'You have my word. Did you hear him speak? See anything? The color of his eyes, maybe?' Marcus could hear his own desperation and fought to shove it back.

'I heard him swear when I stabbed him. Deep voice. Eyes, brown. Lashes, black. Curly. Eyelids, dark, a little lighter than the ski mask.' He drew a labored breath. 'He wanted the gut bullet back too. Tried to dig it out.' A grimace. 'With a kitchen knife. He took it with him. The knife. Not the bullet.' Phillip's eyes slid shut. 'God, this really hurts.'

'I know. Hold on a little longer. The ambulance is coming. Stay with me, Phil.'

Another smile, much weaker. 'You're a bossy SOB. You know that, right?'

'Trust me, I know it,' Marcus murmured, then looked up as footsteps thundered across his apartment floor. Medics and a cop appeared in the doorway, and Marcus stood up and stepped back. 'Please help him.'

'We'll do our best,' one of the medics said, gently pushing Marcus further out of the way. 'You need to leave the room, sir. We need space to work.'

Marcus scooped BB up in his arms. She was dead weight, her limbs loose and floppy. 'I'm Marcus O'Bannion,' he said to the cop. 'I've called Detective Bishop of the homicide division. No,' he corrected himself. 'She's MCES, the CPD/FBI task force. She's on her way. This is related to one of her cases. I'll give my statement when she arrives.'

Cincinnati, Ohio

Tuesday 4 August, 8.55 P.M.

Ken sat at the desk in his home office, staring at the tracking software on his phone screen, dreading what he knew he had to do. Demetrius had still not called in, but he wasn't dead. His car was in motion, though driving erratically. After being inside O'Bannion's apartment building for only ten minutes, he'd left and taken a circuitous route to nowhere, it seemed. He hadn't called. Hadn't texted. Had simply driven around in circles.

Which meant he'd missed. Again. If he'd hit O'Bannion, he'd be calling to brag, all cocky and smug. Even if he weren't embezzling funds, Demetrius had to go.

Like . . . permanently.

The prospect might have made Ken annoyed a few months ago. Hell, maybe even a few weeks ago. But Demetrius had fucked up royally. And if he is stealing money from me, I'll make him sorry he was ever born.

A cup of tea appeared in front of him and he looked up to see Alice's concerned face. 'You didn't eat any dinner, Dad.'

He switched off his phone before she could ask what he was looking at. He tracked her phone, too. Sean's as well, but he didn't want either of them to know it. Ken trusted both of them, but he wasn't stupid. They were his kids after all. Had his DNA. They'd sell him out if the price was high enough.

'I'm not very hungry, honey. But this tea will hit the spot.'

'You're worrying about Demetrius,' she said, sitting in the chair across from his desk. She'd already dressed for bed, wearing a modest robe and ridiculous Tweety Bird slippers. Above the neck of the robe he could see the bright blue of her University of Kentucky sleep shirt. His girl had graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt with a law degree from Kentucky. She looked like an innocent child, but he knew that beneath that sweet face was the sharp mind of his heir apparent. Sean was too academic and nerdy, and he'd been coddled by that mother of his. Alice, on the other hand, was a damn shark.

'Of course I'm worried,' he said. 'I haven't heard from him in hours.'

'So he missed O'Bannion again. Dad, this is getting ridiculous. This is a liability situation. He needs to go.'

'We've been friends since we were younger than you. It won't be easy killing him.'

She shook her head. 'Demetrius should have just killed O'Bannion nine months ago when you told him to. Then we wouldn't be in this situation.'

Ken sighed. 'Possibly, but to be fair, we'd still have the Anders situation, which wasn't his fault. Stephanie and her boy toy Drake still would have taken Tala out to play.'

'But if the girl hadn't met O'Bannion in the park, she wouldn't have met him in the alley and gotten herself shot,' Alice countered.

Ken acknowledged her point. 'Yeah, you're right. That was Demetrius's fault too.' He wasn't going to mention the embezzled funds. Not until he knew for sure.

'Let me at him,' Alice said. 'I'll take care of it for you. Then you won't worry that you'll hesitate at the last minute.'

'I might take you up on that, but not yet.'

