And who do I deliver unto him?
Lucas.
“I’ll get rid of him,” I say, trying to walk around him, but Kane catches my arm.
“Who, Lilah?”
“He says he has information about the murders—”
“Lucas.”
“Right. I’ll get rid of him.”
“Let him help you.”
My brows shoot up. “Are you going to kill him?”
“One day that could happen,” he says, almost nonchalantly. “But I’ll wait until we’re married so you can’t testify against me.”
“I could testify against you,” I correct. “I couldn’t be made to testify, though, and I wouldn’t. I think that is really the definition of true love.”
He releases me. “Invite Lucas in. I’m going to empty that bottle of whiskey before he leaves. For his own protection.”
“Don’t offer him any,” I reply, backing up. “Or he’ll be stupid and you really will kill him.” On that note, I head for the door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I open the door to find Lucas standing on the porch, his eyes bloodshot, his blond hair mussed. He’s also wearing the same New York Yankees T-shirt he was wearing last night. I slide a finger under my nose. “Shower much?”
He sniffs his armpits. “Smells like roses.”
“And looks like shit,” I say. “You haven’t slept.”
“I’ve slept many hours in my lifetime. Just not last night. Which is your fault. You gave me a puzzle. I had to solve it.”
That’s enough for me to welcome him inside. I back up and allow his entry. He joins me in the foyer, lowering his voice. “Kane—”
“Is alive,” I say. “And so are you.”
“Yeah, but for how long if I come inside?”
“I’m pretty sure that depends on you.” With that, I leave him at the door and head toward the kitchen.
Kane is at the island, the bottle in front of him, and it’s clear he intends to stay. I swear he enjoys taunting Lucas. And at least today, after what happened last night, I’ll let him get away with almost anything. Whoever said I wasn’t a gentle kind soul lied. I join Kane at the side of the island he’s sitting behind while Lucas pauses in the doorway. He looks at me. He stares at Kane. “I can come back.”
“Nonsense,” Kane says. “Come have a drink, Lucas.”
I glare at Kane. “He is not drinking.” I pin Lucas in a brutal stare. “You’re not drinking. The end. I’m the boss here.”
Kane arches a brow in Lucas’s direction. “Care to wager a bet on that?”
“Coffee,” I say. “I’m making coffee.” I point to a stool. “Sit, Lucas. And never challenge an alpha in his own den. That means don’t make eye contact. Pull out the computer in that bag on your shoulder and focus on it.” I head to the coffee pot.
Lucas almost follows orders.
He does sit. He does pull out his computer. But he’s looking at Kane. And Kane’s looking at him.
“For fuck’s sake,” I murmur, pushing the brew button on the pot before moving to the endcap of the island, where I blast Lucas with my best version of the evil eye, which is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Of course, he doesn’t know. He’s still looking at Kane. “What did you find out, Lucas?”
Lucas jerks his gaze from Kane’s to mine. “I hacked Rip Vaughn’s phone. He’s been in contact with Neal Woodard. Which could mean nothing at all, but he not only talked to him the day he died, Neal was also at the same charity event that Rip attended.”
“There was a text message from a woman—”
“A nurse at one of the hospitals. There was a voicemail from a few days back. Seems like they just met.”
A voicemail that I should have noticed, but then, I wasn’t myself last night. As for the nurse being someone Rip just met, it fits with his “once was enough” reply to her naked photos. “Back to Neal,” I say. “How long had he been talking to Rip?”
“Off and on for about a month.”
“And what’s Neal’s story?” I ask.
“He runs a venture capital group called, appropriately, Woodard Venture Capital. A bit like Shark Tank. They all pay him to take part in a bidding war for potential investments that he funnels through the ‘Tank,’ so to speak. He holds an annual Pro Bowl event in the summer. A big deal with lots of money and rich people involved.”
“That’s every event in the Hamptons,” I comment. “Any connection to any of the other victims?”
“Directly, no,” he says, “but I need to dig into Emma’s ex-husband, and present fiancé, as well as her brother, Naomi’s husband.”
And I’m officially leading Lucas into troubled waters. Hacking is an addiction for him, one that got him in a lot of trouble in the past. “You have a job, Lucas. I can have Tic Tac do this.”
“I did the work,” he says. “You needed me. Tic Tac has limits.”