She gave her simple instructions. “You’ve got the blueprints for the phony offer. All you need to do be friendly, give him attention and offer the bait. You understand everything?”

  Katie nodded and swallowed the anxiety back.

  “Good luck,” Mariano said.

  An hour later, Katie was seated in the stands in the Union Hall uptown, fitted with a wire, with four members of the Brute Squad sitting around her. Levi sat in the row ahead of her and to her left. Behind and to her left was Billy. Behind and to the right was Dash. And catty-corner in front of her to the right was the new guy who’d been hired to replace Billy at Crow Bar, whose name she didn’t know. Like the rest of them, he was built like a truck and intense about the face.

  It was fifteen minutes before the fight was set to begin. She scanned the crowd and locked eyes with her security man, Mike, who gave a slight shake of his head. He’d seen no sign of Councilman Barrett.

  There was, however, an argument going on all around her that she could not believe she was witness to.

  “You know that stray cats kill more birds every day than coyotes,” said Harper Ross, taking a seat next to Billy and sipping a beer.

  “What are you, a bird expert now?” Dash asked, barely turning his head in her direction.

  Harper sniffed. “As a matter of fact, I go bird banding with my grandpa every year at Newcastle Pier.”

  Billy cackled. “What the fuck is bird banding? That’s not a real thing.”

  Dash reached backward and popped Billy on the back of the head with the flat of his palm. “Don’t be rude.”

  Harper spat, “I don’t need you to stick up or me, Lynwood.”

  “Fine, I won’t. Especially not if you’re going to use my real name. I’ll just let Billy talk shit, then maybe you’ll finally get the hint and leave me alone.”

  “I am perfectly within my rights to be here,” she said. “So long as I have a ticket. And barring that, my family’s paid enough union dues over the last century that nobody’s about to kick a Ross out of the union hall.”

  Dash shook his head. “Doesn’t mean you should be, just because you can.”

  Harper laughed. “What are you gonna do about it?”

  “I can perceive you as a threat to Ms. Moss’s safety and escort you out. That is part of my job, you know.”

  She downed the rest of her beer and squeezed the cup, crunching it loudly in her hand. “You touch me, you incur the full wrath of the Ross family.”

  Dash didn’t wait for her to answer, but stood up, stepped over the back of the seats, and lifted Harper up and over his shoulder as easily as if he were lifting a sack of potatoes.

  “Put me down, Lynwood!”

  Their arguing and bickering continued out the door.

  Levi stood up and bellowed at the both of them. “Put her down and do your actual fucking job for one night.”

  Katie sat with her head in her hands. This is the crack team that somehow foiled a political assassination? This is the Scooby gang assigned to protect me? I need Mike to clone himself immediately.

  “Sorry. They’re not always like this.”

  She looked up and saw Levi had taken a seat next to her. “What’s their deal, anyway?”

  Levi shrugged. “They’ve never gotten along.”

  “They should get a room already. They are clearly in mad love with each other.”

  “Think so?”

  She chuckled. “Yeah. It’s pretty obvious.”

  Levi shot her a wink and then went back to scanning the crowd for danger.

  There were no more physical altercations within the group, but the longer she listened to this conversation, the more she wondered what planet she was on.

  Or, maybe, this is what actual friends act like. Perhaps real friends argued about stupid shit all the time just for the fun of it. Maybe this was a whole world she was missing out on and never knew. The idea of that made her a little bit sad.

  But, before she had time to ruminate on her poor little rich girl existence, Councilman Barrett came into view. He was trying to be sneaky about it, too, sliding into the back row of seats closest to the door.

  What was even more shocking to her was that Ari Pitts was walking in with him.

  She nudged Levi, who seemed to be the most competent one of the Brute Squad, and whispered, “The eagle has landed.”

  He turned and blinked at her with his intense brown eyes.

  “You know,” she pushed. “The fox is in the henhouse.”

  “Are you okay?”

