Taut: The Ford Book (Rook and Ronin Spinoff 2)

He looks over at my assistant again, hesitating.

“I do not go anywhere without her, so the answer to your next demand is no. She stays with me. We follow you up or you give us permission to go up without you. Whatever works.”

“Mr. Aston, there is nothing nefarious going on here. Ashleigh is sick. She’s been mentally ill her whole life. She’s been in and out of treatment facilities, she’s been on medication since she was a small child for attention deficit disorder, she’s run wild over in Japan with no therapists, no mood-stabilizing drugs, doing God knows what. She’s out of control. She got pregnant out of wedlock by a man whose family would just as soon kill her as look at her. My mortal enemy, Mr. Aston. She had a baby with the son of my mortal enemy. She endangered that child by going off on that half-cocked road trip and they’d probably both be dead if you weren’t there. And now that the Fenici family understands the scope of Anthony’s deception, they are very interested in that baby. They want her. And they will not get her. So my eldest daughter has stepped in and we’re taking care of it. She will legally adopt Katelynn and the Fenici ties will be broken.”

He waits to see what my response is, but this is not the time or place for a statement. So I shut my f**king mouth and wait.

“So,” he says as he exhales a long breath of held-in air. “What do you really want?”

“I want what she wanted when she came back to America. A chance to put things to rest.”

“And that it’s?” He watches me with a critical eye.

“That’s it, Mr. Li. That’s all I want. I’m very busy. I’m supposed to leave the country tonight, but I will cancel and wait this out. I don’t need this job. I don’t need to work, as I’m sure you’re well aware. It’s a hobby for me. So I’ll wait. But one thing’s for certain, I will get a final word with Ashleigh. Somehow, some way.”

He’s silent for a long time and I know I’ve won. He’s running the logistics around in his head. Finally, after several full minutes he delivers his terms. “You can follow me to the family home and if Ashleigh is willing, you may have five minutes.”

“Agreed. That’s more than enough.”

Li relaxes back into his seat and smiles. Confident.

“I’m ready now, Mr. Li.”

He stands and gives me an open gesture with both hands. “Proceed.”

We walk back out of the office and we hit up the back door this time. “Where’s your car?”

“One street over on Fifth.”

“I’ll drop you off and you can follow me.”

Chapter Forty-Four

“I don’t know,” my deaf assistant says as we follow the black Mercedes up the 5 freeway.

“I don’t care. Just shut the hell up about it.”

“He’s dangerous. What if he comes after me?”

“He thinks you’re Pam, Evelyn. He has no idea who you are.”

“But he will as soon as this shit is over. I’ve got a license. He can check up on me.”

“You’re coming with me afterward. What’s the f**king problem?”

“Who the hell are you? Just some rich kid, some spoiled rich kid. You’re a movie producer. How are you going to take care of this?”

“Evelyn, you’re in, dammit. You cannot back out now, he already saw you.”

She’s silent for a while and I feel bad. Ford, that stupid inner voice says. She’s helping you out, reassure her. “OK, look, here’s my assessment of Li, OK? He loves his daughters. He’s worried about Ashleigh’s state of mind and the new genetic ties with that other crime family, right? He’s just trying to make things right in his own way, but when we do this—together,” I emphasize—“he’ll see we’re right, he’s wrong, things are good, and no hard feelings.”

I look over to catch her reaction and she’s rolling her eyes. “You’re full of shit. He’s a white-collar mobster, he’s got people who kill for him, and he’s coming after us as soon as we pull out of his driveway.”

I chew on this for a second. “Yeah, probably.”

She shoots me a what the f**k look.

And then we both laugh. Because honestly, it’s crazy as shit to mess with this guy, but I have no choice. Ash said fight for her. I just have no choice, I have to show the f**k up and fight for her.

We follow Li’s car when he gets off at the Solana Beach exit. We bypass all those fools turning left who think living near the ocean is an acceptable trade-off for the congestion and traffic and turn right to head up into the eucalyptus-covered hills of Rancho. The road winds like crazy around the canyons and finally we come to a stop in front of an exquisite stone-walled property with an equally impressive gate.

A house guard appears with a sidearm and I can tell Evelyn is getting nervous again. “Just relax. This is not the time to panic. We’ll be fine.”

Li’s car moves forward and the guard shoots us a dirty look as we follow and pass by. Ashleigh was lying when she said my house in Bel Air trumped this massive piece of prime real estate in San Diego County. They must have ten acres at least. Ten acres in Rancho Santa Fe. It’s mind-boggling. There are tall trees on both sides of the driveway and it takes a full minute to actually reach the house, that’s how long and windy this driveway is.

“You think he has all this land so when he kills people like us, no one hears it?”