“Nassir said the entire place just went up in flames. The cops are on the scene and so is fire and emergency. He said the place was packed since it’s Saturday night.” He sighed and shook his head. “They’re pulling bodies out.”
Holy shit! That was majorly stepping up the game to show Nassir and myself that we didn’t have control of anything. That was making a point in a deadly and drastic way that couldn’t be ignored.
“How did someone get by all the security Nassir has surrounding that place?”
We both got into the car and the engine roared to life with the ferocity of a wild animal. Soon the manicured lawns and expensive houses that dotted the Hill were nothing but a blur as we raced back into the heart of the city.
“He doesn’t know. Early reports are indicating that heavy-duty explosives were used. Nassir said the entire place is nothing but a fireball and ashes.”
“How did he get out in one piece?” I didn’t like Nassir, but I was glad he was okay if the destruction was as bad as Bax was describing.
“He was at Spanky’s.”
I looked at Bax across the dark interior of the car. He had one hand on the wheel and was tucking an unlit cigarette between his lips with the other. His heavy brows were lowered in concern and there was a telltale tick behind that black ink by his eye.
“Why was he at Spanky’s instead of the club on a Saturday night?” Belatedly I wondered if all the hundreds of thousands of dollars we had been funneling through the club had managed to survive the inferno.
Bax cut me a hard look and lit his smoke.
“I imagine he was there for the same reasons you were kicking the shit out of some dumb-ass college kid instead of being at home with your lady.”
“He’s worried about the girls.”
“Yeah, more like one girl in particular. No one wants all of this shit to land on the girls, our girls in particular. We need to figure out who’s behind it. No one is coming forward, no one is making moves on the Point, it’s just like they want you guys to know they can get to you, they can mess with you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It seems like it’s all one, big, seriously fucked-up game.”
It didn’t feel like a game. It felt like life and death. It felt like rocks in my gut and fury in my blood. The Point wasn’t much, it was hard to justify wanting to fight for it, to keep it alive after all the misery and pain it had brought to so many. But it was mine. It was home. It might be a kingdom no one else wanted to reign over—but I was going to do it until it killed me, and I wasn’t going to let some unknown intruder tear it apart from the inside out. Not if I could help it.
While I pondered what my next step should be, I sent Stark a text message asking him to dig up every single thing he could on Drew Donner. It was the first solid name I had to go on. I just hoped something finally came out of it so I could put all that was going on with Brysen to bed.
When we pulled up in front of the warehouse, the scene was like something out of a movie. The old factory had never been very pretty, the graffitied walls and crumbling brick providing perfect camouflage for all of the excess and debauchery housed inside the disintegrating walls. Now it looked even worse. The walls that were still standing were charred black, the metal fixtures twisted and melted, all of the barred windows were broken out, and the entire building was a burned-out shell of brick and mortar. The smell of smoke and something far worse permeated the air. There were cop cars everywhere, and I tried not to cringe when I saw more than one coroner van parked in front of the wreckage.
Bax and I both climbed out of the car, a heavy silence floating between the two of us as we watched the emergency crews rush around. I didn’t see Nassir anywhere, but Bax let out a low whistle and inclined his head in the direction of where Titus’s nondescript sedan was parked. The detective and my errant business partner were standing together and they both had looks of absolute fury etched on their faces. Titus was talking rapidly and gesturing with his hands, Nassir was staring fixedly at what used to be his club. His jaw was working back and forth, and even with the distance between us, as Bax and I made our way over to them, I could see the fury blazing in his caramel-colored eyes.
“This is no joke. We’re talking military-grade explosives, Nassir. This goes beyond a couple of bodies in a back alley. They’ve pulled out six people so far. None of them are any older than Dovie, for God’s sake. This isn’t just going to get swept under the rug.”
A tick worked its way into Nassir’s jaw and his gaze shifted to me and then back to the destroyed building.
“It shouldn’t get swept under the rug. Find out who’s behind it, cop.”
That didn’t sound good and there was no way Titus was going to locate the culprit and turn him over to Nassir for him to render his own form of justice. Bax’s brother didn’t operate by the rules of the Point, he only cared about the law.
“How did he even get in?” I asked the question to both of them but Titus was the one to answer.
He turned to look at us and reached up to pull the knot of his tie loose. He ran his hands through his hair and bit out, “Not in, on. The point of origin appears to be the roof of the building. It looks like there was an explosion on the roof and then a series of smaller explosions detonated inside the building, which is why there are so many casualties. Surprisingly, this guy”—he hooked his thumb in Nassir’s direction—“actually had the place completely up to fire code. The sprinkler system kept the body count to a minimum.”
Six people dead wasn’t a minimum as far as I was concerned, and I could see by the way Nassir’s eyebrows dipped down over his blazing eyes that he didn’t think so either.
“One of the dancers called me and told me that there was a rowdy group of guys at Spanky’s. She said Chuck had his hands full, and that they were scared. I got to the strip club and wasn’t even in the door when I got the call that the Pit was on fire. Whoever is doing this didn’t want me here. This was a setup so I could watch everything I have worked for burn to the ground.”
