The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts #6)(39)

Hunter didn’t respond, but he didn’t leave either.

The waiting continued until finally Toni put her finger down on a key with a tad extra emphasis and spun around in her chair. “I’m sorry about the wait, guys. Damask’s phone was like a virtual treasure trove. You have no idea all the shady shit his hands have been in.”

“Does that mean we’re good?” asked Hunter. “I mean, that’s the point, right? Is it enough to take him down?”

“Patience,” said Toni. “I found things that let me know what he’s been up to. But as far as the justice system is concerned, it’s all just circumstantial. A good attorney could wiggle him out of a lot of stuff. He’s meeting with shady guys who do shady things, but there’s no proof he’s working with them. A guy that powerful has meetings with a lot of people. It doesn’t mean he’s doing illegal shit with them. We want the entirety of the FBI and IRS to swarm around Blackthorne and make sure everyone they screwed over gets back what they deserve. That requires a bit more time. And namely, paperwork.”

“What kind of paperwork?” asked Shae. “Didn’t they get the homes relatively legally? Like illegal, but they had paperwork to back it up. Or else the foreclosure process never would’ve happened. So what can we possibly do to bring him down legally?”

“Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. There are a lot of illegal things we could do to bring down Damask. But I’m hoping that a guy like him will act like most criminals do.”

“What does that mean?” asked Shae.

“It means he’s paranoid, and paranoid criminals always have a backup plan. You know what they say. There is no honor among thieves. If Damask goes down for any reason, he’s going to try to take a bunch of others down with him. It’s how he would protect himself. So, if I can find his secret stash, then I can find a way to bring him down.”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s not going to keep location to his stash on his phone.”

“You’d be surprised at all the stupid shit people keep on their phone. It just takes some logic and digging. Either way, this isn’t my only plan. This is plan A. We still have plan B, C, D, E, and F.”

“What are those?”

Toni let out an exasperated sigh, apparently finished with this line of questioning. “I’ll let you know when we need those plans. Until then, this is what we’re doing.”

“That’s all great,” said Gage, “but what’s the meeting for? We already knew you were digging through his phone.”

“The meeting is because I may have found something. It might be nothing, but it’s worth looking into. Damask has a safety deposit box at a bank in St. Pete.”

Shae blinked in confusion. “He banks in St. Pete?” It seemed so far from the cities he’d be doing the most business in.

Toni shrugged. “I think he used to live there. But the point is that safe deposit boxes always have some juicy stuff hidden in them. I figure for us it should be easy to get in, and if it’s nothing, we can always rule that out as a stash.”

Shae scoffed. “Breaking into a safe deposit box is easy?”

“It depends on who you know.” Tristan winked.

She nodded. “All right. What do I need to do?”

“Hey, I’m all for you helping,” said Toni. “But I think you can sit this one out.”

Shae was still adamant that she wanted to help, but she couldn’t fight with that one. There was nothing she could do to help break into a bank, and, frankly, she didn’t know that she wanted to put herself in that position. “Have you looked into my father?”

“Your father. Yeah. He’s a peach.”

She was more than aware exactly how her father came off. “Do you know what he’s doing with Damask?”

“From the emails I’ve read, it looks like they’re doing a deal. A pretty big one from what I can tell. Your father and Damask have roughly similar net worths. Blackthorne has a larger annual revenue than your father’s company, but that’s not saying much. If they’re doing a deal together, it would be a big deal.”

“They’re not being subtle about it if her father is showing up to Blackthorne events,” said Tristan.

“They’re kissing each other’s ass,” said Shae. “If they’re both the same size, each of them has something to gain and lose with the deal. They both want it to go through.” Everyone looked at her, and she shrugged. “I know how these things go. A lot of compliments and wining and dining and tax-deductible meals. It’s all a big show of self-importance.”

Shae sounded calm about everything, but the more she thought about it, the more uneasy it made her feel. She knew her dad wasn’t exactly a good man, but thinking about him being in business with someone like Damask was starting to get to her. It’s funny that he accused her of letting him down, but she felt it was the other way around. She was supposed to have this strong and respectable father who was a highlight of the business world. She was supposed to brag about him and tell people how great he was. About all the wonderful things he’d done for the industry, and how smart he was. But he wasn’t smart. He was playing the system. One more crook making it harder for anyone honest to succeed in the world. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. “So am I done here?” she asked. “It’s not like I can help anyway.”