babe. “This is Mother Renee’s,” she admitted.
Mother Renee? He’d thought that was a joke, but she still insisted on referring to her mother like she was a nun. He’d ask her for that story when he got her to himself. They stepped outside. Vin backed up from the doorway to give them room to pass him, but he still didn’t cut his phone call short. Odd.
His attention was immediately stolen back by Mollie. She locked the door behind them before they rushed up the steps to Center Street. She zipped up the cute little bomber jacket and threw the hood over her head. Her hair escaped out into bouncy curls. Janson wondered if her hands were still cold. If they were, he’d use that as an excuse to get close to her. If he got really desperate, he’d bring out his “I’m a passionate Brazilian” card.
Dwayne followed them more closely while Vin fell behind, undoubtedly working out the details of a later night in town with the rest of their security detail, though the longer he spent talking, the more Janson was suspicious that Vin was communicating with his father, too. His father might have a stake in his wellbeing, but Janson would have to make sure that Vin knew he ultimately answered to him.
They passed a colorful archway over an alleyway decorated with a strand of flowers and a large bumblebee. He stared down the staircase that made up the alley, seeing that the four flights were painted into a colorful rainbow mural that led to Main Street below. Parked in the lot across the way was a silver Mercedes-Benz with its window down. He recognized that car. An elegant woman with jet black hair peered out. The glow from a streetlight caught the contours of her face.
Janson jerked in surprise. His stepmother. Even from this distance, there was no mistaking her. Had she followed him? Somehow she’d gotten his phone number. He hadn’t taken too much time to consider how she’d done that or why. His fingers scraped through his pocket to find his cellphone. He’d read that last message from Katherine before he’d turned it to silent. She’d texted to tell him it was an emergency. What else had she said? That she’d follow him like a stalker if he didn’t get back to her? He dug out his cellphone and saw the black screen with a groan. He’d killed the phone with his stint in that pond.
He turned to Dwayne. Maybe she was having a fight with his father over money; maybe it was something else more troubling. Before he could alert his security to this new development, Vin caught up to them and lowered his phone, his steady eyes on Dwayne. “We’re having a little trouble with the car we came in. We need to switch it out due to security reasons.”
Janson slowed, suspicion filling him. Nothing felt quite right.
“The Mercedes?” Dwayne asked. He took a step closer to the alley where Katherine was parked on the street below.
“Yes, we’ll move to the Mercedes.”
That seemed like code. With difficulty, Janson kept his gaze from his stepmother’s Mercedes idling past the sprawling staircase. Had his own security accepted a bribe to force him to talk to Katherine? But why? He paid them too much for her to be able to afford them. They wouldn’t risk their reputations for such a small sum of money, so who else was involved? Saying that they were planning on switching out for a Mercedes could be a coincidence... or something else.
If he was wrong and Dwayne and Vin weren’t working with his stepmother, not telling them he’d spotted her just now wouldn’t be a big deal. The worst thing she would do was corner him for a half an hour and bore him with her grievances, but if this was an elaborate setup with his bodyguards involved then he definitely had something to worry about. No way could Katherine ever buy out his security unless she had some people with big money and bad intentions behind her. And with those death threats, Janson couldn’t take this danger lightly.
He glanced over at Mollie. She’d have a phone, hopefully one with a waterproof case. He just had to get her somewhere crowded so he could talk to her without Dwayne and Vin overhearing. He toyed with asking for her phone right now—pretend that he had to make a casual call—but if his security suspected he was onto them at all, they’d stop