This was all so much simpler when Samuel planned on shooting his brother and cleaning up the body himself. That he could control. This? There were too many moving parts.
“What else can you tell me about him? Why was he here?” Samuel crossed his arms over his chest, mind spinning.
“He was here for a tech conference, but it looks like the family left after Douglas was recovered. Probably to protect the son.”
“Or to stay out of the investigation.” Interesting. The family protecting themselves was working in his favor. For now.
“Either way, they’re gone now. Nothing we can do about that. It would be unwise to make a move on the family. They have retained Aegis Group as their personal security.”
“Fucking hell,” Samuel muttered.
Those bastards? Could this get any worse?
“Anything else?” He turned toward Karuki.
“No.”
“Leave.”
Samuel needed to plan. He had to figure this out.
Aegis Group were a direct competitor. But more than that, Samuel had run up against them a few times. Kidnapping and extortion were a quick way to make a buck off ignorant traveling rich people. Unless they hired those Aegis Group assholes. Samuel had lost a few good men to them.
He turned and strode out of the office, heading toward the garage.
Driving would help him think.
He was going to make this problem go away, personally. He’d worked too hard for too long to have this life taken away from him. It was his, and he would not let it go. Which meant he had to take down Aegis Group to get to his real target.
9.
Wednesday. Grimaldi Place, Chevy Chase, MD.
Yvonne studied her appearance in the mirror. She ran her fingers over her neck and up her cheek.
No hickies. Not even a love bite.
Thank goodness.
She still couldn’t believe she’d allowed yesterday to happen. It wasn’t smart. Unlike her brothers she couldn’t get away with whatever she wanted. History had proven that she would always get caught.
But it was worth it.
She slapped her hand over her mouth as though she could silence the voice in her mind.
Mom didn’t have mind-reading powers, but she had always known what Yvonne’s brothers were up to. Yvonne was going to have to be very careful in how she conducted herself around the family today.
Yvonne smiled at her reflection, then laughed for no reason.
That wouldn’t do, but she’d been doing it since Nolan escorted her to her bedroom yesterday.
She’d managed to avoid her family last night by claiming she needed rest to feel her best again. Mom was still fussing over Douglas, which took all the pressure off the rest of them to measure up to Mom’s expectations. Yvonne had holed up for the evening and vegged out watching a movie. She’d had half a mind to go in search of Nolan, but she hadn’t.
If she was pregnant...
She couldn’t finish that thought.
Yvonne continued her morning routine while her mind mulled over her situation.
She liked Nolan. He’d been an easy target to blame for the embarrassing morning after in Vegas, if she were being honest with herself. The shoe and his abrupt departure were unfortunate, but knowing what he did, she accepted it. Besides, wasn’t anything wrong with what they’d done as consenting adults.
Except...
She paused to press her hand to her stomach.
Four pregnancy tests and none were explicitly conclusive.
Yvonne had to see a doctor. The nausea was continuing to be a serious problem. She couldn’t keep much down, which left her tired. Dealing with her family took a great deal of mental energy that she just didn’t have right now.
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced at the display showing a text from Theodore.
Come downstairs.
Yvonne frowned at the message.
No context.
No warning.
What was going on?
Yvonne smoothed her hands down the wrap dress. It was one of her staple carry-on travel items because it was versatile and didn’t wrinkle. Surely it would pass her mother’s expectations. And maybe Nolan would like it?
Her cheeks heated at that thought.
She shouldn’t be considering him when she got dressed. They weren’t anything to each other even if the sex was good.
Yvonne grabbed her phone and laptop then headed out to brave the new day. The moment she stepped foot in the hall she heard voices.
The shrill one was her mother. The deeper voice was harder to place. Two others were speaking over each other so fast she could only assume it might be Theodore and Melody.
“Vee.”
She stopped short in the hall and glanced down the other wing of the house. Nolan strode toward her, a duffle bag in hand. His scowl twisted his features. If she hadn’t seen the softer side of him, she might have darted back in her room.
“What’s going on?” She kept her voice low.
Nolan took her by the elbow and guided her toward the stairs. “Your mother wants us out of the house. We’re being told we have to move to the guest house and won’t be allowed in here.”
“What?” Yvonne opened and closed her mouth.
That made no sense.
The guest house was a property adjacent to the house that had been purchased generations ago. It was at the far end of the property, complete with its own entrance to the street on the other side. Putting their security team there also placed a great distance between them.
“We need you to talk some sense into your mother.” Nolan stared down at her. “What good are we to you if we’re that far away?”
“You’re right. Let me talk to them.” She slowed to a stop at the top of the stairs.
Nolan’s thumb swiped little circles against her skin. The lines creasing his face eased and his eyes studied her. “How are you? Sleep okay?”
Warmth spread through her. She felt the questions he wasn’t asking. “Yes. Fine. Thank you.”
“I want you out of my house.” Mom’s voice reverberated down the marble halls.
