by Sedona Venez
“Greer,” Kevin replied.
I frowned. “It still doesn’t answer how Bigsby knew Sin had the ledger.”
“Or if he suspects that Greer might be Sin’s real father,” Kevin chimed in.
I scratched my chin. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only two people who can tie Bigsby to his former life as a pimp are either missing or dead.”
“Exactly,” Kevin intoned. “A narcissistic man like Bigsby would terminate anything linking back to his seedy history.”
New York City’s mayoral hopeful, Bigsby Calhoune, was a dirty criminal underneath his slick, cleaned-up politician veneer. He might have a new identity and life, but he was still the power-hungry thug who had killed my mother and left me to die.
My stomach felt like a rock had taken up residence when I realized Sin could be in danger.
What if Bigsby thinks Sin is one of the loose ends from his past and decides to put her on his hit list?
Knowing what I knew so far about Bigsby, I was sure he had come too far to let his new life disintegrate, which meant Sin’s safety was in serious jeopardy.
My chest tightened.
I was an all-in-or-all-out type of man, and that meant doing whatever I needed to do—no matter how dark and bloody—to reach my goal.
But how far am I willing to go now that Sin’s life might be on the line?
Will I offer her up as a sacrificial lamb?
The old Core would have without hesitation, but that was before I’d really gotten to know Sin. But without me even realizing it until now, the line between what I needed—vengeance—and wanted—Sin—was thin.
When push comes to shove, will I sacrifice Sin’s life to avenge my mom’s death?
A couple weeks ago, the answer would have been a resounding, Yes!
Today? I was second-guessing every damn move and decision I made. And that shit was not how I operated… ever.
When I made a strategic decision, I stuck to that shit and didn’t deviate, letting the chips fall where they may. Outside of my team, people were pawns to maneuver any way I wanted. For years, I’d built alliances while doing things like blackmail, coercion, and extortion, and that had made me one of the wealthiest and most feared men in New York City. I was the puppet master, pulling the strings and making CEOs, politicians, and the very affluent dance for my amusement. Billionaires would quake in their custom-made shoes for fear of being exposed by the cache of intelligence I had about their shady business dealings and sordid sexual tastes. Information that would ruin them if I chose to reveal it.
I’m Core McKay, a billionaire, and I’m always in control.
The vision of Sin’s eyes dilated with lust flashed in my mind. Indecent hunger surged through me, beating at my self-control. Sin was everything I wanted in a woman—strong and feisty. The idea of having her in my bed every night, submitting to me, for the rest of my life had my cock throbbing and my balls aching.
Shit. How the hell did I let it go so far?
I snapped out of my reverie. “Kevin, I’m pulling up to the warehouse now. I’ll give you a call later.”
Finally, the time had come to get answers and put all this shit with Bigsby behind me. Of course, after I destroyed his ass.
I PARKED BESIDE RAM, WHO was leaning against his own car with his cell in hand, texting. As soon as I stepped out of my vehicle, closing the door behind me, the nauseating smells of stale food, garbage, and exhaust fumes slammed into me.
Damn. I hate Newark.
Ram pushed away from his SUV and stormed up to me. “About fucking time,” he hissed. “I’ve been waiting hours for you to haul your ass down here.”
“I was busy,” I barked.
“Busy being cock deep in pussy doesn’t fucking count.” Ram countered.
Leave it to Ram not to beat around the damn bush.
“Fuck off, Ram,” I grunted, walking away, but he easily kept pace.
“Look, bro, I’m just calling it like I see it.” Ram defended. “We’ve had Jeff on ice for hours, and you went MIA on our ass. It’s not in your fucking DNA to neglect business, especially when we’re so close to bringing down the man who killed your mother.”
“Sin needed me.”
The man I had been before I slept with her and got to know her better would have wondered what the hell was wrong with me. She was supposed to be a means to an end. Nothing more. No attachments.
The man I was now… I was her mercenary gladiator, ready to fight and kill anyone who dared to harm her.
