You go home and see if your brother and his wife will take you in. This place belonged to my family, and now it’ll go to my grandson.”
“Daddy, wait.” Emma tried to keep him from going inside the barn until the agents had cleared the yard. If Cain turned around and did try to come back now, all of them would be sorry.
“I’ll give you the money to fly to New Orleans if you want to, and I’ll check on Hannah every day over at Maddie’s while you’re gone. If you don’t, then there’ll be no more tears and asking ‘what if.’ It’ll be done.”
Emma tried hard not to cry in front of her father again. “I don’t know where to even begin, Daddy.”
“At the beginning, Emma. You need to give Cain the same chance you gave her at the beginning of your relationship. Because somewhere along the way you forgot what she meant to you and your children. Look where your blind judgment of Cain has landed you. She has a lot to atone for when it comes to you, but you aren’t without blame. She stole Hayden from you, but what you’ve done with Hannah, that’s not right either.”
“I’ll try, Daddy.”
“That’s all you can do.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“The folks at the pub are going to get jealous.” Merrick sat next to Cain as the driver took them to Emerald’s, Cain’s other nightclub, for the fifth night in a row. They were meeting with some of the players in the deal Cain had going and, much to her discomfort, they had left all their electronic playthings at home. Cain didn’t seem to be too concerned as to who else was listening in on all these very public meetings.
“What are you, my agent?”
“No, arling’, just the eyes in the back of your head,” she joked as the car rolled to a stop and the doorman bent to open the back door. Tonight was business, so she took her post behind Cain, scanning the crowd waiting outside for any familiar faces. Cain was more than capable of taking care of any threat that came from the front.
Cain stopped toward the head of the line and stared at a woman standing with two men, waiting to get in. She couldn’t believe she had the guts to show up here, and with company, no less. Time to put her reputation to work and get a date for the evening.
“Morris, let the lady and her friends in.” She pointed to the group. “They’re with me.”
“Thanks. I thought we’d have to stand there all night. Who’s that?” the blonde asked the bouncer, referring to Cain.
“The name is Cain, and it’s a popular club, miss,” she whispered in the woman’s ear as they made their way to the door. “People can’t wait to take a walk with the devil, even if it’s just for the night.”
“I’ve heard it can be quite unforgettable if you let yourself go.” Shelby tried to keep it clean since the small evening bag she was carrying had a powerful receiver.
“Can I interest you in a drink?”
“It’s the least I can do since you were so kind to get me out of that line.” Shelby wrapped her hand around Cain’s bicep and trusted her two work companions to keep up.
In the van parked a half a block away, three other agents listened to the conversation, not surprised Shelby had been noticed right away. She looked hot in the dress she’d chosen for the night’s assignment. Surprisingly, Casey had done the picking up.
“Just like a bitch in heat,” Kyle commented as the technicians adjusted the device in Shelby’s purse to drop out as much background noise as possible. They could easily hear the conversation over the loud dance music. “What an idiot. She didn’t learn her lesson from the first blonde who burned her ass.”
“What will you have?” Cain asked her at the end of the bar, which sent the staff into action. The bartender walked its length to reach Cain, ignoring angry customers who were screaming they were there first. “A mojito, perhaps?”
“Doesn’t that mean ‘little wet one’?”
“Well, I’d suggest something else, but I don’t know of a drink that connotes staying dry.” Cain’s joke referred to what had almost happened a week before on Vincent’s plane.
“How about just a club soda, since I’m not much of a drinker?”
“You heard the lady, Charlie. Club sodas all around.” Cain could see her guest, Vinny Carlotti, had arrived and was being escorted to her private table. Vinny’s entourage was shaking hands with her people. “Would you like to join me for a bit?”
Shelby was shocked Cain would even suggest it. She had tried unsuccessfully to get a transfer to another division since the night she’d met Cain. Her hostess had to know she was carrying some sort of listening device, but she didn’t seem to care.
“I’m just here for the music.”
Kyle almost blew the top off the van when Shelby gave that answer. To have Casey invite her into the inner sanctum of whatever was going on wasn’t an opportunity that came along too often.
“Trust me. You can hear it from over there.” Cain pointed to her table.
“If you’re sure.”
“What’s your name, arling’?”
“Shelby Phillips, and yours?”
“Like I said, why don’t you just call me Cain? Come on. Charlie will bring those drinks over to us.”
Shelby took the offered hand, and Merrick cut a path through the dancers for them as they made their way to the other side of the club.
