Better when He's Bold

Chapter 14

Race

YOUR OLD MAN IS a piece of work.”

I was impatiently tapping my fingers on the tabletop and staring balefully at Titus while he shoveled a burger and fries into his face. He had his tie thrown over his shoulder and mustard on his chin, but he still managed to look tough and no-nonsense in a totally different way from Bax. He also looked extremely worn out, like he hadn’t seen a bed or a good night’s sleep in days.

“You’re telling me.” I muttered it under my breath.

We were at a run-down diner across the street from his station house and the place was crawling with cops. Some in uniform, some out, all of them giving me the side eye and clearly wondering what I was doing in their midst. It was like inviting the wolf to dine with the flock and they didn’t care for it one bit. I might have been more concerned if Titus seemed to care about it, but he was just eating away while I tried to pull information out of him about my dad. A task that would’ve been easier if he didn’t keep changing the subject to the dead bodies and to whoever it was that had assaulted Roxie.

“You really have no idea who might be behind it?” Titus asked the question around a mouthful of fries, making me roll my eyes at him.

“Do you really think if I had any clue who it was that I wouldn’t have told you, or Bax? He’s mad as hell about Roxie, and Nassir doesn’t like anyone trying to disrupt his business, so there would be a body somewhere.”

He choked a little and reached for his drink. “You can’t say stuff like that to me, Race. I’m a cop.”

I just shrugged. “It’s true.”

“It might be true, but talking like that makes shit premeditated.”

“No one knows anything, Titus.”

He considered me silently for a second and flipped his tie back down. He wiped off his face and hands and pushed the now totally empty plate to the side.

“Your dad thinks he can play both sides. He thinks he can give the feds just enough to guarantee him a place in WITSEC, but not the entire bag of tricks so that his ass is covered from the last of Novak’s guys.”

I snorted. It sounded like my dad. He was always looking for some angle to work to his advantage.

“The feds froze all of his assets.”

“That’s pretty standard in a RICO case. Criminals aren’t allowed to use dirty money to pay for their criminal defense.”

“What are the chances of him wiggling out of everything and getting put in the program?”

Titus swore and his dark brows dipped sharply over his eyes. “With Novak gone, the D.A. is less eager to go balls to the wall on Benny and the rest of his crew. He has his sights on fresh meat.” I didn’t miss the hint in his tone or the way his blue eyes sharpened on me. “Your dad very well may give his testimony to a grand jury, and then disappear.”

I felt my back teeth grind together. “He tried to have Dovie killed.”

Titus leaned back in the booth and nodded. “I know, but the justice system is more interested in cutting off the stream of guns, drugs, and sex that Novak handled than they are anything else. They want his network connections and suppliers, and the way they get them is to offer deals to people like your dad and Benny to entice them to talk.”

I groaned out loud. “Setting my dad up with a new life is bad enough, but if Bax finds out Benny is getting a deal, he’s going to lose his mind.”

His mouth turned down and a harsh look crossed his face. “I know. That’s why I haven’t told him anything yet. The feds think your mom knows more than she’s saying. They’ve pulled her in twice for questioning.”

“I don’t think she knew. I think she just followed him blindly.”

Titus just stared at me. Fuck me. It was bad enough to think that my dad was capable of killing his own flesh and blood; if my mom had known and just sat idly by . . . my family was such a goddamn mess.

“Either way, my dad doesn’t just get to walk away with no consequences.”

“He does if he cuts a deal.”

I just lifted an eyebrow. “The feds can put him in the system, Titus, but I’ll find him.”

He swore under his breath at me. “Like I said, don’t tell me that shit, especially since I know anything you cook up will involve my boneheaded brother.”

With that I changed the subject, because like I told Brysen the night before, I was tired of the wrong always winning, and my dad was definitely wrong.

“So my girl’s stalker has upped the game. Instead of just trying to physically hurt her, he’s been messing with her life from the inside out. He almost managed to screw with her entire semester, which would’ve screwed with her graduating.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Your girl?”

“Yep, mine.” And she was. She was the perfect bridge between who I was and who I had to be in order to survive, and there was no way I was letting her go when she made getting back to myself so easy and so pleasurable.

“Are you sure she doesn’t have some kind of pissed-off ex or maybe an old friend she screwed over? When a stalker makes the effort to take an object of their obsession’s life apart like that, it’s usually because they are trying to isolate the victim, forcing them to be the only person that the victim can then turn to for support.”

“She swears up one side and down the other that there isn’t anyone from her past that would be this interested in ruining her life.”

He rubbed his thumb along the curve of his jaw and I could practically see his cop wheels turning in his head.