Page 64 of His Lair

“I think it’s been enough time. I want you to come back,” I tell her. “We can’t work anything out if you’re not here.”

“I’m coming back, after this wedding next weekend,” she says.

That has my eyes flicking towards the invitation on my desk. I pick it up and actually read it for the first time. “What did you say your dad did again?” I ask Lailani. It can’t be a coincidence that my mother’s wedding is in Arizona.Next weekend.

“I didn’t,” she answers. “He was a cop, well, a detective. He’s retired.”

“Was he dirty?”

“No.” Lailani sounds offended.

“Does he know what you do?”

“He does. It’s kind of why our relationship is strained,” she says.

“Yeah, I can see how that would cause issues.” I laugh. Her father is a cop. Well. A retired cop, and she’s a fucking assassin. Why do I feel like I’ve stepped into a Hollywood movie? “This friend of his, his name wouldn’t be John by any chance, would it?”

“It is. Why?”

“John is marrying my mother,” I groan.

“Your mother? Oh god, no. Wait… Do you know John?” Lailani whispers.

“Never met him.”

“He’s… How did your mother meet him? He’s not a good person, Sammie.”

My back straightens. “What do you mean?”

“My dad wasn’t dirty, but John sure as fuck was.” It’s still odd to hear Lailani curse. How she managed to go so long without doing it or being her real self around me really is a sign of just how good she is at her job.

“How dirty? What do you know about him?”

“I know that I wouldn’t want him marrying my mother,” she tells me.

“I can’t stop my mother once she gets her mind on something. She wants me at this wedding.”

“I’ll be there. You’ll be okay,” Lailani says, more to herself than to me. “Okay, John doesn’t know I know he’s dirty. But I’ve looked into him once during a stake out. After that, I went on a deep dive. He’s got aninwith the Santiagos.”

“The Santiagos?”

Fucking hell, they’re a mob family from California. A family that has tried and failed to creep their way onto The Strip. We’ve stopped them every time, but the fact that this dirty cop is marrying my mother isn’t a coincidence. He’s planning something. I just need to figure out what it is.

“I’ll figure out a way to stop the wedding,” I say. Even if I have to kidnap my own mother and lock her in a room.

“Want me to do anything?” Lailani asks.

“Just turn up. I’ll see you there,” I tell her.

“Okay.”

“Oh, and after next weekend, you are coming home with me.” It’s not a question.

“Okay,” she repeats before ending the call.

I lean back in my chair and look up at the ceiling. My mother is marrying a dirty fucking cop. It’s worse than if she were marrying a clean one. Then again, at least it makes sense now. A dirty cop using her to get to me—I understand that. I could never wrap my head around the other scenario.

Chapter Twenty-Eight