Titus sighed and I asked, “All the money?”
Nassir shook his head and pushed off the sedan. “The money is fine. I’m a cautious man by nature. That’s how I’ve managed to stay alive so long.” He cut a hard look at Titus. “I’m serious, cop. If you get a name, I want it.”
Titus didn’t say anything as Nassir wandered off with his phone pressed tightly to his ear. I looked at Bax, who exchanged a look with his brother and shrugged.
“Nothing else for us to do here.”
Titus grunted. “No. Go home and be glad you were somewhere else tonight or else you might be in the back of one of those vans, or down at the station for questioning.”
I couldn’t help but cringe as my gaze automatically shifted to the stark white coroner vans. I didn’t want to think about the people ending their Saturday night with a trip to the morgue, but it was kind of impossible not to. This was the kind of price the Point required people to pay for venturing into its depths. I got lost in my dreary thoughts, started to feel like no matter how hard I worked, how much of a stranglehold I had on this place, the worst of the bad things and bad people were always going to win.
I was startled out of my reflections when Bax knocked me on my shoulder.
“Let’s get you home to your lady. This night is done for.” He sounded like it was just another day, just another glitch in the wiring that made this place run. It sent chills running down my spine.
“All right.”
Once we were back in the car headed the few blocks to the garage so I could grab the Stingray, he asked me if I was all right. I took my time answering.
“I’m not sure. This is the Point. It’s supposed to be a place that takes care of itself. Nothing and no one is supposed to be worse than the Point. I don’t know how I feel about it being under attack and losing.”
He made a noise low in his throat. “It’s more than the Point. This place is more than a warning to spoiled kids and one wrong turn away from th
e Hill. It doesn’t matter how ugly it is, how vicious and hard it is to live here, it’s still home. It’s my home, it’s your home, and when you see it getting torn apart, when you know the threat is real and coming from outside, it makes you want to fight for it, even if you know it would watch you rot and not give a shit.”
He was absolutely right. The Point might be a rotting kingdom, but it was my rotting kingdom and I couldn’t abide by an outsider trying to tear it down. As much as I never thought it would happen, I was with Nassir on this one. When we had the person behind the destruction, behind the bloody and murderous message directed right at the heart of my city, there would be no long arm of the law, no pursuit of justice—there would only be retaliation and payback in the name of this place that was not nearly as unbreakable as it seemed.
I told Bax good-bye before he raced home to my sister. I understood the clawing need a little bit more, now that all I could think about was Brysen and keeping her safe and in one piece. She was my tether to the reality outside of the violence and machinations that made up my day-to-day life. I needed her if I was going to win this war that was being waged. She kept my head on the end game.
I got to the condo that was built on the docks right on the edge of the city. It was far enough out of the heart of the Point to be safe, but still far enough away from the Hill and burbs that no one would think to look for two upper-middle-class girls to be using it as a hideout. The condo had been my dad’s secret love shack. It was where he took all the women he cheated on my mom with. He paid for the place in cash, so it had managed to escape the feds’ lockdown on anything with the Hartman name attached to it. The only reason I knew it existed was because Novak had taken great pleasure in not only pulling all of my strings, but also in letting me know just how much dirt he had on my dad in order to keep me in line. A few handshakes and a greased palm belonging to the property manager, and all traces of my dad’s ownership were gone. I had no second thoughts about having the title to the condo put into Brysen’s name. Sure, if it ever got dragged to court, the legality of her ownership of the property would fall apart, but for now, the place was hers, even if she didn’t know it or ended up not wanting it.
I parked in the underground garage and took the elevator up to the top floor. The condo looked out over the water, onto the shipping docks. If the Point had been in a better place, been in a prettier city, the view would be awesome. As it was, all anyone could see for miles was smog, rusty ships, and crusty dock workers. When I pushed through the door, I was greeted with the open end of a gun pointed at my face. Booker wasn’t messing around since Brysen’s tumble at the school. I knew he wasn’t the sentimental or sympathetic type, but he also wasn’t the type that liked to look like anyone had gotten the better of him. He was taking Brysen’s attack personally, which was fine by me.
He lowered the gun and the scar that covered half of his face twitched.
“I didn’t know you were coming by tonight.”
He stashed the gun back wherever it had been before he pointed it at me as I shut the door behind me.
“My girl is here. Where else would I be?”
He snorted and picked up an open beer that was on the coffee table. “You better tell her that. She wasn’t thrilled I was the one taking her home from the hospital today. She’s been a real peach to be around all day.”
I winced a little. I should have freed up the time to get her here. I sucked at this relationship stuff. She should always come first.
“And the little one . . .” He lifted his eyebrows up. “She’s going to get herself in trouble. Always walking around with those big puppy-dog eyes like she’s looking for a master to give her a good home. I would keep her locked up until she’s legal.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You want me to stick around, or you okay on your own?”
“You can take off.”
