Chapter 6

"You can't go in with us," Kelly hisses under her breath as we get closer to her building.

"I've told you that you're not going in alone." I agreed to let her go back and get something from her place, but I refuse to budge on leaving her side.

"Let's just get out of here," Marco suggests, and Kelly cuts her eyes at him.

"I need to get some things."

"Whatever it is, I can replace it," I tell her, but she's already shaking her head.

"Just let me go in and grab it and then I'll come right back out. If we all go in, there's a chance things could get ugly." I can see the fear in her eyes, which is why I'm not letting her go in alone.

"Not a chance," I say firmly. Looking around the neighborhood, I've already seen a few people watching us. I have a feeling if Kelly's father is home, he already knows I'm with her. I'm not willing to let her go in without me, and I'm not willing to leave Marco out here alone if the two of us go inside. "It's all three of us or none of us. What's it going to be?"

She presses her lips together tightly like she's made a decision but she's pissed about it. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

The building she lives in isn't great from the outside, but as soon as we step over the threshold, I can see that it's been kept up. There are a few guys in the stairwell that stop talking when they see me and then look between the three of us.

"Yo, Marco. Who"s the suit?" one of the guys asks, but Kelly pushes Marco toward the elevator and glares at them without responding.

The three of us are silent as we take the elevator to the top floor, and once again, I'm surprised at how nice it is. From the outside of the building, you'd think it would be falling in, but I have a feeling that's by design. Seems like someone doesn't want to draw the wrong kind of attention.

Kelly takes out her key and unlocks the door. When we walk inside, I'm not surprised to see a couple of men seated on the oversized couch in the living room. The older man in the chair barely glances at Kelly and Marco, but when his eyes land on me, they narrow.

"Who the fuck is that?" he says loudly enough to get the attention of everyone in the room.

"This is a friend of mine." Kelly's voice is almost a whisper, and I see her move in front of Marco protectively.

Her father stands up, and that's when it hits me. I know this man. My mind works rapidly, and then it"s my turn to move in front of Marco and Kelly to protect them. I hold out my hand and put on my best smile.

"Mr. Sledge, I'm Luke Hannover, a good friend of Paul's." He eyes my hand suspiciously as he steps forward, and after only a second of hesitation he takes it.

"You know Paul?" He looks over at Kelly, and out of the corner of my eye, I see her look down at the floor and nod.

"Yes, we're in the same line of work." I lean closer to him and do my best to put him at ease. "He told me you might be interested in doing business."

Vince Sledge is one of the biggest drug dealers in the city but manages to fly under the radar. Mostly because he has a lot of dirty cops in his back pocket. My company has had run-ins with a few of his clients, and when I was looking into Paul, his name came up. I never made the connection between Vince and Kelly because they don't have the same last name. I assumed Paul had gotten into trouble with him because of money or drugs, but that wasn't why I was looking into him. I was hired by Paul's dad to find anything criminal within the company. The rest of it he didn't seem interested in.

Putting together Kelly's engagement to Paul and her relationship to Vince Sledge makes sense now. Vince had something he needed from Paul and was willing to give his kids over to get it. As far as I could tell, Paul was forging documents to buy properties and then putting the money in a shell company overseas. He was laundering money, and I'd be willing to bet it was for this motherfucker right here.

"Interesting," Vince hedges as he lets go of my hand. "I heard Paul wasn't around anymore."

"Kelly, can you help me with my homework?" Marco asks, and she looks at her father and waits.

"Go on," Vince tells her. "I'll talk to your friend."

"I'd like that," I say to him, and it takes everything in me to not turn around and watch Kelly leave.

I hear her whisper to Marco as they leave the room, but I don't catch what it is. Hopefully she's getting whatever the fuck she needs so we can get the hell out of here. I don't like the look of the three guys still sitting on the couch but watching us intently.

A door closes somewhere behind me, and I try my best to look relaxed. "So as I was saying, I've spoken to Paul."

"How?" one of the guys on the couch asks, and when I look over at him, I see his pupils are so dilated it makes his eyes look solid black.

"I was the one that put him there."

"Keep talking," Vince tells me as he crosses his arms over his chest. I see the flash of metal inside his jacket, and I'm well aware that all of them are probably armed.

"I run security for the financial firm Paul was using to help you out." If Vince is surprised by the information, he doesn't show it. "I didn't have any problems with what he was doing. In fact, the two of us talked about me getting in on the action."

I'm working on the fly here, but I have a feeling Vince might already know who I am from Paul, and it's better not to lie about my ties to him. He could also search my name online and find my company. He's used to dealing with dirty cops, so what's the harm in one more?

"And who the fuck said you could do that?" Couch Guy asks again, and I'm wondering if this is the new guy that's supposed to take Paul's place.

"No one." Again I don't address him but talk straight to Vince. "My problem with Paul is that he was using the merchandise on himself. Enough that he got sloppy."

Vince purses his lips but raises his chin for me to keep talking.

"I can get you the same deal he did at a better price. I know the ins and outs of that company, and better than Paul, I know how to cover my tracks. I think you and I could come to a mutually beneficial deal."

Vince cocks his head to the side, and I don't miss his slight glance toward the door Kelly and Marco walked through. "So what's in it for you?"

"Like I said, Paul and I were friends." I nod in the direction behind me. "I saw what he got as payment, and now that he's out of the way, I'm looking for the same."

"She's already spoken for," Couch Guy says, but Vince ignores him.

"I think we might be able to come to some kind of arrangement," Vince says coolly. "But first I want to see the money."