  She groaned. “Oh my god. The guy is here. Just…never mind. Watch my back. I gotta go chat up Councilman Barrett.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Holden

  By the time he met his opponent at the center of the ring, Holden still had not made up his mind about what to do.

  They touched gloves. Castillo glared at him with that almost crazed look some fighters get halfway through a fight, yet this one had not even begun.

  Both in the same weight class, he could not tell if he could beat him just by sizing up his physical stature. He was built a lot like Holden, around the same height, with slightly longer legs.

  Good, I can move faster. Probably.

  Holden had no way of knowing if Castillo was in on the plan. He wouldn’t know until the fight began.

  Through his mouthguard, Castillo spewed out the words, “Miami’s watching.”

  The opening bell rang, and Holden let his body decide when his mind couldn’t.

  In the first round, the opening jabs and blocks warmed him up and woke up his automatic muscle memory. He wanted to fight. Needed to fight. Could not fake it even if he wanted to.

  Castillo feinted and landed an uppercut to Holden’s ribs. Some in the crowd shouted, others clapped, and Holden nearly laughed with glee. This is what he loved. Fuck Junior. Fuck Coach Hammer. Fuck Miami, and most of all fuck Girardi and anyone who complied with the mob. Win or lose, Holden would fight, and he would give the crowd what they came here for. A show.

  He heard his coach shouting directions from the corner of the ring, but he ignored him. All of that was designed to make Holden go down in the first round.

  He jabbed at Castillo’s jaw, but Castillo jerked his head back, and Holden missed.

  The pair of them danced around each other in the ring, tossing more jabs, some connecting and some not. Holden waited for his opening.

  It came just as the first round ended. Castillo left his face unguarded as he tried an uppercut, but Holden dealt a strong left hook, rattling the fighter’s jaw.

  The first round ended with points for Holden and zero points for Castillo. The crowd cheered and jeered, and Holden could hear bellowing from the back of the room. The Brute Squad was here.

  The idiots are supposed to be keeping an eye on Katie and not this match, he thought. But nothing could be done about that now.

  Back in his corner, the coach berated him for his mistakes. As he poured water down Holden’s throat, he could read between the lines. “Eyes on the prize, H. Don’t be a little bitch about it,” Hammer growled.

  Before the bell for the second round, Holden scanned the crowd for Katie. Finally, he spotted her in the back, chatting it up with that gross little bitch Ari Pitts and Councilman Barrett. The three of them were laughing like old friends, and the sight of it produced a knot in Holden’s stomach. Were they actually all old friends? Was this some kind of elaborate set-up?

  But no. He knew the truth. He loved Katie from the moment he saw her, which was not the kind of love that was blind. He knew what he had to do: buy her more time.

  The first round had revealed that Castillo was not as seasoned a fighter as Holden. His first tell had been letting his guard down at the end of the first round, and so Holden used that to his advantage in the second round. The crowd grew restless as Holden spent the entirety of the second round jabbing and dodging. Letting Castillo get in a few punches just for showmanship but ultimately wearing him out. By the end of the second round, the points were tied, and Castillo was tired.

  Holden endured another round of being berated by his coach. He could not care less. He was already finished. He knew that. If the mob didn’t murder him in his sleep later tonight, then he was going to leave town with Katie and start a new life somewhere else. He didn’t have to box professionally. If boxing for money meant making dirty crooks richer, then he didn’t want any part of it.

  In the third round, half the crowd was on its feet as Holden went for it. He circled his opponent six, seven times, provoking jeers from the crowd. They wanted blood. The look in Castillo’s eyes was a warning. Holden had better go down if he knew what was good for him.

  The tired Castillo threw a slow jab to Holden’s ribs, leaving his left side open. Holden went for it, attacking like a lion who had found his prey’s weak spot. He rushed forward, throwing a jab-cross-hook that sent Castillo stumbling backward across the ring. Holden landed blow after blow until he had Castillo up against the ropes. Holden let fly with a roundhouse to the side of the head, rattling his opponent’s skull and sending him toppling to the mat. Half the crowd was incensed; the other half was on its feet cheering.

