“I know,” Liam said. “She’s sitting here with me.”
“Um, hi.” Aspen’s voice sounded a little breathy.
Liam nudged her. “Vander, let me bring you up to speed on things.” He gave Vander a brief rundown on Aspen, Erica and Jake, the warehouse, the fact that Nexus was looking for something at the place.
Vander expelled a breath. “Okay, that complicates things a bit. Ace hasn’t had anything pop on why these assholes want your warehouse, but we’ve dug up plenty on Nexus. The group is run by a guy called—”
“Kristoff Doyle,” Aspen said. “Doesn’t show his face and is very, very careful.”
“Yeah,” Vander said. “Guy keeps a very low profile, and we dug up zero on him. That concerns me. His second-in-command is a woman named Jackie Godin. Woman is bad news and has a string of white-collar crimes to her name, along with several charges for assault. She likes to cut, shoot, and beat people up.”
“Charming,” Liam said.
“Does she have badly dyed black hair and soulless eyes?” Aspen asked.
“That’s her. Nexus has been in operation for over a decade. Mostly corporate and insurance fraud, blackmail. I suspect Doyle’s work goes back even earlier, he was just less organized then. They’re really dangerous, Liam. They won’t hesitate to kill in order to get what they want.”
Liam felt the burn of rage. A huge helping of it was for his bastard of a father, but the rest was for Nexus. “Well, Nexus aren’t getting this land. If I hand it over it would scuttle a massive, billion-dollar project set to provide vital housing for the area. No, I want Jake Knox back safely, those photos destroyed, and Nexus stopped. If I give in to their demands, they’ll be back for more.”
“Okay,” Vander said. “Lay low. Ace is still searching for anything on the warehouse. We find out why they want it, it’ll help us find a way to stop them.”
“Thanks, Vander,” Liam said.
“I’ll be in touch.”
The call ended. Aspen pushed her hair back and sighed. “We need to keep looking.”
They got back to work. Liam rose and made coffee. He also pulled a small box out of his pantry.
He set it down beside Aspen.
She saw it and gasped. “Oh my God, is that from Jean-Paul Hévin?”
“Yes.”
“He’s like the best chocolatier in Paris!” She stared at the small chocolate squares in awe.
“All yours.” Liam felt a flush of pleasure to give her something she liked.
She snatched one up, ate it, and sighed. “Oh, wow.”
Now, if only he could get her to look at him the way she looked at that chocolate.
As Aspen savored another chocolate, Liam remembered the scrap of paper he’d picked up at the warehouse. He fished it out of his ruined suit and smoothed it out.
Aspen leaned over and frowned. “What’s that?”
“I picked it up at the warehouse.”
“It looks like a label.”
Liam squinted. “I think it is. From a bottle.” The ink was faded. “Look, I think that says whiskey.”
“The old part of the warehouse is from Prohibition times, right? Could they have made bootlegged whiskey in there?”
“This isn’t for whiskey, it’s for beer. They might have brewed it there, or at least distributed it out of that warehouse back in the 1920s and 30s.” He wasn’t sure how that helped them.
She went back to her searches.
“How did you become a private investigator?” Liam asked.
“It started after my dad was arrested and went to jail. I got a part time job.”
“You said you’re still in contact with your father?”
“Sporadic. He moves around a lot. He’s in Arizona at the moment, I think. He calls occasionally. Anyway, my mom divorced him. She had no useful skills, and she was having trouble coping. She’s an artist, so she painted, but it wasn’t enough to pay the rent and feed all four of us, so I got a job after school.”
Liam stilled. “Wait. You were fourteen, adjusting to a new school, helping with young twins, and you got a job?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I did what I had to do.”
It sounded like Aspen Chandler didn’t take after her mother or father. She didn’t look for an easy way out or check out of a tough situation. No, she rolled up her sleeves and dived into hard work.
“I got a job filing for this crusty PI. Jack is a loner, grumpy, and difficult with a capital D.” She smiled. “I loved it. I tidied and reorganized his office. It was a disaster. He lost his mind.” She shook her head. “He didn’t treat me with pity, or look at me with that ugly curiosity like others did who knew about my father. I learned everything I could in the office, then slowly, he started taking me on surveillance jobs, and sent me to do small tasks.” She grinned. “I loved it. I’m good at it. He taught me everything I know. When I finished high school, there was no money for college, and I couldn’t leave the twins.”
He understood the words she’d had inked on her skin better now. “So you set up your own business.”
“Not at first. I worked with Jack for a bit until I got my license. I have no regrets.” She looked back at the papers and laptop. “Although I like it better when investigations go more smoothly than this.”
“Where’s Jack now?”
“He did the one thing I never expected, and retired.” A sad look crossed her face. “He moved to Florida, and spends his days fishing. Sends me postcards, and calls, occasionally.”
Her phone rang and she huffed out a breath. “Those girls are going to drive me crazy.” She snatched up the phone, and paused. “It’s my burner phone.” Her face hardened. “Doyle.”
Liam tensed and watched her rise. She thumbed a button.
“Doyle.”
“How’s it progressing with Kensington?”
Liam stiffened at the deep voice. It was accent-less, educated.
Who was this asshole?
“You gave me three days,” Aspen said.
“And now you have two.”
She met Liam’s gaze. “I’ll get what you want.”
“Where are you now?”
She frowned. “At Kensington’s. He cooked me a very nice dinner. Salmon with lemon-butter sauce. I’ve just finished fucking him and he’s in the shower. He likes it when I’m on top, and has a very energetic cock. Anything else you’d like to know?”
Despite the seriousness, Liam felt a spurt of amusement. He grinned, and her lips twitched.
He also felt a shot of gut-deep desire.
He wanted Aspen riding him, or under him, he didn’t care what position, as long as his cock was lodged deep inside her.
“Get me that deed, Penn.” Doyle ended the call.
Aspen blew out a breath. “He’s losing patience.”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“It makes him even more dangerous.” She closed her laptop. “I’d better get home.”
He strode to her. “You should stay.”
“The twins. And I told you, we can’t afford the distraction. If I stay, we both know we won’t be sleeping.”