It Was You!
Vex
Asking for a favor isn’t something I do ever.
But for Payne and those women, I’ll do anything. It isn’t as hard since Max just tried asking me for one. Not that I was able to help him. That footage ‘disappeared’ permanently. No one except people I trust will ever know anyone attacked Dahlia.
She won’t have to have hard conversations.
That was all the comfort I could give her.
Max should be here in a few minutes, which in itself is shocking. I expected a phone call from somewhere in the world when I called his secretary, not for him to show up at my office.
Tac pokes his head into my office. “That Vincenti guy is back.”
“Show him in.”
Tac nods, and just a few seconds later returns with Max.
I stand up and walk over. “Thank you for responding so quickly.” I hold out a hand to him.
Max shakes it. “Do you have that video for me?”
“No. I told you it doesn’t exist.”
“And I told you that you’re lying, and I want that tape.” Max’s smile is friendly with an edge of irritation. “But our little encounter yesterday makes me question why you’re lying.”
This isn’t going to be a simple request. “Have a seat. Can I get you a drink?”
He sits down on the leather couch that faces the window into the club. “No thanks. As I was saying, I think I know why you’re lying now, but I’m not sure why you didn’t want my help.”
Only a fool would admit something like that to Vincenti. “I’m not lying.” I sit down on the armchair next to him. “What happened yesterday is none of your business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Prue is my business.”
What does he mean by that?
“So now I’m going to ask again, what happened to the video recording that day?”
He knows. “Dahlia told you?” She just doesn’t seem like the type to talk about something so private. Getting her to admit she had her period was like pulling teeth.
Pulling teeth is actually easier.
“We guessed, and she filled in the details reluctantly.”
Someone needs to fill in the details for me. “We?” What did they do? Sit her down for an interrogation. Why didn’t she tell me?
“My daughter, Hope, figured it out first. Prue was shaken when she got home after days missing.” Max raises an eyebrow at me.
“She was never lost.”
“I figured that. Prue was afraid that Hope hadn’t been prepared to protect herself from date rape drugs, so she gave Hope this big long lecture—like Hope will ever be alone—Prue’s hands shook the entire time and Hope figured it out. Who drugged Prue?”
A dead man. “It doesn’t matter. The problem was taken care of. She wasn’t alone for a single minute.”
“Taken care of…” Max raises an eyebrow at me.
“Like I said, there is no video from that day. There was a computer malfunction.”
“This malfunction caused a permanent loss.”
I nod.
Max’s shoulders relax a bit. “Excellent. So, I’m going to assume your last visit was simply to check on Prue.”
“Why would you assume that?” It takes everything in me to remain calm on the outside. Dahlia isn’t any of his business.
“Because Prue is a nice woman. She’s not your type.”
Don’t deck him. His family might object, and Emilia is still a scary woman. “She’s everyone’s type.”
“Does that mean you’re interested in her?”
Maybe I can get away with giving him a black eye or two. “How is she any of your business?”
“My daughter is very attached to Prue, therefore her wellbeing is my concern.”
Is Max the one Payne was talking about as competition? “And that concern is driving this line of questioning?”
“Mostly. Curiosity has me questioning why her boss was visiting in the middle of the day.”
“You know her boss?” I really should have looked at the file Payne has on Dahlia.
“I know everything about Prue.”
Do you know why she’s so shy? The question almost slips out of my mouth, but I control myself. “Then why did you let him come to her door? ”
“To torment you. When my cousin said you’d been there for hours, I was curious as to how you’d react.”
Don’t kill him. Don’t tear him limb from limb. Payne needs his mother’s help. And he has a kid. “Dahlia isn’t your concern anymore.”
“Are you staking your claim on her?”
“Yes. She’s mine and neither you nor Soup Boy are going to touch her.” Ever.
Max leans back. “Hope is going to be very disappointed. And I’m sure you can imagine how much I hate for her to be disappointed. She has been working so hard to get Prue and me together.”
Even a child is working against me. “Your daughter is going to need to learn how to deal with disappointment.”
“She can, if you’re serious about Prue. I’m not stepping back if this is just a game.” Max places his elbow on the arm of the couch.
“Have you ever known me to play games?” You can’t kill him.
“I’ve never known you to have a meaningful relationship with anyone. Prue isn’t that type of woman.”
“Like I didn’t already know that.” You can’t kill him.
Max and I stare each other down for a long moment before he says, “Interesting. This is going to be very interesting. Well now that we’ve gotten that taken care of, I’ll be on my way. Hope said we’re going to do something fun this afternoon. The last time she said that she tried to talk me into taking her race car driving. That girl is going to turn me prematurely gray.”
“This little discussion wasn’t the reason I invited you over.”
Max pauses as he starts to stand up. “It isn’t?”
“No.” How do I explain this? “There’s a woman—”
“Another one?” Max raises an eyebrow as a smirk spreads across his face.
I ignore his antics. “She’s in need of therapy.”
“Then get her a therapist. What does that have to do with me?”
“It’s a special case. Barb can’t figure out who to send her to.”
The smile fades away. “How special? ”
“Dahlia could have been this woman if she had been anywhere but my club.” Too many women were taken before the dead man stupidly made his way to my club.
Understanding spreads across Max’s face. “What do you need?”
“To figure out how to help this woman…quietly. We were hoping your mother might know someone.”
“Mom is retired. Dad won’t like her working. He worked so hard to get her to step back from working and spend more time with us.”
That isn’t an acceptable answer. “She doesn’t need to work with this woman. I just need a name. Someone to step in and help her. Otherwise, I’m afraid she’ll end up institutionalized.”
“It’s that bad?”
“She screams and throws a fit if the lights even get dim. Payne can’t walk away from her. She’s been by his side since we found her in the pit.”
“The pit,” Max whispers. “Mom will be by this afternoon.”
“Thank you. I owe you.” Everyone knows I pay my debts.
“No, you don’t. This isn’t a favor for you. No woman should ever have to go through that. Did she have any other friends?”
“None living.”
“How many holes were there?”
“Dozens.” Each one was worse than the last. We stopped counting.
“Are the cops aware of the situation?”
They wouldn’t have been, if it had only been the one, but there were too many bodies not to give the families peace. “It turns out a hiker stumbled upon them the next day and called the police.”
“The hiker can be trusted not to involve Prue or your other guest?”
First, he tries to steal Dahlia, then he insults me. The repercussions of killing him might not be too bad. Axe is on my payroll and from Willow Street. “He’s solid.”
“Good. If you need anything else, let me know. ”
We both know I won’t be doing that. This was more than I’m comfortable with.
He stands up and starts to walk away. “Oh, don’t be surprised if Hope butts into your relationship. She views Prue as family.”
I need another person making this harder like I need a hole in the head.
Max grins at me before stalking away.