by J B Reding
“Yeah.” He sighs, accepting his fate.
“Anything else we need to know.” I inquire.
“I’m sure you already know he's working alone. Once he realizes you've found me out, he'll probably go into hiding. He’s a paranoid fuck who tries to act like he has everything under control, but really he’s a mess and he's terrified of you.”
“As he should be. How did you get through the vetting process?” I ask, trying to see if things need to change or if he just got lucky.
“I’m clean and I was loyal in every other way. If he had asked for more, I would have told you, but it was a little extra cash on the side, and I had a gambling addiction that I'm still paying for. Mr. Lane was nice enough to let me work for him while paying it off.”
“And you shit on that generosity, didn't you?” Anton supplies. He has a point.
“I kept the cash and paid him more from my account, so I didn't have any suspicious activity. I only talked to Samuel once after the initial meeting.”
“When did you procure this debt?” I need to make sure I'm not going to receive backlash with any of the other Bosses.
“Back when Mr. Lane was Boss and had that gambling ring open. You deciding to close it down helped me to deal with my addiction.”
“I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that you can still betray us after everything you’ve claimed we’ve done for you.” I say emotionless.
“It was a stupid decision that I shouldn't have made. But I understand and accept the consequences.” I can see the regret in his eyes as he silently pleads with me to understand. And I do understand, but that doesn’t mean he’s off the hook. He’s the reason Ember now has a target on her head.
“Why not tell us this from the start and save yourself the pain?” Anton asks, surprising me. Because if he had, Anton wouldn’t have gotten to play.
“Because I deserve the pain.” He has a point there. Like I said, he put Ember in danger and that is an offense punishable by death.
I nod my head at Anton, and he pulls out a gun and shoots him point blank in the head.
“Well, that wasn't very informative. Didn't tell us anything we didn't already suspect.” Anton surmises with a look of disappointment.
“True, but at least we got rid of a rat. Sorry, you didn’t get to play longer. You good to handle this?” I ask, nodding at the dead body.
“Yeah, I’ve got my old friend acid over there.” He gestures to the oil barrel that holds lethal acid. I nod my head and make my way back to the main part of the house while he has fun with that.
I'm sliding into the driver seat to head back to the apartment when my phone vibrates. I pull it out to find a text from Maddox.
Maddox: I'm in.
Wonderful.
Time to uncover all the secrets my father was keeping.
17. Revelations
The elevator doors open to an empty living room. A twinge of panic arises in my chest at not finding Ember where I left her. I dismiss it immediately, knowing she’s perfectly safe. It’s crazy the things this woman makes me feel. It's irrational and I don’t understand most of it. I’ve learned to just accept it for what it is and not to over think it.
I don’t bother searching for her, refusing to give into the possessive voice inside of me that begs to be with her twenty-four seven. Instead I head for my office, which just so happens to be where I find her accompanied by Liz with Maddox leaning against the desk, arms crossed and scowling at the girls.
“What's going on?” I ask as I step into the room.
“They’ve been in here, annoying me, since you've left. When they realized something was going on, they refused to leave.” He glares at Liz specifically.
“How did they know?” I ask him.
“They knew because I can read Maddox like a fucking book which pisses him off.” Liz answers for him, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring back at him. The sexual tension emitting from them is almost suffocating. I look over at Ember to see she's trying to hide her amusement, too. I walk over to stand behind her chair and lean down to press a kiss to her forehead. She smiles up at me and winks.
“So, you gonna tell us what this big thing is.” She asks.
I lean down and whisper in her ear. “I’ll show you something big.”
She laughs, giving me the reaction I was looking for. “Seriously.”
I straighten. “Maddox was able to get to the information my father was hiding. I haven’t seen it yet.” I look up at Maddox in a silent question as to whether or not he has.
He shakes his head. “Was waiting for you.”
I nod and walk over to my desk to push the button to open up my security room.
“Ooh, fancy.” Liz says from her seat.
“Are you going to tell us what you find?” Ember asks, and I take a moment to think about it. My first instinct is to keep her in the dark, so she won’t be hurt. But I know her well enough to realize it will hurt her more if I don’t tell her.
“Depends on what it is.” I compromise.
She nods her head and doesn't argue. I love that she understands this world. She’ll probably say something when we're alone, but she knows not to question me in front of Maddox. It's a double standard that the guys can question me around each other, but Ember can’t around the guys. Although I think Anton and Maddox would find it amusing and wouldn’t see it as her being disrespectful, like others might.
Maybe one day things will be different, but right now things are so up in the air that I think it's best if we keep things as close to normal as possible.
I follow Maddox into the room. It's not very big. Just enough for him to sit in the chair and for me to stand behind him comfortably. I'm tempted to close the door but don’t.
“So, what is it?” I ask, looking at the main computer screen mounted on the wall. This room is like the security room at the mansion, but on a smaller scale.
“Email correspondences mostly. Some images, too, and a bank account.”
“Is there anything explaining what we’re looking at?” I ask, leaning over him to get a closer look.