He chugged back the last of the beer. “A little birdie told me that you’ve taken to rolling around unarmed.” Dovie. My sister was always worrying about everyone but herself. He walked over to the gun that he had pulled on me that was placed on the counter. “You know how to use it?”
I just lifted my eyebrows at him. I had been in the Point for a long time now. I was in business with Nassir, and Bax was my best friend. Of course I knew how to use a gun. I just preferred not to.
“Okay, then. Good luck with your lady. I think you’re going to need it.”
I watched him walk out the front door and looked down at the gun. There was no denying that my life was changing. Some parts for the better, and many parts for the worse. The trick was just going to be finding the right balance. I took the gun and stashed it on the top of the fridge to keep it out of sight for now and made my way to the flight of stairs that led up to the master bedroom, which took up the entire top level of the condo. The lights were on, and when I walked in I expected Brysen to be on the bed watching TV or something. I actually faltered a little when the big room proved to be empty. I walked farther into the room, looking around like maybe I had somehow missed her, when I heard a soft noise from the open door to the master bath that was located off to one side of the space.
I kicked my shoes off and unbuttoned my shirt and went to go find my girl. She was standing in front of the mirror, a pair of scissors in one hand and a comb in the other. Her platinum-blond bob was no more, and her bright, blue eyes were locked on me when I crowded her reflection in the mirror. She set the scissors down and self-consciously ran her hands over her shorn hair. The army of little black stitches decorating the back of her head made my teeth clench as we watched each other silently in the reflective surface.
“This is the best I could do.” She sounded nervous and unsure.
It actually didn’t look too bad from the front. It was really short, angled close to her face with superstraight bangs across her forehead. The back was almost all clipped close to her head, except for a little part that was just long enough to cover the top of her injury. It was edgy and retro at the same time. She kind of looked like a modern-day flapper. She could pull off being the Bonnie to my Clyde any day of the week.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there today when they released you. I’ve been chasing my tail trying to find out who might have pushed you down the stairs. I should’ve been there to bring you home.”
She turned around and leaned back against the sink so I was looking at her and at my own reflection in the mirror behind her. I could see the way my eyes got darker just by being in the same room as her.
“Home? I don’t even know where I am, Race. What is this place? How can we even be here? I have a million questions and you haven’t been around to answer any of them. Not to mention I can’t turn around without running into Booker, and that isn’t fun for either of us. I hate this.”
All I could do was look at her because she should hate it, but I was doing my best. Her eyes dropped down and she took a step forward to grab one of my hands. I had forgotten all about my busted-open knuckles and the dried blood that was caked on the back of my hands.
“Your hands are all bloody.”
I choked on a laugh. “You have no idea.”
She scowled at me and I sighed as I moved around her to scrub off the blood. I was always doing that—washing the blood down the drain.
“My dad used this place to hook up with his mistresses. It’s far enough away from the Hill that my mom never knew about it. The property manager is shady as hell, so I paid him off and now there is no paper trail that can tie this place back to anyone in my family. I asked him to transfer the title over to your name. It’s not on the up-and-up, but for now, you and Karsen can stay here, even after we get this shit with your stalker on lockdown. I know you were worried about what was going to happen with your old man putting your house in foreclosure. Now you have a place to stay.”
I heard her make a little noise in her throat and then her hands were over mine in the sink and she was helping me wash the last remainder of this
terrible night away. Her eyes met mine in the mirror, and I could see all the fear, all the uncertainty, all the questions she had shining out at me, but I could also see the gratitude, the hope, and something even deeper, and that’s what I was going to latch on to.
“I should have been there today.”
She shut off the water and rested her cheek on the back of my shoulder. “No. I understand you have a lot going on and that you’re trying to find whoever did this to me in the first place. I just missed you and feel better when you’re close by. I get that I have to share you with the Point.”
I lifted a hand to run it over her newly chopped hair. It might be short and a little crazy, but it was still soft and felt like silk where it clung to my wet fingers.
“You shouldn’t have to.”
She laughed and there was no humor in it. “In a perfect world, maybe, but so far not the Hill, not the Point, and nowhere in between is perfect. We just have to make the best of what we have.”
I curled my hand around her neck and asked, “Are we falling in love, Bry?”
She laughed again and pulled away from me. “Probably. Why wouldn’t we? Life is a mess, I have someone trying to kill me, and you’re right in the thick of a war on the city. What better conditions could you think of to fall in love?”
Definitely the Bonnie to my Clyde. I turned to follow her as she walked into the bedroom.
“You think we’ll survive it?” I hadn’t ever been in love before, and so far, it was like its own special kind of battle I was trying to win.
She sighed at me. “I don’t know, but I sure hope so.”
I needed to change the subject before one of us let good sense talk us out of what was happening between us.
“What do you know about Drew Donner?”
She was working on folding down the comforter on the big king-size bed, so she just answered me over her shoulder. “We have a bunch of the same classes this semester. He’s nice enough, so we study together sometimes.”
“He never asked you out or anything?”