Wicked Sinner

by Stacey Kennedy

  “You’re kidding?” Rhett asked.

  “The investigation a year ago came up with nothing,” Boone reported. “From what it appeared, King’s a businessman who is riding the fear his father created. If he’s dirty, he’s far smarter and deadlier than his father. Nothing comes back to him. Ever. He’s so clean that the team in Whitby Falls believed that the media had it all wrong, and that he’s strictly a businessman giving back to the city.”

  “What do you believe?” Asher asked.

  “Two things,” Boone said. “One, he’s clever and knows how to play the game. Two, he’s not someone you want on your bad side. To go up against King, we’d have to be prepared. And I mean, at least a year of a hard, long investigation. We don’t have the time to put this together. And we don’t want Remy to be the reason that King gets a new investigation on him.”

  “No, we don’t,” Asher agreed.

  Silence drifted in as a cat screamed off in the distance. There wasn’t a breeze in the cool air, nothing bringing or taking scents, no movement at all, like the world had now stopped giving Asher time to fix this. “The cottage we found her at,” Asher said, turning back to the men. “Any word on the owners?”

  “Rented from Airbnb,” Rhett reported. “False name. Paid for with a stolen credit card.”

  Boone snorted. “Like I said, smart and clean.” He took a sip of his beer.

  Asher pondered what all this meant. “So, the only evidence we have showing that Remy was abducted by Lars is her word?” At the nods in return, Asher cursed, shaking his head. “The DA is going to want more than that.”

  “Yeah, she will,” Boone said with a nod.

  Rhett tapped his boot against the stairs again, his tell of deep thinking. “Has Whitby Falls said anything about Fanning’s murder?” he asked Boone.

  “Gang related, or at least that’s what the suspect said. He’s not changing his story.”

  At that, Rhett cocked his head. “And you said that this killer’s wife ended up with money in her account. How do they explain that?”

  Boone gave a knowing look. “A charity from overseas helping out single mothers.”

  “Unbelievable,” Asher said, and took another long sip of his beer, washing back his frustrations. Criminals were often smart. Too smart. Though the more he thought about it, the more he realized that’s where they had the advantage. “From what you gathered on King, if Remy came up with the money, would you trust that he’d back off?” he asked Boone.

  Boone paused to consider. He eventually said, “I can’t say for certain, but I can bet you that money is on his books somewhere. It’s clean. An investment. He wants payment.”

  That was a relief. “There’s just one thing about all this that doesn’t add up,” Asher said, glancing between the men. “King is a multi-millionaire. Why does he care so desperately to get two hundred grand? It’s incredibly risky, going after Remy with her ties to us, all for what he must view as pocket change.”

  Rhett slowly nodded. “The thought has crossed my mind too.”

  “It’s something we shouldn’t ignore,” Boone said. “We need to expect the unexpected with King. He’s thinking ahead, I assure you of that.”

  Which meant they needed to think one step ahead of King. “All right, for now our only focus is keeping Remy safe, are we in agreement about that?”

  Rhett nodded.

  “Of course,” Boone said.

  “I want Lars in jail,” Asher said hurriedly. “I want him to understand what happens when he frightens one of ours.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with you,” Rhett said.

  “Ideas?” Boone asked.

  Asher gazed at the bright half-moon before addressing Boone again. “If what you say is true about King, then he’s not our target here. We leave King to the Whitby Falls organized crime department already dealing with him. We don’t want to make him an enemy unless it’s necessary, not with Remy involved.”

  “I’m with you on that,” Boone agreed. “Which means, she needs to give back the money.”

  Asher nodded. “That’s the only option here. We also can’t hide this. We’ll need to go to the district attorney and tell her about what Remy has done.”

  “The DA isn’t going to do shit with Remy,” Rhett said, then held up his hand. “But, to play it safe, I agree, it’s best to have full disclosure.”

