Chapter Nine
CADE
Talk about being backed into a corner.
I don’t answer my buzzing phone. I know it’s fucking Enzo and that he’s been listening downstairs. And watching.
She is the perfect candidate, I know that. With her studies, brains, and the need to finish her internship, she’s a shoe in.
I have no idea if he’s looking for one, but I can make it that he needs her.
And sure, I’m worried about Vi.
She’s been through a lot.
I want to wrap her up tight, lock her away. Protect her.
I want to see her as fragile.
She isn’t, though. She’s strong and tenacious and is already handling everything that’s happened to her better than a lot of grown men I’ve met.
But I’m not sure why I’m agreeing to this, other than I am a fool for her.
I know the only time she sleeps is in my arms. I know because I don’t sleep until she’s gone into a deep sleep.
I could argue she needs to get things together, and she’d tell me she’d get them together if she knew Gianna was safe. Maybe not those words, but those sentiments. Stubborn, driven, that’s Vi.
And she’s fucking right.
If we want to see if the good senator has been up to something or if he pissed off the wrong people, then having her there gives us an inside view.
Not everyone keeps this kind of shit online or on a computer.
But my phone keeps buzzing, and finally, I look.
Enzo: Hello?
Enzo: Is this mic on?
Enzo: Hello?
Enzo: Hi?
Enzo: Anybody out there?
Enzo: Dude. We work together. You’re in my house.
Enzo: You can’t ignore me.
Enzo: DUDE.
I sigh.
If I keep ignoring him, he’ll keep bombing me. I wouldn’t doubt he’d steal the AI bot I made to respond as The Ghost to just keep it going ad infinitum.
I give camera in the room the finger.
Me: I’m busy.
I can almost hear him laugh.
Enzo: Giving in like a big pushover.
Me: Eat a bag of dicks.
Enzo: They give me indigestion.
I laugh.
Fucker.
Violet comes back into the room, and I close the door to the basement stairs.
“So, I figure once I’m in there, it’s two birds with one stone. My internship and finding Gianna. There’s got to be clues there. And he’s a good congressman. But he does spend a lot of his time in DC.”
“He’s a congressman.”
Her eyes flash fire. “I know. It’s why this works.”
“No, I mean, even the honest ones are slippery.”
“You’d know.”
“I just mean he might be hiding things. Like being forced to do unsavory things to get her back. Or he just might be completely protective.”
Vi nods. “I get it. But you do agree with me, right? That it’s smart to have someone on the inside. It’s not just about Gianna, but you want to uncover whatever’s going on. Targeting two politicians isn’t a coincidence, is it?”
“Sometimes, I wish you weren’t so fucking smart, Vi. But no, I don’t think it is. Especially when they’re two New York politicians. Ivan seemed to think Isaac owed him something, and he had Walsh’s daughter. So, not a coincidence. And yes, it is smart having someone on the inside.”
She’s about to say something when I cut her off.
“Vi,” I take her hand, threading our fingers. “I could easily arrange for someone else to go in.”
“No.” She lifts her head, there’s no anger, but her stubbornness is calm and solid like bedrock. “It makes sense for it to be me. I need another internship, and I can be subtle. I get it. I can do this. And you never know, having someone around Gianna’s age might get him talking.”
“Violet…” I warn.
“If he talks on his own, and if I get that internship.”
Which she knows I’m going to help make happen.
Opening a hidden cupboard, I pull out some glasses, and then open the fridge next to it.
Enzo doesn’t have clients down here, but he has set it up like a place for people to wait or talk shit, and those who he doesn’t know that well will come to this level, which is bland and lacking in personality.
If it’s some Syndicate people, no one wants to be distracted from what we’re doing, and anyone else? He doesn’t want to give away a thing about himself, or let anyone up to where he lives.
But since I’m here with Vi, I’m going to need a drink. “You want something? Juice? Soda? Water? Something hard?”
“Water, please.”
I hand her a bottle, motioning for her to sink down on the sofa.
I pour a drink for myself and sit near her. “Securing you an internship’s going to take a little groundwork. So, hold off on applying until I let you know.”
She bites her lip, but nods, tucking her legs beneath her as she cracks the top for the water. “We need to get this moving.”
“Says the expert.” I smile at her, but then concentrate on my phone, checking a few things.
“She’s out there. And I don’t want to lose the chance for my PhD.”
This time, I swallow my smile as I don’t think she’d appreciate it.
She’ll get that damn degree. They’d be mad not to give it to her. But I also get her anxiousness.
“Maybe take some of the classes you need to do for next semester?”
