owe the pleasure?” I ask.
“Cut the shit, Garrin.” He sits down on the couch in my office, spreading his open suit jacket out to the side and resting his ankle on his opposite knee. “What progress have you made with Isla?”
The mention of her name out of his mouth makes me want to punch something.
“It would be easier to answer that question if I knew what you wanted from her.” I lean back in my own seat, mimicking his body language.
“You two were chummy Saturday night. Have you slept with her?” he asks.
My eyes narrow. “Why do you care?”
He shrugs. “Everyone knows a woman is easier to control when she’s led around by a man’s dick.”
My nostrils flare with the rush of air that leaves my lungs. Is that what he thought of my mother before she died?
“What do you want with her?” I ask, unwilling to play this game any longer. If he wants to use me as his pawn, he can damn well tell me why.
He must see something in my expression that says I’m not going to relent until he tells me, because a sick smug smile forms on his face.
“Her father owns a large swath of land down in Texas. I’ve tried to purchase it from him on more than one occasion, to no avail.”
“So what? You think if I get in Isla’s pants, she’s going to somehow convince her dad to sell to you? Jeez, Dad, I had no idea you thought so highly of me.”
He lets his leg drop and leans forward, his elbows on his thighs now. “I think that when her father dies, she and her mother are going to be vulnerable, and you’re going to convince her that the best thing to do is to sell the land to me.”
I try to mask the fact I know her father is sick, but I don’t know if I’m successful. How does my father know that Hector Flores is sick? I don’t even have to ask. Almost anyone’s loyalty can be bought.
“I can see it’s not news to you that her father is dying. You’re closer than I thought if she’s told you. It doesn’t seem to be common knowledge. They’re keeping it close to their chests because with sickness eventually comes an inability to organize affairs. Powers of attorney will go into effect at some point.”
I pick up a pen off my desk and flick the cap on and off. “I didn’t hear it from her.”
He lets an amused chuckle loose. “Maybe we have the same informant.”
“Doubtful.”
We sit and stare at each other for moment.
“Why do you want this land so badly?” I ask.
There are only two things my father collects—money and power. I’m just curious which category the land falls into.
“Testing has shown large oil deposits. I also have it on good authority that the federal government is going to build a pipeline through that land to reach the Gulf within the next decade. They’ll pay nicely for the rights to do so.”
I don’t need to ask who that tidbit came from. Senator Masterson is in as deep with my father as the rest of the Classholes’ dads.
“To be clear, you want me to take advantage of my relationship with a grieving daughter so that her father’s estate will sell you the land?”
“No, I’m asking you to take advantage of your relationship with your wife.”
I stiffen and a chill runs through my veins. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He stands, chin held high as he looks down his nose at me. “Now that you’ve grown close to her, it’s stage two. You’re going to marry Isla Flores. Before her father kicks the bucket. And then she’s going to listen to the sound advice of her husband when he tells her to sell the land.”
I stand from my chair and place my hands on the desk in front of me. “You’re delusional. Off your fucking rocker.”
He smiles at me with malice and slowly makes his way over, standing on the opposite side of my desk. “You will because if you don’t, you and your friends will go down for the murder of Nova Brookes. And I know that if you won’t do it for yourself, you’ll do it for them.”
My lungs burn as my chest constricts, making it difficult to get any air.
The bastard is right. I’d tell him to go to hell. He doesn’t have what he thinks he does over me, but the same can’t be said for my