Chapter 31
Callum
Someone is reporting to my father, and I don’t mean just in regard to the Wolfe Room. It has to be a cop.
I hired a crew of three to clear out the tomb, and the police were there for protection against the Jaegers.
They didn’t have a warrant, but the cemetery isn’t private land, and they have a right to inspect new constructions.
Finding items consistent with typical stolen loot like coins, jewels, and solid gold and silver adornments was a natural cause for concern.
That the items could be historically significant was the nail in the coffin.
We seized it and can probably prove the Jaegers have paid no taxes on anything they’ve managed to sell so far.
I took the truck, and no one I hired knew who I was, just day laborers who probably didn’t know what was in the boxes.
I move my eyes around the officers in the police station. Grady, Townsend, Fabre…
Where’s Army Jaeger?
Dallas’s brother always stuck out a little to me. He looks a lot like Dallas, just older—green eyes, tall, black hair—but there was something different in his eyes, not like the rest of them. Like he’s not really here. More present as an accessory to any action than a full participant.
He could’ve alerted my father. He’s spent enough time here to get acquainted—and seduced—by the St. Carmen way of life.
Anything is possible.
But I doubt it. I wouldn’t get any joy out of seeing a Jaeger turn on their family.
My father paces back and forth. “Where is it?” he barks at me.
I stand next to the wall, Anna-Katherine just behind me as the officers loom behind their counter, frozen.
I know it’s not Grady. He got the truck for me and could’ve put a tracker in it. My father would know where it was.
It was a gamble to trust Grady, but I think he’s had enough of my father’s bullying. As long as his hefty tips keep coming in, he doesn’t care who they’re from.
“You said it was here,” my father addresses me.
“I lied.”
Anna-Katherine shifts behind me, and I see his eyes flash to her. I steel my body, ready to move if I have to.
He walks away, drifting around the lobby, and I glance back at my sister, seeing her fist gripping Dallas’s pocketknife hooked to her belt loop.
Reaching around, I press my finger under her chin, lifting it till her eyes meet mine.
“You helped him,” my father states clearly. “Someone here helped him. He would’ve needed cops to keep the Jaegers from killing him.”
“We don’t have the items,” Grady assures him.
“Who does?”
“We don’t know.”
“It was loaded onto a truck, and he took the truck.”
I dart my glare to Elijah Fabre. And that’s who’s reporting to my father.
They all know I took the truck and hid it, but he’s being extra helpful, isn’t he?
I’m having him fired when this is all over.
“Then bring up the street camera footage,” my father says.
They move as a group, Grady logging into a computer, Townsend on another as they scan the footage from last Friday night.
“You know I really have to hand it to that family.” My father pushes back his jacket and slides his hands into his pants pockets. “Sitting on top of that kind of leverage, and what do they do with it?” he gripes. “Nothing.”
They didn’t do nothing. They just didn’t build a hotel like he would’ve. There’s more security in no one knowing your hand.
“That entire community never had what it took to thrive,” he keeps going as they search. “All the more reason to clean them out and get them the fuck off the land. Sitting on prime real estate and what are they doing? Squatting.”
Reaching behind me, I take Anna-Katherine’s hand, feeling her squeeze mine.
“You see here?” Grady calls out.
My father stalks over to the counter as the officer twists the monitor around.
From here, I observe several street views, cars moving in black and white.
“He takes the truck from us.” Grady points from one view to another. “Travels down Glades Avenue, and that’s as far as our surveillance goes.”
My father’s spine straightens as he draws in a hard breath. Glades Avenue turns into the highway. How long was I gone? They have no fucking idea.
Chin up and eyes level, my father walks back over to me, trying to appear calm, but he’s not. I know how to read him better now.
Hands on his hips, he asks me, “What’s your plan here?”
“I thought I’d build a hotel,” I muse, tightening my hand on Anna-Katherine. “I could almost own it outright, at least be majority shareholder.”
That means much of what I take in goes to overhead and the rest is profit.
“Or I could parcel out the land,” I tell him, “work with contractors to design custom homes, bring bigger men to the community.”
His hand flies out, slapping my face. My head whips to the side, fire spreading across my cheek.
I blink, my heart racing. “Or I was kind of thinking of letting it become a nature preserve.”
His hand comes down again, harder, the fire now feeling like my skin is ripped.
“A bird sanctuary.” I swallow. “A haven for ecologists and conservationists.”
His chest rises and falls, and my father has rarely ever hit me, but I think he might just kill me if that’s what it takes to get the location out of me.
