Chapter 33
Cormac kept his hand at the small of Dani’s back as they all sat on the stools around the massive kitchen island top.
Berkley and Nick had pulled out a couple trays of snacks but he couldn’t eat right now. It seemed neither could Dani as Krystal set her purse down, gave them a tired smile.
“Your brother is stable,” she said first. “Just want to throw that out there. I stopped by the hospital—and made sure I wasn’t followed. Not that anyone has a reason to follow me in the first place,” she added, looking pointedly at Cormac.
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
She wasn’t wrong, so he just shrugged. Sometimes he swore she could read all their minds. Like a big-sister superpower.
“I’m tight with a couple nurses and they gave me the rundown,” she continued. “His doctor is talking about slowly reducing his medications and bringing him out of his medically induced coma.”
“That’s a good thing,” Dani murmured, but it sounded like a question.
“I believe so. And if you’re ready, I can get you into his room. You’re on his list of approved visitors.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Just you and Edith.”
“Our father isn’t on there?”
“No. Apparently there’s something in his living will about that. I actually don’t know the specifics but he’s banned from the room. And your father is allegedly out of town.” Krystal’s expression was dry. Clearly she didn’t believe that.
“My father is banned from the room?” Dani blinked.
“That’s…interesting.” Cormac looked at her, saw she was as surprised as him.
“Huh.” Then she seemed to shake herself. “Okay, so Julian is hopefully coming out of his coma. What about the other…stuff?”
“Vickery and Samuels have been officially arrested and are now in custody of the Feds. I heard through the grapevine that after their homes were searched, the Feds found a couple more stashes of coke and cash.” She looked at all of them expectantly.
Cormac held up his palms as Berkley and Nick did the same. “We didn’t do that.”
Krystal gave a small smile. “That actually makes me feel better.”
Cormac didn’t respond. He’d known those assholes were dirty as hell so it wasn’t a surprise that of course they had a bunch of illegal shit at their houses.
“I’ve heard that they’re trying to make a deal to bring down Logan Brown. If that happens, it sounds like it’ll solve a lot of your problems?” When Krystal looked at Dani, her expression and tone were soft.
“At least one of them.” Dani said dryly, then blurted, “You look like your mom. I mean, from the pictures I’ve seen.”
Krystal gave her a startled smile. “You look like yours.”
“Yeah…it’s weird, but good weird.”
Krystal nodded. “I know. Apparently our moms were kind of wild.”
Dani snickered. “I don’t know why, but it makes me happy that they were.”
“Me too. Even if I now have a job where I would be responsible for arresting them.”
“Right.” She took a deep breath. “Do you have any information on Greg’s murder? Anything new?”
“Nothing that I can tell you. I can say that your friend had a lot of hidden information that the FBI is now in possession of. They know exactly who he was trying to bring down and the list is long.”
“Yeah,” Dani murmured. “He really hated corruption. I think he grew up in a bubble because he was so horrified by things that… I don’t know, things I kind of expect. But not him. He always said that no one was above the law and he meant it.”
“I have no doubt that the FBI will take down at least half of the people he had files on. And I think or at least hope he’ll get the credit for investigating them.”
“He deserves it.” Dani’s voice trembled slightly.
Cormac rubbed a hand down her back, wishing he could do more to comfort her. He felt like they were closing in on taking Logan Brown out of the equation. Once he was locked up, she wouldn’t be totally safe, but they would both sleep easier.
Nodding, Krystal picked up her purse. “I’m headed back to work. Just got a new case. But I wanted to let you know about your brother and Brown more than anything. If there’s any change on your brother, I’ll call you. Do you care how late?”
“You can call at two in the morning, doesn’t matter.”
Cormac cleared his throat, drawing Krystal’s attention to him. “Do you know if the FBI has a warrant for Brown yet?”
“Ah, I don’t think so. But I do know they have some guys sitting on his place.”
“Which he no doubt knows,” Dani muttered. “It’s not like he’d keep anything incriminating at his place. He’s an asshole but I can’t imagine him being that stupid.”
Krystal shrugged. “You’d be surprised by how cocky people can be.”
Once she left and it was just the four of them, Nick narrowed his gaze at Berkley and Cormac. “No,” he growled.
Cormac frowned, looked at his sister, then Daniela, who appeared just as confused. “No, what? Are you two communicating telepathically?” he asked dryly.
“I know you’re planning something.” Nick’s gaze narrowed at Berkley. “I can see it.”
“We haven’t looped in Cormac yet,” Berkley admitted. “Meaning Micah and me.”
Micah was helping to relocate a woman and her kids now that the woman’s abusive ex was out of prison.
The asshole had made it clear he wouldn’t stop until they were both dead.
