East End (Hear No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,69

your young grad student plastered against your side.”

"Look, just seeing you with him today and him putting his hands on you like he owns you—“

I held up my hand to cut him off. "Well, there’s your first problem. Assuming that someone could own me. Your second problem is being an overall douche. I know you can't help it. It's just part of who you are. Since we're doing this right now, I'm going to point out your shortcomings. First of all, you broke in here like some kind of creeper. You are my boss. What the hell are you doing here?"

"I didn't like how Hale was looking at you. Like he owned you. I hated it. You have to be careful with him.” He shrugged. “I came to warn you."

I barked out a laugh. "What? You're insane. And Hale has actually been helping me on this case today. He took me to meet Marielle Lipton."

He frowned. "The forger?"

"Yes, the forger. She got out of prison a few years ago, and now she works for an insurance company.”

“Have you heard of the Elite?" he suddenly blurted out.

I frowned at him. "What?" The hairs on my arms stood at attention. I knew I was being paranoid, but I’d only just found out myself that they existed.

"Yeah, it's a bloody secret society they're part of. Hale and his mates. I asked some contacts of mine. It’s one of those organizations shrouded in secrecy.” He stood and began to pace. “That secret society stuff. No one can get any information on it. And I have asked all over Interpol. It's a hush-hush group, which means, of course, there are probably several special agents at the highest level who are part of it. I know Hale is part of it. All I've been able to piece together is that Ben Covington is the head.”

"You’ve already come here once to warn me, and I told you it wasn’t necessary. And now I find you in my flat, in the dark, drinking my scotch, and you’re talking about how I need to be careful of East Hale and some secret society?"

"Technically, it’s my scotch. I know you don't like scotch. I left it behind."

So like him to twist the subject. "Well, for your information, I bought some for a party. And you would never buy this kind of stuff because you're a cheap bastard."

He winced. "I'm just frugal."

"And that's good. So am I. I just don't like my every decision to spend money frowned upon, especially when it's my money."

He sighed. "Same old argument, damn it. Why can't you just let it go? Why are you so fucking compulsive and irritating and bossy and—"

I glared at him. "The best part of everything you just said is you no longer have to deal with it because you dumped my ass, remember?"

He sighed. "This man, East Hale, he's dangerous. His mates are dangerous. Why can't you see that?"

"You’re a hypocrite."

He stopped pacing and crossed his arms. “I’m trying to do the right thing. Hale shouldn’t have come anywhere near Interpol. I’m going to make a task force. Take them all down.”

"You know full well you need cause for that, and without it, you won’t get anywhere. Besides this is bullshit. You could have backed me at the briefing, but you didn't. And now you're in here with the same bullshit trying to act like you believe my theories? Please don't. This is plain old-fashioned jealousy. And maybe East Hale and his mates are part of some secret organization. I don't know,” I lied. “Right now, Mr. Hale is someone assisting me with an investigation. If you can't handle that, have me yanked from the case. But if you do that, I'm going to ask a whole lot of fucking questions.” I held up my phone. “And I'm going to send my Dad this little video here of you in my flat, drinking my alcohol, acting like a weirdo. Even you can't explain this away."

He stared at me. "Are you that vindictive?" He watched me warily. "Nyla, I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"No!” I made a slashing movement with my free hand. “That’s some bullshit men use to excuse their behavior. And guess what, I'm no longer in the mood to excuse any of your bullshit behavior. You used me. You dumped me. Now you're feeling jealous. I have no time, and I am in no kind of mood to be good to you. If you come near me