Nothing To Lose: A Grey Justice Novel

by Christy Reece

  “Maybe so, but how do you know you can trust her? Just because you think she’s not smart enough to spy, how do you know she’s not going to spit out some family secrets? Your last assistant sure as hell didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.”

  Adam waved away the objections. “I know, but Teri was doing all of that for Jonah. She probably thought he’d take over the family business someday. Rachel is different. She’s got no loyalties to Eli.”

  “What do you know about her?”

  “Everything there is to know. It’s not like I was born yesterday… I had her thoroughly investigated. She’s from Amarillo, has no family, and never been married. Never been arrested—not even a speeding ticket.”

  “How do you know she’s smart enough to handle the job?”

  “She’s got a college degree, and she got promoted several times at Slater House before Eli scooped her up for his assistant. She’s been working for him for several weeks, and you know he’s not one to put up with foolishness. Besides, I’m a good judge of people.”

  Good judge of people, his ass. No, Adam had seen something shiny and new that belonged to his brother and decided he had to have it.

  “You’d better be right, boy, ’cause I’m not going to pull your ass out of the fire if she’s not on the up-and-up.”

  “You won’t need to, Daddy.”

  Mathias raised himself up and glared at his son, ready to talk about the real reason he’d told the boy to come see him. “You want to tell me what the hell you’re doing having that Italian Mafia group over at your house for dinner?”

  Adam’s face went three shades lighter, and then he swallowed so hard that Mathias saw his throat convulse. “I… It’s not what you think, Daddy. It was…it was Eli’s idea.”

  His eyes narrowed on the boy. “That right?”

  “Yes, sir.” Adam nodded like an eager puppy. “See…Eli knew I needed more funding for the restaurant. And since you’d made it clear you weren’t going to give me more, he suggested I call them. It wasn’t until later that I realized how dangerous they were. I didn’t take anything from them. Honest.”

  He hated when one of his children lied to him. “That’s good to know, son. And you know exactly why I didn’t give you more money. That place is a money pit. That’s two and a half million of hard-earned Slater dollars I’ll never see again. You know how stuff like that riles me.”

  “Yes, sir. But I’ll get that money back for you someday. I promise.”

  Even though that was about as likely as a July snowstorm on the sun, Mathias nodded his head as if he really believed it. Adam, the jackass, looked both relieved and jubilant. Yeah, he thought he’d pulled one over on his old man.

  “Get on out of here, boy. I got work to do. And don’t forget to go by and see your mama. She’s still hurting over losing Jonah.”

  Huffing out a breath like a snotty, teenage brat, Adam stomped out the door. The instant it closed, Mathias pressed the intercom. “Round up Cyrus. Get him in here.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Mathias blew out an explosive sigh. He’d always known Adam was the dumbest of his kids, which had worked well for many years. That was going to have to change. Not only had he lost a mountain of money on that dumbass idea of a restaurant, he’d gone and gotten in bed with some hoodlums. Those Italian boys were in the big leagues. Not as powerful as a Slater, but still, they could do some damage if they wanted. When Adam disappointed them, as was inevitable, his son was going to pay big-time. And that meant it could come back and bite Mathias on the ass, too.

  He had covered for the idiot for the last time. To the rest of the world, Adam Slater was a brilliant businessman. To his father, who had created the illusion, he was a fool who could barely count to a hundred without help. Every dime the world believed Adam had earned had been carefully orchestrated by Mathias.

  Didn’t matter that Adam was his own blood. When a man made a mistake, blood couldn’t count. Mathias was a man who believed in survival. If that meant standing on the fallen bodies of others to stay alive, then that’s what he’d do, kin or no kin.

  Lying to a parent was about as big a sin as one could commit. It was time for a hard lesson for another of his boys.

  And no matter what Adam had said about the woman he’d stolen from Eli, Mathias wouldn’t rest easy until he’d had her thoroughly researched. He’d come too far and sacrificed too much to have some little bitch from Amarillo ruin it for him. And if she was up to no good? Well, then, she’d end up in the same position as Adam’s last assistant. Dead and in pieces.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  The transition from Slater House to Slater Enterprises had been much easier than she anticipated. One day she’d left work after a full workday as Eli’s assistant. The next day, she’d traveled to another office building ten miles in the other direction and reported to his brother.

  Adam wasted no time introducing her as the assistant he’d stolen from his younger brother. The speculative and knowing looks she received from his upper management bounced off her like a rubber ball against concrete. If they wanted to believe she was here to fulfill some sort of sexual depravity with Adam Slater, let them. She had a purpose far beyond what they could imagine. Her reputation as an executive assistant was the least of her worries.

  After the round of introductions, she was shown to her new office. Most people would have been thrilled to have their own office, filled with nice furniture and even a semi-decent view out her window. She wasn’t one of those people. The fact that she had an office disturbed her. She had liked being out in the open when she worked for Eli. In an office, she couldn’t see what was going on, who came to visit Adam, or hear what someone might say in an unguarded moment.

  Since the appropriate response should have been gratitude and awe at her new surroundings, Kennedy did just that, along with the proper amount of arrogance, of course. She found herself walking a fine line between cold, ambitious bitch and subordinate. She was sure Irelyn would have had no problem carrying off such a role, but she was no Irelyn.