  Out of breath, Holden backed away and waited for the ref to count down.

  He barely paid attention to what was happening after that—knowing it was a knockout and that they were done—instead looking for Katie in the crowd.

  All of a sudden, his lungs felt like they were on fire in blind panic; Councilman Barrett was there. Ari was there. But Katie and Levi were nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Katie

  She knew it was a huge risk to take Barrett to a second location, with fewer pairs of eyes on her, but he had taken the bait and wanted to hear more about her proposal—the completely made-up proposal she was to use to catch him in accepting a bribe.

  Katie felt slightly more at ease about moving this chat to the hotel bar across the street with Levi tagging along.

  She’d given Mike strict instructions to stay at the fight and make sure Holden was safe, whether he won or lost the match. As she, Barrett, and Ari Pitts made their way out of the doors of the Union Hall, Mike had glared at her, clearly unhappy about not being the one to watch out for her in that tense situation. She shot him a warning look, knowing that the craggy-faced, gentle giant could take a lot of hits, but he could not stand to disappoint Katie.

  As they were headed inside, Barrett blocked Levi’s path. Katie swallowed hard and asked, “Is there a problem with my security detail?”

  “He can’t be here. If we’re talking shop, I’d rather not have one of the governor’s lapdogs in on the meeting.”

  Shit. He’d recognized Levi as the boyfriend of Fiona, daughter of Governor Locke.

  Levi held up both hands. “Perfectly fine. I’ll wait outside.”

  Katie’s eyes went wide, but Levi assured her, “I’ll be right outside the door. Just shoot me a text if you need me.”

  She took a deep breath and went inside the bar. The sleek mid-century modern fixtures of the Rushmore Hotel bar were quite familiar to Katie. The color palette and the kidney-bean-shaped tables made her feel like she was taking part in a backroom meeting on the set of Mad Men. Different industry, but same thing. This was the good ol’ boys club, and she was deep in it. Just to prove it, Ari had brought her her favorite drink from the bar. Dirty Martini, extra dirty, extra olives.

  “You look thirsty. I thought you could use a palate cleanser. Boxing doesn’t suit you, Katie,” Ari said with a phony, congenial air. There was a time when she thought this was the typically unflappable, always-charismatic Ari. But not anymore. Everything about him felt as disingenuous as the politicians she regularly encountered as part of her job, like the imposing figure that sat across from her right now, studying her cleavage.

  For the first time in her life, she found herself hoping he was staring because he liked boobs and not because he was looking for a recording device.

  “What I wanted to talk to you about was the Waterview project. I have some ideas, but it’s going to take a little elbow grease if you know what I mean.”

  Ari and Barrett exchanged looks. “Go on.”

  She sucked in a deep breath and let loose with the biggest bald-faced lie she’d ever told, and it felt oddly thrilling.

  “I’m sending the project back to the designer. We’re keeping the top floor luxury units as is, but the rest of the building will be a five-star hotel. And the reason I need you, Councilman Barrett, is to help me get the second and third phases approved.”

  “What is it you have in mind, Katie?”

  “Hold on to your panties, gentleman. Because I’m about to make the city of Newcastle a fuck ton of money in tourism taxes. Casinos, hotels, spas, concert halls, and gambling boats. It’s our own mini Las Vegas, right on the water.”

  Ari and Barrett exchanged a look. Barrett tried to look skeptical, but he was practically salivating.

  “Of course, I’ll need your assurances that we can be tax-free for the first ten years, just until the property is self-sufficient. And I’ll need it expedited. You see, I’m in a bit of a pickle. I’m hemorrhaging money because the initial project was never going to work. If I can get you to go to bat for me on the council, I would sure appreciate it.”

