Risking it All (Crossing the Line, #1)(74)

Bowen said nothing. Lenny was referring to the night he’d gone to retaliate for what had happened outside Marco’s. The night Sera had come dangerously close to being taken. Hurt.

Ironically, he never wanted to kill a man as much as he had that night, but the promise

of

her

goodness

had

miraculously pulled him back.

“Jesus.” Lenny paced. “You know what they’re saying about you?”

“You think I give a f*ck?” Bowen shot back. “We could have had this little heart-to-heart over the phone.”

“No, we couldn’t have. I needed to look you in the face to make sure you understand.”

“Understand what exactly?”

Lenny came closer, bringing them toe to toe. “I won’t be in here forever. Oh, no. When I get out, if my operation has been taken over by some muscle-head with shit for brains, I will make you sorry.” He swiped a hand over his mouth. “Those men won’t listen to Wayne. He doesn’t have the fight to back up his mouth. Not like you.”

“Be careful, there might have been a compliment in there somewhere.”

“What do you want? A dad who takes you to Mets games? Teaches you how to marinate a steak?” He spat on the floor.

“I taught you more valuable lessons.

How to fight. How to make money. You should be grateful.”

“Yeah?” Bowen laughed under his breath. “That’s going to be a tough card to find on Father’s Day. Dad, thanks for giving me the ability to put someone in a coma.”

Lenny stared up at the ceiling, as if imploring it for patience. That made two of them. “Listen to me,” his father enunciated through clenched teeth. “I brought you down here to talk some goddamn sense into you. Whoever this girl is, she damn sure ain’t worth giving up what you help me build. Sometimes one gets under your skin and makes you question yourself. Take it from the man who was f*cked over by your whore mother. They’re all the same. So do us all a favor and stop thinking with your dick.”

Even against his iron will, a niggle of doubt arose at Lenny’s warning. The mention of his mother had done it. The memory of Pamela leaving, tossing him to the wolves, where he’d remained his entire life. He tried to focus on Sera’s image to eradicate the doubt, but he only managed to temporarily subdue it. There were far too many uncertainties between them still, blanks she refused to fill in.

His father might be an *, a criminal to the bone, but there was truth in his voice. Leftover pain, even, from what Pamela had put him through.

“I see I finally made an impact.”

The smugness in Lenny’s tone pulled Bowen from his disturbing thoughts.

“Are we done here? I’ve got better things to do.”

His father gestured toward the door.

“Don’t be a stranger.”

Bowen walked back out of the infirmary through the security check he’d passed through on the way in, raising his arms so they could pat him down again.

He wondered fleetingly which one of the employees Lenny had called in the favor on, but his thoughts immediately went back to Sera. What his father had said…

he wouldn’t let it apply to Sera and him.

The connection between them was real.

It made him feel whole. If he could believe her, it made her feel whole, too.

Dammit. If he could believe her? No, Lenny wouldn’t have power over his mind like this. He wouldn’t let him. A vision of Sera’s smiling face burrowing into his pillow drifted though his head.

Once he saw her, touched her, the doubt would cease to exist. He just had to have faith.

As he exited the facility, the phone in his pocket vibrated. He continued walking as he drew it out, needing to bring Sera into view where she sat in his car. When he saw her pretty face smiling back at him through the windshield, a sense of calm settled over him.

Everything would be all right. She was here with him now and he should be ashamed of himself for questioning her.

For letting Lenny get the upper hand.

He held up his finger to let her know he’d be a minute and answered the phone. “Yeah.”

“Mr. Driscol.” Newsom. “Is Sera with you?”

“Yes,”

he

answered

without

hesitation. “She’s safe for now. But we need—”

“I’ll tell you what we need.”

Summoning patience he didn’t have, Bowen slid a hand through his hair.

“You know, I have to be honest, Commissioner. I’ve had about enough of that for one morning.”

“She wants you arrested, Driscol.”

Unexpected pain twisted in his chest.

Careful to keep his features schooled, Bowen peered through the windshield at Sera. She looked back at him curiously, not an ounce of guile on her face. Could he believe it? He tried to keep the dam from bursting, but it gave way and the doubt rushed in, pulling him under.

“Why?”

“She found out about the shipment you’re waiting on, Hogan’s involvement, all of it. She called me and told me to get your worthless ass off the street.”

Some papers shifted in the background.

“You know Sera well enough by now to know she wouldn’t leave this unfinished.