Page 2 of The Bargain (Dalton Family #2)

Chapter Two

Ethan

I escape the hellish meeting with my father to end up locked down in a traffic jam, and, eager to get back to Sofia, I decide enough is enough, and exit the car, hiking it back to the hotel in five minutes I’m certain would have taken me an hour.

I’m not sure what the gift shop has besides a coffee bar, but I want to take something upstairs to Sofia.

I step inside when Anna appears by my side.

“Ethan.”

“What the hell?”

I turn to face her only to find she, too, has cleavage for miles, and it irritates the fuck out of me. If Sofia sees her with me, dressed like that, on top of my father’s rudeness, I’m going to be kicked to the curb. “What are you doing here? Are you following me?”

“I asked Tabitha to tell me when you left Dalton.”

I knew there was a reason I didn’t like that woman. “What are you up to now, Anna?”

“There’s trouble. Grant is in trouble.”

“That’s your problem. He’s your husband.”

“I don’t know why I’m even trying to help you. He’s pulled us all into trouble. He’s pulled Dalton into the mix but you’ll figure that out, when it’s too late.” She starts to walk away.

Damn it , I think, and grab her arm. “Just spit it out.”

“Why? You won’t give an ounce of merit to what I say.”

“I’m listening.” I release her, all too aware, of how bad me touching her would look to Sofia, who is thankfully in the room.

“Fine,” she says, and indicates a small table. “Can we sit?”

I rub my palm over the tension knotting at the back of my neck and drop my hand, motioning that direction. “Make it fast.” I move to the location she’s indicated and sit down with her claiming the seat across from me.

“It’s bad,” she says.

“Talk fast,” I order brusquely. “You have about a minute to get my attention, or I’m getting up.”

Her brow crinkles, and there is a chide in her tone as she snaps, “Don’t be an asshole,” at me, as distasteful as everything else about her. How I convinced myself I could spend my life with her, I do not know.

“Thirty seconds,” I warn. “Not a second longer.”

“I made a mistake,” she says quickly. “Grant and I—”

“You married him, Anna. So, whatever you plan to say, keep it to yourself. I’m not interested.”

“I know I hurt you, and I—”

“You saved me from a foolish business deal that was never going to last. If that is what this is about, go back to your husband, my brother. This conversation never happened.”

Tears well in her eyes, and she must think I don’t know how easily she uses puppy dog eyes and tears to manipulate those around her, or rather, the men around her.

“I came here to help you.” She holds up her hands.

“I didn’t mean to make this— this . Us.” She curls her fingers into her palms. “He’s—Grant’s gotten involved with some shady investors.

I did some digging and there are rumors they have mob ties.

I’m certain he’s using these pet projects to funnel money to these people in some way.

The health food company he’s dealing with right now, it’s some sort of shell company. ”

“Grant is not involved with the mob. Why would he do that? He has full access to the family money.”

She leans in closer. “He’s taking calls privately, throwing around money, and he’s secretive about these pet projects in ways that feel off. If this is the mob, we’re all screwed.”

Grant ? I think. That’s impossible. He’s not that stupid. Then again, he’s stupid as fuck at times. “Are you sure he’s not having an affair?”

“That man wouldn’t have it in him to fuck any more than he’s constantly trying to fuck me.

More like he’s trying to fuck us all. If he gets in debt to the wrong people or drags us all into legal hell or mob hell, then what?

I didn’t sign-up for this kind of foolishness.

I can’t live like this. I need out before I go down with him.

He’s just so damn competitive with you. I think—I think he sees nothing else.

I don’t know what to do but leave his ass. ”

“Have you told my father?”

“He’ll blow me off. You know he will. And I’m only sitting here because I owe you.”

No, she’s sitting here, because she’s self-serving, and this is all about saving herself in some way. “I’ll look into it. Go home. Now.”

“That’s it?” she demands. “What if your father gets pulled into this?”

“I’ll look into it,” I bite out.

Her eyes go wide at my tone. “You’re such a dick.”

I shift to get up, when I realize I cannot let my brother fuck us all over. I need her to find out more information. I have to be willing to work with her. “If this is real, we need to communicate.”

“That was the whole idea, asshole.”

“Find out what you can. Contact me with anything of importance, but be smart about how you do it. Use your office phone, not your cell. Grant is volatile. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he sees us communicating.”

“No kidding,” she grinds out. “He has a meeting in a few days with these ‘investors.’ I heard him set it up. I’ll follow him and find out who they are.”

I give a short nod and when I would get up, she grabs my arm.

“I regret the day I slept with that man and lost you.” She releases me before I can jerk my arm away, gets up, and walks away.

And far away is where I want her. The problem is I know her too well and if she uses me to taunt Grant, it’s going to be hell for all of us. I’m already on my feet, and in pursuit.

“Anna,” I call out.

When she turns, I’m in front of her, trying not to make a scene in public. “What, Ethan?” she snaps.

“If I find out this is a game, and you’re using me against Grant, you will be sorry.”

“Oh fuck you, Ethan. Fuck. You.” She pokes at my chest. “You think you are so superior. You aren’t.”

