3. Lock
3
LOCK
The clock ticked on the wall like a bomb. The file in front of me could destroy the company or save us. But at this point, I wasn’t sure we had much of a choice. Cash had left us in an untenable position. After months of turning down jobs and focusing solely on finding the men who were behind keeping The Syndicate alive, the company was floundering. Nothing I had done to date could save us from the massive amount of debt we’d accumulated trying to resurrect the company.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” My eyes flicked to Eva. This was her company. Even if I was the current CEO, I knew I was only a placeholder for when Cash returned. And he would return. There was no other choice.
“Lock, I’m not the person to ask,” she sighed. “You need to do whatever you think is best.”
“This is your company, Eva.”
“It’s Cash’s company,” she whispered.
I leaned forward, narrowing my eyes on her. “Let’s make one thing crystal fucking clear right now.” Her eyes met mine and flared at my words. There was the fight I needed to see. “You are Cash’s wife, and we will get him back. I swear to fucking God, we will get him back and return him to you. And when we do that, he needs a company to come back to that he can be proud of, so I need you to think about this and tell me what you think he would want me to do.”
She swallowed hard, her eyes flaring with heat. The fight that had been struggling to rise to the surface was still there, but was diminishing a little every day he was gone. I fucking hated to see her struggling so much, but she was doing everything she could to hold it together. It was hard enough when she had the kids to think about, but on top of that, she had her husband’s legacy. I wouldn’t fucking let her down.
“Do it.”
I nodded. “I’ll call the studio and confirm that we’ll take them on. It won’t be pretty, but it’ll get cash flowing again.”
“It’ll be a fucking pain in the ass, is what it’ll be,” Johnny muttered from the corner of the room.
I had forgotten the three Js were here. They were always so fucking silent that it was sometimes as if they weren’t even around. Aside from the massive dark presence in the room that made your skin crawl and your balls want to take up residence inside your body. Other than that…
“You should have let us go after him,” Jason muttered.
“Knight asked you to stay,” Eva sighed, getting to her feet.
“Still don’t get that one,” Jack grunted. “To watch Isabelle? All three of us?”
Eva quirked her eyebrow at them, thrusting her hands on her hips. “She was taken once by Zavala.”
“And he’s fucking dead,” Jack snapped.
“She barely leaves the house,” Eva retorted.
“All the more reason that it makes zero fucking sense for the three of us to be here instead of out there looking for Cash,” Jack argued. “This is what we do. This is right in our wheelhouse.”
“I’m not arguing with you about this,” Eva snapped, her nerves clearly fraying.
I narrowed my eyes at Jack, giving a minute shake of my head.
“Knight is Cash’s brother, and he feels he can get to Cash on his own.”
“We knew Rafe better,” Jason argued. “And we sure as hell know Cash better than Knight.”
“Rafe left you here for a reason,” Eva said, sucking in a harsh breath. “As much as I hate to admit it, he didn’t want you to be part of it, for whatever reason. Knight trusts you to look after Isabelle, and that’s what he needs from you. Until he calls and says he needs backup?—”
Eva blinked back the tears that were threatening to overcome her and turned away, grabbing her stuff.
“We’ll get it done,” I interrupted. “I’ll call the studio and get this…Audrey Leigh and Spencer Gable out here as soon as possible.”
“Thank you,” Eva nodded.
“Anything else you need?”
She shook her head and left without another word. As soon as the door closed, I hit the locks and flipped the switch to soundproof the room.
“What the fuck was that?” I snapped.
Jack stood and paced over to me, shaking his head in frustration. “We’re on fucking babysitting duty? Are you fucking kidding me? Rafe would have wanted us out there looking for Cash.”
“He sidelined you for a reason,” I pointed out.
“He didn’t?—”
“Yeah, he did,” I snapped, shoving out of my seat. “Like it or not, Rafe had a plan for you all along. Up until you knew what was really going on, you didn’t even want anything to do with him anymore. All of you were pissed as hell for how he dragged you into his twisted plans.”
I turned on Johnny, shooting him a pointed look. “Or have you forgotten how he dragged Tahlia through the mud and nearly got her killed? Or how he got you hooked on drugs and sent to prison?” I asked Jack. “Where the fuck would you be right now if things had gone differently on that job? In fucking prison, rotting in a cell and praying you could get out, that’s where. You barely escaped with your life and your sanity.” Then I looked at Jason. “You’re just fucking lucky that he never got to you.”
“We all knew what Rafe was like,” Jack argued. “We chose to work with him, and now that?—”
I knew what they were saying. I hated that they were sidelined when they wanted to go after him, but this wasn’t about them. It was about Eva and what she wanted. “I get it,” I sighed. “But until Eva says otherwise, you sit this out and let her do things her way. It’s her life and family on the line.”
None of them liked it. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I liked it, but it wasn’t my choice. Knight had a plan, and until he gave the signal, we had to let him take the wheel and guide things at his pace.
“What are we supposed to do until then?” Jason asked.
“Do what Knight asked. Look after Isabelle.”
“How about you give us a fucking job?” Johnny retorted.
I tossed him the file. “You want the Hollywood stars?”
He shoved out of his seat as if the file would scorch him. “Ya know, my brother called and said he needed some help on the farm. I think I’ll uh…”
“Yeah, I’ll head out there with him,” Jack added, hurrying to his feet. “Jason, you’ve got Isabelle.”
Jason rolled his eyes, huffing out a sigh. “Fucking pussies.”