I want to protect Sin from the world.
“Did she now? And since when did you start caring about her needs?”
I retorted, “It’s fucking complicated.”
“Did you actually just say, ‘It’s fucking complicated?’” He burst out laughing. “It’s confirmed; you’re losing your mind.”
He was right.
How did casual fucking with no strings, no emotional attachments, and no expectations turn into this—me getting greedy and wanting more?
Now I never want to let her go.
“We all think this shit between you and Sin is messing with your head and making you lose focus on the business at hand.”
“All?” I countered.
I knew that all meant the entire team—Zuri, Kevin, Rocco, Max, and him. That was one of the many downsides of working on a close-knit team. It was like a fucking high school.
“Yep.” Ram nodded.
“Not that it’s anyone’s damn business, but in the interest of shutting down the little girl’s gossip clique you’re obviously the president of”—I looked at him with hard eyes—“my head is fully intact, and I’m completely focused on our mission.”
“Are you sure about that? Because the Core I know wouldn’t have ghosted us like you did last night. For that matter, the fucking Core I know wouldn’t have brought Sin to his damn place to play house with, especially since she’s a woman he’s using as a pawn.” He paused. “And if I didn’t know better, I would think that you’ve claimed her ass and marked her Property of Core McKay.”
“I have,” I confided bluntly.
Ram skidded to a stop. “What?”
I stopped, turning to face off with him. “You heard me. I’ve decided to keep her and see where this relationship between us goes.”
Ram’s mouth dropped open, and then he closed it. “Keep her?” He laughed. “She’s not some damn puppy you can play around with and then give away when she stops being cute and cuddly.”
The reminder that I was breaking my number one rule of never mixing business with pleasure was fucking with my mind. My obsession with Sin was crazy and fucking reckless, but I found myself shaken by how my need to possess her had quickly changed to my need to keep her as mine… forever.
“Who said anything about giving her up?” I crossed my arms.
“Hold the fuck up.” Ram held up his hand. “Are you actually talking about dating her?”
“Come on, bro. You know me…”
Ram arched a brow. “Do I?”
“You do. And you know I don’t date. I fuck. That means me fucking her whenever I want, wherever I want, and however I want. Exclusively.”
“That means you’re dating her.”
I shrugged. “Whatever. I’m not trying to label what Sin and I have.”
“Whatever?” He looked at me like I had two heads. “Core! Use your damn head and not your cock.”
“Relax,” I answered.
“I will not fucking relax. Sin makes you vulnerable.”
“Ram, everything is under control. I’ve got this.” I wrinkled my forehead.
Ram snorted. “You’ve got this? No, you don’t. I’m not the smartest person when it comes to figuring out women, but I have enough common fucking sense to know when Sin finds out she’s been used and manipulated just so you could get to Bigsby, this is not going to end well—for you.” He eyed me. “Believe me. Hell hath no fury like a woman fucked over by a man. Men have been castrated f
or less.”
“Like I explained, I’ve got this shit.” But the tightness in my chest bore witness to the effect Ram’s words had on me.
Ram is right.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
When, not if, Sin found out the truth—that I’d manipulated her just to get to Bigsby—she was going to go ballistic on my ass.
Frankly, her anger I could deal with.
But her walking away from me? From us? Now that possibility is fucking with my head big time.
I pressed my lips together in a slight grimace.
Ram just stared at me. “Bro, just tell her the fucking truth, and if she walks… good riddance. Not that you’d care…” Ram’s voice broke off with a small frown. “Wait… what the fuck? I know that look on your face. You do care.”
My irritation rose. “What look?”
He shrewdly assessed me. “The look you get when we’re about to take over a company—predatory, focused, and possessive.”
Ram knew me well. He was right—again. I wanted Sin despite the fact that there were a million reasons I shouldn’t.
Ram went on. “After all these years and so many other women, what’s so special about Sin?”
