Page 50 of Emeric

“I can’t tell you that.” The thing with Jordan was, if I told him, he wouldn’t just get involved; he’d take over. He’d do everything in his power to put a stop to a situation that involved someone who worked for him. Dragging him into this meant he would bring in others, and it would get bigger than it was.

“Either you tell me, or I’ll have Lawson dig.”

“I can do it,” I heard from Jordan’s phone, where it sat on the table. Jordan showed up at my hotel with guards in tow, then closed us into the conference room and immediately called his tech guy.

My sister stood in the corner of the room, arms crossed. She’d already told Jordan enough to have him drive right over here. I didn’t know she was doing it. Like most things involving my sister, I had no say. She did what she wanted, and I went along with it. It usually worked. Lana knew my boundaries and tried to stay within them. She’d never do anything to harm me. Annoy me, yes. Piss me off, of course. Hurt me, never.

Currently, she glared at me, not saying a word.

I sighed. There was no winning against them. Jordan would find out one way or another. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” I wasn’t sure how to be vaguer.

“That doesn’t matter,” Lana finally spoke.

My phone vibrated on the table, Oleander’s name on the screen. I wanted to reach for it to see how he was doing, but before I could, Jordan grabbed it, hit the screen to answer, and put it on speakerphone.

“Is someone dying or about to be killed?” Jordan asked.

“Not that I’m aware of?” was Oleander’s confused answer.

“Then he’ll call you back.” Jordan ended the call.

“Thanks for that,” I told him. “I didn’t want to talk to him.”

“Just fucking get on with it,” he growled.

The sigh that left me this time was very exaggerated. “Someone hacked into my hotel’s system. My IT person found it, and they were able to secure the system, but the damage was done.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you call me?” Jordan exploded. I knew why. Everyone in the room did.

“There was nothing on it about you or anyone who works with you, outside of when you book the hotel for charity events. I make sure anything else is kept outside of here. And even then, all I have on my home computer is what is filed with the courts, and it’s saved to the cloud. Nothing else. I take extreme precautions when it comes to you and your businesses.”

“No one got in there?”

“Not that we can tell.”

“Lawson,” Jordan growled.

“I’m already on it. I need time.” He hung up without another word.

The muscle in Jordan’s jaw ticked, his beard moving slightly with the motion. If I weren’t watching, I would have missed it. We all knew what that meant. Rage simmered right below the surface, not because he didn’t want to let it out, but because he was waiting for the right moment. “Why wasn’t I your first call, Emeric?”

Leaning back in my chair, I laced my fingers together and rested them on my stomach. “I don’t owe you anything to do with my business. There was zero indication that this had to do with you.”

“I could have helped you.”

“There are days when it’s as if you think I’m completely incompetent. I didn’t make it this far by luck. The only reason I’m telling you now is that Lana was on my case about it.”

“Of course.” Jordan leaned forward, forearms on the table as his eyes narrowed. “You want my help now, after you just gave me your lines about being able to take care of yourself?” Again with the intimidation and assumptions.

I didn’t need to work for Jordan. I did it for my sister and because I actually liked Jordan once I got to know him. He wasn’t just about his illegal business and murder. He did a lot of good for the city and for my hotel by holding events here. I’d be damned if I let him bulldoze over me though.

Mimicking his move, I leaned forward and leveled him with a glare. “I didn’t ask for your help. Lana did. You’re in my space while you’re here, Jordan. I get that your guards let you yell at them, but I’m not one of them. I try to treat you with respect, even when I’m ready to rip out my fucking hair because of you. In case you haven’t realized, I do well for myself. I don’t need to work for you. Despite that, we’ve become… Sure, friends. And I’m telling you what happened to me because, as my friend, the last thing I’d want is the person doing this to me to come after you next. I’m a target for a reason. Who the fuck knows why? No one has contacted me for ransom. There’s been no threat. The only reason I have to piss anyone off is my connection to you.”

He didn’t speak for a minute, simply staring at me, no doubt trying to figure out what move to make next. Jordan didn’t get this far without being brilliant in many areas.

His phone rang, interrupting our stare-off. “What?” he seethed when he hit the answer button.

“As far as I can tell, they don’t have access to your personal email, Emeric, but just in case, I went ahead and secured it further,” Lawson said. “I’ll call you after with instructions. Your customer information doesn’t appear to have been accessed. That’s not the part that has me curious though. They left you a message in your business email. If I didn’t know what I was looking at, I would have dismissed it as junk. The message reads: ‘This is just the start. You think you’ve found something, but you haven’t. Am I after you or someone else? Do I want more information from your hotel or another business? Guess you’ll have to figure it out.’”