Fuck.

Now he had to take that shit on.

“You want us to send a guy in to replace our shit?” Curt asked, taking Nick out of his thoughts.

“No,” he answered, not liking that he had to give that answer. But they had a leak, it was too risky. He didn’t like not having ears on the House of Shade. But at least Olivia wasn’t in that fucking warehouse anymore. “I gotta look into some shit, I’ll let you know,” he finished.

Curt accurately took his cue from Nick’s words, nodded and walked out the door.

Nick pulled his cell out, sat in his chair and stared at his phone.

He wanted to contact Turner. He wanted to give him a heads-up that the internal investigation of his team was shit.

Turner had a snake in his garden.

But Nick needed to clear his own men first.

And when he went to Turner, he had to have solid info to give him.

Nick ran his thumb over the screen and put his phone to his ear.

“Nick,” Knight greeted.

“Sylvie and Creed still in town?” Nick asked.

His brother’s tone was more alert when he answered, “No, but they can be.”

Nick drew in a breath.

Then he stated, “I got a couple of jobs for them.”

* * * * *

Olivia

2:25 – The Next Thursday Afternoon

I moved down the hall of the warehouse toward Dad’s office, hoping our first monthly meeting went quickly so I could get out of there.

I did it thinking how easy it was getting used to living clean. Just walking down the hall, it felt like the grime of the place in all its incarnations was settling on me, clogging my pores, making it hard to breathe.

Gill nor any of our other boys were outside Dad’s door but I heard voices inside.

I knocked.

I received no reply. Not a “come in.” Not a “go away.”

I was early for our two thirty meeting, but not that early, so I expected Georgia was in there, maybe Gill, Tommy, Miguel, whoever, and they were just waiting for me.

What I did know was that if Dad didn’t want me in, I’d get a “go away.”

I turned the handle and walked in.

I stopped dead at what I saw, thankful that a lifetime of training blanked my face and any telltale line of my body.

“Come in, Olivia, this won’t take long,” Dad said irritably, his hand waving at me, his eyes annoyed and on the man sitting in front of him.

I didn’t want to go in.

But I needed to go in and not only because Dad was waving at me.

So I went in.

The man sitting in front of Dad looked at me. His eyes slid down the length of my body in a way that exacerbated the feel of filth coating me and he turned back to Dad.

“I’m done waiting, Vincent,” Drake Nair declared, dismissing me.

Drake Nair.

I knew the man and part of what I knew was that he would disappear.

Then resurface.

As far as I knew, he’d disappeared for some time.

Now he was back.

I wasn’t the only one who knew Drake Nair. Everyone in Denver knew Drake Nair.

Everyone in Denver knew he wasn’t that bright, but he was wealthy, and rich men, smart or dumb, could pay to get a job done.

They also knew he was a slimy weasel.

And last, everyone in Denver knew Drake Nair hated Knight Sebring.

I did not keep tabs because Nick was just a name for me back then, but I still knew it had to be years since I last heard of anything happening in the Sebring/Nair war.

Word was, Nair played dirty (not surprisingly).

But Knight Sebring had always prevailed.

I didn’t know much of what it was about, outside Knight and Nair were once partners and then they were not.

I just knew with Nair’s latest lengthy disappearance the bad blood seemed to have died down.

But now I had a very bad feeling mostly because I had no idea my father knew Drake Nair and I didn’t like him, his history, his hatred of Knight Sebring and the coincidence this all was right now sitting in my father’s office.

“You’re a fool, you go after that again,” Dad told him.

I moved across the room to Dad’s grubby windows, pretending their discussion mattered little to me but doing that listening closely and fearfully.

“Don’t give a shit the protection the brother has. They’re tight. The brother gone, that’d sting,” Nair returned. “Easy hit. Whack Nick. Deliver a big blow to Sebring. Seriously, Vincent, you cannot have a problem with that.”

I fought hard to keep breathing, looking out the window, hoping I was giving the appearance their conversation wasn’t that interesting to me when now I was listening so hard it was a wonder my ears weren’t bleeding.

“Our histories, respect, you sitting there,” Dad said. “You talk stupid shit, Drake, I don’t have time for that.”

I felt the tension in the room rise and looked to Nair because of it.

His face was twisted with distaste. “Was pussy, you backin’ down from that years ago.”

Very much not good.

Dad would not like being called pussy.

It was time for Gill to be involved in this scenario.

I moved two steps from the window, sliding my purse off my shoulder, my eyes glued to Nair.

I felt my father’s gaze and looked to him.

He seemed reflective as he studied me for a few moments before he shook his head.

I nodded, moved the strap of my purse back up my shoulder and stepped back.

Dad looked again to Nair. “I showed you respect. You wanted time, a meet, I gave it to you. You sit in my office and not give that back?”