Page 50 of Collateral Claim

“You said I can have it back.”

Endo’s gaze is on my lips. “I didn’t say when.”

“You’re a liar.”

“I never pretended to be anything other than who I am. From the start, I told you the truth. I want my brother. That’s the reason you’re here. You can have your phone back when I think you’ll persuade your father to work faster. Or when I think Wilfred might call.”

“Wilfred has no business calling me. He’s just a man who works for my father.”

“He wants to be more.”

I tilt my head. “What are you saying?”

“Wilfred is interested in the trade. In the busin…”

Thunder muffles his voice, but I make outbusinesswell enough.

“I don’t care what he’ll do,” I shout over the downpour. “I want my phone back.”

“Not today.”

“Fuck you, Endo Macarley. I’m walking.”

Chapter 21

Walk it off

Endo

I watch Scarlett walk away. She does have a nice figure, particularly her hips and ass.

I stride after her, Dec with the dog in a crate beside me. “What’s it say about a man when a woman would rather walk over a dozen miles in the pouring rain than get into a luxury car and ride with him?”

Dec gives me a side-eye. “Is that a rhetorical question, or do you want me to answer?”

“It’s rhetorical.” It says the man is an asshole, and she wants nothing to do with him.

I don’t know why I’m surprised. I guess I thought she would make a logical choice and not an emotional one, but there goes the girl who galloped on a horse bareback. What’s a little walk in the rain for her?

Scarlett takes a right onto the main street. At least she’s going the right way. Declan and I drive slowly beside her.

If she were anyone else, I wouldn’t bother. But she is my collateral, and I watch over her. This woman must be leveraged for Cass, and that’s the only reason I’m putting up with her theatrics.

Declan turns up the radio. Soft rock drifts through the speakers. The silence between Dec and me feels like a normal Tuesday, but it’s anything but. Daniel Pembroke is proving to be a formidable enemy. When I took his precious daughter, I thought he would cave and confess what happened to Cass. But he’s kept up with his lies.

“You think he’s buying time?” I ask. When I look over, he’s watching Scarlett, and I recognize that look. Declan likes women who are older than him.

“Dec?”

“Hm?”

“Keep your eyes on the road.”

“My eyes are all over the road, boss.”

The unreasonable urge to press my thumbs against his eyes and push them into his skull almost overcomes me. I growl. “Drive beside her, not behind her.”

My nephew snickers. “Something bothering you?”