Page 56 of Ravaged By the Dark (The Righteous 2)
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Trevor fumed as he slowly stood from behind his desk to glare at the party of three in his office and reined in his anger as the small boy hid behind Arek’s leg. He rubbed his face and took a deep breath.
“Is everything okay in here?” Sally opened the door and poked her head in the room.
Everyone turned in her direction. Trev took another deep breath to calm the building storm and nodded to his assistant. “Yes, Sally, thank you for checking. We will be fine. You might as well go home early. I will be tied up here with my brother.” He paused to glare at his sibling. “For a little while. Can you please cancel the rest of my meetings for the night, and since you stayed late for nothing, you can take tomorrow off.”
“Oh, I don’t need to do that,” Sally said, her eyes still saying she was unsure about the situation.
“No, I insist. We have been burning the midnight oil on this case, and I think we could all use a break. You still get full pay, of course.”
“Well, only if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure, now please head on home.” Trev didn’t speak again until he was sure Sally was indeed gone. He watched her leave on the security feed, on his desk, and then looked up at the party in his office.
“Let’s start at the beginning. I thought you said you were going to stay away from her after the arcade debacle?”
It was obvious this piece of knowledge was news to Renee as she fixed Arek with a surprised look.
“I was going to, and I did, but then I got my hands on this guy, and he told me about Tyson’s interest in Renee. Then I found Ice Man at the house…Trev, just trust me. They had to come here. Tyson is after them, but Ice Man, who is Renee’s brother, has agreed to help us. We’re the best shot they have of escaping his reach, and Ice—I mean Cody is our best chance at nailing Tyson the way we discussed.”
“Yes, and no offense, but Renee is also the best way to have us exposed. Do you plan on killing her if she becomes a loose end, or are you going to beg me to do your dirty work since you’re obviously too emotionally invested in this case? I mean, you’ve been obsessed with Miss Bambi here since you laid eyes on her. It might be time I cut the umbilical cord.”
Again Renee looked surprised by the news. So his brother hadn’t been as forthcoming as he had wanted to portray.
“No one touches her. Ever.” Arek’s jaw was set in a hard line as he clenched his fist.
Interesting.
“You would rather us go to jail than clean up what you stepped in?”
Arek glanced at Renee and then back at him.
“I would never let you go to jail for me. You know that, but I would go to jail if it came down to it. More likely though, we can either pay off or kill whoever we need to.” Arek shrugged.
“I could just kill her now and be done with it,” Trev snorted and watched Renee’s body language. Renee’s eyes were wide, and she took a tentative step backward toward the door.
“You could try to run, sweetheart, but this place will go on auto lockdown, and you wouldn’t make it out the front door alive no matter what my brother promises you.” Trev was purposely pushing Arek. He wanted to see how far Arek would take this and when Arek glared at him as he laid a hand on Renee’s shoulder to whisper to her, he had his answer.
Fuck!
He’d never seen his brother like this, and as many times as he complained about the revolving door of women, he would have preferred that over this.
Careful what you wish for…
“What makes you think we can even trust this Ice Man? He could be telling Tyson all about you and her here with us right now.” Trev pointed to Renee.
“Any other time, you know I’d agree with you, but you also know that I have good instincts about people. I haven’t survived this long by being an idiot.” Arek’s voice hardened, his eyes narrowing. “I looked into his eyes, and while he may work for Tyson, he loves his sister. He wants her safe, and helping us is the best way to achieve that. Wouldn’t you do the same for me?” Arek had him there. He knew that Trev would lay down his life for him.
Trev sighed.
“Have you forgotten the mission? It’s not just Tyson. We’re trying to take down an entire opioid enterprise. Tyson and the Crimson Vipers are nothing more than a cog in a much larger wheel, yet that’s all you seem to be focused on lately.”
“Trev, I need you to trust me. My mission and goal haven’t changed, and removing Tyson from the ‘wheel’ is the best shot we have of gaining access to the Dragons. They will need a new buyer, and if we push the right buttons, we will find the information we need.”
“You do realize that this entire plan of yours hinges on a man we barely know and that the Dragons give a shit enough about Tyson to come out of hiding.”
Trevor walked around his desk.
“Look, we can argue about the functionality of this plan of yours. It is annoyingly obvious you’re going to do whatever you want. Since you already told her who we are, what other choice do I have?”
