by Stacy Green
“Great. EMS arrives to yet another horrific scene I’ve walked into.”
“I’ll vouch for you. Did she say who the boss was? Deandra’s afraid of him.”
Lyric shook her head. “She said the stuff is in the greenhouse on the back of the property.”
Shana rocked back and forth as she cleaned Lily’s face. Cage could question her later.
Cage pulled the Glock from the ankle holster and handed it to Lyric. “Call EMS. And don’t shoot them.”
Cage made his way through the back jungle, trying to keep his legs under him. Dragging through the weeds and out of control wisteria drained his remaining shred of energy.
He’d never been so tired in his life. The greenhouse was dark, but that didn’t mean this guy wasn’t around somewhere.
The handle moved too easily, and the hairs on the back of Cage’s neck stood at attention. A twig snapped somewhere behind him. Panic rose up fast, choking him. His heart beat too fast. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move.
What do I do?
Pain exploded in the back of his head. His vision went black, sound disappeared. He tasted wet grass and dirt. Something sharp dug into his cheek.
Flashes of color returned until he realized he was staring at a big chunk of Spanish moss dangling from the oak.
Noise slowly funneled back in his ears. Then piercing laughter.
“Look at you, weak as a kitten. Makes this easier than I anticipated.”
Where had he heard that voice before? He spit blood, the inside of his mouth stung.
What just happened?
A heavy foot kicked his ribs, forcing him to roll onto his back. Stars lit up the sky. A tall man stood in the shadow of the twisted oak limbs. Cage squeezed his eyes shut. The man was still there when he opened them.
“You?”
Jared Masse stood over him, spittle in the corner of his mouth, pistol in hand. “You motherfucker, going around screwing with both my businesses. Don’t you know never to mess with a man’s money?”
Cage’s head had turned into a water balloon. He had things to say to this piece of shit, but his mouth took time getting the words out.
“I know a man doesn’t leave his grandmother in that condition.”
“Not my fault.” Jared’s cold tone made Cage nauseous. “Deandra’s supposed to be taking care of her, but she can’t stay off the fent long enough lately to do much of anything.”
Fentanyl. The damn overdoses all over the place. Spider’s warning.
“You were there that night.” Cage had barely noticed the tall, blond guy who’d walked by the meeting spot. Spider came out firing minutes later. Jared Masse had to be the supplier.
Jared smirked. “I made you in a heartbeat.”
The pressure in his head let up enough for him to think. His options sucked. Could he sweep Jared’s legs out from under him?
Cage didn’t have the strength—or the speed.
“Spider should have killed you, like I told him to. Then Deandra can’t get the job done. Now I have to deal with dumping your body. Pain in my ass. But that’s all right, because then everything goes back to business as usual.”
He doesn’t know Lyric is here.
Cage just needed a little more time.
“Why are you messing around with The PhoeniX? Fentanyl has got to bring in ten times the money.”
“That’s Deandra’s pet project. I saw an opportunity to expand my employee base.”
“And Layla?” A dull ache wrapped around his skull.
“Stupid girl. Always has been. Gets all emotional over that light-skinned chick who looks like every other around here. It’s her fault we’re in this mess. Her fault you’re about to die too.”
“Where is she?” Hadn’t he told Lyric to call EMS? Where were the sirens? “I hope you have her hidden, because she could blow the lid on your whole organization.”
Jared laughed. “Layla’s a goddamned mouse, always wanting Mommy’s love and never getting it. She’ll fall right back in line.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Replaceable. I’m going to do you a favor and shoot you in the head. No chance of survival, no suffering. Fair deal, right?”
“Sounds like a shitty one to me.” Bonin’s hard voice brought tears to Cage’s eyes. “Put the gun down, Jared.”
His wild-eyed gaze flashed between Cage and Bonin. “And if I don’t?”
“I will shoot you.”
“Maybe I prefer that over prison.” Jared’s knee bounced, and he white-knuckled the gun. “The motherload’s inside that greenhouse, ladies. I’ll never see the light of day.”
