“Seriously! Let’s get on with this.”

Preston’s eyes slid to me, his jaw got hard then he looked back at Mace.

“I think you know you’re treading on thin ice,” he announced.

“I do?” Mace asked.

“Don’t be stupid, Kai,” Preston whispered. “You never were before, except once and it ended in tragedy, don’t do it again.”

If Mace’s body was rock-solid before, it was marble now but I didn’t real y notice since my vision exploded in sparks of red and I instantly decided I was done. I didn’t know why he was there. I didn’t know why Mace al owed him to come up.

And, at that moment, I also didn’t effing care.

“Get out of my house,” I hissed and Preston looked to me.

“You don’t –” he began.

“Get… the f**k… out… of my house! ” I bit out.

“The receptionist at his place of business dealt drugs,” Preston informed me.

“Get out of my house,” I kind of repeated.

“Her nephew, Kai’s col eague, was in business with her,” Preston went on.

Real y?

Darius?

Yikes.

Oh wel . Past tense. If it didn’t bother Mace (which obviously it didn’t), it didn’t bother me.

And anyway, Darius was cool.

“Get out of my house,” I repeated again.

Preston continued, “His organization was involved in a clandestine operation which culminated in an officer employed by the Denver Police Department discharging a weapon and wounding a man, something that has never been reported to the police.”

Oh dear. That probably wasn’t good and it was probably worse Preston knew about it.

I powered through my worry and again demanded, “Get out of my house.”

“His employer is on retainer with Marcus Sloan, shady dealings with a man who is not shady but entirely criminal, running guns and peddling flesh.”

Yikes again!

Marcus ran guns and peddled flesh?

Whoa.

Preston wasn’t done. “And the wife of one of his co-workers filed fraudulent reports with Child Protective Services in order to place two runaways with a known felon.”

Wel , at least I knew about that one.

I quit repeating myself and just glared at him.

Preston held my glare and stated, “Routinely, a man in Lee Nightingale’s employ performs il egal hacks not only on private accounts but also on local, state and federal government sites.”

I wasn’t a computer person so I thought that was actual y kind of cool.

Obviously I didn’t share that.

Then, softly, he said, “The man you cling to so desperately has taken lives.”

My glare intensified.

I was hardly clinging to Mace desperately. Lovingly, definitely. Supportively, sure. Desperately, no.

“Many of them,” Preston whispered.

He fel silent so I asked, “Are you done?”

“No,” he replied and looked at Mace. “Your play, son, is to speak to Nightingale, tel him to agree to my investment. I obtain control ing interest in Nightingale Investigations, I clean up the cesspool that is your business, take out the trash including Darius Tucker, Vance Crowe, Luke Stark and that hideous receptionist, al of whom, due to their past activities and associations, leave much to be desired.

You’l keep your job because, clearly,” he threw out a hand again, “your woman cannot provide for you if you should need to get back on your feet, which you wil , considering the fact you just gave six thousand dol ars to her family which significantly depleted your reserve. Then Nightingale steps aside and I cal the shots.”

Uh-oh.

I felt my body get tight.

Mace spoke.

“You’re saying you’l leak this information if I don’t do as you say.”

Preston nodded. “Chavez wil lose his job and he’l not find one on my payrol when I take over Nightingale Investigations. He might even face charges. Shirleen Jackson wil lose custodial care and those boys wil either go back to the streets or into the system. Juliet Crowe wil also find herself unemployed. Brody Dunne and Lee Nightingale wil likely be questioned and possibly arrested for their activities –”

Mace cut him off, “That al you got?”

I felt my body jerk seeing as I thought al this sounded pretty bad. I looked up at him to see his face was bland, almost uninterested, as if this information wasn’t damning and more than a little scary but instead Preston was tel ing him that he knew Lee and his boys had trampled a few flowers in a public garden for shits and giggles.

“Kai –” Preston started but Mace didn’t let him get any further.

“First, you should know that Stel a’s place is wired, cameras with microphones. Your blackmail attempt was caught on tape.”

Preston’s body gave a smal start, almost imperceptible but I caught it and I also held my breath.

“I –” Preston began again but Mace’s head turned away from him, the movement so sudden, Preston stopped speaking.

Mace looked at something across the room, what, I didn’t know then he looked back at his father.

“Cameras are off now, Dad,” he said quietly and I again tensed. “Now, it’s just you and me and this is what I got.” Oh man.

I figured what Mace had was probably a lot so I settled in but I did it while I braced.

“Brody’s good, you know that so you shoulda been a lot smarter.” Mace was stil talking quietly, I was thinking his quiet was not an indication he felt he had the situation under control but instead an indication that he was close to losing his mind at having to deal with this bul shit or his father at al and I bit my lip. “You know I know you f**ked up.

You know I know what you did that got Caitlin kil ed. You f**kin’ know.”

“I didn’t do a thing to –”

Mace interrupted, “Oh yeah you did.”

“Not one thing, Kai,” Preston clipped.

“Arms, Dad,” Mace returned.

Oh man.

Arms?

As in weapons?

What the ef?

“There’s not a shred of evidence to support that,” Preston retorted swiftly, now also talking quietly but his face had shifted, gone more vigilant, surprisingly giving it al away.

“There isn’t?” Mace asked and I watched Preston’s body straighten.

Mace kept going.

“What you don’t know is that we know that you haven’t stopped what you were doin’ to get Caitlin kil ed.”