  “It keeps this clean, which my father will appreciate,” Boone said to Rhett, then added to Asher, “Now all we need to figure out is how to settle Remy’s score with King and make this all go away.”

  “I have a solution to that.” At the arched brows surrounding him, Asher explained the thought that came to him the second he stepped outside. “Her inheritance.”

  Boone frowned.

  Rhett blinked in confusion. “Doesn’t she have to be married to get access to that…” He slowly whistled. “Damn, brother, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  Asher snorted a dry laugh. “That bad of an idea, huh?”

  “The worst idea ever,” Rhett stated.

  Boone agreed with a nod. “Terrible.”

  Asher glanced between the two men he considered to be his brothers. “It’s also the only idea we’ve got.”

  Chapter 20

  Later into the night, Asher had only given Remy a quick look before silently waiting for everyone to leave his house. Remy knew Asher, but she couldn’t tell if he was angry anymore. Obviously over the years he’d learned how to shut off his emotions. A skill he’d probably mastered in the FBI. That was a new thing for Asher, making her see how many new things there was to him now. He wasn’t that young kid who had stolen her heart, then crushed it; he was a man now. One who kept bailing her out of every situation she landed herself in, and yet, she could still see that their time apart made them better. Both of them. Stronger, for sure. “I’m sorry,” she said, the moment he shut the door and locked it behind all their friends.

  “No, I’m sorry I got so angry,” Asher said softly, and turned back to her, hitting her with his emotion-packed eyes.

  “It’s okay,” she said, suddenly aware of the guilt in his eyes. “You reacted and rightfully so. I have made a mess of everything.”

  Something close to frustration crossed his expression before he closed the distance between them in a single breath. “No, Remy, this is all on me, not you.”

  She stared up into the warmth of his eyes and leaned into his touch when he cupped her face. “How is this your fault, Asher? I spent Damon’s money.”

  “Because had I not left you, none of this would have happened.” He held her face, not letting her look anywhere but at him. “I shattered you when I left you standing there in the rain. I did that to you. All this shit that happened after that moment in your life, it’s my fault, not yours. That’s why I’m so fucking angry about all this.” He hesitated. “I never should have yelled, and I’m sorry that I made you cry.”

  She couldn’t even believe her ears. “Okay, somewhere things have gotten wonky. First of all, you left me because you needed time and space to get yourself right again. You had just lost your mother. You were going through a lot, I get that now. I made my choices. That’s what led me here. And second of all, you are not your father, Asher. You didn’t make me cry because you got angry. I cried because I did something bad.”

  He glanced away before his haunted gaze held her captive. “You’re letting me off the hook far too easily.”

  Her heart broke at the pain in his voice. As much as she hadn’t deserved how her life fell apart, neither did he. She closed whatever distance was left, needing his touch. “I understand that you changed after your mother’s death. I don’t hold that against you.” She hesitated, then shrugged. “Maybe I did for a while, but I see now that the things you had once promised me before were promises that were impossible for you to keep.”

  “You should hold it against me,” he said, his jaw muscles working. “Everything that has happened to you since I left happened because I�
�d been a fucking coward. I was so damn scared to lose anyone else. I was in such a dark place I couldn’t see anyone but myself. I ran because I thought I was protecting you from me, but that was the easiest way out. All of this, every single fucking thing comes back to my leaving you that night and you looking for love in all the wrong places. That’s on me, Remy. That will always be on me.”

  “Asher, you didn’t do this.”

  He shook his head. “What’s done is done and there’s nothing I can do to change any of it. All I care about now is keeping you safe and making sure you are happy again. That’s our only focus going forward. We need to pay back King.”

  “I can sell the shop.” She offered the first plan before going into the second, way more complicated plan.

  “I considered that idea,” he said with a shake of his head. “But selling will take time. King is not the type of businessman you keep waiting.” He paused to examine her, obviously deciding to level with the truth. “Look at what happened to Damon. We’re not going to play around here. Do you understand me?”

