“I want the entire State.”

Of course he fucking did. I raked my fingers through my hair. “How the hell are you planning to do that? From what I know, Julio has a strong hold on it and everyone in it.”

He watched me like a lion watched its prey. “I figure you and I are gonna work on that together.”

My brows pulled together. “How the fuck do you figure that?”

He placed his phone in his palm and played me a recording of two people discussing the fire at our restaurant, Trilogy. In particular, they were discussing the fact they were responsible for the fire and what they had hoped to achieve by setting it – Storm getting rid of Ricky Grecian. When the recording finished, he eyed me and shared, “That was Julio and his right hand man.”

I stood in silence while I processed what he’d just shared with me. “How did you get that recording?”

“Does that matter?”

“As far as I’m concerned, it does. You’re indicating your desire for me to work with you to take Julio down – I’m hardly gonna get into bed with someone unless I know their information is right.” I’d never trusted Bourne, and I struggled to trust him now.

He scowled and threw his phone on the table. “Jesus Christ, Cole, you’re just how your father described you - a fucking pussy who refuses to take an opportunity when it presents itself.”

My body tensed as anger heated me. “See, that’s where my father went wrong in life. He didn’t pay enough attention to the details. The devil’s in the fuckin’ details, Bourne. Call me whatever the fuck you want, but I’m not taking your word for anything. You give me what I need and we’ll go from there.”

Shaking his head at me, he muttered, “Fuck.” He then settled against his desk and folded his arms across his chest. “I planted a guy in Julio’s crew and he’s been feeding me the information I need. If you want to talk to him to verify that, I’ll line up a meet. He can give you whatever information you want on Julio.”

“Line it up for today. I’m heading home tomorrow.”

He raised his brows. “You rode all this way, gave up almost a week of your time, just to talk to me and this guy? You couldn’t do it over the phone or send someone else?”

“Never can be too sure, Bourne. I needed to see you myself.”

He pushed off the desk. “I’ll let you know what time.”

As I watched him walk out of the office, I knew this was his signal that we were done until later. Suited me. The less time in his presence, the better.

“Hey, baby,” Harlow greeted me when I rang her a little while after seeing Bourne. Even though she sounded happy to hear from me, I could discern the act she was putting on for me.

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you feel? One being like death,” I said as I fidgeted with the diner menu in front of me. We’d left the clubhouse in search of food and found what we needed about half an hour away in a tiny diner off the highway. J and Nash were ordering our food while I rang Harlow.

I heard her sigh through the phone. “Honestly, I’d say I’m at a five today. My throat isn’t as bad as it was yesterday; I can at least swallow without feeling like I have a packet of razors going down.”

So, she’s probably a three or a four.

“Has Mum checked on you today?”

“It’s only ten in the morning, Scott. She worked late last night so I wouldn’t expect her until this afternoon.”

“What about Madison?”

“She rang me and I told her I was doing okay. And before you ask, I’ve taken the morning off work and if I feel better this afternoon, I’ll go in and help Mum then.”

“We’re leaving Adelaide tomorrow and we’ll be as fast as we can.”

“Please don’t rush back just for me.”

“I’ll have what I need by tomorrow, sweetheart. By the way, how are Lisa and Michelle?”

“Michelle is much better and Lisa is getting there. I went over and checked on them this morning. How are you feeling?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Like shit, but that’s to be expected. Nothing a good night’s sleep next to you won’t fix in a few days.” I eyed Nash heading my way with breakfast. “You good if I go? Nash just ordered food.”

“Yes, go eat. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Tonight, baby,” I said, and ended the call as Nash placed breakfast on the table.

“Harlow good?” he asked as he slid into the seat across from me.

“No, she’s still sick, but trying to tell me she’s okay.”

I pulled up the contacts on my phone and dialled a number.

Shoving bacon in my mouth, I waited for him to answer. He took his time to answer, finally picking up on about the sixth ring. “Scott, what’s up, man?”

“I’ve got one of the prospects watching Harlow, but I need you to head over to my house and keep an eye on her instead. She’s not well and I’m concerned she might pass out or some shit. You good to do that?”

“Sure. Gimme five and then I’m on my way.”

“Thanks.”

“No worries. Anything to help the club.”

“Oh, and Rogue, don’t let her try and tell you she’s okay. I don’t want your attention on anything other than Harlow today.”

“You got it, man. My day is dedicated to her.”

As I placed my phone on the table, it buzzed with a text.

Bourne: Meet is scheduled for one this afternoon. At the clubhouse.

Me: See you then.

“I don’t know whether to trust that asshole or not,” I muttered after I sent my text. As I met Nash’s gaze, I added, “I’m trying to figure out his angle here.”

“He obviously wants us to help him take down Julio, but I don’t see how having us along for the ride will really help him,” Nash said.

“That’s what I’m getting stuck on, too.”

“Let’s check out Julio’s crew as best we can before we meet Bourne’s guy this afternoon, and then go from there. If we don’t trust him, we walk away.”

He was right, and I couldn’t help but think that any man who’d been aligned with my father was not a man I could trust.

I walked into the Adelaide clubhouse with trepidation that afternoon. The beady-eyed guy Bourne had with him only raised my levels of concern. Short, almost bald and sweaty as if he had shit to hide, Alex was your typical drug dealing scum.

After Bourne completed the introductions, I said, “I would have thought Julio would have measures in place to weed out traitors. How have you managed to go undetected?”

“I made myself indispensible to him from before he even took me on. Bourne and I planned it way in advance. We were smart about that shit, man, and Julio never suspected a thing. Even when he dug into my background, he couldn’t find anything because Bourne and I had covered it and replaced it with what Julio would accept.” His eyes betrayed nothing when I’d expected them to show me he was lying. I’d met enough lying assholes in my life to know the signs and this guy showed none of them.

“So what’s your role in Julio’s organisation?” J asked. The tense set of his shoulders revealed his hesitation to believe Alex, too.

“I take care of a lot of the shipments and pretty much do anything else he asks me to do. I’ve brought in a lot of contacts for him; that’s how I worked my way up fairly quickly.”

“You gave him those contacts?” I looked at Bourne in surprise. “Would have thought you’d wanna keep them for yourself.”

Bourne tapped his head. “Being smart’s what got me to where I am today, brother. You’ve gotta be willing to make sacrifices in order to give your enemy a little of what he needs, so that in the long run, he gives you what you need. And even better if he doesn’t know it’s you giving it to him.”

Nash stepped forward, his eyes narrowed on Bourne. “So let me get this straight – through Alex, you’ve been feeding Julio contacts and learning everything about his business. How do you see that playing out? And how the fuck do we figure into that? And why would we even want to?”