'This isn't just an inconvenience, Dad,' she said harshly, surprising him with her intensity. 'Demetrius has allowed O'Bannion to operate without any boundaries all day long. O'Bannion runs a newspaper. They investigate stuff. I shouldn't need to draw a diagram here. He nearly brought us down nine months ago when he exposed Woody McCord's kiddie porn collection. If he'd dug a little deeper, he would have realized that he hadn't even touched the tip of the iceberg with McCord. I think he's digging again. He'll have us all in jail the moment his paper hits the stands, and frankly, I don't think you'd like prison, Dad. I know I wouldn't, and I'm not going to allow anyone to put me there. Not even you. So wake up and stop treating this like it's containable.' She leaned forward, her eyes flashing fire. 'It is no longer containable.'

He stared at her, tempted for the first time in a long time to strike her. 'Do not talk to me that way, Alice.'

She blew out an angry breath. 'You won't listen when I talk softly. God knows I've tried. Do you think it was a coincidence that O'Bannion met the girl in that alley this morning? He knows what we're doing and he's building his story. Once he connects Chip Anders to Woody McCord, we are all toast. He may have already. Let me have O'Bannion.'

'O'Bannion or Demetrius?' he asked coolly.

'Both.'

He shook his head. 'Even if I agreed with you, Alice, I can't just let you blow Demetrius away. Not until we get the records of all the business deals he has in place. I need to know his suppliers and existing contracts.'

'Like?' she pressed.

'Like the trackers, for example. We're down three and I don't know how many more we have in inventory nor where he gets them.'

'I do.'

Ken blinked, momentarily distracted. 'You do?'

She leaned back in her chair and sipped her tea, once again the picture of outer restraint. 'Well I don't personally, but DJ knows. He'll tell me.'

'What makes you think Demetrius's son will tell you? He's loyal to a fault.'

'Not as loyal as you think. We talk.' She smiled. 'Sometimes we do more than talk.'

Ken's mouth fell open. 'You and DJ? Since when?'

'Since he grew up, and how,' she said bawdily, then sobered. 'But seriously, Demetrius told you that Reuben was screwing around with the suppliers' wives and daughters, but I'll bet he didn't tell you about the money he himself spends, and what he spends it on.'

Ken waited, then gave her an impatient look. 'Don't be melodramatic. Just tell me.'

Alice mimed sniffing a line of coke off the back of her hand.

'Cocaine? Demetrius? No. He's an athlete. He wouldn't do that shit.'

She laughed derisively. 'An athlete? Do you know how many athletes "do that shit"? And don't get me started on the steroids. How do you think he keeps up with those muscles? He's not twenty anymore.'

'How do you know any of this?'

'I found the steroids in his sock drawer.' She shrugged. 'I snooped around Demetrius's house after I let DJ fuck my brains out.'

He put his hands up in surrender. 'Don't.'

'I found Demetrius's stash.' She softened her words with a smile. 'You guys aren't getting any younger, you know. Demetrius is pushing fifty. And so are you.'

Ken winced, knowing she was right. 'Ouch. Should I be worried?'

She sipped her tea demurely. 'Daddy, you won't get a chance to get worried. If you threaten the business with stupid shit, I'll take you out myself.'

'Oof,' he grunted placidly, but took no real offense. He'd expect no less. 'I've been thinking about selling out my share and retiring to my own island.'

'Maybe you should,' she said kindly. 'You've worked every day of your life. Why not enjoy the next forty or fifty years surrounded by half-naked women serving you fruity drinks?'

He laughed at the mental picture, pretty much a dead match for his own daydreams. 'I'm thinking about it. Can you and Sean buy me out?'

'Yes,' she said seriously. 'Unless you plan to charge something exorbitant.'

'I wouldn't dream of it. I have to sleep someti-' The ringing of his cell phone cut him off. 'It's Demetrius.'

'About time,' Alice grumbled. 'Put him on speaker, please.'

He pointed his finger at her. 'Then you have to be as quiet as a church mouse.' She mimed locking her lips while he answered the phone. 'D. Where the hell have you been, man?' he asked, even though he knew exactly where Demetrius had been.