“No, but I have a feeling it'll be self-explanatory.”
He opens the emails first.
I clench my jaw as I stare at the evidence that Samuel arranged for not only Mary, Ember's mom, to be killed but also for Ember to be kidnapped. We thought he had meant to kill her too. However, seeing that the plan was to kidnap her is a whole different level of fucked up.
There are emails between Samuel and a hitman organizing a hit. But then Mary tried to leave and Samuel had to change plans at the last minute and in return hire a new hitman. Thankfully, it seems this hitman was against bringing any harm to children and before Samuel could get to Ember; we found her. He must have realized she didn’t know anything and let it go.
There are a few other emails that discussed my father's murder seven years later, too.
Why did Samuel wait so long to kill him?
Why would my father just let it happen when he knew what was coming? Why wouldn't he try to stop Samuel when he had all the evidence to do so?
There are so many questions I have for a dead man, which means I will probably never understand his reasoning. Samuel, on the other hand, has a lot of explaining to do.
Next are the pictures. Which seem to depict Samuel meeting with well know human traffickers. More than likely the same traffickers Samuel planned to sell Ember to. Death would have been nicer, but we all know Samuel is the worst kind of asshole.
Finally, we get to the bank account, which has a note explaining where Samuel embezzled money from Charles. Now, this is new information. Everything else we had our suspicions about. But this, we were completely in the dark. It’s probably the same money he lived off of while he was underground for the past five years. I'm sure it will thrill Charles to hear this. After all, we thought we took care of the man stealing the money before Samuel disappeared. I knew something felt off about that situation. It was too easy, an
d Samuel was the one to find the guy in the first place and I never trusted him. Things are starting to make a lot more sense.
“Are you sure there's nothing else?” I ask, holding out hope that Dad left me a note explaining his reasoning.
Maddox shakes his head.
I let out a heavy sigh, trying to come to terms with the fact that I may never get the answers I need. At least now I can go after Samuel full force. But first I have to tell Ember what we found.
I walk out of the room to find Ember and Liz where we left them. I decide not to hold anything back and give her the condensed version.
“There were emails proving that Samuel caused both our parents' deaths. Along with picture evidence that he was working with known traffickers. We believe Samuel was going to sell you to them. He was also embezzling money from your dad and used someone else as a scapegoat.”
When I finish, Ember still hasn’t given any reaction. She’s staring off to the side so I can’t get a grasp on her emotions, either.
“Ember.” I coax, needing to know she's not going to have another breakdown and if she is, I can be ready for it.
“What?” She says, bring her eyes to me. But they don’t reveal anything.
“You okay?”
“I mean, I guess. We already knew Samuel was doing some sketchy shit, and I'm not shocked to find out he had them killed. But I'm sick of letting him have any influence over me. Over us. I want him dead.” She stands and walks out of the office.
Liz makes a move to follow her, but Maddox speaks up. “Leave her. Nixon will handle it. We need to get going.”
“Why? I don’t want to leave her when she's obviously upset.” Liz protests.
“Nixon's got it. I need to leave, and you can’t stay here.” He explains shortly.
“Why not?” She crosses her arms and glares at him.
Maddox arches a brow in response.
After a moment she concedes. “Fine.” I'm surprised she doesn't stomp her foot to punctuate her displeasure. “But I'm saying goodbye.” She dares him to stop her, and I struggle to hold back my smile.
“Man, she’s a handful.” I say as soon as the door closes behind her.
He grunts, staring at where she left.
“I’ll call you and Anton tomorrow to reconvene.” I tell him.
He nods, opens the door and walks out, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I slump down into my chair, rubbing my hands against my face.
It's been a long ass day and it’s only halfway over.
You know what, fuck it. Being Boss allows me to take time to myself when I deem it necessary. And right now, it’s necessary.
I send a text to Maddox and Anton telling them to only contact me if it's an emergency. Otherwise, fuck off.
I think it's about time Ember and I spend some quality time together. Even if that just means being lazy in bed.
All I need is to be around her. I need her smell surrounding me and her voice in my ear. I just need her. And I think she needs me too. No matter how much she tries to stay strong on her own, she needs to realize she doesn’t have to anymore. Because now she has me.
~***~
Moments after Liz leaves, Nixon walks in looking a little pissed.
“Why are you in here?” He demands stalking towards me where I sit on the bed.
“Because my stuff is in here?” I question. “Why does it matter?”
“From now on my room is your room. We’ll move your stuff in there later.” He finally reaches me, running the back of his hand down my face before using my hair to pull my head back to give him access to my lips.
I moan as his mouth claims mine and then squeal when he breaks away and throws me over his shoulder. Laughing as he carries me across the hall to his room and tossing me into the middle of his bed.
Our bed.
The thought makes warmth bloom in my chest. This is what I always wanted from him, and now that I have it, it almost makes me want to cry. I just hope everything with Samuel doesn't get in the way.
No.