But he was careful and calculated now that he was out of prison.
And Micah was going to make sure the woman and her kids disappeared in a way that her ex would never find them.
“Looped us into what?” Cormac had a feeling he would like whatever they’d come up with. Though he was annoyed they hadn’t pulled him into whatever was going on.
“Well…” Berkley looked at all of them, winced only a little when she met Nick’s gaze. “Brown clearly has an obsession with Daniela. And I think we need to really sell what a psycho he is.”
Nick stared at her for a long moment. “I’m not crashing another vehicle into him.”
She shook her head, then looked at Cormac and Daniela. “I think we should break into his place and build a shrine to you.” She nodded at Daniela.
“Wait, what?” Cormac stared at his sister.
Dani’s mouth fell open slightly.
“What?” Berkley lifted a shoulder. “I don’t mean like build one in an obvious place.
But he needs to have a little, well, shrine to her.
Something that shows he’s obsessed. You know, like in the movies.
Real psycho shit with her picture blown up in the middle.
Then a bunch of other pictures surrounding it.
And, along with those pictures, we include the one that Louis Cain had of Greg Temple and Daniela.
If the Feds get that warrant—and it sounds like they’re going to—then this connects Logan Brown and Greg Temple.
It’s a loose thread, but if he has a picture of Temple with a shrine to Daniela.
Then…Micah will do some of his magic and plant something digital that links Brown and Lebedev. The Feds will do the rest of the work.”
“That’s…actually really smart,” Cormac muttered.
“Actually? Did you really need to add that?” She sniffed once.
“When did you guys come up with this?” Cormac asked, eyes narrowed.
She shrugged. “Micah called me at like three this morning. We started spitballing and I remembered this case from one of the podcasts I listen to. That and my second glass of wine helped create our genius plan.”
“It’s pretty good,” Dani murmured. “But what if Logan had nothing to do with Greg’s death?”
Berkley didn’t respond, just shrugged.
“Can’t the cops, like…figure out that he didn’t make a shrine to me?” Dani continued.
“I don’t see how,” Berkley said with another one of her shrugs. “What’s he going to do, argue that someone broke into his house and created one? He’ll sound insane.”
Dani snickered. “Yeah, I see your point.”
Cormac didn’t actually care one way or another as long as Brown was taken off the streets and kept far away from Daniela.
When she looked at him expectantly, he said, “I think getting Logan behind bars is the most important thing. I care that Greg’s murder is solved.
He deserves justice. But if I’m being honest, I want you safe more than anything else.
So either I kill Brown or we do this. Because that man is not going to be walking around and breathing the same air as you.
He’s a threat and he will come after you at some point. He’s made that clear.”
Daniela stared up at him with wide eyes.
Cormac hadn’t meant to say all that, but the words had tumbled out. He wasn’t sorry though. Because they were true. And he’d kept too many things from her in the past. He didn’t want more lies between them.
He was vaguely aware of Berkley and Nick muttering something and then making a quick exit so he and Daniela had privacy. Though if he knew his sister, she was eavesdropping. He didn’t care.
“Say something,” he finally murmured as Dani stared up at him.
She slid off her stool. Instead of running from him like he half expected, she leaned into him and slid her arms around him, taking him completely by surprise.
He stayed sitting, spreading his legs wider to accommodate her as she moved into his embrace. “You’re not disgusted by me? Because I wasn’t being hyperbolic.”
She buried her face against his neck. “I was raised by a monster. And you want to keep me safe. No, I’m not disgusted by you,” she whispered.
And that was when he felt her tears against his neck.
Wishing he could slay all the monsters for her, he gripped her close, buried his face against the top of her head. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. The words were right there, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her.
She’d never had any control in her life. And hell, she still didn’t. She was trying to stay safe from the monsters who wanted her dead. Literally.
He couldn’t add to her stress, especially if she didn’t return his feelings. It would just screw everything up. And if he did admit his feelings and things went sideways, it would make things even harder on her. Better he kept his mouth shut.
“So are we doing my idea or what?” Berkley called out, saving him from making a fool of himself.
Daniela started shaking and that was when he realized she was laughing as she pulled back. “Your family has issues with boundaries,” she whispered.
“I know.” He wiped the leftover tears from her cheeks.
“So that’s a yes, right?” Berkley called out.
Daniela nodded at him.
“Yes,” he called back. “Now go away.”
“I’d like to remind you that this is my house.”
“Oh my god!”
“Fine, fine, we’re leaving,” Berkley huffed.
And so were they. He scooped Dani up and hurried up to the third floor, his adrenaline surging. Nothing about their future was certain and he wasn’t going to waste another moment.