A woman tries to pass us to enter the coffee shop, and I’m forced to step back and give her space to pass between me and Anna.

The minute I step closer to Anna again, she turns and walks away.

Again, I pursue, but the damn bellman gets between me and her.

By the time I reach her, she’s slid inside the back of a hired car.

By the time I’m at the door, it’s pulling away.

I curse and scrub my jaw, before walking back inside the hotel, and making my way back to my table in the coffee shop. Anna’s a manipulator but she rarely blows smoke. If there is trouble brewing, I need to get ahead of it. I dial Harper. She answers on the first ring. “Ethan. What’s up?”

“I need to meet. Now. Where are you?”

“Actually, right by your hotel. I had a meeting this direction. You want me to come there?”

“The hotel coffee shop. How soon?”

“Three minutes. Get me a vanilla latte.”

Once I have a cup in hand for her, she’s at my table. “I’m here. Obviously. My clients are exhausting me today. Not you. Not Sofia. But others.”

She dumps her stuff at the table. “Let me go to the ladies’ room, and we’ll dig in.

” She rushes away, and I curse under my breath over my tardy return to Sofia and pull my phone from my pocket, attempting to call her.

A fast busy signal follows that has me cursing all over again.

The service in this area is notoriously bad, and I try her two more times and the hotel once.

I’m about to step outside and try there when Harper returns and sits down in front of me. “All right. Tell me what happened from the time you and Sofia were at my office to now. And before you say anything, she’s a keeper. Don’t fuck this up.”

“She’s also waiting on me in a hotel room, which is why I’m trying to make this fast. Anna cornered me.

She says Grant’s gotten into something dirty.

Shady investors, she called them. The mob, more specifically, which I’d say is crazy, maybe an exaggeration, but the more I think about this, the more I’m reminded that Grant is good at finding trouble. ”

“Oh shit,” she murmurs, sipping her coffee as if it were the alcoholic beverage I need right now.

“And the family business is involved?” She holds up a hand.

“Irrelevant. If Grant’s tangled up with the mob, they’ll drag everything and everyone close to him into the mix.

Money borrowed must be repaid. Promises made must be kept.

The law won’t help you, because there is no law to what they do.

And before you ask how I know so much about this, I had a client get in bed with them. He’s dead now.”

That hits like a steel ball in the chest, and despite the logic in her words, I’m far from accepting. “If this is true—and I can’t know that it is, it’s Anna, after all, feeding me this information—there has to be a way to get him out without a bloody or broke outcome.”

“Pay up and pay fast before they claim huge interest, or ownership, of entities outside the original agreement. The mob has a weak definition of what is yours and a strong one of what is theirs. For instance, you share his last name and Grant’s bloodline.

They can spin those things in scary ways. I’ve seen it happen.”

“I hope like hell this is just Anna spinning stories to manipulate me for reasons I have yet to discover but at the core are always self-serving.”

“I’d tell you to assume as much, play dumb, and just go to Paris, but the mob is far reaching, and your interests are linked to your brother’s. You need to get the truth out of Grant.”

“That’s not going to happen. There’s only one solution. I need to get to the truth all by myself.”

She narrows her eyes on me and motions with her finger. “I see your wheels in motion. What are you going to do?”

“Hire a PI firm to find out if this is real. Then I have something solid to go on with my father.”

“I know someone. Walker Security. They’re the best. Why don’t I hire them to offer you a buffer?”

“I don’t want you to place yourself in the line of fire.”

“I’ve used them before. I’m not going to get linked to you on this. Not like this. And they have offices right next door to me. I’ll walk in. No calls. No record of what I wanted. Let me have them dig around.”

“Do it. The sooner the better.”

“I’ll talk to them today. Any budget?”

“The ‘save my ass’ budget will do.”

“Got it. No budget but they’re honest. They won’t screw you around.”

I push to my feet. “I’ll get you a car.”

She’s already standing, sliding her briefcase onto her shoulder. “I’m good.” She motions to her Apple Watch. “I like my steps. Be careful.”

A complicated direction, but exactly why I’ve been thinking of walking away from the family business.

If I’m smart, and I try to be, this new development should be the feather that breaks my back and pushes me away.

I walk Harper outside and wait for her to disappear around a corner, before I finally head back inside the hotel and seek out the elevators, actually shocked at how much I want to see Sofia right now.

Normally, in a situation like this one, I’d want to be alone.

Instead, I want to be buried inside her, the floral scent of her drowning me in her sweetness.

But as I open the door, I sense the emptiness.

I know she’s gone, but I don’t feel the slice of the emotional blade until I spy a piece of paper where it sits in the center of the bed, a gnawing feeling in my belly.

I cross and snatch it up, reading the words with the impact of that steel ball to the gut all over again.

Ethan, business and pleasure don’t mix. We both know it’s true. We both know this was a mistake. But thank you for everything.

Goodbye, Sofia

The thin paper crumples in my hand, and my lashes lower, my jaw grinding.

That note couldn’t get any colder. She's gone. And considering she’s walked out on me two times now, it’s time to accept I want this far more than she does.

It’s time to let her go, but as I toss that ball of paper into the trashcan, I know I’m going for three.