  She nodded.

  “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to meet with the district attorney and explain the situation.”

  Her heart promptly landed in her throat. “I know you have to do what’s right. I’ll plead guilty, of course.”

  His mouth twitched and his eyes flickered with quick amusement. “I’m not going to let you be prosecuted, Remy. Like Rhett said, it’s doubtful the prosecutor would bring up charges. For one, Damon is dead. For two, the money was on your property, and there are many other ways we can wiggle out of this. But she’s going to want something, and we will give her Lars.”

  “Okay, I’m not sure how you will do that,” Remy said, but she didn’t question him either. This was his show. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Marry me.”

  She blinked. “Pardon?”

  “I know it’s a crazy idea,” Asher said, as steady as ever. “It’s not something I would suggest, considering our history, but I think it’s a solution that gets you out of contact with King fastest, and that is all I’m thinking about right now. We need King to go away. This can be a business arrangement between us, nothing more than that.”

  Her mind reeled for many more seconds until she finally accepted that he’d just said what he said. “Actually, I don’t think it’s a crazy idea at all,” she countered. “Because of my plan to marry Damon, the documents are all drawn up, the money is there as soon as I provide a marriage certificate.”

  Asher inclined his head. “I suspected as much.”

  Her heart suddenly began to pound in her ears and her palms grew clammy as the realization dawned on her. We are getting married! The floor began to creep up on her; all the rational thoughts about this idea suddenly didn’t seem so rational anymore.

  Asher’s head suddenly cocked, his eyes searching hers, then everything about him softened. “I need you to be honest with me, Remy. More honest than you have ever been in your life. Can you do that?”

  “Yes.” No more secrets.

  His thumbs brushed across her cheeks. “Can your heart handle this?”

  Said heart skipped a beat. “It would be so easy for me to say yes that I can handle this, but I’d be lying. Of course, it will be…emotional, but I think as long as we create rules to keep it more like a business transaction, then I’ll be fine.” The words sounded right but felt all wrong. She’d dreamed of marrying Asher. She wanted it with every fiber of her being. But as she looked into Asher’s eyes, she didn’t see desire for her to be his wife, she only saw his need to right what he considered wrongs. He would, as always, protect her. And she knew from the guilt that cloaked him that he wouldn’t trust himself to not hurt her again. They had too much history, and they both had too much baggage for this to ever be a real marriage. She needed to remind herself of that. She couldn’t think about a man before herself anymore.

  She’d love Asher, always, but she’d love him deeply as friend, where her heart remained safe. She’d be grateful to him, but emotion had no place here. Not now. Not with so much, including her life, on the line. She swallowed back the emotion filling her throat. Asher needed this as much as she did. He needed to help her keep her shop, see her dreams come true, to ease the guilt he endured.

  Hell, they both needed this.

  Asher studied her a moment and then took her hand and led her to the couch. “Name your rules.”

  “No vows.” That would be too hard.

  “Agreed,” he said. “What else?”

  “Just a ‘yes’ in response to any question asked,” she said. “Let’s keep it clinical and on point. Like we’re signing a commitment on a loan.”

  “Good. Anything more?”

  “Let’s get some plastic rings or something and throw them out after.” She swore his jaw clenched, but the reaction was gone so fast she wondered if she’d imagined it. “I think that’ll keep this like a business transaction and nothing more.” But even as she said the words, her heart recoiled.

  Tomorrow would be hard, but what choice did she have?

  Whatever emotion crossed her face caused Asher’s ironclad expression to slip, and emotion seeped into his eyes. “Whatever you need from me, that’s what you’ll get.”

  But not his heart, never his heart. He’d always think she deserved better than him. Truth was, she did. She deserved a man who was all in, all the time. She would always want Asher, but it seemed he could never fully want her.

  She kept silent, and he glanced at his fingers tangling with hers, then addressed her again. “Soon, all this shit will be behind you. You’ll have your shop, and then you can move on and finally be happy.”

