The door blew open, the knob banging into the wall. One minute, I was in Jackson’s grasp, and the next, Jackson was in someone else’s.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Thomas said, holding Jackson’s back against the wall with a murderous glare. He had two fistfuls of Jackson’s shirt.
Jackson heaved Thomas away and swung, but Thomas ducked and then pushed Jackson right back against the wall, holding him there by using his forearm like a bar across his throat.
“Don’t. Fucking. Move,” Thomas said, his voice low and menacing.
“Jackson, do as he says,” I warned.
“What are you doing here?” Jackson asked. He looked to me. “Does he live here? Are you living together?”
I rolled my eyes. “Jesus.”
Thomas glanced over his shoulder at me. “I’m going to take him down and put him in a cab. What hotel is he at?”
“I have no idea. Jackson?”
Jackson’s eyes were closed, and he was breathing deep, his knees sagging beneath him.
“Jackson?” I said loudly, poking at his shoulder. “Where are you staying?” When he didn’t answer, my shoulders fell. “We can’t put him in a cab while he’s passed out.”
“He’s not staying here,” Thomas said, a tinge of anger still in his voice.
“I don’t see another option.”
Thomas leaned over, letting Jackson fall forward over his shoulder, and then carried him to the couch. More careful than I’d thought he would be, Thomas helped Jackson lie back and then tossed a throw over him.
“C’mon,” he said, taking my hand.
“What?” I asked with just a bit of resistance as he pulled me toward the door.
“You’re staying with me tonight. I have an important meeting in the morning, and I won’t be able to sleep, worrying that he’s going to wake up and wander into your bed.”
I pulled my hand back. “I would hate for you not to be at your best during your meeting.”
Thomas sighed. “Cut me some slack. It’s late.”
I raised an eyebrow.
He looked away, annoyed, and then back at me. “I admit it. I don’t want him fucking touching you.” He was enraged at the thought, and then it seemed to melt away. He took a step toward me, tenderly gripping my hips. “Can’t you see through my bullshit by now?”
“Can’t we just…I don’t know…say what we think or feel?”
“I thought I was,” Thomas said. “Your turn.”
I picked at my nails. “You were right. I’m scared. I’m afraid I can’t do this even if I want to. And I’m not sure you can either.”
He pressed his lips together in a hard line, amused. “Get your keys.”
I took the few steps to my phone and bent down to retrieve it, and then walked to the counter and swiped the keys up with one hand, my purse with the other. As I slid on my slippers, I couldn’t help but glance back once more to Jackson. His limbs were splayed out in every direction, his mouth was open, and he was snoring.
“He’ll be fine,” Thomas said, holding out his hand for me.
I joined him in the hall, locking the door behind us. We passed the elevator and climbed the stairs in silence. Once we arrived at his door, Thomas swung the door open and gestured for me to walk inside.
Thomas flipped on the light, revealing a space so immaculate it didn’t look lived in. Three magazines were fanned out on the coffee table, and a like-new couch sat against the wall.
Everything was in its place—plants, magazines, and even pictures. It included everything that made up a home, but beneath the homey embellishments, it was too perfect, sterile even. It was as if Thomas were trying to convince himself that he had a life outside of the Bureau.
I walked over to a console table next to the flat screen on the opposite side of the room. Three silver frames held black-and-white photos. One, I assumed were his parents. Another showed Thomas with his brothers, and I was amazed at how much the younger four looked alike. Then, there was one of Thomas and a woman.
Her beauty was distinctive, seeming to be wild and effortless. Her razor-cut short hair and cleavage-baring tight shirt surprised me. She wasn’t who I’d thought would be Thomas’s type at all. Her thick eyeliner and smoky eyes were that much more prominent in grayscale. Thomas held her like she was precious to him, and I felt a lump form in my throat.
“Is she Camille?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, his voice tinged with disgrace. “I’m sorry. I’m rarely home. I forget it’s there.”
My chest ached. The picture in that frame was the only answer I needed. Despite my efforts, I was falling for Thomas, but he was still in love with Camille. Even in a perfect world where two people who were obsessed with their jobs could make a relationship work, we had the added obstacle of unrequited love. At the moment, it was Thomas’s problem, but if I allowed myself to have deeper feelings, it would be mine.
I was always a firm believer that a person couldn’t love two people at the same time. If Thomas still loves Camille, what does that mean for me?
An obnoxious siren went off in my head, so loud I could barely think. These feelings for Thomas, Agent Maddox, my boss needed to stop now. I glanced at his couch as I worried that I would one day be begging him to love me in return, showing up drunk and emotional at his door before passing out on his couch like Jackson was on mine.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll just make a pallet on the floor. The couch doesn’t look that comfortable.”
He chuckled. “Taylor said the same thing. You’re welcome to the bed.”
“I think, given our history, that is a particularly bad idea,” I said, quoting him from before.
“What do you plan to do when we go to St. Thomas?” he asked.
“It will be your turn to take the floor.” I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice.
Thomas left me for his bedroom and then came out with a pillow and a tightly rolled sleeping bag.
I eyed his haul. “Do you keep that in case of sleepovers?”
“Camping,” he said. “You’ve never been?”
“Not since running water became a thing.”
“The bed is all yours,” he said, ignoring my jab. “I just put on fresh sheets this evening.”
“Thank you,” I said, passing him. “I’m sorry we woke you.”
“I wasn’t asleep. I have to admit that it was startling to hear a man yelling in your living room.”
“I apologize.”
Thomas dismissively waved his hand and then walked over to turn out the light. “Stop apologizing for him. I was out the door before I had time to think.”
“Thank you.” I put my hand on the doorjamb. “Get some sleep. I don’t want you to be mad at me if you can’t concentrate during your meeting.”