“Suicide by cop?” Bonin inched forward. “That’s as cowardly as it gets.”
“I’ve got backup plans.” Jared shifted his weight.
He’s going for it. Don’t hesitate. Shoot.
Jared’s arm swung toward Bonin. She fired twice, hitting him in the arm and the kneecap. Cage slammed his foot into Jared’s other knee. Jared hit the ground. Cage shoved his gun out of reach and then drove his fist into Jared’s jaw, savoring the distinctive crack. Jared howled and curled to his side.
Sucking air, Cage stayed on his knees and tried to find the energy to stand. Cage finally saw his revolver near the greenhouse door.
He summoned all his energy and stumbled to his feet. He kicked the back of Jared’s head as he hobbled over and retrieved his gun.
Where the hell are the sirens?
Bonin had collected Jared’s gun and had her own trained on Jared, phone in her other hand. “I need EMS on Esplanade Ridge.” She rattled off the address.
“I told Lyric to call them a long time ago,” Cage said. “They should be here by now.”
“You must have a concussion. Since when does she do what anyone tells her to?” Bonin shook her head. “At least she made the right decision this time.”
“She called you instead?”
“She didn’t trust anyone else to get here fast enough. I was already on my way—Suzette led me to Layla, who told me everything. Lyric said you were going to die for sure this time if I didn’t get my ass here.”
“I’m glad you listened to her.” Cage’s throat tightened.
“Me too,” Bonin said thickly.
His head hurt like a bitch. His brain felt funny, like its internal pressure had changed. “What did Layla say?”
“Layla and Shana were together until Jared realized Shana was the girl Masen was talking about when he confronted her at Fatbacks. He took her and told Layla she’d never see her again. Layla’s certain he killed her.”
“She’s wrong.” Cage pointed to the silent, hulking mansion. “She’s inside with Lyric and Lily LaBauve.”
46
Cage needed sunglasses against the harsh light. Maybe earplugs too. His hearing kept sliding between normal and shut the hell up. Mild concussion according to the ER doc, but nothing about it felt mild.
“Jared destroyed everything.” Layla hadn’t taken her eyes off Shana since she’d arrived at the hospital early this morning. Shana had two broken ribs and facial lacerations, and Jared had barely fed her since he locked her up. Fortunately, she would be fine after a few days in the hospital.
“He’s always been a jerk. Aunt Suzette couldn’t see it. But we all knew it.”
The PhoeniX turned out to be a dressed-up escort service Deandra had started three years ago. Layla insisted all of the girls were legal and willing, free to leave at any time and paid well. “Please don’t make me give you their names. They’re just trying to make a living.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Cage said. “When did things go bad?”
“When Jared came home six months ago. Mom had been clean for a long time, even though her attitude never changed much. Jared knows how to manipulate people. He had her hooked on fentanyl before I realized what was happening. Then he took over, and Mom just became someone he could use.”
“He wanted the girls to move the drugs
,” Bonin said. “Spider was killing it on the street, but Jared wanted to expand.”
“And he was a grad student in biochemistry?”
Bonin nodded. “Told his mother he left school to help care for his grandmother. I called them this morning. He was kicked out for assault. Girl didn’t press charges. She didn’t want to go on the stand. But the school stepped in and did the right thing.”
“How’s Miss Lily?” Shana sounded stronger than she had a few hours ago.
“She’ll be fine,” Cage said. “Suzette is taking care of her.” How did the woman not realize something was wrong when her son suddenly started making excuses about why she couldn’t see her mother? She wouldn’t be charged with anything, but Cage still felt like she had some kind of culpability.
Masen had attacked Shana the night she disappeared. She told him they were through, and she was in love with Layla, and he’d snapped, attacking her. He’d left her for dead when Layla found her.
“She was supposed to meet us behind Pat’s Bar. Then we were going to tell him. He talked me into going early. He’d already suspected something was going on.” Her lips quivered. “He strangled me. I stopped fighting and went still. I guess he thought he finished the job. He left me there, and Layla found me.”