It still won’t find him the treasure, though.
“Maybe NASA needs another launch site.” I face him again, shrugging. “Government contracts might be lucrative.”
His gaze darkens, and he knows I’m probably lying, but he’s not entirely sure. I might just want to avenge Anna-Katherine enough to drive St. Carmen into the ground.
We stare at each other, and I watch him blink slowly. When he opens his eyes, he’s looking at her.
I nudge her behind me more.
“All right, we got people on the roads,” Grady shouts, monitoring the cameras. “Who’s out?”
“Chavez,” someone calls.
“And Marquis.”
My father’s eyes don’t break until Grady rushes over, buckling his belt. “We can’t do this now,” he explains, looking at both of us.
The storm rages, and they need to take care of the community. My thoughts drift to Dallas.
“Please go home,” he tells us. “We’ll pick this up again in a couple of days.”
He and Townsend hurry out of the station, and a small smile pulls at my father’s mouth.
“I hear you’re interested in renovating the school, too,” he says.
I falter, my eyes narrowing as I glance to Fabre. He wouldn’t have known about that.
Milo?
Of fucking course. He’s just a younger Garrett Ames.
“You’re going to need banks for all of these plans you have,” he points out, “because there’s no way you’re spending even half of what you have if you’re as smart as you seem.”
I’ll invest most of it, so yes, I will take investors for a while.
“I encourage you to come to your senses,” he bites out, “because I’m an even worse enemy than I am a partner.” His gaze lands on Anna-Katherine. “Your sister can tell you how creative I can get when I’m really having fun.”
I hear a click behind me, my heart dropping, and I hold her tight.
He charges out of the station, and I ignore the one cop left behind the desk as I spin around and take the knife from her hand, sheathing the blade again.
“I don’t want to go home,” she says.
Her tone is hushed but clear and decisive.
I hook the pocketknife back onto her belt loop. “We’re not going home.”
Hand in hand, we walk to my car, the space where our driver was parked along the curb already empty. Barnes would take him home. There are no restaurants or bars open, and Fox Hill would be under lockdown as well.
Raking my hand through my hair, I comb out the rain as I shift into high gear, taking full advantage of the empty streets and the fact that the police are probably sick of dealing with us tonight.
“What’s the plan?” Anna-Katherine asks.
She’s sitting up and turned toward me, holding the dash with one hand.
Rain spills down the windshield like a fucking curtain. “I need to speak to Clay’s grandmother,” I say. “Whatever she says goes in this town.”
I’m not worried about my father finding the treasure, but I am concerned he can rally an opposition. He’s had years to network.
I didn’t expect him home so soon. Fucking Milo.
“I’ll plead my case tonight,” I inform her. “Vault the treasure tomorrow and run him out of town with at least half the city council to support me.”
The old lady doesn’t like me, but she hates the Wolfe Room. If we confide in her about Anna-Katherine, she’ll know he has to go.
Liv’s film crew used her house, so she probably left, but she might be back now that they’re done. If not, I’ll call her.
Lights glare out my driver’s side window, and I look just in time to see a vehicle race right toward my door. A BMW?
I floor the gas and hold up my arm to shield myself. “Down!” I yell at my sister.
The car hits the tail of my car, and we spin around as I try to control the steering wheel. I slam on the brakes and my car skids in the rain, finally dying in the middle of the road. What the fuck?
I grab Anna-Katherine, lifting her head. “Are you okay?”
She opens her eyes, breathing hard, but she doesn’t get a chance to answer before broken glass flies all over me.
My sister screams, and I push our heads down as the sound of the rain rushes in with the wind.
Twisting my head, I see a guy in a black ski mask reach in to unlock my door.
His other hand is covered in a black glove as he holds it to his chest.
Milo.
I guess I didn’t break both hands.
He pulls open the door and leans down, flashing a grin through his mask. “What a night, you piece of shit!”
Two others surround the car, both masked, but I can see the beard of one, and the other figure is short. Maybe his relatives? Definitely not Jerome or Vincent.
“Perfect for a little payback,” he blurts out. “And look, you brought my dessert.”
His attention flies to Anna-Katherine, and I twist, grabbing the steering wheel in one hand and the headrest in the other, jutting both of my legs into his fucking chest.
Son of a bitch. I should’ve had him arrested for something. Even if I had to make up a reason.
I try to start the car again, but Anna-Katherine’s door opens, and she’s hauled out into the rain.
“Callum!” she cries.