'Uh . . . it's bad, Kenny. I'm hit. And I'm bleedin'. Maybe bleedin' out.'

Alice's eyes grew huge with consternation. 'Idiot,' she mouthed.

'What happened to you?' Ken asked.

'Followed one of O'Bannion's reporters, like we talked.' Demetrius's voice had grown slurred. 'Shot him with the Ruger and was digging out the bullet-'

'So that the wound would match the girl's in the alley,' Ken said impatiently. 'And?'

'O'Bannion's damn dog bit me. Then the damn reporter stabbed me.'

Alice's eyes rolled.

Ken kept his voice calm. He was seeing her point. 'With what?'

'My own goddamn knife,' Demetrius muttered.

Ken rolled his own eyes. For God's sake. 'Did you bleed in O'Bannion's apartment?'

A long pause. 'I never said I was in O'Bannion's apartment.'

Alice's brows lifted. 'Busted, Daddy,' she mouthed.

Shit. She knows. She knew that he'd been tracking his leadership team.

Setting her teacup on his desk, Alice took her own phone from her pocket and began typing. She was intent on whatever she was doing, so Ken let her comment go for the moment, keeping his tone level. 'His dog bit you, Demetrius. Unless you shot his employee in the goddamn dog park, his apartment seemed a reasonable assumption.'

Alice looked up from her phone. 'Nice save,' she mouthed, her expression dry.

He jabbed a warning finger at her and she shrugged, dropping her attention back to her phone. She must have found what she was looking for, because her expression abruptly became darkly furious, making him worried.

'Oh.' Demetrius gulped audibly. 'Okay. That makes sense, I guess. No, I didn't bleed anywhere. Not till I got to my car. I kept the knife in my arm till then. Didn't want it to spurt if the little bastard hit an artery.'

If O'Bannion's employee had hit an artery, Demetrius wouldn't have made it to his car, Ken thought sourly. The man was such a hypochondriac. 'Did it spurt?'

'No, just a slow bleed. But it's a mess. I can't go to the hospital. Didn't Decker fix up Reuben's guy that got shot this morning?'

'He did. Where are you, buddy? I'll come get you.'

Alice's mouth opened to protest, and Ken shook his finger at her again while he listened to Demetrius give his address.

'Hold tight, D. I'll be there as soon as I can.' He hung up and glared at Alice. 'Give me a little credit, kid. You're not the only one with a brain, just because you have a damn law degree.'

'What are you going to do?'

'Go get Demetrius and make him tell me his suppliers and contacts.'

'You think he'll just tell you? Really?'

'Really. Demetrius acts like a big stud with all his love of torture and beating people up, but he's a whiny baby when it comes to pain. He acts like a paper cut is a double amputation. I'll get what I need out of him after Decker makes sure he's not going to bleed to death.'

'Nice,' Alice said approvingly.

His finger hovering over Decker's speed dial number, he glanced up at her. 'You knew about the tracking?'

'Yeah,' she said in a duh voice. 'For several months now. You stopped asking me where I was when I went on dates. Sean, too.'

'That's why I didn't know about you and DJ.'

She tapped her nose.

'It doesn't . . . bother you?' he asked. 'That I was tracking you?'

'Yeah,' she repeated, annoyed. 'But we knew you were worried about your leadership team, so we just left our phones behind when we didn't want you to know where we were.'

'How did you know for sure?' he asked, positive that he was not going to like the answer.

'Sean hacked your phone. Took him a minute and a half. Before you even consider being soft on Demetrius, though, I want you to see this.' She showed him her phone, and he heard himself gasp.

'Fuck.' It was the local TV news website, and the shooting at O'Bannion's apartment building was the top story. Two victims en route to the local hospital with 'grave wounds'. The building was on lockdown. It was good that Demetrius had gotten out when he did.

'Exactly,' she said. 'He didn't mention that he didn't actually kill the employee, or that he shot the security guard, did he?' She let it sink in, then turned to go. 'I'll get the room upstairs ready for him.'

'Alice, wait,' he said, and she paused mid-step. 'You're right. Both of them need to go. I'll take care of Demetrius. O'Bannion is now officially yours.'