  She had seen the woman only once since learning that Jonah had been killed. Though Irelyn had behaved as coolly confident as always, there had been something different about her, too. Maybe it was because she’d learned about Irelyn’s relationship with the man who had arranged Thomas’s death. While Kennedy had been anticipating and planning her future with Thomas and their baby, Irelyn had known none of that was possible. That lay between them. And though she couldn’t say the time she spent with Irelyn had ever been comfortable, their meetings had become easier. The last one had held the awkwardness of their earlier sessions.

  The last few minutes of that session had been the most surprising and revealing time Kennedy had ever spent with the woman. She’d been gathering up her purse and coat when Irelyn put a hand on her arm and said quietly, “I know you must hate me.”

  Kennedy shook her head. “I don’t understand you, but I certainly don’t hate you. I believe you would have tried to prevent Thomas’s death if you had learned about it in time.”

  Kennedy thought she saw a gleam of appreciation in her eyes. “Thank you for that.” And then a hardness crossed her features as she’d leaned closer and whispered, “If you get in trouble…if anything happens, don’t depend on anyone but yourself. Not Nick, Eli…certainly not Grey. Save yourself…don’t wait on someone to do it for you. Be your own hero.”

  Then, as if nothing unusual had been said, she drew back and gave her usual jaunty smile. “See you next time.”

  Kennedy had left that meeting more confused and intrigued than ever about Irelyn Raine.

  A buzzer ripped her back to reality. Pressing the intercom key, she said, “Yes?”

  “Come in to my office and let’s go over this month’s agenda.”

  “Be right there.”

  Gathering her calendar, along with her cellphone, which she slipped into her suit jacket, Kennedy left her office and headed to meet with her new employer, eager to
take her next step toward destroying him.

  Grey eyed the man across from him. He was usually excellent at reading people, but he had to admit that Nick Gallagher was a challenge. For the first time in a while, Grey had no idea how the man was going to respond to his offer and request.

  “I understand you resigned your position with the Houston Police Department.”

  Gallagher shrugged. “Thought it best since I was breaking into a prominent citizen’s home.”

  “I imagine that would be difficult to explain to your superiors. You have any plans for the future?”

  “Beyond destroying Mathias and Adam Slater? No, can’t say that I do.”

  “I offered you a job when we first met. Now that you’ve seen the private side of our victims advocate operation, any interest in joining us?”

  “Possibly. Once the Slaters get locked away, I’ll make a decision for the future.”

  “Fair enough.” His gaze dropped to the phone Gallagher held in his hand. “How’s she doing?”

  “From what I can tell, things are going smoothly. Adam might be proud of his newest acquisition and smug that he one-upped his brother, but he apparently intends for Rachel to do her job.”

  “Excellent. The more responsibilities he gives her, the more she will gain his trust.” Grey stood and headed to the large bar across the room. “Want more coffee?” Though he ran his corporations in one of the largest skyscrapers in downtown Dallas, Grey was more comfortable discussing certain issues within the privacy of his penthouse.

  Gallagher shook his head. “So why else am I here?”

  “As I mentioned when we first met, you have excellent instincts, Gallagher.”

  Grey hesitated a moment before he made the request. It’d been years since he had been so conflicted over a decision. Even though the stage was set, with everything in place, the ramifications would be long-lasting, possibly permanent. This upcoming event had been years in the making, and while one part of him hesitated to carry it through, another, stronger part of him was infuriated that he was even vacillating.

  Permitting the memories to reemerge for only a moment, he allowed the familiar wrath full reign. Yes, this had to be done.

  Nick watched Justice curiously, intrigued and surprised at the conflict he saw in the man’s eyes. Having observed his strength and arrogance firsthand, this obvious inner struggle was definitely out of character.

  Justice took a breath, the arrogance firmly back in place. “Irelyn has a difficult assignment coming up…one that will change the dynamics of her relationship with me. For some inexplicable reason, I’ve noticed that she doesn’t have the normal antipathy toward you as she has for most men. If you come to work with us, I’d like you to partner with her on future assignments. I think you would complement each other.”

  Of all the odd and obscure things Justice had said since Nick had met him, this statement was at the top of the list. Justice and Irelyn lived together. Though they didn’t flaunt their affair, he was quite sure their relationship wasn’t platonic. And while he had been around the block enough to know that love wasn’t a requirement for sex, he’d seen the admiration on Justice’s face when he thought no one was looking. The man had strong feelings for the woman and yet was willing to jeopardize their relationship to get a job done. Nick didn’t know if that made Grey Justice heroic or a fool.

  “I would have no problems working with Irelyn. She’s a remarkable woman.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  Sensing that Justice had said all he intended about the matter, Nick went to his feet. “Kennedy will be going to lunch soon. I want to be at the building in case she decides to go outside.”

  Justice nodded in an absent manner, his forehead furled as his attention was diverted by something he was reading on his phone.

