Page 163 of What Started In Deception

Will huffed out a laugh. “You make it sound like it’s just that simple.”

He blew out a breath, remembering similar conversations with Lydia at the beginning of their fake relationship. “It’s not simple, but you’re going to have to convince him that the storage unit is the better option.”

“Do you have any ideas on how I should do that?”

Ty blew out another breath as he thought back to the afternoon that he and Lydia had spent at Monroe House, thinking of their potential options. “Maybe the air-conditioning’s been on the fritz, and someone’s coming in to fix it.”

Will raised his brow. “At three o’clock in the morning?”

Ty rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yeah, okay, so that wasn’t great. Uh… Maybe a pipe burst last night, and there’s water everywhere.”

Will perked up. “That could work, but what if he wants to come by and check it out?”

“Then we’ll head up there and get some water on the floor. It’s concrete, so it’s not going to hurt anything.”

Will nodded. “Yeah, I guess that could work.”

Ty struggled to stay patient with Will’s lack of confidence. Everything was riding on the line with this new operation. For Will, for Mason, and for himself. They had to get it right. “You’re going to have to sell it better than that. You need to be panicked. You just got a call. It’s a mess. Stuff is ruined. There’s water everywhere.”

Will nodded again. “Yeah, okay.”

Just then, Ty’s phone rang. He snatched it up, hoping to see Lydia’s gorgeous face filling his screen. But it was Mason. “Hey, what’s up?”

“We’ve got the unit. Coolidge Storage. Off Second Street. Unit 1333. It’s climate-controlled.”

Ty nodded. “I like it. Thanks.”

“So, what’s the plan now?” Mason asked.

“My guy and I are about to feed Russo a story about why he wants to deliver his stuff to Coolidge Storage instead of dropping it off at the original location.”

“Okay. Keep me informed.”

“Will do.” He hung up again. “Let’s get Russo on the phone.”

Will clenched his jaw as he looked to the ceiling.

“Do you want me to listen in?”

Will stood now, grabbing his phone. “Yeah. No. I think it might make me nervous if you do.”

Damn, this was killing him. Yet another conversation that sounded like one that he and Lydia had had. “You need to do what’s going to work for you.”

“I’ll put it on speaker if it seems like it’s going sideways.”

Ty nodded, grabbing a pad of Everly’s drawing paper and a purple crayon. “I’ll keep this handy just in case you need some help.”

Will nodded as he blew out a breath. “Okay. Here goes.” He found a number in his phone and selected it. “Richard. Thank God. Yeah, I’m freaking out, man. I just got a call from one of our volunteers at Monroe House. The pipe under the sink in the main warehouse burst.” Will met Ty’s eyes as he paced back and forth. “I’m going to head up that way now, but it sounds like it’s an absolute mess. There are two or three inches of water on the floor. A bunch of shit is ruined. I need to call the insurance guy. Christ, this is a disaster.”

Ty nodded his approval as Will paced another round. The guy was a hell of an actor.

“I don’t know,” Will continued. “I’ll try to have stuff cleaned up, but they’re still trying to get the water shut off…”

Ty wrote Lock it up. Tell him about the storage unit.

“But I know I owe you,” Will continued. “You’ve helped me out a lot, and I want to come through on my end. My family has a storage unit that we keep for our holiday overflow.”

Ty wrote Coolidge Storage. Off Second St. Climate-controlled. Unit 1333.