  She stared at him intently, feeling a slight pang in her heart. For the five years that Asher was home, she’d wanted an apology, an explanation…anything. Now that she knew the truth about what made him leave that night, she realized that what she wanted most was the old him. Without the guilt, without the pain, without his duty of fixing the past. She wanted the Asher who loved her and couldn’t imagine his life without her.

  This wasn’t that.

  She couldn’t forget that.

  “Tomorrow this will be all behind us,” she said, suddenly realizing tonight was all they had left. He’d been there for her, helped her through this time in her life, but that’s where this ended. Because nothing had changed. Asher couldn’t see past his guilt, past his pain. She needed a man who let her in. She shifted a little closer, suddenly feeling the slight unsteadiness that this was her last night with Asher. “But we still have tonight.”

  His frown quirked into a smile. “Yeah, we sure as hell do.” His lips met hers in a kiss that stole the air right out of her lungs.

  She climbed onto his lap and then he rose with her in his arms. He broke the kiss to travel up the stairs to his bedroom and he gently laid her out on the mattress. His mouth sealed across hers again, and in this moment of time, there was nothing but the desperation for time to stop. Tomorrow would happen. Everything would change after that, Remy felt it in her bones. Since the day he objected at the wedding, Asher had been helping her heal. She’d been forgiving him. But this was where something would have to change, and she could feel in his kiss that Asher knew it too. Because time couldn’t be erased, and they weren’t the same people they were when they’d loved each other so fiercely. Too much had happened. Too much had gone wrong. They’d changed too much.

  And tomorrow she would be Mrs. Sullivan. But it would be a lie.

  His gaze bore into hers as he pushed her shirt up and over her head, then flicked her bra open, pulling the straps down her arms. He kissed her stomach while he unbuttoned her jeans, then those and her panties were gone soon after. She struggled to reach for his shirt, so he helped her and removed it quickly. While he nibbled her neck, she opened the button on his jeans. He pulled them and his boxer briefs down, exposing his thick cock.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, needing him now.
Once more. She wanted the intimacy that Asher gave to her. He was her first kiss and her first touch, and she needed him desperately to be that guy one more time before she forced herself not to care about him tomorrow morning. A task that seemed impossible.

  She cupped his face as he hovered above her, and spoke the truth deep in her heart. What needed to happen for her to survive the wedding. “This can’t happen again after tomorrow.”

  Asher didn’t even hesitate. “It was always meant to end.” He slid deep inside her, and she welcomed him easily. He kept his body close on hers, and she wrapped her legs around his strong thighs. He leaned up on his arms while he slowly thrust his hips, bringing pleasure with each movement. He didn’t kiss her feverishly, tease her, or get her fired up. He stared at her, right in the eye, looking at her like he used to. With all the love in the world. Like he couldn’t exist without her. And with the understanding that she couldn’t exist without him. And yet, she knew that was a lie.

  They could exist without each other. They had for ten years. And she’d have to again tomorrow. Though, as they began to move together, she realized that, while their old love was gone, he’d cared about her enough now to see her happy. Tomorrow she’d be free from everything dark in her life, but would Asher?

  Wanting him to find peace too, and in the warmth of his embrace, she said, “It’s no one’s fault.”

  Asher froze, buried deep inside her. “What’s no one’s fault?”

  “What happened to us,” she said, hoping he truly heard her. “It’s not our fault that we fell in love when we were so young. It’s not your fault that you have a terrible father. It’s not my fault that I don’t know my dad, or know why my mom chooses herself over me. And it’s not your fault that your mother killed herself. All this pain we’ve endured and faced, it just happened. None of it was anyone’s fault, we just did the best we could.” She felt him soften inside her, and she slid her hands up into his hair. “I keep thinking I want to go back to that time in our lives where nothing could have touched us. Where we were bigger than anything and everything and we thought our love was untouchable.”