“You didn’t think so. You wanted to know if I knew this big secret. The one, I’m guessing, that would put me in danger with Burl.”
“Not only with him,” he said. Arching a brow, she wasn’t impressed. Beeks exhaled. “Forget about everyone else, Shyla. Score is dangerous. On his own he’s dangerous to be with.”
She couldn’t honestly believe that Beeks imagined Score would ever be violent with her. “If you think he’d ever hurt me, you don’t know him at all.”
“Hasn’t he already?”
That brought his point home. She’d thought the lawyer’s opinion was ridiculous at first. Except he was right. Score wouldn’t physically hurt her, but he had hurt her heart and her pride.
“I thought he cared,” she murmured, her attention drifting to the bar. “I really did.”
“I don’t doubt that he does. Caring doesn’t change what he is. He’s a dangerous man with dangerous links to dangerous people. You are not the type of woman who should be in a relationship with a criminal.”
“He isn’t a criminal,” she said, jumping to his defense. “Not anymore.”
Beeks wouldn’t be talking about Score’s spell in prison, his statement referred to his darker past with the McDades. When he didn’t respond to her assertion, she glanced his way. The grave expression he wore prickled the hair on the back of her neck.
“Shyla—”
“Oh God,” she whispered, in fathomless shock, twisting herself back to the bar. “This isn’t about the past. It’s nothing to do with the past…” She turned her head to look at Beeks. “You’re talking about now, about the future. He’s running something.” Beeks didn’t answer. “Tell me what it is. What is he into? What is he into that could hurt me? Something Burl wouldn’t want him to be into.”
After a score of silent seconds, Beeks inhaled. “He’s a McDade. Score is a McDade.”
Which meant? Damn, Shyla was frustrated. All she wanted was a straight answer. No one seemed willing to provide it. Beeks was right about one thing, it wasn’t simple. The deeper she went into the rabbit hole, the more messed up everything became.
“This isn’t my life,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “How am I supposed to make sense of this?”
“You trust him,” Beeks said.
When he laid a hand on her arm, she spun around, throwing it away. “You think I’m an idiot. A child. He thinks it too, he has to, he wouldn’t lie to me if he thought I could handle it.”
Score knew that she couldn’t take care of herself. Going from her grandfather’s to Stan’s then to Score’s, Shyla had never stood on her own two feet. She had never lived. Her brother had. Wyatt went out into the world and learned hard lessons. For whatever reason, he’d turned to crime, and that landed him in prison.
Maybe it was in their blood. It could be that Shyla was supposed to be involved in the darker side of life too and had somehow missed the signals.
“I have to get out of here,” she said, picking up her purse from the bar.
Beeks got up just a second after her. “Shyla, please… Come upstairs. Talk to Score.”
“If he wanted to talk to me, he would’ve come down himself.”
Not only that, but he would’ve told her the secret that was apparently keeping them apart. Going upstairs and looking into him would relax her; she’d breathe and convince herself to forget the red flags. Her naïve desire to be with the man would blind her to their reality all over again.
“Where are you going? When will you be back?” Beeks asked.
She turned, but didn’t have an answer. A few seconds went by and then she sighed. “I don’t know… I’ll get in touch when I need my things.”
Leaving it at that, Shyla departed the bar and the building. With so much unknown and many secrets, she couldn’t decide whether or not to accept whatever Score was doing. If he was doing something illegal, setting up his own racket, it could bite either of them on the ass. It would also impact their future family.
In all Score said about his father, Shyla never got the impression that he wanted to emulate the man. That could be the future for any children they had. Score would become Burl and their babies would be groomed to inherit Score’s empire.
Walking down the street, she began to understand why Burl would be unhappy about Score setting up on his own. That could take his business and would be an embarrassment. The man was used to ruling all McDades. Unless Score had his father’s permission, it would be an affront to the family to separate himself.
An affront that could lead to retribution. That had to be why Beeks asserted Burl would kill her. She would be the price for Score’s insubordination.
Something brought Shyla to that place. She couldn’t say exactly what it was. After leaving Beeks in the bar, and walking for a long time, she’d ended up crashing in a motel. The next morning, she woke up with a new sense of determination and a plan. Once the necessary calls were made and the paperwork filled out, Shyla waited for her authorization.
Eight days had gone by since she’d walked out of Score’s building. He hadn’t been in touch, no one had, but that was likely because she’d left her cellphone behind. Not on purpose, she’d taken it out before Stan’s service and hadn’t put it back. The radio silence kept her head clear. She needed that clarity to endure going to that place.
Shyla had never been to visit her brother in prison. Half of her
