“It sounded like you were saying good night back there,” Topaz noted, her voice light with the happiness she felt.
“I was.”
“What?”
“I have to go,” Alex told her, smiling sympathetically at the disappointment in her gaze.
“Well, why? What happened?”
Alex kissed her temple. “Business.”
“What’s wrong? Is it, does it have anything to do with the call?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, do you want me to come with you?”
“No, I want you to stay right here.”
Topaz couldn’t stop the thoughts of dread from creeping into her mind. Her fingers tightened around his wrist. “How long will you be?”
“Don’t wait up for me.”
“Alex—”
“Listen, this is something I need to handle. Tonight,” he snapped, allowing his frustration to show.
Topaz’s eyes misted with tears as she watched his magnificent features harden with emotion. “Are you all right?” she asked in a meek tone.
“I am, but I need you to cease the questions, okay?” he whispered, pressing a hard kiss to her mouth when she nodded. “Make an excuse for me,” he said against her lips, then left her standing alone in the lobby.
Topaz hugged herself when she realized she was trembling.
Carlos Fines had requested Alex meet him at the penthouse he kept in Manhattan. Alex knew the place well. There, he’d received dozens of “orders” during his employment with the Fines Group.
Taking the elevator that opened in the foyer of the split-level penthouse, Alex was greeted by Reynolds. The forty-something Jamaican gentleman acted as Carlos Fines’s executive assistant, valet, butler, driver, etc.
“Been a while, Rey,” Alex greeted the man who took his coat.
Reynolds responded with a regal nod, but his expression was one of pure approval. “Quite a while,” he said, turning to hang the black leather three-quarter-length coat in the closet. “Still on that Tanqueray?” he inquired.
“Always,” Alex confirmed with an easy grin.
Reynolds nodded, then extended his hand. “It’s good to see you, boy.”
Alex nodded, his eyes narrowing in the appreciation he held for the man.
“He’s in the study,” Reynolds announced, then headed off to prepare Alex’s drink.
Carlos Fines was a short, rotund man in his early sixties. The son of two music teachers, Carlos used the education he obtained from school as well as the one he obtained from the streets of Harlem to build his organization. He utilized a mixture of fear, intimidation, and cunning as well as a fair amount of undeniable charm.
To the naked eye, the Fines Group appeared most reputable as a retailer of mechanical and industrial equipment. The group also maintained various holdings in the corporate world—including banks, investment firms, and oil companies.
“Alex ...” Carlos sighed, approaching the younger man with his arms outstretched. He appeared every bit the adoring father greeting his favorite son.
“Carlos,” Alex greeted, leaning down to accept the hug.
Carlos stepped back, his dark eyes sparkling as he studied Alex’s face. “It’s been a long time.”
Alex didn’t attempt to retain his smile. “It has, but I’m sure you didn’t ask me here for a social visit.”
Carlos nodded, turning away to resume his place behind a long, pine desk that occupied an entire corner of the dim study. “I can certainly understand the urgency to return to your fiancée. She’s quite a beauty,” he complimented, glancing up in time to see the blue-green daggers Alex’s gaze fired toward him. “I promise you, boy, I have no intentions of harming anyone so lovely,” he remarked, fixing Alex with a firm look before he sighed. “My son, on the other hand ...”
Alex tilted his head and stepped closer to the desk. “You sayin’ this foolish order on her life is not your doing?”
“It’s not, my boy. Not the order or even the forced sales down in North Carolina.”
“Carlos, I need you to tell me what the hell is goin’ on here,” Alex wearily requested, smoothing one hand across his soft hair in an attempt to calm himself.
Carlos unbuttoned the salt-and-pepper tweed vest he wore and reclined in his desk chair. “Over the past two years our natural gas and oil holdings have taken a real beating. Cal was in charge of those holdings to a great extent. In his eagerness to prevent a total loss, he started to search for a new cash cow.”
“And the search led him to Charlotte?” Alex supplied, settling into one of the deep leather armchairs before the desk.
Carlos was nodding, his youthful brown face appearing tired and harried. “He found out about those businesses by dumb luck. His desperation led him to believe the boast of an acquaintance who believed in some poor fool’s granddaddy. The man said his family business had been successful for so many years because it sat on rich soil.”