I refuse to let him fuck up my life anymore. I always knew that he had something to do with my mother's death, and the fact he killed Marcus makes me want his blood even more. I feel so much anger right now. I don’t know how to contain it.
I try to focus on Nixon and only Nixon. I try to think about his lips. Of him finally claiming me after years of waiting. Of him being mine in every way.
“You are mine, right?” I murmur, trailing my lips over his shoulder as he joins me on the bed.
He nods, pressing a quick kiss to my lips. “Just like you’re mine. All mine.”
We end up spending the rest of the day and most of the night in bed, making occasional trips to the kitchen where we make a bigger mess than necessary. I think it's what we both need. To just escape from the bullshit the world keeps throwing at us. To fall into each other and know that we can safely get lost and not have to think about the what ifs. About the future or the past.
Sometime in the night Nixon gets a text. Right away I know something's not right.
“What happened?” I ask hesitantly and slightly annoyed that something is butting into the happy little bubble we’ve been in the past several hours.
He lays back down next to me, staring up at the ceiling, not saying anything for a while. When he finally talks, I can hear the frustration in his voice and place a soothing hand on his chest.
“Samuel has gone into hiding.” He turns his head to look at me, his eyes showing his apology. But he has nothing to apologize for. Yeah, I feel anger at Samuel slipping through our fingers. But I know Nixon. And he won’t let Samuel get away with what he’s done.
“Of course, he has, he's a fucking coward. So, what are we going to do about it?”
He smiles. “We?”
“Yes, we. We’re a team now so you're stuck with me and you better get used to it.” I tease.
He leans over and kisses my forehead. “You’re right.” He grows serious, “He's been blacklisted, so now everyone will know we’re after him. No one will be stupid enough to help him, which means he has no resources. Hopefully, Maddox can eventually narrow down his location. We don’t think he's gone too far. Probably north to the mountains.”
“So, we don’t have to worry about anyone coming after me anymore, right?”
“Right, but we will still take precautions.” He says. His eyes urging me to see that this is still serious.
“Does this mean we're moving back into the mansion?” I lean up on my elbow and hover over him.
“If you want to, we can. I'm sure your dad would like that.” He says, but I can tell he’s holding something back, but I let it go for now.
“Yeah. I just think it would be easier to keep everyone safe if we're all together. A united front and all that.” I wave a hand around.
“Then tomorrow we will head back to the mansion until everything is taken care of. But make no mistake, you will be moving in here when this is all over.” He states firmly.
I smile as I straddle his waist. “Yes, sir.”
It's funny how I went from hating when he told me what to do, to every time a command leaves his mouth, I get wet. Amazing what great sex can do to a girl.
18. Heart-to-Heart
Being back in the mansion is a little weird. It feels like a lot more time has passed since I was last here, but in reality, it’s only been two days. So many changes have occurred, and secrets revealed. It’s also strange being back after having all my dreams and fantasies of Nixon come to fruition.
“Welcome home, sweetheart!” Dad says, coming out of the back hallway, only glancing briefly at the hand Nixon has placed intimately on my hip. It's not surprising how easily we fell into our relationship. There's no awkwardness between us. We already knew each other so well, it's like we’ve skipped several months in what is considered a normal relationship.
“Hey, Dad. How’ve you been?” I ask stepping out of Nixon's hold and walking into my dad's embrace.
“I’ve been just fine. I'm more worried about you. Are you doing okay?” I don’t call him out on his lie. He obviously hasn’t been too well, if the way he looks has anything to say about it.
“Yup.” I force a smile. I’m unsure if he knows I’ve been told everything that’s been going on. I search for any sign, but he just looks wary and tired. Something is clearly going on with him. “You want to try to have that dinner again?”
“Sure, honey, why don't we make it a lunch instead?” He smiles brightly, too brightly. Which just makes me more suspicious. I look to Nixon to see if he notices, but he’s preoccupied with talking to one of the guards.
“That works. Do you know where Liz is?”
“I believe she's in the library. She mumbled something about Neanderthals being scared of books or smothering or other. I wasn't quiet, sure. She’s a strange one.”
I laugh. “That she is. Let me know when you're ready for lunch.” I look behind me for Nixon, but he's disappeared. Hmm. I knew going into this that business always came first, but I don't like this disappearing act. I understand he's stressed, but that doesn't mean he can’t say a quick goodbye.
I turn back to dad, but he’s ambling down the hall. Maybe Liz will know what's going on.
I head down the hallway on the opposite side of the stairs and enter the library. Thankfully, it's not huge and I find Liz hiding in a corner reading a romance novel.
“Hey.” I say.
She looks up startled then jumps at me.
“Oh, thank God, I can’t take being here alone with him anymore.” She says throwing her arms around me, I laugh as I stumble back. “I will kill him. Straight up shoot his goddamn head off.”
“Maddox?” I ask, fighting a smile.
“Yes! Argh!” She falls back into the chair dramatically.
“What is with you two, Liz? I don’t understand why there's so much hostility between y’all.”
“It's complicated.”
“Is it though?”
“Yes!” She shouts before sighing in dismay.