Everything—from her take-no-shit attitude to her point of view about sex and me.
Sin pulled no punches and was a welcome change from the women who threw themselves at me because of my money and those I slept with to sate my sexual cravings. None of what I’d had with previous lovers was real, and all of it had been exhausting.
Sin was my kind of perfect. A woman I’d never dreamed of encountering after Maya—the first woman who had loved me for me, stood by me when I was poor, and grounded me. Maya had been my balance, my rock. The major reason I’d decided to turn my back on my criminal empire was for fear of losing her and my unborn child. But I’d lost them anyway, and my world had shattered into a million pieces. For too many years to count, without her, my life had been cold, and I hadn’t been alive. Until Sin. Now I could let go of the memories of my life with Maya and move on.
“None of your damn business,” I snapped.
“Seriously?”
In that moment, I realized I needed Sin because she filled an emotional gap I’d thought was buried deep and lost forever. Her taste, smell, and body were imprinted on my mind. Ingrained in my mind from the first time I’d fucked her. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted someone with the intensity I felt for Sin.
I sighed heavily. “Because Sin’s the only woman who truly understands me. Fuck! She’s the only woman I ever told about Maya or my mom. That’s what she does to me. And even after I told her all that shit, she still accepts me for who I am. She doesn’t want to try to change me. And that’s the kind of woman I won’t ever walk away from.”
“If she means that much to you, then tell her the truth,” Ram insisted.
“When the time is right, I’ll tell her what I did and why. Sin’s smart. She’ll understand, and we’ll move on… together.”
Ram laughed. “And everyone thinks I’m the fucking crazy one.” He shook his head. “She won’t understand that you’ve used her. No woman would. And there will be no moving on together. Look, bro, I get it. You’re the master of everything you survey. You’re Core motherfucking McKay. Billionaire. Ballbuster. In control of everything you touch. But Sin is different. This whole fucked-up situation is different. She’ll walk away from you once she knows the truth.”
“If it happens, I’ll deal with it.” My stomach tightened with the knowledge that there was a big possibility of losing Sin… and frankly, I didn’t know if I could deal with that shit.
Now that I’d had a taste of life with Sin in it, going back to my cold, sterile world of caring about nothing but money and my team felt empty. My muscles tensed as I just imagined a world without Sin by my side. Strangely, the thought made me feel like a man deserted on an island… alone.
Ram laughed. “Seriously, this shit is hilarious. You were the mastermind behind this whole plot to get close to her and then use her as a fucking pawn to get revenge on Bigsby, and then you lied to her—”
I cut him off. “I’ve never lied to her. I’ve omitted information and evaded talking about need-to-know information that might jeopardize our mission. But I’ve never fucking lied to her. Ever!”
Ram shook his head. “If that’s the excuse you’re going to give her, then, bro, you’re in a shitload of trouble. Because if there is one thing I know, there isn’t a sane woman walking this earth who’s going to blindly accept the load of shit you just told me.”
“When I explain everything to her, she’ll understand my motives.”
“Uh-huh.” Ram looked at me with wide eyes. “And how do you think she’ll feel when she finds out you were the puppet master behind all her deals with the retailers screeching to a halt?”
I winced when I remembered the fact that Ram and I had contacted every retailer we owned a major stake in and told them the deal to carry Sin’s line was dead until we personally approved it. More importantly, how Sin had flinched as if I’d physically slapped her when I told her that my sources had informed me that her retailers were getting cold feet about the viability of her collection and were pulling out of her deals. What she didn’t know was that, with just one phone call to my shadowy connections—who were wealthy, deadly, and ruthless—I had killed all her retail agreements.
“I fixed that situation,” I retorted. “I called them all and approved her deal to go forward.”
Ram cocked his head, looking at me like some horrible experiment gone wrong. “Um… let me get this straight. You’re taking credit for fixing a situation you created? Man… this is classic Core McKay bullshit.”
“Like I said, she’ll understand.”
