Page 32 of Playing for Keeps

“I want to talk about your father,” Lee finally told me. I didn’t react. I didn’t need to. I knew what he wanted from me. All it took was twenty minutes on my computer, hacking into his and rifling through his files. “Frankie won't talk about it.”

Frankie didn’t like the seedy side of my father’s life, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. It was the side that damn near ruined her life, and would have had she not been the strong woman she is.

“I'm interested in the people he knows,” Lee pressed.

“Just to be clear,” I threw out after a long pause, “my father isn't in the mob.”

The skin under my eye twitched as I tried to control the smile that was begging to cut across my face at Lee’s reaction.

Horrified.

His head jerked back and he blinked rapidly.

His eyes flicked to the exit and back and he pulled his hand across his short beard.

“I didn't... That’s not...”

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. I knew this man. Knew him long before he helped rescue my sister this summer. I started looking into him the minute my father came home after meeting Lee for the first time, all full of rage and fear and self-doubt.

A little prodding went a long way. Kept me out of the limelight and helped the man track down my cousin’s would-be killer. He had skills; they just paled in comparison to my own.

“Look, Vinny,” Lee said, lowering his voice again as he leaned across the table toward me. “I don't want mob connections. I want new blood. New clients.”

My head dipped to urge him on. I knew that’s what he wanted. I just couldn't resist throwing him further off his game.

“Our trip to New York to help your sister,” he continued, his eyes flashing back and forth between mine, “it made me realize how much better we can be. And what we have at risk if something like this were to happen again.”

My eyes narrowed at the unexpected path his words were forging. “Explain.”

“Barnes.” That one word, that name, made me clench my fist in my lap. I took a slow sip of my whiskey as he continued, “I never should have brought him along. Fucker never changed. Woulda liked to fuckin’ throw him out the plane before we got there. Woulda, if we didn't need the body.”

Lee sucked in a breath. “And Cael? Shit. Thought we fucked up big bringing that kid along.”

A frown pulled at my lips. Cael Waldeburg was the youngest member of Lee’s security team. Newly married with a brand-new baby. The man got shot, grazed with a bullet, while helping save my sister. It was too close to home for Mitch, and I assumed for Lee, as well. They’d already lost men back when they were in the service. To this day, that loss still affected Mitch.

“I need new men. I need men to handle these kinds a things that ain't gonna make me fuckin’ lose sleep at night. I'm hopin’ Marco’s got some names he could pass along, men who could use the work if and when the time comes.”

With my frown still in place, I asked, “You expect something else to happen?”

Lee shook his head as a crooked grin pulled at his lips. “I wanna change the company, change what we do. We’re already doing personal protection, but I think we can do more.”

“Like?” I prompted.

“Surveillance. Investigations. Wanna expand things, get more in depth in the security business.”

“What’s Frankie think?”

Lee huffed out a breath at the mention of his business partner, the money behind the company, the woman who helped set him up and get him started. The one who’d been running too much of the day-to-day.

“You know how she is,” he said, a sadness I didn't expect coming into his voice. “With Corey and now Vivian, the wedding and the fuckin’ trials, things have changed. She’s pulling back, not willing to take on new clients right now. And I get it. After everything...”

I glanced away from him for the first time since I sat down.

Yes, things had changed.

“And that brings me to the other thing I wanna discuss.”

Lee threw back the last of his beer and pushed his stein to the edge of the table. His eyes lingered near the bar and I scrutinized his face. Because this something else? I hadn't anticipated it. Whatever it was, it had him fidgeting. Sweat trickled down his temples and he looked like he was ready to bolt. When his eyes locked on mine, I felt it like his full weight was bearing down on me. He leaned in, his hands steepled in front of him.