Dirty Little Secrets(11)

Our family reunion   continued, with Dad telling me about his community projects he had going on while Layla filled me in on what Alix was up to. Despite the bad feelings Alix had for her mother, Layla was immensely proud of her daughter. I was just looking over some of the recent photo spreads Alix had done when the front door opened again before slamming shut.

“I guess that’s Alix,” Layla said, smiling in hope. It hurt me to see what Alix’s rejection did to her mother, the glimmer in her eyes twisting a knife deep in my guts. Instead of saying what I felt, I smiled and nodded, following Layla and Dad back out into the foyer of the house.

What I saw when we got there caused me to stop in my tracks. A huge, red welt was rising up on Alix’s face around her left eye, already starting to darken into one hell of a shiner. She was trying to hide it under a hat, but even at the angle I was standing on the second floor, I could see it creeping down her cheek.

“Alix, what happened?” Layla said, approaching her daughter and trying to embrace her, a very natural reaction for any mother.

Alix pushed off, shaking her head. “It’s nothing, Mom, just an accident that happened on set today.”

“That accident looks like something more along the lines of John Cena than Sean John,” I said as I came up to her. “Seriously, Alix, what happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Alix said, putting on a smile that as soon as I saw it, perked my instincts. I’m a good lawyer, and better than my dad when it comes to negotiations. The reason is that I can read faces and voices at an almost unconscious level and in an instant judge if someone is telling me the truth.

Alix was telling us total bullshit. She was good at it though, probably a side effect of her modeling instincts, and I think both Layla and Dad bought it. I could hear it in her voice, bright warning lights blinking in my head as she talked. “I was doing a shoot for Men’s Health, and as I was walking out I turned to say something to the photographer and walked right into a spotlight. They’d just shut it down and I was a bit dazzled, that’s all.”

“Must have been a very heavy light,” Dad said, and I heard the confusion and suspicion in his voice, but it wasn’t high enough for him to act on it. I love my father, but in the years since stepping mostly into executive work at his law firm and devoting himself to his community work, he’d lost his edge in some areas, bullshit detection being one of them. “You sure you don’t want to get it looked at?”

“It’s fine, Derek, I already iced it down and I can see fine. Seriously, guys, it’s okay,” Alix replied, smiling a sweet smile that made my instincts bark all the more. Alix was hiding something, that was for sure.

“Well, if you’re sure, honey,” Layla said. “Can I at least help you with your bags? Did you bring any?”

“I did,” Alix replied. “That I could use a hand with. Thanks.”

Layla and Dad went with Alix out the front door, and I hung back a moment. As soon as they were gone I pulled my phone out of my pocket and hit speed dial. It was only about five thirty, and while I figured Vince might have taken off for the weekend, I knew he carried his phone with him all the time.

I was right—Vince picked up in only two rings. “Hey Kade, what’s going on?”

Vince knew I wouldn’t be the one initiating a call unless there was a serious reason for it, and he was all business from the beginning. It was time to put Vince’s instincts on the trail, whether I was mixing business with family or not. A bitch to her mother, sure. An ungrateful stepdaughter? Absolutely. But that didn’t mean she deserved to be abused, and what was on her face was a textbook abusive beat down.

“Vince, I need to you to track something down for me. I don’t have a lot of info, so just start with this and if I find out more I’ll send it along. You know my stepsister, Alix Nova, right?”

“You’ve mentioned her,” Vince said. Vince was a fan of the model type, although he struck out frequently with them whenever he had a chance to talk to one. “But yeah, I know who you’re talking about. Why?”

“I need to know more about a photo shoot she was involved with today. She said it was for Men’s Health. I want to know who else was there, and what happened there today. Think you can do that?”

“Timeline?” Vince asked.

“Send me what you can find out by midnight. I’ll touch base again Monday at noon,” I replied. “Sorry if I’m interrupting Friday night plans.”

“Not a problem. Is this a billable thing, or no?”

“No, no tracking of hours. Just a bonus next paycheck from my pocket.” While there were certain risks to not telling Vince it was for a client, specifically that it didn’t incur attorney client privilege, I’m not in the habit of lying to my employees if at all possible. “Think you can get something?”