  Figuring the man had another fire to put out, Nick let himself out of the penthouse. His focus was on his own phone, watching Kennedy working at her computer in her office. Because of that, Nick barely noticed he was out on the street until he heard the roar of traffic. He raised his head to get his bearings.

  Halfway to his bike he had parked across the street, the squeal of tires behind him had him looking over his shoulder. A limousine shuddered to a stop on the street, the back door swung open, and Eli Slater shot out like a missile. Looking neither left nor right, the man barely missed plowing into a streetlamp as he charged inside the building and disappeared.

  Hell, what now?

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Kennedy gazed around her sparse bedroom. In less than an hour, Adam Slater’s limo would arrive at her door and whisk her away to live in his mansion. She couldn’t help but wonder when she would be able to return to this little house that was beginning to feel more like home. Return to Nick and hopefully a future with him.

  “Your gun. Where is it?”

  She turned back to Nick, who’d been pacing between the hallway and her bedroom for the last half hour, his eyes dark with worry.

  She opened a plastic box that resembled a makeup kit. Holding up a pink canister that looked like shaving gel, she unscrewed it and out slid the cylinder of a gun. “Every item inside this box has a secret compartment hiding a part.”

  “And you’re comfortable with the assembly?”

  “Yes,” she said with the utmost confidence. As was usual, unless Kennedy practiced something fifty times or so, Irelyn didn’t feel she was prepared. With this particular task, she’d assembled and broke apart the gun close to a hundred times before the other woman had been satisfied. This was definitely something Kennedy could do with her eyes closed.

  “You carry it with you at all times. Even to the bathroom…and to bed. Understand?”

  “I will,” she assured him. “I even have a thigh holster for my suits, as well as an ankle holster for when I wear pants.” Hoping to lighten his mood, she teased, “The thigh holster is very sexy, if I do say so myself.”

  “A thigh holster, huh?”

  The gleam in Nick’s eyes sent heat throughout her body. The past few days they’d become more comfortable expressing their attraction for one another. Nothing overt—just caressing touches, light kisses. Once, she’d patted his ass, and he’d jumped a foot off the floor, but the look he’d given her had been satisfyingly electric.

  Even though a part of her wanted the wild, frenzied Nick who’d pushed her against the wall and had her screaming with ecstasy in seconds, she found herself enjoying the simple pleasures of sexual attraction.

  “Don’t suppose you’d want to try that holster on…model it? You know, just to make sure the fit is right or it doesn’t show through your clothing?”

  She laughed softly, loving that once again she could. “Adam’s chauffeur is picking me up in twenty minutes. Otherwise, I might just take you up on your offer.”

  She wished she hadn’t mentioned Adam, because the light went out in Nick’s eyes, and the worry returned. “It pisses me off that you’re not able to take your own car.”

  “I don’t like it either, but since he’s made a couple of concessions for me already, I didn’t want to push this one.”

  “Yeah, real big of him to let you borrow his driver and limo one day a week to go to a beauty spa. The bastard wants to keep tabs on you even when you’re off the clock.”

  She couldn’t help but agree. Adam Slater’s behavior was borderline obsessive. Since being in his house and having access to his secrets was what they’d been working so hard for, objecting to his possessiveness would have been counterproductive.

  Conveniently owned by Grey, the spa was the ideal location for their meetings. She would be able to give a weekly report of her progress without anyone the wiser. And though far from ideal, at least she would be able to see Nick once a week, too. Maybe not as privately as she would like, but still something she would anticipate.

  Knowing Nick’s dislike of the situation had more to do with his concern for her than anything else, she skillfully switched subjects. “Did you ever find out
why Eli rushed into Grey’s office the other day?”

  “No. When I mentioned it to Justice, he said it concerned another matter. Since we have more than enough to deal with, I didn’t push.”

  “Eli seems different lately…don’t you think?”

  “Different…how?”

  She couldn’t put her finger on it…maybe it was just her imagination. “I don’t know. Maybe less sad or something.”

  “Maybe he’s found a woman. I’ve heard that can do remarkable things for a man’s attitude.”

  “Is that right?” Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed her body firmly against his. “Then I think you could use an attitude adjustment.”

  His erection rose hard and thick, grinding into her softness. Kennedy hummed her approval of the deliciously delicate heat slowly spreading through her body. Moving her hips deliberately and provocatively against him, she caught her breath as arousal thrummed in her sex.

  With the hope that he would lower his head so she could reach his mouth, she pressed soft kisses to his neck and then his chin. When he didn’t move, she said softly, “Kiss me, Nick.”

  He grabbed her hands, dropping them to her sides and then backed up out of her reach.

  She frowned, hurt at his obvious rejection. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just don’t think we need to start something we can’t finish.”

  “Does it always have to have a finish? Is there anything wrong with just playing?”

  “Is that what you want…to play?”

  “No, of course I want more, but playing can be fun, too.”

  “We don’t have time for fun. Slater’s driver will be here any minute.”

  “It’s not lack of time, and you know it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Why do you do this, Nick?”

  “Do what?”

  She wanted to stomp her foot in frustration. “I know you want me.” Her gaze dropped to the bulge pressing against his zipper. “That’s pretty damn obvious. You told me you love me. Have you changed your mind?”