The Men With the Golden Cuffs(36)

He shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t want to piss off the feminists.”

Jake stood. It was time to end this interview. It wouldn’t go anywhere, and he knew at least one thing about the man. Jake didn’t trust him. He would give Adam the go ahead to hack into every account the man had. It might take weeks to go through everything, but if this fucker had even written a nasty e-mail to her, Jake would take it to the cops. Brooks thought he could annoy Serena. Well, Jake had irritated some of the world’s most deadly men in his time. Professor Brooks would be a breeze. Liam could keep an eye on the asshole for a few days, but talking to him was just pissing Jake off. “Serena Brooks is under my protection now. Do you understand?”

“I understand you sound like a meathead caveman.”

Jake leaned over, using every bit of his military training to intimidate. A wave of pure predatory pleasure overtook him as the professor seemed to shrink right before his eyes. “Remember that. If you call her house again, I’ll be back here, and we’ll have a chat. I don’t think you’ll like how I chat. I don’t use big words.”

“You’re threatening me.”

He smiled, but Jake was pretty sure it wasn’t a happy thing. “Look, Liam. All those degrees really made him smart.” He backed off. “And as for Serena’s books, they’re good. I like them. I can see where you would want to divorce her. She made you look bad.”

The professor’s eyes narrowed. “Fuck. You’re fucking my wife.”

There was the voice Jake had heard on the answering machine. Yep. The professor had a dark side.

“Not yet, he isn’t. But he’ll come around.” Liam stood, gathering his things. He put a card on the professor’s desk. “I want to make it easy for you to call and complain. Ask for Ian Taggart. He owns the company.”

Doyle Brooks’ face was a mottled red. He reached for the card. “Oh, Mr. Taggart will hear from me. Now, I believe I would like for you to leave my home.”

Jake nodded. He had nothing left to say. He wished he could be there when Brooks tried to pull his shit on Ian. Liam was a bastard. Jake was happy to not be on the Irishman’s bad side. He followed Liam out, wondering how hard it had been on Serena to live in this house. She wouldn’t have been able to write in her underwear. She wouldn’t have been able to dance around. She would have felt hemmed in. She had a deeply submissive nature. It didn’t mean she would just let anyone walk on her. She’d proven that. She’d come out fighting. She’d followed her path. But it did mean she would more than likely attempt to please the people around her. Especially her husband. That shit bag in the office had taken advantage of her for as long as he could and then ground her under his overly pretentious loafer when he no longer had a use for her.

“You look like a man ready to take a chunk out of someone.” Liam had a shit-eating grin on his face. “Remember my advice. Fuck her and get it over with. It’s inevitable. Then you would have had every right to punch that bloody wanker in the face. That pussy wouldn’t punch back.”

Jake nodded to Ginny as he strode out the door. He hoped the young woman had enough sense to get out when she could.

He could hear Professor Brooks shouting at someone. God, he hoped it was Ian. The door slammed behind him, just as his cell rang. He looked down at the number.

“Tell me it’s Ian giving us the go ahead to kill the bastard.” Liam’s Irish was back. And there was a grin on his face. He’d enjoyed fucking with the professor.

But Jake lost his smile. “It’s Brighton.” He slid his hand across the bar to answer the call. “This is Dean.”

His police liaison sounded grim. “Hey, Jake. Did you take the Serena Brooks case? You know that writer you called about yesterday?”

Jake got a cold shiver that always went up his spine when the shit was about to hit the fan. “Yeah. I’m out at her ex-husband’s place right now. What’s going on?”

“You should come down to the station. The cop working her case found something. Do you want me to call her or would you rather do that yourself?”

Fuck. He didn’t want to call her at all, but he didn’t have the right to keep things from her. She had the right to know what was coming for her. “I’ll do it. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. How bad is it?”

“Well, it’s more serious than we thought, or she’s more clever. No idea, man. You need to talk to the cops handling this case. I’ll keep them here for you. I don’t know about this, Jake. It gives me a nasty feeling.”