She rolls her eyes. “I have assignments, but they’re on the internship.”
“Maybe start laying out what you need—”
“I know how to write assignments.” She sighs, sips her water. “I guess I can collect the reading material I might need. And get a jump start on interning for a congressman over a councilman.”
I’m going to be doing this for her, helping her get an internship with Walsh. But I really don’t want her in danger. Strong or not, I can’t have that.
Thing is, no matter what, it’s not a thing I can prevent. No one can. But I can diminish the threat. Diminish the level of vulnerability.
And knowing where she always is helps that dissipate a little.
While I can’t logistically have her followed twenty-four seven, I can monitor her.
But…it goes two ways.
“Can I have your phone?”
She doesn’t hesitate, instead Vi unlocks it and hands it to me.
It doesn’t take long to download and set up the app I just put on my phone. The app’s safe. It belongs to Enzo’s brain, and this version is not one the rest of the world has.
I only take burners when I’m on a job where being tracked is something we can’t afford.
I hand back her phone as I scoot closer. “This is a tracking app. You can also see my phone, see?”
“I see.”
She sets her water down next to my whiskey.
“This way, I can make sure you’re safe by knowing where you are, and you can see I’m good. We can know where each other is…well, as long as we have our phones on us.”
“So, if you’re The Ghost?”
I smile. “It’ll depend. I do use burners. I have to. But mostly, I work from a computer with my phone. And if we’re playing games…you can check. Once at the start. And if you feel the danger’s wrong—”
“You’ll know.”
I was going to say she could check again, but I pull her to me and kiss her. “I’ll always watch you.”
And she kisses me back. “Kinky.”
Sometimes, I wonder if she has any real idea just how “kinky” I’d go for her.
Any idea at all.
We’re getting close moving in on that internship. But first, Enzo and I lay the groundwork, gathering everything we can on the entire Walsh family.
While we’ve done digging into the congressman already, I want this to be as thorough as we can, in as many arenas as possible.
We usually get something.
Unless they’re smart and ultra careful. Unless they stay completely offline.
Two days later, I sit back and look at Enzo.
He crosses his arms. “The congressman’s online, he’s savvy.”
“Or has a savvy team.”
“You’re the one who dug this hole, and now your brother’s girl...I mean, your girl, is chomping away, wanting this thing to move forward.”
I ignore Enzo’s dig. “Your point?”
“My point is…” He rolls his eyes, drops his hands as he shoves his keyboard away.
“If there is anything worth surfacing, it will. But she wants what the congressman wants, his daughter safe. So, let her help. We’re going to be searching because apparently, it’s not ‘cold feet warm heart’, it’s ‘hard dick soft mind’ when it comes to you and this girl.
So, get her in there and let her finish her internship and help us. ”
“I just don’t want her in danger.”
“She has us. She’s got The Syndicate. I say she’s in as much danger as any office job holds danger.”
“Look what happened at the last one.”
He says something under his breath. “Let’s just get this girl found, okay?”
“Okay.”
And I get ready to pull the trigger.
“How are the upgrades coming?” he asks me after a few hours of work.
I shrug but don’t look up from what I’m doing. “It’s done. Got word an hour ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Nope.” I grin. “I didn’t want to listen to you cry longer than I had to. I know how lonely you get without me here.”
“Tears of joy.”
“Definitely, tears of sadness.”
We work through the day, and when Vi comes back from her trip to her campus, I go upstairs to greet her and take in her expression of the packed bags. I kept an eye on her the whole time as I worked, noting her stops at different political offices big and small on her list.
Vi’s eyes glitter as she glances at me, hands on hips. “Is this your way of kicking me out?”
I laugh and wrap my arms around her, kissing her. “No. It’s my way of telling you we can go back to my loft.” Then I force myself to say the rest. “Or you can go back to your place in a few days. I’m having that upgraded, as much as I can without major construction.”
“Okay.”
We get a car back to my loft where I can do whatever the fuck I want with.
All the upgrades, including doors that’ll probably take a bazooka to blow off the hinges, have been installed without a fuss. My door and the one downstairs.
Personally, I’d love to have twenty-four-hour guards, but camera systems, my own CCTV, are all smarter choices. I do have security, but the rotation is random. An erratic schedule makes it harder for an intruder.
And I have cameras.
Anyone coming after Vi will need to be a literal ghost not to be seen.
When we walk in, I set the bags down, and she looks around.
Signs of the struggle are gone.
The bed has been changed, too. My weekly cleaning service did the job perfectly.
I know. I watched.