dad would hurt me somehow. He was protecting me, but he also needed me. It was a strange combination, but one I actually understood. It was that sort of line that every good Dominant walked. I was just used to being on the giving side of it rather than the receiving.
Maybe he and I sharing dominance could actually work after all.
If we hadn’t been dealing with all this extra shit, I would’ve had him pull over someplace a little more private and ridden him right there in the driver’s seat.
“I’ll follow your lead,” I said. “If you need me to say or do anything, just let me know.”
“Thanks.”
It got quiet again and stayed that way until we reached the Traylor home. A massive, sprawling home that was bigger than some apartment buildings in New York. And if all of the information we’d collected was right – and I had little doubt that it was – it’d been stolen. Sure, it hadn’t been this big when the Clancy’s had taken it, but seeing it now, knowing where it’d come from…no nerves were going to stop me from doing what was right.
As Bradyn parked the truck, a thought popped into my head.
“If your dad’s governor of Georgia, why’d we come here instead of going to his office? It’s Tuesday.”
“His office is actually in Atlanta,” Bradyn said. “We just happened to get lucky that he had a photo op in Savannah this morning and decided not to commute today.”
I frowned. “Isn’t Atlanta a couple hours from here?”
“Not by plane.” His hands tightened on the wheel. “I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise that the Traylor family has a private plane at its beck and call. Dad has an apartment in Atlanta too, so he usually staggers his commuting every couple days or so.”
I whistled a long note. “Must be nice.”
“It was.” Bradyn got out but paused before closing the door. “But it wasn’t worth my integrity.”
I took his hand when we met at the front of his truck, and the two of us walked up to the door side-by-side. The person who answered Bradyn’s knock wasn’t someone I’d seen before, but since Bradyn and he knew each other by sight, I assumed it was an employee of some kind.
“Your father is in his study.”
“Thanks.” Bradyn led me around the massive staircase and down a hallway lined with pictures.
Not like family photos, but painted ones of people from a hundred years ago or more. My history class hadn’t covered clothing through the years, but I would’ve had to be pretty stupid not to know those styles of big dresses and weird pants were from a long time ago. All the frames had little metal things at the bottom that I figured probably had people’s names on them, but we were walking too fast for me to read them. We weren’t running, but we were definitely not dawdling either.
We stopped at a closed door about halfway down the hall, and Bradyn knocked.
“Come in.”
The first thing I noticed when we walked in was that Clancy didn’t look surprised to see us. The second was that more paintings hung in here, but they were all of men, and I could see a little of Clancy, and even a little of Bradyn, in them. I wondered how many of the names I had on my Calvert / Traylor family tree were being displayed here.
As Bradyn moved ahead of me, I reached into my pocket and started recording. I just hoped Clancy thought Bradyn and I were the sort of people who might cause some problems but wouldn’t think to actually do something to get evidence. If we couldn’t get him to confess anything or if he figured out that I was recording him, we’d lose the element of surprise, and that just might cost us everything.
“Is somethin’ wrong there, son?” Clancy wasn’t wearing a smirk, but I could hear it in his voice. He knew exactly why we were here, and he was pleased about it.
“Let’s not do this,” Bradyn said.
“This?” Clancy raised an eyebrow.
“This little dance you like to do. Both of us circlin’ around until someone finally gives and speaks first.” Bradyn’s voice was even. “You know damn well why Nyx and I are here.”
“Tsk, tsk.” Clancy shook his head. “Language. We raised you better than that.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him exactly the sort of example they’d set for their children, but that wasn’t why we were here. Priorities.