She swallowed hard. “He’s big. Unusually so. Black hair. But he was wearing a mask at first. After that it was dark. I can’t describe him well, but I’d recognize him again.”
“Well, big describes the guy I met too.” Lucas frowned. “The son of a bitch tried to get friendly with me. So he could get near my things so he could search? Or see if I gave up information about Keith?” He shook his head, unable to figure out the man’s end game.
Maxie only knew he wanted something he believed she had. “I have to tear the storage unit apart.” Her voice shook, and he pulled her against him.
“You aren’t alone. We’ll figure out what to do. One step at a time,” he reassured her.
And for the first time, she wasn’t in such a rush to go out and handle things all on her own.
* * *
While Maxie slept, Lucas held her close and stared up at the ceiling. His brother’s behavior defied description or logic. Every time Lucas thought he’d heard the worst, Keith sank lower. Anger swirled in his gut, but once again it was a useless feeling. There was nothing he could do to change the past, Keith’s behavior, or the fact that he was gone and Lucas couldn’t confront him. Nor could he maintain the level of anger and frustration boiling inside him while he was around Maxie.
Tomorrow he and Maxie would go through her storage locker with a fine-tooth comb. He’d also put security on Maxie and his parents. He didn’t trust that this Vincent Bernardi character wouldn’t go after his parents or break into their house looking for the media card. Lucas frowned as a thought crossed his mind.
Could Keith have somehow hidden the card in Lucas’ apartment? His brother hadn’t come up here often, but he had been here. And nobody had more flash drives lying around than Lucas.
He rolled over and quietly slipped out of bed, heading for the corner room, where he had his home office. He started going through his drawers, pulling out spare storage drives and slipping them into his laptop, running a quick check on the contents, one after another, coming up empty each time. He had old information of his own but nothing that didn’t belong to him.
He ran a hand through his hair and laughed at himself. What were the chances his brother would toss an important drive among Lucas’ things, where it could get thrown out? Slim to none, but he’d be negligent if he didn’t at least check. And Lucas had spare flash drives everywhere in his office.
Thirty minutes later, he had a pile of USB drives, and he hadn’t gotten anywhere in his search. But he still had to protect his family.
Grabbing his cell phone, he walked into the darkened living room. The only lights were the windows from other buildings across the way and New York City.
He dialed Kade, who picked up on the first ring. “Hey, man. You left the party early. Everything okay?”
Lucas stared out the window into the night. “I’ll explain soon. In the meantime, your friend Ian Dare, the one who invested in Blink…” Ian and Kade had been friends in college, meeting after Lucas dropped out. “Didn’t you once say he had a brother with a top-notch security firm?”
“Yes. Tyler Dare. He co-owns Double Down Security with his brother, Scott. They’re based in Miami, but I’m sure they can either send you someone or hook you up with a reputable firm here. You sure you don’t want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Later. I need to make some arrangements first, but thanks.”
“Any time. I’ll text you the number as soon as we hang up.”
Lucas disconnected the call with Kade and put in a call to Double Down Security. With a little luck, he’d have security on the people he loved by morning.
He stopped short at his choice of words, then realized he shouldn’t be surprised. He’d loved Maxie for a long time. Granted, it hadn’t been the same kind of love he felt for her now. When he was younger, he’d had a crush, then as they got older, he’d idolized her. Considered her out of his league as any more than a friend. Then they’d grown apart, and though he’d held on to the adoration he’d felt for her, the truth was he hadn’t really known Maxie, the woman she’d become. And once his brother moved in, Lucas had taken an even bigger step back, both mentally and emotionally. He’d always been there for her, but they hadn’t connected.
Lucas truly believed that now they were living their time. And he didn’t want anything getting in the way. Which meant he also had to sit his parents down and make sure they understood exactly who their other son had been. And why they had to leave Lucas and Maxie alone.
* * *
The storage unit was still in upheaval from Bernardi’s search. Maxie hadn’t had time to clean up the mess the first time she visited, so she and Lucas worked for hours righting things and searching everything they could for a small flash drive.
It wasn’t easy to keep her anger, frustration, and hurt at bay during the long morning. All aimed at the crazy man she’d married. She closed up a box that contained Keith’s personal effects from his nightstand drawer, once again not coming up with the elusive flash drive. She probably ought to be afraid, but with Lucas by her side, she didn’t allow that emotion to surface. She’d worry about Vincent Bernardi later.
“You know,” she said to Lucas, “I packed Keith’s stuff up for a reason. It’s not like I want to be looking through his papers and personal effects. I was planning to give your mom a key when she was ready and let your parents decide what to keep and what to get rid of.”