STARTLING REVELATION
Andrew's Pov
I get in the car as Angel’s first text comes in four minutes later. ‘Okay, maybe not literally every five minutes.’
I nod at Maximus to start driving, as I text back; ‘Yeah, cause it's every four like this one?’
She sends back laughing emojis, which makes me smile, followed by, ‘This is the first one, it doesn't count. The timer starts now.’
‘Uh-huh’
Her next text does take five minutes to come in. During that time I texted Sebastian. ‘Yes indeed,’ she's sent, ‘I’m with Anna now so it might even be more!”
I send a silly GIF of a surprised face that she doesn't reply to, even after five minutes. Sebastian answers before her, replying to the text he sent about meeting at Downtown. ‘I heard about the Khan this morning. Andrew what?”
‘I'll tell you when I see you.’
Angel still hasn't replied. I'm sure it's because Anna has soothed her fears. Good, good.
‘I'll find somewhere else to meet up and text you the address in a minute.’
I nod even though he can't see me and swipe out of his chat screen to Kiernan's. ‘Not coming in today,’ I inform.
‘Understandable sir,’ Keirnan, forever poised and ready, replies almost immediately. When was the last time I gave him a raise? ‘Although I'd advise sir, that if you can make it in tomorrow for a few meetings, then you should come in.’
‘Got it Keirnan,’ I send back. ‘I'll be in the office for two hours.’
Angel hasn't replied. I hope she's having such a good time with Anna she won't even notice me gone tomorrow too.
Immediately Sebastian’s message comes in, I forward the address to Maximus. Unlike Fabrizio, he glances at the text without a question, turns and picks up speed. He receives it and we go from cruising at a leisurely pace to weaving in and out of cars on the road.
“Take a little cruise around in the car,” I say as he brings us to a sharp but smooth stop. “But stay around. I don't know how long I'll be.”
“Yes sir.”
We're in front of a restaurant and let the waiter lead me to Sebastian, hunkered down at a table at the far end. There's barely any people here, and I'm sure that's why Sebastian picked it.
I sit down at the table. He looks as good as the last time I saw him, thankfully. It seems the assignment I gave him hasn't been stressing him too badly.
I wait as Sebastian looks at me for a while as if reconciling what I just did to my face, re-evaluating me in his mind. “How'd you do it?” he finally asks.
“Wasn't easy I tell you,” I say, awkwardly rolling my shoulders which tingled at the mention of what happened. His eyes flick down there. “I think I was actually able to kill him because I didn't go there with the intention to.”
Sebastian settles himself more comfortably in his seat. “How so?”
“I went there to go pay him off, to buy back my—” again, my what? The first time trying to use it, and sister doesn't sound right at all. So I'm back to, “—friend and he simply refused to sell her back, for any price.”
Sebastian's eyes quirk up. I know, it must be surprising to hear that The Khan refused such an offer. “Was it only money you offered? Maybe he was doing especially well recently.”
I snorted. “Nope. I offered him anything I could get him.”
Sebastian cocks his head. “And still nothing?”
“He wanted me to come back and work for him and then he'd ‘think about it’”, I spit.
“Bastard,” Sebastian says in an equally annoyed tone. “He wants to have you back under his thumb again with leverage, like he did years ago.”
“Exactly,” I nod. “That's where I refused. But I still wanted what I wanted and he had suddenly become an obstacle. I had to make a choice quickly. And I couldn't just leave.”
“You had to remove him from your path,’ Sebastian nods, then his eyes seem to widen. “The Khan, dead. Feels unreal to say,” he whispers in awe.
I nod because it's true. I've only just fully accepted it. “But I see what you mean,” Sebastian continues, “There was no hostility in you, no intent, you even had yourself in his mercy.”
I nod, my lips quirking up into a proud smirk. “Yeah.”
“I'm glad you're okay,” he breathes, “you should have called me.
“You're too conspicuous, Seb,” I say gently. “I know you like testing fate going in and out of downtown like you do but that was such a high risk situation. And again, I thought it would be quick.”
I can see he still wants to say something to me so I lean closer, close enough to kiss his cheek like I used to when we were younger. But I don't.
Either way, I guess I'm feeling nostalgic because instead I settle for something else from our childhood. “What's up, buttercup?”
He groans deep. “Don't you even try and bring that back. I mean it.”
I sit back, grinning. “Then tell me what's the matter. We don't have time to beat about the bush today.”
He sighs, deeply and for a moment I start to think of how I can prompt him without making him shut down. He starts talking, saving me the guess work. “It just feels like ever since you were little I haven't had the chance to save you.”
I tilt my head with a soft smile, already shaking my head. "That's not true. Those nights when I'd come home from wherever Midas threw me off to, you were the entirety of everything that kept me going. I might have killed myself and I mean that.”
He looks equal parts, proud and sceptical.
“Besides,” I give him a thumbs up. “You're saving me now. I couldn't find these numbers on my own.”
“Yeah as Andrew, but as Cosmos. . .”
I shake my head refusing to acknowledge that, “But I'm not Cosmos. So what have you got?”
He stares at me for a long time, and I know that's all the questions he'll bring himself to ask. “Okay so, I checked the numbers you gave me. They're both registered in this state,” he says and I nod that part was obvious. “to a man named Harry Crawley and his wife, Linda.”
So that's his name? Harry. Harry is the one breathing down my receiver at night. But I tamp down my annoyance because Sebastian’s not done. “There's a problem.”
How? “Is there?”
“Crawley is a wheelchair user that hasn't been out of the country ever. But those phone calls were made out of the country, in Spain.”
That's fucking weird. How did I manage to gain an international enemy? “So obviously the next thing was to find the woman-only outfit you told me about.”
“Which I did,” he says smoothly. “I had to buy a gun to even get an audience. Very hospitable ladies,” Sebastian says with a pleased, mischievous smile and I chuckle. “Although by the time I put my clothes back on, they were bugged devices so small I just threw it out. The gun too. But that's how I know they keep tabs on their products.”
I nod, as he continued with a pleased smile. He's done so well in so little time. “So I bought the information from them. It wasn't cheap at all. Those guns were acquired by some local thugs, easily found. I followed the trail.”
I balance in my seat, listening intently.
“And each one I punched in the face, sorry, interrogated I mean, all the way to the head of the operation all confirmed that the person that hired them lives in the city, and none of the dealings were done by phone. They just couldn't give me a name, as expected.”
My mind begins to race, a mile a minute, trying to piece together all the new information. “Could it still have been a lackey, representing whoever is using Crawley's number?”
Sebastian shakes his head no. “I made sure,” he says. “Phone guy didn't try to kill you with guns after he laced your drink.”
What they fuck? My brows furrow and I'm silent for a while as I process.
“Between the drugging and the shooting, I think you have two people vying for the honor to ki
ll you, brother,” Sebastian says grimly. “And both of them have gone through great lengths to hide their identity.”