New me had been a fragile shell. Old me was made of stronger stuff, but even the strongest brick would break when the weight of the entire world decided to rest on it.
Chapter 2
Titus
IT SHOULDN’T HAVE SURPRISED me how well my brother’s girlfriend was taking the news about her father’s murder. After all, she had never met the guy and he had tried to hire the city’s worst and most violent criminal to murder her, but there was something about Dovie that just screamed goodheartedness and sweetness. I often forgot that she had to have a core of concrete, reinforced with rebar, in order to stand toe-to-toe with my thug of a younger sibling and to survive in the Point.
Race was another story. I expected rage, anger, fury . . . I expected anything but the icy indifference that seemed to cloak him as soon as I gave the two of them the news. There was no love lost between Race and his old man. In fact, more than once threats had been tossed around, and had Reeve not materialized out of the blue with her outrageous story, I would have put Race and my brother at the top of my suspects list for the old man’s murder.
Neither man made it a secret that they thought Lord Hartman deserved to take a long walk off of a short pier, but Race’s frozen expression as he shifted his gaze between me and his sister told me that there was also still a part of him that wanted to grieve the loss of his parent, no matter how awful that parent may have been. Dovie must have sensed it too because she reached out a hand, put it on Race’s shoulder, and gave it a squeeze.
“How did it happen? Did Novak’s guys find out where the feds took him?”
I rubbed the back of my neck and turned the cell phone I had in my hand over and over so that the corner tapped on the messy surface of the desk. I was dying to open it and scroll through the messages, not just for the information but also to see if the raven haired beauty was actually on the up-and-up. There was something about her, something that stuck with me the first time she walked into the precinct and told me she had dirt on Novak, that she had made a deal with the gangster to kill her sister’s boyfriend. I’d never seen anyone so calm and collected when admitting to a felony before. I had never seen anyone so composed when they were pretty much throwing the rest of their life away, and I would never forget how endlessly dark and unreadable her navy-blue gaze was as she candidly admitted to relaying Dovie’s location to Novak’s goons as repayment for the hit he had carried out upon her request. Reeve was the reason Dovie got snatched off the street and the reason I had been forced to watch my brother, my only family, put a gun to his head with every intention of pulling the trigger to save not only his lady but me as well. Even with that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the beautiful backstabber since the feds had whisked her off after she agreed to testify against the rest of Novak’s crew if they could guarantee her immunity and a new life.
“No, we don’t think it was anyone from Novak’s crew. I’m looking into it.”
Race lifted a gold-tinted eyebrow and the corner of his mouth pulled down. “More dirty cops?”
That was what made Race so dangerous and why he had been the clear choice to take over the long-running criminal enterprise once Novak was out of the picture. He was just so damn smart. He could see the dots connecting before they were even laid out.
“I’m not ready to say that yet. I’m looking into it.” I blew out a deep breath. “I called Bax and Brysen. I thought you would want to tell them what was going on in person.” The real reason I had called in reinforcements was because I wasn’t sure how their reactions were going to play out. Bax would protect Dovie from anything that hurt her, including the news of her father’s demise, and now I thought that Brysen was the only person that could snap Race out of the frigid shock he seemed to be encased in. I was a cop. I never underestimated how beneficial backup could be.
Dovie gave a small grin and shook her head at me a little. “You wanted Bax here because you want to make sure he doesn’t go off and do something stupid when he finds out.”
Race snorted and shoved his hands through his shaggy hair. “How does the old man’s murder fit in with everything else that has been going on, Titus?”
RECENTLY, THE POINT HAD seen the working girls scared to do their thing because one of them had taken a beating meant to kill, just as the city’s dirtiest, nastiest club went up in flames, taking too many regulars with it as it burned to the ground. On top of that, Race’s prized, vintage car had been incinerated right in front of this very police station and bodies had begun piling up for no other reason than to prove a point. Novak was gone and that made the city fair game—at least that was what the initial interpretation had been. Now, with Reeve’s revelations and Hartman being taken out, I had a feeling something bigger was at play. Killing Dovie’s old man and attempting to kill Race as well didn’t do anything for the city. They were motivated by revenge pure and simple. Someone didn’t like the fact that Race and his business partner, Nassir Gates, had picked up right where Novak had left off. Burning the club down screwed Nassir and struck right at the heart of what was most important to him, his money and his girls. The same could be said for the destruction of Race’s car. He loved that damn car, and even though his dad was a bastard, it was obvious that Race still cared for him. The attacks seemed more pointed now than they had before.
I sighed again and just gave Race a look that he could interpret any way he wanted. He was bright enough to know exactly what I thought without me having to lay it all out in front of him. I got to my feet and walked around where he and Dovie were sitting.
“Let me go give Bax and Brysen the rundown and then you guys can head out. If I don’t fill Bax in, I have about five seconds before he comes through the security glass anyway.” My cell phone had been buzzing and pinging with impatient messages from my younger brother since he hit the front doors of the station. Nothing, not even bulletproof glass and an army of weapon-packing police personnel, would keep Bax from Dovie if he thought she needed him. “You guys take a couple minutes together if you need it.”
I was at the door when Dovie’s soft voice stopped me.
“Why is Reeve back, Titus? What does she have to do with everything that’s going on?”
I gave her a hard look and pulled the door open. My eyes immediately saw my brother and Race’s pretty blond girlfriend. I cringed when I also saw that Reeve’s timing had been bad and she was currently being caged in and growled at by Bax. My younger brother had intimidation down to an art form, and I hated to admit that I didn’t blame him for the blatant hatred that was pouring off of him as he appeared to be chewing out the slender young woman.