Dane

"Well, fuck, Dane," Harry threw his pen down and folded his arms. "Fuck."

​​

"Are you arresting me, or trusting me?"

"Fucking trusting you—but I don't! Don't you think I do, because I don't!" he said, pointing at Dane's nose. "If we're going to do this, there's going to be some rules, and you're helping me out with some stuff."

"Anything."

Harry shook his head a muttered another curse before he leaned his elbows on the table again and locked eyes with Dane. "You are keeping yourself completely out of sight until you've got these files to me. Completely. You go see your guy in a damned armored vehicle, I don't care, but no one sees you—not even Bert."

"Done."

"No one can know you're out, Dane. If anyone gets wind of it, I can't control the bleed."

"Don't worry, they won't."

Harry scoffed. "First things first, you tell me about that video that got leaked. That's you as a kid, right? I recognize you. Is it real?"

"Yes."

"Did you kill those people?"

"Sort of."

"There's no 'sort of' in murder Dane."

"They're dead, but I wasn't the only one involved. And I did most of the damage, but I lost my nerve at the end. My father… finished them off."

Harry shook his head. "FUCK."

"I didn't want to do it, Harry."

"You think anyone who sees that video is going to believe that?"

"I don't care what they believe, it's true."

"You'll care when it's a jury of your peers."

Dane's skin went cold. "If I could… if I could bring that video into question…"

"Depends whether we're just knocking one felony off by creating another."

"Technically no. What I have in mind would… make the video impossible to be verified."

"I don't know enough about this tech stuff to know whether what you're saying is legal or not. But if you can exorcize the demon that is that video on your record, it will help us a great deal."

"I'll do my best," Dane said, still holding Harry's gaze.

"No tricks, Dane. If that's real, you need to face it, not try to hide it."

"I didn't kill them, Harry. I hurt them, but I didn't kill them."

"Why'd you have to look so happy about it?"

"Because that's what my father required. I'm a very, very good actor."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

Feeling sick to his stomach, but needing to prove the point, Dane let a smile grow on his face, let his eyes light up and leaned forward. "It was a blast, Harry. I loved every minute of it. I wish I was still under my father's fat thumb so I could do it again." Then he dropped the act, and shuddered, shaking his head. But Harry sucked in a breath.

"That is the creepiest fucking thing I've ever seen."

"Try living it."

"Your dad's a piece of work, huh?"

"A very efficient and effective, sadistic monster, yes. A genius manipulator and creepy as fuck. He was creepy as fuck. He isn't now. He was," Dane said, as much to remind himself as Harry, and breathed a little easier. "We might have another monster to deal with now, but it isn't him."

"Well, halle-fucking-lujah."

Dane nodded, but he still felt sick to his stomach. He hated falling back into that place where he put on the skin of monster. He was always afraid it would stick and he wouldn't be able to take it off.

Harry finally looked away, picking up his pen again like he would write, but he didn't. "So, here's the thing, Dane. Part of the search warrants we're using today are to back up the charges against you. You're about to be charged with suspected murder. Until we can get you free of that cloud, I can't use you. But… if we can get those charges dropped… I can put you in our informant program. Even my superiors won't know who you are. I'll have resources to help you, and we can meet. I was starting down that road when you bailed and then this happened. So fuck you for that. But here's what I'm telling you: If you can get me proof your dad was guilty of Talia, that you weren't guilty of murder, and anything else that makes you look closer to a choir boy, then I'll get you set up so I can help you without interference.

Dane blew out a breath and nodded. "Like I said, I think I can get both those things to you in the next day. So, in the meantime, how I do keep Lila clean in this?"

"You're doing it. Sort of. I would have said don't cohabitate. Make sure she's got plausible deniability. But I get that your options are limited. So, step careful. She can't be seen with you, seen with anything or anyone linked to this. She has to look like an innocent who was as shocked by all oft his as the rest of us."

"That's the truth, Harry. She's had zero to do with any of this. Any chance of charges against my father for kidnapping her?"

"Working on it. Because she identified him, there's charges pending. But someone's sitting on them. That was another part of these searches. I was hoping… well, it doesn't matter. The point is, you keep your nose clean and out of the public eye, and you get those files to me. And you answer whatever phone number you're about to give me every stinking time I so much as pocket dial you."

Dane gave him the number of the phone Chris had given him—another burner. He'd been disappointed that the burners were gone when he got to the apartment, hoping he might be able to get Lila that way—without even Chris knowing. But no such luck.

"I'm guessing it's not a good idea for me to phone her."

"No. It'll show on the records and then the prosecution says you were conspiring."

Dane's stomach sank. He'd known, but… hope had sprung. "I gotta tell you, Harry, I'm eager to get myself able to walk around as soon as possible."

"Then get me those files."

"I will, I promise."

Harry got up from his chair then and offered his hand to Dane across the table. "You do your share, and I promise I'll do mine."

Dane was surprisingly touched as he took the man's hand and shook it, then ushered him to the door. Dane stayed away from the entrance when Harry left, just in case. But Chris was staying in the Penthouse to get Harry through and soothe any questions from Lila. So he waited until the man had closed the door, then locked it behind him and turned to face the apartment.

Alone.

His heart suddenly began to pound and he blinked and blew out a breath, trying to calm himself. He'd always been aggravated by the lack of space and sun in the apartment. He'd chosen privacy over the windows and air, but it had always bothered him. And with everything that had happened… Whenever he didn't have something else to focus on, his body was responding to the close quarters.

He waited fifteen minutes—as much time as he was willing to allow Chris to get Harry out, then he texted him.

I NEED TO GET TO JOHN.

NOW. GET LILA OUT.

He tried to understand how it was possible that he was fifty feet from her and not touching her and talking to her and kissing her and… more. But that just got his mind flashing on the images of Violet, her skin, her cries.

He shook his head hard and turned to pace the space writing for Chris to reply. When another fifteen minutes had passed with nothing, he was cursing.

When the knock came, adrenalin flooded his system and for a minute he couldn't hear anything—his brain screamed that his father was outside and waiting and…

Dane pushed the panic away and walked quietly to the door to peer through the peephole. His brother stood on the other side looking like the side of a pissed-off barn.

Dane dropped his forehead against the door for a second, then unlocked the door and swung it open.

"Get your ass out. She's gone to the office to pick some stuff up, but I can't guarantee that she'll stay. If I can't get her out to get you back in, you're having a sleepover," he growled without a greeting.

Relieved there would be no wait, Dane grabbed his jacket from the chair and indicated Chris should go first since he was standing in the doorway.

Walking through the Penthouse was surreal. Seeing Lila's shawl thrown over the back of the couch almost stopped him in his tracks. "I need some clothes," he mumbled as they stalked through.

"I'll get some for you while you're with John and throw them into the apartment."

"Thank you."

It felt wrong to be here and not be staying. Not refusing to move until she came back, making her listen, making her understand.

But it was for her—for her safety, for her sanity, he reminded himself. But Chris's accusations of cowardice kept echoing in his head.

Was there any truth to it?

He threw a glance over his shoulder as they slipped through to the closet and down the laundry stairs. They could evade the camera on three if they timed it right—which pissed Dane off. But he'd put it in place for just this kind of moment.

"You ready?" Chris asked as they pushed out of the stairwell into the parking lot, then ran across to the car, and opened the door for Dane to get in the back.

"Not even close," Dane muttered to himself as he slid into the vehicle and slumped down in the seat. "Not even close."