“Why did you take her to your mother’s instead of a hospital?”
“I didn’t want to go to the hospital,” Shana said. “I was terrified he would find me. It was easier to let him think I was dead.”
Deandra agreed to let her stay if she helped out with her mother. “Shana didn’t know Grandma was JoJo’s daughter until they started talking. Then it just seemed like fate, you know?”
Layla had kept Shana in the dark about the The PhoeniX and Jared’s drug business until the night Masen showed up.
“After Masen found me at Fatbacks, we knew we had to get out of town. Jared wasn’t working that night, but it would only be a matter of time before it got back to him, and he realized who Shana was.”
“You used Amy’s information to blackmail Carson,” Cage said.
Layla nodded. “Shana spotted the doubloons and realized what they were worth.”
“I’m not proud of it,” Shana said. “But we were desperate. And Layla has a right to Hughes money. She’s just as related to Philip as the rest of them are.”
Lily told Shana that her mother, JoJo, had deliberately seduced Philip Redmund, intending to poison him for what he did to Dotty and her son. When she got pregnant, she kept the baby and made Philip’s life miserable. JoJo had tried to share the money with Dotty’s son several times, but his grandmother refused it.
“And your grandmother—Lily—used the money she got from her half-sister to start The Black Sheep,” Bonin said.
Layla nodded. “And never looked back.”
“Why did your mother start The PhoeniX?” Cage asked.
“Because she wanted money of her own. Aunt Suzette owns The Black Sheep. Mom is paid a salary, and she hates Suzette for it, but that’s how my grandparents wanted it. Mom decided to build her own empire—and she did. Jared used her money to buy the restaurants Aunt Suzette sold.”
Deandra had been livid when Suzette decided to sell the two downtown locations, and Jared seized the opportunity to exploit her. He formed an LLC of his own and used Mr. Ganjoo as the front man. Then they’d opened 325 Cabaret, putting Ganjoo in charge.
“He convinced Mom it was the perfect opportunity to get more business and more girls because working out of our own places is a lot safer.”
“And she wanted to stick it to your aunt.”
“That too,” Layla said. “Jared wanted the bars to funnel money through. He was making a ton of money from the fentanyl.”
“Where do the Leightons come in?” Cage asked. “How did you know about them being London Club legacies?”
“George Leighton’s father was one of my great-grandmother’s top clients. She gathered dirt on every one of them. That’s how she didn’t get caught. And she got smart after Norma Wallace did and quit.”
Annabeth would be light-headed with all this information. “What about the frat party?”
“It was a frat party, and I wanted to go,” Layla said. “Mom and Jared had made me dye my hair and do the college student thing. I just wanted to be normal for one night.”
Cage glanced at Bonin. She’d promised Layla no jail time if she turned on her mother. He hoped the district attorney agreed. Jared had also forced Layla to move fentanyl through campus, threatening to kill her and her girlfriend if she didn’t.
“Did you give Amy the fentanyl?” Cage needed to get an answer for Lyric.
“The girl who had the book?” Layla shook her head. “Is she dead?”
Cage nodded. “Overdose.”
“I swear to God I didn’t. But Jared was so mad after he found out about Masen, he said he was going to have to cover up all my mistakes. He must have given it to her.”
“And to Trish Millwood,” Bonin said softly. “Her official cause of death was fentanyl overdose.”
Layla buried her face in Shana’s shoulder and cried.
“What happens now?” Shana smoothed Layla’s hair.
“Your mother and Jared are being charged nine ways to Sunday,” Bonin said. “Including attempted murder of a cop.”
“Jared had complete control over my mom.” Layla wiped her tears with her sleeve. “She’s a bitch, but she wasn’t like this before him.” She looked Cage in the eyes for the first time since Bonin brought her to the hospital. “I swear to God I didn’t know they planned to kill you. I would have found a way to warn you.”
