“Lief!” My father barks. “You saw the envelope. What does it mean?”
“I wait until I receive an order,” Lief says, calm as ever. He looks at his nails for a moment. “I did not receive an order.”
My father rolls up his sleeves. “I don’t appreciate disobedience.”
“I cleared him,” I say firmly. “Mr. Smith is clean. If Lief would have gotten involved, it would have led the police to our doorstep. He has a family. He keeps detailed records of his clients. Do you really think they wouldn’t have questions?”
Still, my father punches me, harder than I would have expected. I stare at the ground while trying to clear the stars from my vision. Old, yes. Frail, fuck no. I click my jaw back into place, actually happy that I got in that fight that fucked it up way back when.
Meeting his eyes, I ignore the blood in my mouth and arch an eyebrow. He’s still fuming. Chase bangs his hands on the table. “If you don’t trust what I can do then why fucking employ me at all?”
That pulls attention his way. He seethes as he looks at our father. “Your tactics are going to bite us in the ass with the way the world is now. We got answers from Stefan and made sure he won’t be an immediate issue. We handled this look into the leak!”
Sven, fathers right hand man, just watches us from by the door.
I see blood when I pull my hand from my mouth. “Bloodshed doesn’t fix every problem. It’s not fixing the issue with the leak. An investigation – done correctly – will.”
I don’t point out how many lives it will save, how many families will be able to stay together, how many sons and daughters will be able to go to college without the temptation to run to us for help only to be dragged into this fucking business.
They can do better and if all I can do is give them a chance, I’m going to. I didn’t forget every lesson my mother tried to teach me as a child.
My father sits and laughs once. “Well, if you’re so convinced, who else could it be?”
“Someone who knows more than the money shit,” Chase says clearly. “Someone who knows everything about the organization and has everything to lose.”
My eyes flick around the room and I swear I see Sven’s lips turn down slightly. I switch to Russian and nod to him. “And you. What do you think?”
“Not my job to think.”
Lief nods in agreement. “But it must be someone on the inside. Not everyone knows about the dirty business.”
“I know my system isn’t bugged and I can spot a virus or spyware on a computer.” Chase continues, switching all of us back to English. “Mr. Smith couldn’t have known about anything that goes on in this building.”
“It sounds like I should have Lief interrogating you two.” My father cracks his knuckles. “Especially with this blatant show of weakness and disrespect.”
“I protected us.” I hiss. “Even if you don’t see it, even if you don’t care that everything could go up in flames around you. I kept the police away. I kept a good accountant. I kept our organization functioning for another day.”
Father scoffs. “Barely.”
Sven says something in Father’s ear and he nods. “Get out of my sight, boys. Lief … stay. You’re needed.”
Lief doesn’t say anything to that, but his eyes stay on me. He dips his chin ever so slightly and I appreciate the solidarity. My father may have taken him in when he had limited prospects out of college, but loyalty isn’t bought. It’s formed.
Chase tugs on my shirt. “What about that?”
“I trust Lief. Do you?” I ask, wanting a real answer.
He rubs the back of his neck. “Enough. I trust him enough.”
“I have to go make an appointment to satisfy our father,” I grumble. “To deal with my apparent weakness.”
Chase swallows. “I’m not available on Saturday. Make that clear.”
“Of course.” I wave my hand. “Enjoy your time with our girl.”
“How did … never mind.” He heads in his own direction.
I go to my office and set up an appointment with said woman. Valerie’s name doesn’t have a place in this house unless we’re sure we’re alone. Just like I know she won’t consider an appointment with me if I use my own name.