“Okay, Core. If you say so…” He clapped me on the back and walked away, laughing.
I’d be damned if I’d admit it aloud, but he was on point about this, too. This situation between Sin and me was a messy, fucked-up predicament that, for the first time in my life, I had no clue how to fix without losing her in the end.
WHEN I OPENED THE WAREHOUSE door, slipping inside the dark building, I quickly snapped my mind into business mode and to the matter at hand—interrogating Jeff. I’d planned on the process of breaking him down to take hours. So I’d told Sin I wouldn’t be back home from taking care of business until tomorrow morning.
The first thing on my agenda was finding out where Jeff was holding Lexis, Ram’s sister, and then getting her back… hopefully alive. The second was getting confirmation from Jeff about why the ledger was so important to his boss, Bigsby.
I glanced at Ram, who was pacing back and forth while talking on his cell.
“Kevin, are you sure?” He paused a beat. “Don’t be a dick. I just want to be sure.” There was another moment of silence. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll tell Core. Talk to you later.” He ended the call before striding up to me.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“Kevin just got word from his sources that the Feds are mounting an investigation into the Super PAC backing Bigsby.”
“Why should I give a shit if they shut UF-Star down?”
It was no secret that UF-Star was a Super PAC—an independent political action committee that had been spending a ton of money to promote Bigsby for New York City’s new mayor. No one but us knew that for a huge fee, Bigsby had arranged to help a group of traffickers clean their money through his shell company, Pomtonic International. In addition, in exchange for the traffickers contributing to UF-Star, Bigsby had made a deal with them that once he got elected, he’d turn a blind eye to all their illegal activities for a percentage of their profits.
“But it’s not just UF-Star,” Ram interjected. “It’s the sex trafficking ring Bigsby’s involved in. Kevin’s intel says it won’t be long before the Feds arrest Bigsby.”
“Shit. That’s not good.”
“What’s the problem?” Ram asked. “That’s what you wanted, right? To des
troy Bigsby? Now you don’t have to get your hands dirty. The Feds and prosecutors will end him.”
The truth of the matter was that I wanted to get my hands dirty.
I wanted to personally destroy him. It was the only way to ensure that everything went according to plan.
I was close to finally destroying Bigsby Calhoune by stripping away everything he held dear—his wealth, freedom, political career, and trophy fiancée, Cate.
Now I had everything—Bigsby and the one woman who had unknowingly made it all happen, Sin.
But why is the taste of revenge so bittersweet on my tongue?
“I’ve waited too many goddamn years to destroy that fucker. I’m not going to sit back and let him slip through my fingers. He has to pay for killing my mother. Besides, I’ll be damned if I trust the incompetent Feds. They could mess it up, allowing him to get off on some technicality. No. I’ve got to personally make sure he ends up in jail for the rest of his life or six feet under. Either way, my job will be done, and I can mark this mission complete.”
“Well, we’d better wrap up this shit fast because once the Feds nab him, he’ll be out of your reach.”
We moved off through the space, our boots sounding like trumpets as they slapped against the hard concrete floor in the cavernous, dark space. Rats almost the size of kittens ran across the floor to hide. The air was stale and cloying.
“What’s the status of Project Jeff?” I asked.
“Like we planned, Max and Rocco have been softening him up for us and keeping him awake all night with rounds of throwing ice-cold water on his ass. Max reported that it wouldn’t take us long to break him.”
Sometimes, it took us days to break our captive and other times, hours.
“Good,” I answered. “We’ll start with questions about Lexis’s location, and then we’ll grill him about the ledger. I need him to corroborate what Kevin found out.”
We made our way down the metal stairs and through the corridor.
“You don’t know how bad I wanted to storm into that room last night and wrap my hands around Jeff’s neck,” Ram replied.
I knew that, deep down, Ram felt guilty for Lexis’s disappearance. Well, more like guilty for not pressing her for more information about Jeff Barolo—a man who had become her boyfriend after dating her for only two weeks.