Page 32 of Ruthless Salvation

I was workingon monthly numbers in my office with Keir the following day when Oran came by. While he had an office across from us, we usually worked opposite hours, so Keir and I didn’t see him.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.

Oran sat in the vacant guest chair, elbows propped on his knees. “I want to look into what happened to Darina, the server who disappeared. I know Caitlin said the woman was dead, but I want to know exactly what happened. Thought if you had an employment file on her, it would give me somewhere to start.”

“Yeah, let me see what we’ve got.” I sifted through the filing cabinet behind me and extracted her folder. She hadn’t worked for us long before she quit showing up without even asking for the week’s worth of money she was owed. We found out later that Oran’s psychotic wife Caitlin had gone after the poor woman, hoping to hurt Keir because she’d seen the two together. The whole situation was fucked. It was a good reminder of why I didn’t like outsiders.

Oran looked at the admittedly thin file and grimaced. “That’s it? No background check or anything?”

“We only do those for the dancers to make sure they’re of age. If we did checks for every staff in and out of here, it’d be a full-time job.”

He shot a disapproving look at Keir, who was totally unaffected. Those two had always had a strange dynamic. They were the same age, so they were close as kids, but vying for positions in the family business seemed to put distance between them. The great thing about family, though, was that no matter how pissed we got at one another, we were all still blood at the end of the day.

“There’s nothing here that I can use except for an address. I suppose it’s a start,” Oran muttered.

Keir finally spoke up. “The other staff might know more. She was friendly with a few of the girls. And you had a couple of conversations with her, right?”

“Yeah.” Oran frowned. “But I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have.” His voice was thick with guilt.

“Is this some form of punishment—you looking into her disappearance?” Keir asked, point blank. He never was one to bullshit. That was why I preferred working with him over any of the others.

“Caitlin said the girl was gone. Never said she was dead. I’d say I owe it to her to make sure there isn’t anything I can do. My ex was a fucking coward and a liar. I wouldn’t put it past her to have manipulated the truth.”

Keir dipped his chin in a nod. “Fair enough. You need a hand, let us know.”

Oran was most likely beating his head against a wall, but we all had our demons. Who was I to deny him his?

Oran tossed the folder back onto the desk when Keir’s phone buzzed. He stared at the screen, eyes narrowing. “Better not be a damn spam call,” he groused before accepting the call. “Yeah … oh, yeah. Storm said I might get a call.”

I was instantly on alert. Who the fuck would be calling Keir about Stormy and why?

“We haven’t had any problems with her at all. In fact, I kind of hate to see her go.”

The fuck? See her go?

Had she applied for a new job and listed Keir as a reference? Not fucking likely.

Before I had a chance to think, I snatched the phone from his hand.

“What my cousin here is too PC to say is that Storm has a little problem with sticky fingers. He doesn’t want to get sued, but I’m not afraid to tell the truth. You’re going to want to steer clear of this one.” As I spoke, I could feel Oran and Keir staring at me like I’d lost my goddamn mind. News flash, I had.

“Oh, I see. That’s disappointing to hear, but I appreciate your honesty.”

“No problem. Good luck on your search.” I hung up and held out the phone for Keir. He didn’t move.

“You gonna tell us what the fuck that was all about?”

“Why didn’t you tell me Storm was lookin’ to leave?” I asked instead of explaining.

His gaze sharpened. “Why’s it matter to you if she stays or goes?”

I’d wondered if word had gotten around about my actions at the fight. Bishop had a big mouth, so I assumed Conner had heard, but it looked like the news hadn’t reached my other cousins.

“I thought she and I had worked out our differences. If she’s looking to leave, she should have told me herself rather than go behind my back.” I dropped his phone on the desk, sick of holding it like a fuckin’ golden retriever.

“Your differences? Your foul attitude running off our employees? ’Cause you can’t hardly find a girl as good as her.”

Fuck, don’t I know it.