people sitting in your police station who need to go free.
If you want to walk out of here with your arms unbroken and your reputation unsullied, you’ll make a deal with me now. ”
The muted disappointment lifted from Lyle’s expression and sharpened into interest. The detective was back in the room.
This time, it was me who had all the power.