  His watery eyes traveled down over her body, her breasts, and she had to fight the urge to vomit the martini she’d just sipped. “How much would you appreciate it?”

  She had to be careful and not spook him with a blatant bribe, but to say just enough to get him to incriminate himself. Fortunately, Gilmore and Mariano had coached her well. She smiled at Barrett. “You know, I was watching some of those political attack ads you used during the last campaign. Very clever. Very expensive.”

  Barrett chuckled. “You have no idea.”

  Katie sipped her martini, praying her hand wasn’t shaking. This was working. “It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if you didn’t need those ads. Or, I don’t know, if there were some silent benefactor who could just make those bills go away.”

  “Interesting,” Ari said.

  “But never mind that,” she said. “Let’s get back to why we’re here.” She reached into her bag and unfurled the phony blueprints, pointing out every detail of the plan.

  The two men were practically drooling all over the blueprints to the casino district that was never going to happen.

  “This looks like exactly the kind of thing we need in Dockside. It would mean lots of new jobs. Hundreds, if not thousands.”

  Katie nodded. “All I need is an expedited approval from the council, planning, and zoning committee. And anything I can do to help grease the wheels, just say the word.”

  Councilman Barrett turned to Ari and said conspiratorially, “You know, the wife has been hinting at a yacht for some time, but I told her that looked too tacky for us down here on this side of the river to have the property at the marina in Shoreline. But if we have something like this right here in Dockside, well, it would make sense.”

  Katie nodded and pointed to a spot on the blueprints, “…and right here we could build a dry dock facility for winters. Everything you could want would all be right there. A yacht, berthing, storage—all of it free for the people who help make this possible. Fuck, I can put your name on the side of a building, depending on how much you think you can be of assistance.”

  Katie suddenly felt strange. If she thought she might vomit earlier out of sheer disgust, she then felt a definite wooziness that had nothing to do with her feelings about these men.

  The geometric shapes of the tables, rugs started to get fuzzy around the edges.

  Oh shit, she thought. Picking up her purse and grabbing her phone, her hands felt like lead weights. Her bag felt as heavy as an anvil.

  “Katie, you look ill. Can I get you some water?” She blinked hard to focus on Ari’s face. Just before she passed out, she detected a hint of a smirk on his lips. He had done something to the martini. Fuck. They knew.

  Her last thought before lights out was, …and this is why Griff never lets anyone but the bar staff deliver drinks to his tables.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Holden

  Having forgotten all about his own safety and how he’d just screwed over the Miami Mafia, Holden zeroed in on his friends to get some answers.

  Still in his boxing uniform and sweating from head to toe, he pinned Billy to his seat as the crowd around them scattered. It had to be an odd sight: the boxer who had just won the match, tackling one of his friends in the stands. “Where the fuck is she. Where did you let her go?”

  “Why the fuck are you picking on me? Levi went with her!”

  “Where’s Levi!?”

  Dash stood and wrung his hands. “Ah, I think Katie took their little party across the street.”

  Holden leveled his best friend with all of the rage he could muster. “You were right when you said I didn’t need the Brute Squad anymore. Fuck you guys and your idiotic bickering.”

  An ambulance was pulling up to the curb outside the union hall, and Levi was nowhere to be found. His heart in his throat, Holden followed the EMTs inside of the Rushmore Hotel. There, he found Levi bent over Katie, holding her in an upright position and trying to wake her up.

  Holden got a hold of himself before he punched Levi’s lights out.

  “I’ve got this. You can go.”

  Holden charged and pushed Levi out of the way. He squeezed Katie and kissed her forehead. “Baby, what happened? Wake up.”

  “Sir.”

  He looked up and saw the gurney, realizing he was in the way of getting her real help. “I’m her fiancé. I’m going with her.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Katie

  When she woke up with a pounding headache, she immediately sensed another presence. A large shadowy figure in the room was asleep in the chair nearby, the figure’s meaty hand locked around her smaller hand in a vice grip. The figure snored lightly.