Code Blue

Lexi vs. Prep Time

"You were literally in the same room as Daniel Stafford?" Evan whispered, despite the fact that we were alone in his apartment that was checked for bugs and listening devices twice a day.

Holding in a laugh, I nodded as I kicked off my shoes and dropped my purse to the floor, plopping down on the couch beside him, folding my legs beneath me to get more comfortable. "Should I be concerned that you sound almost jealous?"

As I always did after every interaction I had with Max, I'd come to recount last night's events to Evan, happy that I could add a little more excitement to the details.

"I'm not jealous," he insisted, crossing his legs and turning to face me, grabbing his laptop from the coffee table and opening it on his crossed legs to begin taking notes, "just in awe, I guess. I don't do undercover work on your level, so I've never been that close to a criminal mastermind. What's it like?"

"I don't know, normal?" I shrugged, settling myself back against the arm of the couch. "He was charming and charismatic, as I expected, but not as intimidating as I imagined."

Keeping his eyes focused on his computer screen, Evan nodded and typed furiously. "And the dynamic between him and Max?"

"Tense," I replied, unsure if that was the right word to describe the mood of the room the previous night, "I get the sense that Daniel is definitely trying to groom Max to take over and Max is resisting."

"I suppose that's good. It means that Max probably knows a lot about the inside workings of his father's illegal operations."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," I nodded, glad we were on the same page as I remembered a detail from the conversation I'd had with Max on our date. "Did you know he had sisters?"

Humming in response, he typed for a few moments longer before turning his laptop to face me, the screen displaying two black women I assumed were supermodels, purely based on the fact that they were gorgeous and I'd willingly by any article of clothing they wore. "Anabelle and Krista. 27 and 25. Both married to men who work for their father. Anabelle has a three-year-old son, Matt."

"Wow," I blinked in surprise. "Why didn't I know any of this?"

"Because you don't do you research apparently," he stated plainly, lifting his gaze to meet mine, "But to be honest, they're not that crucial to the operation."

That made no sense, seeing as I was currently undercover trying to get close to Daniel Stafford' child because we assumed he could lead us to his father. "Why not? They're part of the family. They might know things."

"Maybe," Evan shrugged, not sounding convinced, "My guess is that they know general information, but nothing specific enough to be useful."

Perhaps the environment Max was in was easier to infiltrate than the lives of two married women, but that didn't mean they should be discounted in knowledge. Still, Evan seemed to know something I didn't. "Why do you say that?"

"Because," he began, choosing his words carefully as though he knew I wouldn't like what he was about to say, "Daniel Stafford is a traditionalist, which means he never had any intention of passing the family business off to his daughters."

It took me all of three seconds to realize the implication. "So he's sexist?"

"Pretty much, yeah," he replied, sounding relieved that I had been the one to say it, not him.

"Good," I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest and huffing, "well, I'm officially back to disliking him."

"Glad I could help," Evan stretched his lips into a quick smile.