Torch (Unbreakable Bonds 3)

“Come by my office tomorrow. We’ll talk…without Lucas and Snow.”

Ian drew a deep breath and slowly released it before he nodded once. “Tomorrow.”Chapter 2“Gidget!” Rowe poked another button on his phone and snarled when it made a harsh beeping noise. He hit another. “Gidget!”

A throat cleared near the door of his office and he looked up to find Gidget standing in the open doorway. He frowned, taking in the pale cast to her face and the dark circles under her normally bright eyes. “You feeling okay?”

She nodded, but didn’t come farther into the office. She smoothed her hands down her long skirt, then tugged on the hem of her pink top. “I’m fine.” Her eyebrows came together as she frowned. “Why do you bother to use the phone at all when your yelling comes right into my office?”

A low growl rumbled from Rowe as he picked up a stack of contracts that he needed to look over and moved them to another part of his desk. He just couldn’t deal with the day-to-day nonsense, not right now. “I still don’t understand why we changed the set-up. These phones are annoying.”

“You’ll get the hang of them.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorjamb. “What did you need?”

“I’d like everything you dug up on Jagger and Gratton back in January.”

“I heard he was acquitted.” Her lips tightened, her eyes narrowed and she abruptly stood up straight. “That man needs to be strung up by his balls.”

Surprised, Rowe lifted his eyebrows, but nodded. “He does. So get me whatever you dug up before.”

Gidget gave a little shrug. “Sure. I can have that to you in a couple minutes. Anything else?”

Rowe paused, looking down at his hand gripping the edge of his now-clear desk, his knuckles growing whiter. “Yes. I want you to keep digging. Cross-reference all of Jagger’s activities—anything you can pull from the CPD and the FBI—against all of Lucas’s existing business and new ventures, as well as Rialto and any of our own clients.” Rowe paused and licked his lips. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her to hack into the UC Hospital records and check Jagger’s activities against the list of Snow’s patients over the past couple of years, but he swallowed the words. Hacking the police and Feds gave him a little thrill. Hacking the hospital just left him feeling dirty. He’d wait, save it for when they got really fucking desperate.

“Rowe…”

His head snapped up, her wavering voice pulling him from his thoughts. “We’re fighting this bastard in the dark, Gidge, and we’re losing. It can’t continue. It won’t. Can you do this for me?”

“Sure,” she whispered. “Andrei has me looking into that new security system for the Lyntons. Want me to push that aside?”

“No.” He shook his head and dug his fingers into the short beard he’d let grow. Just hadn’t been interested enough in shaving it off. But sometimes it was itchy. “And don’t tell him I have you digging into Jagger again. He’s got enough on his plate right now with the fire.”

“I feel so bad for him. I know he and Lucas worked really hard to get that place just right. Sorry I couldn’t make the opening last night.”

“I’m not. Go ahead and stay on the Lynton thing, but start digging on the other when you get time. I’ll work on it myself, too.” He gave her a tight smile, but the dismissal was clear. As she turned to go back to her office, Rowe walked over to the door and closed it.

“Ian, did you drown in there?” He called out as he headed to the back of his office to the private bathroom.###

Ian splashed cold water on his face, then stared into the mirror. Water dripped off his eyelashes and he blinked, before pulling a paper towel free from the dispenser. He buried his face in it.

Rowe was a devious man. The moment Ian had stepped into the bathroom to wash his hands, his friend had started shouting for Gidget. Ian hadn’t thought anything of it and had looked forward to saying hi to the lovely woman, but the moment Rowe had mentioned Jagger, Ian’s entire body froze. He’d shut off the water so he could hear Rowe’s request. Hell, just the mention of his restaurant in the same breath as Jagger had nearly knocked his legs out from beneath him.

But he could do this. There was no doubt that Jagger knew about his restaurant. The entire city knew he was the chef and part owner. But Jagger had kept his distance and as far as Ian saw, so did all of his goons. Jagger was his past, and he needed to focus on the present.

Only…his present sucked. The restaurant was the only thing going well in his life. He worried for his friends and hated that his past was hurting them. As for his personal life…