The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts #6)(41)

Shae frowned at that, but she wasn’t offended. By now she knew Toni couldn’t help the way she phrased things.

“Her phone.”

Toni scoffed. “That’s bullshit. I turned off the GPS on her phone myself.”

“That must be why I haven’t had signal lately. But after I heard about the shootouts, I checked in on the last registered location. Which is here.”

“Fuck,” muttered Toni. She turned to Scott. “We need to leave. Now.”

“No.” Manuel adamantly shook his head. “I didn’t tell anybody where you were. I promise.”

Toni scowled as she looked him up and down. “I thought you were supposed to be a big bad business guy. Are you really so na?ve to think that you’re doing a deal with Damask and he’s not monitoring your every move? Especially now that he knows who your daughter is?” Toni paused for a second before her eyes widened in realization. “Scratch that. He’s always known who your daughter is. What do you want to bet that he offered to go into business with you around the time that she bought that house? You’re not a business partner to him. You’re leverage. So you two have a nice little chat and I’m going to go try to save our asses.”

Toni turned and walked away in a huff, leaving no doubt about her opinion of the man. Hunter and Gage followed her out. Tristan knew that the group would need help packing things up, but he wasn’t about to leave Shae alone.

He hated to invite the man inside, but if Toni was right about Damask and his men showing up any minute, he didn’t want to be out in the open. He stepped back and motioned with his head for Manuel to come inside. But he didn’t step back too far, leaving Manuel crowded against the door. Sometimes a little intimidation went a long way. Especially when dealing with a guy who wasn’t used to any intimidation at all.

“What do you want, Manuel?” asked Shae harshly.

Oddly enough, Manuel appeared almost... sheepish. Tristan had a feeling he’d come here not knowing exactly what to say. Or maybe he’d come with a plan to intimidate his daughter into submission, and that had all gone out the window once he had seen the mini army at the door. He watched Manuel’s mind work frantically to calculate where he was going with this. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Her house was shot up. Why didn’t you check on her then?”

“Because I believe that my daughter can deal with a lot. It wasn’t until I found out that it was Damask after her that I got worried. The man is dangerous.”

“Then why did you get in business with him?” she shot back.

“This isn’t about me. After what you did today, I don’t—I mean, what do you think he’ll do to you?”

“I think I have better chances now than I did sitting around waiting for him to kill me.”

“I don’t understand. What does he have against you?”

“That’s the million-dollar question,” she muttered. “I never did anything to the guy. He wants the house I bought for some reason. Enough to kill for.”

“Have you gone to the police about this?”

“Of course I did. They don’t care. Besides, he isn’t trying to kill me personally. He sends his budget mercenaries for me. They’d probably all be too terrified of him to name names if they got arrested.”

“Damask can kill people even behind bars,” pointed out Tristan.

“I’m not stupid, Dad. I’ve exhausted every legal option I have.”

“But you didn’t come to me. You came to these... cretins. You know I have certain influence.”

“Like the influence you used to sabotage my first job? I’m sorry if I don’t think you’re my ally here.”

“I did that to protect you.”

“Your protection leaves a lot to desire.”

Toni called from the living room. “We’re out of here in fifteen minutes, everybody! If you don’t have all your shit together, you need to get to getting!”

Tristan hated to invite Manuel farther into the house, but Toni was right. He motioned with his head for them to follow, and Shae didn’t question it.

Therefore, Manuel followed Shae. “I know we’ve had our issues, but you never should’ve thought I abandoned you.”

Tristan couldn’t take any more. “You didn’t abandon her. You were actively working against her. You purposefully made her life harder. The opposite of what parents are supposed to do.”

“If you felt that way, you should’ve come to me.” Manuel’s voice rose in irritation.

Tristan knew people like him were never usually called out on things they’d done wrong. He was the boss. People worked for him, to make him more money, to make him more profitable, to make him more efficient. He didn’t have anyone giving him periodic reviews, telling him how to improve. This was a guy who was used to succeeding in everything he did, but here Tristan was telling him he was failing at the most important job a person could have. Tristan didn’t mind Manuel getting defensive, but if he found one more way to blame Shae, he was going to get a fist in his face.

“Dad, did you come here to yell at me? Because, as you can see, we’re kind of busy here. You can take your comments and get the fuck out.”

Atta girl. Tristan was happy she wasn’t just taking it because of who was dishing it. She was a fighter. It was one of the things he liked about her. One of the many, many things he liked about her. They reached their bedroom and walked in. There was an empty bag next to the bed. Tristan assumed that was what had delivered the clothes she was wearing. She got to packing the few belongings she had—her cell phone that wasn’t on, the suit she’d worn earlier, and the sundress. He had considerably more to pack. He started by grabbing his tools.