His nostrils flared.
I stepped closer to him. “Carrie doesn’t need to know right now or ever. That’s Margo’s decision, not yours. Not mine. Not Red Snake’s. You understand me?”
After fifteen seconds, he looked over my shoulder, his features softening. “You never left our house.”
Behind me, I heard Margo suck in a soft, sharp breath. “Grayson, please.”
“You clung to her, sweetheart.”
“I don’t want her to look at me differently.”
My head dropped, eyes closing, her words like poison, killing me slowly.
“What the hell do you mean by that?” he asked, glancing at me.
The door was thrown open then, banging against the wall, shaking my painting as Jake stepped through, eyes wild.
“You got something?” I called, grinding my teeth.
His eyes bounced between Gray and me as he nodded once. He walked straight to Margo and put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them with his thumbs.
“Jake, what is it?” I pressed.
As he continued to stare down at her, he asked, “Has she signed the NDA yet?”
“Not yet.”
He sighed, giving Margo a useless smile. “Well, that’s good. Makes things less complicated, not that it would be a bad thing if she had signed it already,” he rambled.
“Murphy,” Grayson barked. “Clue us in before I fire you.”
I stepped up behind Margo and slowly pulled her away from Jake. “Did you find Samson?” I asked, voice hard.
He looked pained. “Yeah.”
Margo folded her arms across her chest, huffing. “Well, where is he?” She twisted her neck, looking up at me. “Does Jake always look this crazy when he finds someone?”
“Yes,” Gray and I answered.
“Heard Murphy found something.”
All of us turned to the doorway, finding Dominic leaning against the frame, reading a file. His suit jacket was off, shirt untucked, sleeves rolled up. I knew he wasn’t doing well after seeing Margo’s face. Domestic violence was a hard trigger for him, and he never touched DV-related cases unless absolutely necessary. “Does Hayes need to get the chopper?” he asked.
“Chopper isn’t here,” Gray answered, shooting me a glare.
“You guys have a chopper?” Margo chimed in, eyes wide.
“Yeah, Hayes is the only one who can fly it,” Jake answered, leaning back against my file cabinets. He put his hand on the back of his neck, massaging it.
“Oh. Well, where is it?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t we get back to the problem at hand?” Dominic calmly suggested, still scanning the file.
Christ, he was about to explode.
“Well, sure, but the fact that you guys have a chopper is the coolest thing I’ve heard all day,” Margo said. Jake and I shared a look before we both looked at Dominic.
Then I looked down at her. “It’s in Astoria.”