Yvonne winced and turned from Nolan. He stayed close to her as she descended the stairs as fast as she dared wearing pumps on thick, plush carpet.
“Mom? Dad?” she called out.
“Vee, there you are.” Theodore stepped into sight from the main hall directly below Yvonne. He threw his hands up and sighed.
“What’s going on?” Of all her family, Yvonne trusted him to be the most reasonable.
“Maybe you can get through to them?” Theodore’s gaze jumped from her to just over her shoulder. His chin tipped up and his brows drew down.
Yvonne paused on the last step, glancing up at Nolan then to her brother. She had a sinking sensation about who Theodore wanted her to talk to.
“Are we going to have to get the police here to sort this out?” Theodore crossed his arms over his chest.
“No,” Yvonne blurted.
“You won’t call the cops because then it would be logged.” Nolan nudged her to the ground and stepped around her to square off with her brother.
“Wait—you want the security team to leave?” Maybe missing last night had been a mistake. Yvonne had no idea how they’d gotten here.
“You should have never let them set up in the main house.” Theodore turned on her now. “You made this problem, now fix it.”
He turned and stalked toward the living room where Mom was still carrying on at a loud volume. Yvonne watched him go.
Douglas had been kidnapped. From the sound of things he’d almost died. And the rest of the family wanted to dismiss their security detail. Why?
She turned and blinked up at Nolan. “I’ll figure out what’s going on. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“We’re just trying to do our job.” His eyes flashed angry.
“I know, but you have to see it from our perspective.” She could guess at why her family w
anted the Aegis Group team out of the house. “We didn’t hire you. We can’t be certain you aren’t reporting back on us.”
“That’s not what we do.”
“I’ll talk to them.” She had to believe there was a way to protect their interests and themselves.
Yvonne turned and followed in her brother’s wake.
The living room was the one space in the house that didn’t look like a room out of a museum. The walls at either end were floor to ceiling books, broken up only by the two fireplaces. Windows ran along the far wall with French doors that let out onto a small terrace. The furniture was large and leather.
Douglas sat in grandpa’s old recliner still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Mom paced the width of the living room while Dad had his phone to his ear staring out the windows. Theodore was the only one who acknowledged Yvonne’s entrance, and he merely nodded at her.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” She set her laptop and phone down on the table.
“Close the door,” Theodore said.
Mom whirled to face her. Today’s outfit was a powder blue shift dress and cardigan. “They’re leaving?”
“Why do they need to?” Yvonne kept her voice down and glanced from Mom to Theodore.
Mom’s eyes bulged, and she threw her hands up in the air.
“Mom,” Theodore’s voice broke the building tension.
He strode to the double doors leading into the room and shut them.
What else did they have to hide?
To her knowledge no one had volunteered the fact that Douglas was an unwilling participant in a murder by proxy of his drone. A smart person would be able to draw that conclusion. Nolan and his team weren’t stupid. They knew that much was true.
Theodore crossed to stand almost toe to toe with Yvonne, his stare serious. Sober.
“The drone recorded everything,” he said in a voice just louder than a whisper.
“Everything?” She glanced at Douglas staring at his phone then back to Theodore. “We’re only now finding out?”
“He just told us that when he got the drone here and wiped it clean the thing connected to his backup server and uploaded the video.”
“When did that happen?” She wasn’t going to like this...
“Monday.” Theodore tilted his head and pursed his lips.
Yvonne opened and closed her mouth.
A wave of heat then cold swept over her. The tips of her fingers went numb, and she locked her knees into place. The world was an unfair place.
Douglas was the darling baby of the family. He’d been caught with pot a dozen times as a kid and each was scrubbed from his record. There was more, but she’d remained willfully ignorant of his antics until the DWI that couldn’t be escaped. Now this.
“You see why we can’t let this security team know what’s going on? This is going to blow back on us if that video gets out.” Theodore dragged his hand through his hair.
“He should delete it.” Mom crossed her arms over her chest.
“No.” Yvonne turned toward her mother. “You can’t—”
“Douglas’ drone didn’t kill that man,” Theodore said.
“What?” Yvonne’s head whipped around so fast her neck twinged.
“A few seconds before the drone began to fire, another man shot the guy. But I think the one who died wasn’t the target.” Theodore planted his hands on his hips.
“We need to go to the police,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Vee.”
“Then explain it to me.” She took a step toward her brother, the anger building inside of her.
“Have you read the Japanese news?”
“No.” She’d been too sick for that.
“The guys who killed Douglas’ kidnappers weren’t just thugs. Those were professionals, and someone had to send them after the van. Now, I’ve been talking to some contacts in Asia and the brother of the guy who died? Samuel Ito? He’s bad fucking news.”
“Theo.” Mom gasped, as though she’d never heard her children utter a curse before.
“Then why are you sending our security away?” Yvonne gestured at the doors. “Is it because you’re worried they’re going to report back on us? If that’s the case, we should hire a different company.” She didn’t like that option, but it was logical.
