“Understood,” I told him, wanting so much to touch his mane of coppery hair but holding still instead.
His phone chirped, and he checked the text message a moment before there was a knock on the door.
Crossing the room quickly, Dallas opened the door, allowing six men into the room. Even if I hadn’t known they were feds, I would have guessed. Matching suits, matching ties, same aviator sunglasses, same haircuts, same bad shoes.
Lipton was the guy in charge, older, linebacker big with a crew cut and what looked like a permanent scowl. He had paperwork for Dallas to sign, which basically released Brig and Eric into his care.
“Okay,” Lipton said, turning to me. “Consider yourself relieved, Mr. Esca.”
“Thank you.”
“No,” he corrected me, offering his hand. “We appreciate this. You were a cop, so you know how this works. Doin’ this with civilians is a pain in the ass.”
Dallas grunted his agreement.
“I don’t understand any of this,” Brig said, walking up to the three of us. “And even though my lawyer told me to comply with all your orders, Agent Bauer, this all makes no sense.”
“In what way?” Dallas asked him irritably.
“Croy can’t possibly be expected to act as my intermediary when––”
“We’ve set it up through Croy’s employer that he will act as your middleman. Your contract with Torus will be noted as fulfilled, and when Mr. Colter presents the invoice for the remainder of your payment, we expect that will be immediately taken care of.”
“Yes, of course, but I don’t––”
“Suárez isn’t coming here, as I’ve said maybe ten times now, but he’s going to send someone to speak to you and deliver his terms. Since you’re the same––”
“I don’t––”
“You’re not the kind of man who speaks to underlings either, Mr. Stanton, so Croy will speak in your stead,” Dallas explained, clipping his words, annoyed, I was sure, that he couldn’t just rattle off instructions and have them obeyed. One had to speak to the rich differently. “So Suárez’s guy will talk to your guy—Croy.”
Brig turned to me, taking hold of my shoulder. “I’m so sorry that you’re in the middle of this. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
“I know that,” I assured him. “But the good news is that now we can get your sister back and get this mess cleaned up for you. Of course, you still have a PR nightmare on your hands, and your father’s going to jail.”
He gasped and turned to look at Dallas, who was nodding.
“Lots of people at your company are gonna be doing time, Mr. Stanton,” Special Agent Lipton assured him. “You might wanna use some of the time you’ll have here with us to start to figure out what the future of Stanton-Downey looks like.”
Brig turned back to me.
“You’re going to be CEO much earlier than you thought,” I told him. “You and your brother and your sister will have a lot to discuss in the next few weeks.”
“May I reach out to Nolan now?”
“No,” Dallas told him.
“In fact, I’m gonna need both your and Mr. Foster’s phones,” Lipton told him.
“I––”
“Besides,” I cut Brig off, “Nolan is trying to work things out with Astor. You don’t want to bother him right now.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You really need to work on being more observant,” Dallas told him, eyes wide for a moment as he grabbed my bicep and pulled me away.
Brig had more questions for me, I could hear him speaking, but Lipton was snapping orders at him, and Dallas was walking me across the floor toward the bedroom.
“I didn’t unpack,” I told him. “I just need to grab my duffel.”
“Good,” he said, keeping pace with me. “Because we need to get over to the house at the Ridges in Summerlin that we’re using, and get situated.”
“Sure.”
“And we gotta stop at my place so I can pack a bag.”
“Course.”
“Maybe we could grab breakfast too.”
“That sounds great,” I said, feeling the tension I’d been holding on to rush out of my body. I didn’t have to be on guard anymore, I wasn’t protecting someone, I just had to play my part and try not to get killed. It was so much easier.
Seven
In the elevator, heading for the lobby, Dallas and I stood close, and when more people got on, he crowded me so that we were shoulder to shoulder.
“How many will be at the house with us?” I asked him once we were making our way through the casino.
“Four, I think, maybe six, but there’s a ton of surveillance since DEA is on-site as well.”
“The house is wired for sound, then?”
“Except the bedrooms and bathrooms,” he said, grinning at me. “You need at least some semblance of privacy.”
I cleared my throat. “And you’ll be there as well?”
He snorted. “Yep. Now I’m the bodyguard.”
We reached the parking garage, and he walked me to a car I wasn’t expecting. I turned and smiled at him. “Really?”