“I know.” Cage believed her. He hoped the parish district attorney did too. “But there’s one thing you haven’t told us yet.”
“Who killed Masen, right?” Layla’s voice shook.
Cage nodded.
“My mother kept Jared from killing me and Shana by bringing Masen to The Black Sheep. She promised to find out what he knew and keep an eye on him. Then she found out about the doubloons and us blackmailing Carson and went berserk. She said I’d betrayed her. I promised we wouldn’t leave, and she demanded to know where the money was and where the doubloons were. She said if I didn’t tell her, Masen was going to pay the price.”
“You didn’t care about that.”
“I didn’t want him to die. I just wanted to keep him away from Shana. We couldn’t get to the money, but I told Mom I would give her the doubloons.”
“But that wasn’t enough for her?” Bonin asked.
“Masen raided her fentanyl stash,” Layla said. “And he threatened to expose her as a dealer. She called him up and lured him to Holt.”
“How?” Cage asked. “That doesn’t seem like the best meeting place.”
“Masen was off his rocker by then. He believed Shana was haunting him, and everyone knew it. Mom told him she’d help him with it if he kept his mouth shut. Convinced him Holt was the best place to summon Ghede and do a ritual—like she knows how to do it. She gave him the bottle as a peace offering.”
“I tried to stop it. But by the time I got there, it was too late.”
“Why didn’t she just shoot him?” Cage asked. “Why make him suffer like that?”
“She didn’t like being threatened. He stole her drugs. He started this whole domino effect. Take your pick.”
“Why did he think Shana was haunting him?” Bonin asked.
A tiny smile played on Shana’s healing lips. “I might have played a trick or two on him after he came to The Black Sheep.”
Cage might have laughed if the entire story wasn’t so sad. “Why did you keep this from your uncle?”
Shana’s uncle had met them at the hospital for a tearful family reunion. “I was afraid Masen would hurt him to find out where I was. Pops is going to haunt him forever for selling the mask. And he didn’t need to. I have Carson’s money safe and sound.”
Bonin cleared her throat. “You know blackmail is a crime.”
Shana shr
ugged. “Do what you have to do.”
Cage glanced at Bonin, who shook her head. Maybe she finally understood what it was like to be stuck in a position where right and wrong weren’t so clear.
“I’m trusting you to stick around,” Bonin told Layla. “We’ll talk to the DA and get this whole mess sorted out, but it will take a few days.”
Layla stroked Shana’s bruised cheek. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Cage walked gingerly into the waiting room, his stomach sour. Dani jumped from her chair and wrapped her arms around him. She’d have more to say later, he was certain, but this was good enough for now.
Lyric stood and stretched. “Soap opera’s over then? We can all go on with our lives?”
Annabeth had arrived with Remy while Cage and Bonin questioned the two women.
She glared at him, shaking her head. “Stupid asshole.”
“I know,” Cage said. “I’ve learned my lesson, I swear.”
“Bullshit. You’ll do something equally stupid within a couple of months.”
“Hon,” Remy said. “He did what he thought he had to do, and everything’s good. Relax.”
She huffed and gave Cage another dirty look, but relaxed against Remy.
‘Wow,’ Dani mouthed at him.
Cage couldn’t believe it either. He hoped Remy stuck around. “Remy, have Hart give me a call. I know someone he’d really benefit from talking with.”
Annabeth smiled. “Now you’re a believer?”
“Be quiet.”
“I’m going home and sleeping all day,” Lyric said. “Anyone who wakes me up will be Tasered. Foster, you’ll get your car back another day. Ride with your wife.” She disappeared down the hall, and Cage looked down at his wife.
“Go ahead,” Dani said.
Cage walked as fast as his exhausted legs would carry him and caught up with her at the elevator. “Lyric?”
“Oh my God. I can’t get away from you.”
“I wanted to say thanks, again. I don’t know why you give a damn about me, but I’m glad you do.”
She blinked, her face softening for a split second. “You’re welcome. And I don’t know why, either. You’re nice to look at. That’s probably it.”