“Working. I just texted her, and she basically told me to leave her alone.”
“Ha.” Gabriel chuckled. “That sounds like my girl. What is she working on?”
“She’s trying to find the sister of one of my mother’s friends. Apparently, she’s been missing for three days.”
“If anyone can find her, it’s Paige.”
“Paige told me you haven’t left your island in years,” I said.
“She’s right. But with Hearthstone out of the picture now, I figured it was time to explore some other options.”
The front door opened, and Paige walked in. I couldn’t help but notice the blood splatter stains on her shirt.
“Gabriel? Oh my God! What are you doing here?” She ran and hugged him.
“I wanted to see you and meet Parker in person. What happened?” He pointed to the blood.
“A couple of guys got in my way.”
“Did you find her?” I asked.
“I did. She’s safe at home with her sister.” She pulled her gun from her back and set it on the coffee table. “I still can’t believe you’re here, Gabriel.”
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said.
“Okay. What?”
“We need to talk about your next move.”
I didn’t like the way he said that. “Her next move isn’t any of?—”
“It involves you, Parker.”
“Go on,” Paige said.
“You’ve already started taking jobs. Word spreads quickly when someone like you enters that space.
“What space?” I asked.
“The one where people pay to make their problems disappear.” Paige glanced at me.
“Exactly,” Gabriel said. “If you’re going to do this, you don’t do it halfway. You need to build it properly.”
“I already know that.” Paige’s brow raised.
“You need structure, Paige.”
“I’m not building a company, Gabriel.”
“And she’s not running some underground operation out of my—” I started to say.
“It won’t be here.” Gabriel put up his hand.
“Then where?” Paige asked.
“There’s an industrial space downtown that I can convert with an access-controlled entry. Your staff would be very minimal. Four people at the most, including you. A receptionist, a tech specialist, and a researcher.”
“You’ve thought this through,” Paige said.