“We can’t go to the police because...” He gestured at Mom.
She wouldn’t allow them to turn Douglas in. This wasn’t a new argument. Simply getting him permission to travel had been difficult enough.
“Even if we went to the cops, what do we tell them? Where do we start? And then where does that put us?” He pushed his hand through his hair.
Yvonne mentally ticked off their transgressions.
The moment they’d left Japan was where they’d gone wrong. They should have stayed. Douglas had been kidnapped. They weren’t guilty of anything at that point and perhaps the video would have ensured the right people were charged for the murder.
Instead they’d fled the country with minimal information and were now hiding evidence impeding a murder investigation. If she could trust what she was told, no one had connected Douglas to the murder. But if he was connected? Then what? How would this play out?
Mom would never allow Douglas to take the fall, which meant the only right thing for them to do—go to the police—was off the table.
“I understand this is how you think we should be protecting ourselves, but I think we’re making a mistake. We’re focused on an isolated incident and acting on that instead of substantiated threats.”
“You don’t honestly believe those threats, do you?” Theodore frowned at her.
“The DoD wouldn’t contract security for us if they didn’t believe they were credible.”
“That’s not our concern right now.” He turned, dismissing her worries. “We need that security team out of here. They can do their job from the guest house.”
“For how long? What’s our plan? We can’t stay here. There are meetings I need to have. Work must get done.” She gestured at her laptop. Then there was the whole issue of needing her space. Yvonne loved her family, but she liked them better from afar.
“Enough.” Dad turned from the windows. “Everyone is staying put for now until I sort this out. Understand?”
Yvonne glanced away.
It was all hands on deck to cover up her brother’s latest mess, but she stayed out all night once and it was the worst thing she’d ever done.
“I’ve got a few things to handle. I’ll see you later?” Yvonne picked up her things and cradled her laptop to her chest like a shield.
Yvonne needed air. She had to have her space.
She didn’t flee the room, but she focused on putting space between her and her family.
They weren’t bad people. Her parent’s greatest sin was loving them too much. She knew her mother was protecting Douglas from a place of good intention, but it yielded bad results. Yvonne’s little brother rarely suffered the consequences of his actions and this time they might not be able to make it go away. There wasn’t just one death
10.
Wednesday. Grimaldi Place, Chevy Chase, MD.
Nolan leaned away from the monitor in time to see Yvonne on one of the feeds push open the patio door and step out onto the wide terrace leading down to the pool. She put a hand to her hair, running her fingers through the strands, and tipped her chin up.
It was an overcast day with little to no chance of rain, but it made for a dreary atmosphere.
Had she talked some sense into her family?
“How’s the picture look?” Vaughn sat back on his heels. The poor guy had been up most of the night. He’d just crawled into bed when Mrs. Krieger burst in and told them to get out.
“Good,” Nolan replied.
“The picture, not the woman, dumbass.”
He presented his middle finger to Vaughn.
Vaughn chuckled and pulled himself up into the desk chair next
to Nolan. “You’ve never been this friendly with a client before. You think I’m going to pass up the chance to give you shit?”
Nolan didn’t reply. It was a damned if he did, damned if he didn’t situation. If he said a word it would encourage more of Vaughn’s interest.
He leaned closer and whispered, “You hit that yet?”
Nolan’s vision hazed red.
“Shut the fuck up.” He balled his hands into fists.
“Riley’s going to eat this up.” Vaughn cackled a laugh and slapped Nolan’s shoulder.
“Nolan?” Melody stepped through the arch leading into the formal dining room where Vaughn had set up shop.
Nolan had never been happier to see Melody. He got up, seizing any opportunity to get away from Vaughn for the moment. “Hm?”
“A word?” Melody retreated into the hall where it was just the two of them. “What did Yvonne have to say?”
“She was going to talk to the family then get back to me.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “Just saw her on the monitor leaving the house.”
“Leaving?”
“Back yard.”
“That’s not a good idea. Zain is concerned we’re focusing too much on this one-off incident and not the real threat.” Melody lifted her hands and tweaked her ponytail.
“I agree. I’ll head over and see what she says, if you like?” He had a feeling Yvonne might tell him more than she intended. He wasn’t above using their relationship to get a little intel out of her if it was for her own safekeeping.
“Yes. Please. I’m relieving Vaughn.” Melody stared up at him. “We can keep this between us.”
“This?”
Her brows rose. “You might fool the others, but it’s obvious you have history with Ms. Krieger.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He held up his hands and took a step back then another.
“Be careful. This isn’t a family you want to mess with, Nolan.”
He shrugged and turned.
The whole damn thing was complicated. He told himself that if he knew then what he knew now about Yvonne, he’d have kept moving. But that was a lie. She’d captivated him from the moment he bellied up to the bar next to her and locked eyes with her She was someone different. Unexpected. The rest had just fallen into place.
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