Rowan insisted on staying in the guest room. I figured she’d been through enough for one day to argue, but I wasn’t happy about it. My entire being vibrated with annoyance knowing her soft body was right there in my house, yet still out of my reach. Between my irritation and racing thoughts about how to handle our situation, I hardly slept.
As though manifested by my mood, the next day began under heavy skies and sheets of pouring rain. Bad weather meant traffic, which meant it took us an extra half hour to drive to her parents’ place on the Upper East Side. More time to think, for better or worse. Specifically, I thought about the conversation I was about to have with her father and how if I didn’t make this happen, Rowan would disappear in a heartbeat.
The suffocating emotions that thought had brought about while I lay in bed last night had become the foundation of a plan. I had to find a way to protect Rowan. Her father was influential but not powerful enough in the right circles to keep her safe—not with his steadfast determination to remain lawful. Not like my family. While we weren’t the biggest, baddest fish in the pond, we had a reputation and plenty of allies. If Rowan were connected to the Byrnes, it would shed a whole new light on the situation.
It looked like my father was getting his wish after all. Assuming I could orchestrate it all. I needed Evan Alexander’s cooperation, but if he knew the full extent of my plan, he’d never agree. I’d have to give him just enough information to accomplish my goals but not so much that he called the feds on me. It would be a delicate balance.
“You don’t have to walk me to the door,” Rowan tried to assure me after I parked out front of her parents’ house. “I’m pretty sure it’s safe enough.”
“I’m coming in to talk to your father.”
She stilled. “Are we going to tell him everything?”
“We aren’t doing anything. I am going to discuss matters with him while you go upstairs and make yourself scarce.”
Her jaw dropped in preparation of an argument. I held up my hand to stop her. “I don’t want to hear it. What I have to tell him won’t be easy. I don’t need you there adding fuel to his emotions. I need him to listen and understand how serious this is.”
Her lips came together in a thin line. “Fine, but I want a full report,” she grumbled as she opened the car door.
I’d reached out to Evan Alexander the night before to request a meeting. He flat-out refused until I told him Rowan was in danger. I left out the part about her staying at my place so that I didn’t end up with half the police force banging down my door. However, the way he eyed me when we entered the house told me he suspected as much and was pissed about it.
Adding an entirely separate layer of tension to the scene, Rowan didn’t greet her father with the same warmth she’d done the first time I saw them together. She bit her lip, peering up at him apologetically, then walked past to the stairs.
“Have a seat.” Alexander motioned to the living area. “I’d take this to my office, but it’s right across the hall from Rowan’s bedroom, and I get the sense this is a private conversation.”
“It is. A situation has developed.”
“That somehow involves you and my daughter? You get my girl into trouble?” He was already geared up to blame this on me. I’d come prepared for that and didn’t let it bother me. Soon enough, he’d know this was his own damn fault.
“About a week ago, Rowan heard a woman crying over at the Wellington house.”
Alexander stilled, his arms slowly uncrossing. “She mentioned it. I told her to let it go.”
“Well, she didn’t.” The gravity of my words was a physical force that caused him to clamp his eyes shut.
“A few days later,” I continued, “she went looking for answers and found a woman chained in a bedroom on the third floor.”
His eyes shot open. “Jesus Christ.” He turned around, jabbing his fingers through his hair.
I gave him a moment to process.
“Lawrence wouldn’t … he couldn’t. I’ve known him so long …” Whether it was denial or sheer ignorance, I wasn’t sure, but Evan Alexander was in complete shock about what his friend was into.
“None of this is going to be easy, but I need you to listen and understand. Rowan needs you.”
His spine stiffened before he turned around and met my stern gaze with cold determination. He might not have been a criminal, but he was a politician, so that wasn’t far off. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d faced adversity. “And how do you play into this?”
“She knew she needed help but didn’t want you involved. She was worried the fallout would rub off on you and your career. She came to me at the Moxy.”
He gripped the edge of the marble countertop and leaned against it, hanging his head toward his arms. “Why do I get the feeling this somehow gets worse?”
“Because it does. The woman being held captive is Russian. Rowan wanted to assure her we were working on freeing her, so she translated a message and went over when the family was supposed to be gone, but Lawrence Wellington returned, and he wasn’t alone.”
“Shit.” The exhaled curse was wrought with defeat.
“He and a man known as Damyon saw her in the house. She made it out, but they will have been able to tell she was up with the girl. They’ll know that she knows. And this man, Damyon? He’s utterly ruthless.”
Alexander’s body shook with shuddering breaths. In and out, minutes went by until he finally spoke.
“I knew he wasn’t totally above board, but I never imagined … This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have brushed her off.” He lifted his head just enough to meet my eyes, his glinting with fear. “I’ll hide her away.”
I cut my head to the side. “You’re a public figure. Everything about you is searchable—they’ll find her.”
He pushed away from the counter and stood tall, determination mingling with desperation. “I have security.”
“You think that means anything to them?” I pushed.
“Then we’ll get her into Witness Protection!” he shot back.
I took a menacing step forward, sensing my moment had come. “You prepared to lose your daughter forever?” I snarled. “Because that’s what happens if she goes in the system, and you know it. You’ll never see her again.”
“Then what?” he hissed, desperation bulging his eyes wide. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
I let the question linger and took a slow even breath before tossing the drowning man a life raft. “I have a solution, but you won’t like it.”
