“Yes, he did. And thank Christ he was driving his dad’s Volvo at the time and not riding in that little Boxster Drew McMann drove.”
“Jesus,” Damon breathed, and the senator raised an eyebrow in his direction.
“You can think what you like of me as a father, as aperson, Mr. Fitzpatrick. But if you think I was going to take a chance on having something like that happen to my children, or my wife, then you don’t know me at all.”
“Things kept on as they had been for a while after that, but then Levi balked again.” Shaw took an angry drag and picked at something on his lip. “We started this company to do things our own way, Emmett. I’m not becoming a slave to the goddamn Russians.” He stared at the desk, like he was seeing visions of the past in the shining mahogany. His jaw ticked to the side. “And that was about the time Adam Stornovich decided he needed a foothold in American politics.” He shrugged.
He looked at Damon and his eyes flared. “Don’t you dare feel sorry for me. I wanted power, and I got it. I’m one of the most powerful men in the whole goddamn country!” He looked away again as he continued. “But Levi wanted something different. Fuckingassholedecided he’d blackmail them back.” He was angry, Damon realized, profoundly so. At himself, maybe, and maybe at Levi Seaver, too.
He stabbed out his cigarette, and for a second Damon thought the man might be sick. He looked nauseated, and beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. “You can imagine howthatwent. You can imagine what they demanded of me. And you can imagine what they held over my head.”
Cain made a wounded noise deep in his throat.
“And you can imagine what happened when they believed Jack would talk.”
Shaw shuddered, andChrist Almighty, Damon could almost understand how this man had become what he was. A regular guy - a little too cocky, a little too young – who’d gotten in over his head, and suddenly found he was owned by people who wouldn’t take no for an answer, people who threatened his family. And he felt guilty for it.
None of this changed the essential facts, of course. Emmett Shaw had blood on his hands. He was a manipulator, a con man, an asshole. But as Damon had been reminding Cain for days, it wasn’t that simple. Relationships weren’t that simple. People weren’t that simple.
He found himself feeling reluctant sympathy for this guy. It should have been impossible.
“So, here’s where we find ourselves,” Shaw said, spreading his hands on the desk. “I am a man with many secrets. If I come forward about them, I die. Or worse, my family does. So, I’m not going to do that. Not for anyone, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and sure as hell not foryou.” He sat back in his chair and gave Damon a knowing grin. “But that’s alright. Because it’s not really justice you want, is it?”
Damon frowned. “Yeah, it sure as hell is.”
Shaw shook his head, smiling. “No. You just want your life back. You want to be made whole again. You want to reclaim your identity, your job, your family.”
Cain turned a questioning glance on Damon, who swallowed hard. Was that what he wanted? It was a part of it, certainly, maybe even most of it. But he wanted justice for Cam and Bas, too. He wanted to know that no one else would be harmed because of the senator.
“You want to keep your loved ones safe,” Shaw persisted. “Just like I do. And we’re really not so different, you and me. We’re too old to believe we can get everything we want, and we’re willing to negotiate. We’re willing to make the hard choices, to protect the most essential things, even when it means sacrificing others.”
The senator reached back into the middle drawer of the desk, like he was accessing that secret compartment Damon and Cain hadn’t thought to look for. “What if I were to tell you that I have, right here, a list of account numbers that show Jack Peabody being paid an extortionate amount of money just prior to the Seavers’ plane crash? Combined with Jack’s cell phone records, which show him having conversations with various known criminals at around the same time, I think you could certainly make a case that you weren’t responsible for the crash at all, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Hell,I’dbelieve you.”
Damon and Cain exchanged a look. Cain looked excited, like maybe it could all be over just that easily.
Damon knew better. This was the carrot, but there was a stick coming, too.
“And what would I have to do to get those papers?” Damon demanded.
“Hardly anything, and that’s the truth. Nobody else is going to die if I can help it,” the senator said grimly.
Damon folded his arms over his chest.Hardly anythingandnothingwere vastly different, and Damon suspected he was about to find out just how different they were.
“I’m going to give you this documentation, and in exchange, you’re going to forget everything you think you know from these files.” Shaw nodded at the files on the desk. “I’m telling you - and you can believe it or not, but it’s the truth - you won’t get anywhere by investigating them, anyway.”
Damon looked at the papers in the senator’s hand. He had no way of knowing exactly what was on those papers, but then again, the senator had no way of knowing whether he’d keep his promise not to investigate the companies on those invoices. What Shaw was proposing was a standoff that would leave Damon better off than he’d been before. But…
“And my sister? My brother? The Seavers? How do I know we won’t all have targets painted on us the second I leave here?”
Shaw pursed his lips. “They’ll be in no danger from me or anyone I’m involved with. We have nothing to gain from the Seavers or any of them, apart from ensuring you stick to the agreement. After all, if anything were to happen to any of them, no doubt you’d go to the authorities and spill everything you thought you knew. It would make life very sticky for me, and I’d much rather avoid that.”
Damon nodded slowly and stepped forward, hand outstretched for the papers. “Alright. Okay. I can agr— “
“Not so fast,” the senator said. He leaned back in his chair, and his gaze danced from Cain to Damon and back again. “One more condition.”
Fuck.“What?” he growled.
“This charming little love affair you’re having with my son? It’s over. Now. Before you have a chance to leak anything to the press.”