“There is only one reason I wouldn’t be able to concentrate during my meeting, and sleep isn’t it.”
“Enlighten me.”
“We’re going to be spending the better part of the weekend together, and I have to talk my brother into something he won’t want to do. Sunday is important, Liis, and you’re the biggest distraction in my life at the moment.”
My cheeks flushed, and I was thankful the lights were dim. “I’ll try not to be.”
“I don’t think you can help being a distraction any more than I can help thinking about you.”
“I understand now why you said being friends would be a bad idea.”
Thomas nodded. “I said that three weeks ago, Liis. The situation has changed.”
“Not really.”
“We’re more than friends now, and you know it.”
I looked over at the picture of Thomas and Camille and pointed to it. “She is what scares me, and she is what won’t go away.”
Thomas walked over to the picture and set it down on its face. “It’s just a picture.”
The words I wanted to say caught in my throat.
He took a step toward me.
I pushed away from the doorjamb
, holding a hand out. “We have a job to do. Let’s focus on that.”
He couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Good night.”
THOMAS TOSSED A THICK STACK OF PAPERS onto my desk, his jaw dancing under his skin. He paced back and forth, breathing through his nose.
“What is this?”
“Read it,” he growled.
Just as I opened the file folder, Val rushed in, stopping abruptly between the door and Thomas. “I just heard the news.”
I frowned and skimmed over the words. “The Office of the Inspector General?” I said, looking up.
“Shit,” Val said. “Shit.”
The report was titled A Review of the FBI’s Handling and Oversight of Agent Aristotle Grove.
I looked up at Thomas. “What did you do?”
Val closed the door and approached my desk. “Grove is downstairs. Will they arrest him today?”
“It’s likely,” Thomas said, still fuming.
“I thought you took care of this,” I said, closing the file and pushing it forward.
“Took care of it?” Thomas said, his eyebrows shooting toward his hairline.
I leaned forward, keeping my voice low. “I told you Grove was feeding you bad intel. You sat on it too long.”
“I was compiling evidence against him. That was part of the reason I brought you here. Val was in on it, too.”
I looked to my friend, who stared at the file as if it were on fire.
She was biting her lip. “I didn’t have to speak Japanese to know he was full of shit,” she said. “Wait—are you the language specialist he brought in on this?”
I nodded.
Thomas pointed at her. “That’s confidential, Taber.”
Val nodded, but she seemed uncomfortable that she hadn’t sniffed that one out.
Sawyer blew in, straightening his tie just as the door closed behind him. “I came as soon as I heard. What can I do?” he asked.
Val shrugged. “What you do best.”
Sawyer seemed disappointed. “Seriously? Again? He is my least favorite target. You know if we took a black light Grove’s bedroom room, every inch would be glowing.”
Val covered her mouth, disgusted.
I stood, pressing my fists down on my desk. “Would someone mind explaining what the hell everyone is talking about?”
“We have to be extremely careful with how we proceed,” Thomas said. “Travis could be in real trouble if this isn’t seamless.”
Val sat in the club chair, defeated. “When Maddox transferred to HQ in Washington before he was promoted to ASAC, he caught a lead on one of Benny’s goons from an agent working in HQ’s Asian Criminal Enterprise Unit.”
I looked to Thomas, dubious. “You caught a lead on one of your Italian mob bosses in Vegas from the Asian Crime Unit in Washington?”
Thomas shrugged. “I’d call it luck, but I’ve worked on this case day and night since it landed on my desk. There isn’t a fingerprint I haven’t checked or a backlog I haven’t accessed.”
Val sighed, impatient. “You can call it bad luck. The goon was a kid. His name was David Kenji. Travis beat him unconscious one night in Vegas to protect Abby.”
“That’s not in Travis’s file,” I said, looking to Thomas.
He looked away, allowing Val to continue.
Val nodded. “That was intentionally kept out, so it wouldn’t throw up any red flags for Grove. He can’t know anything about Travis. If he passes on the plan to any Yakuza, Travis is no longer an asset to the Bureau.”
“Why would Grove pass on info about Travis’s recruitment to any Yakuza?” I asked.
Val sat forward. “David is the son of Yoshio Tarou’s sister.”
“Tarou, as in the second-in-command of Goto-gumi in Japan?” I said, in disbelief.
Goto-gumi was one of the oldest syndicates of the original Yakuza Japanese gang. Tarou was a prominent boss, leading Goto-gumi since the 1970s. Tarou didn’t just intimidate his enemies. He was creative with his executions, leaving their mutilated bodies for all to see.
Val nodded. “Tarou’s sister lived with him until she died when David was fourteen.”
I nodded. “Okay, so you’re telling me Travis is also a target of Yakuza?”
Thomas shook his head.
I frowned. “I’m not hearing why there’s a goddamn Inspector General’s report on my desk.”
“Tarou is bad news, Liis,” Thomas said. “Grove has been passing him information via the Yakuza he’s interviewed here, and more recently, he’s been speaking to Tarou directly. That’s why we’ve had no traction on their criminal activity despite all the interviews. They’ve been one step ahead.”
“So, we let the IG arrest Grove. Who cares?” I asked.
Thomas’s face fell. “It gets worse. David died a couple of months ago. He was beaten unconscious during a fight, and no one has seen him since.”
“Does Tarou think it was Travis?” I asked.
“Keep in mind,” Sawyer chimed in, “David’s run-in with Travis was over a year ago, and to their knowledge, Travis hasn’t been to Vegas since.”
“The fights were run by the mob,” Val said. “Benny pitted David against someone out for blood. Uncle Tarou blamed Benny and sent several of his guys over to the States to get an explanation from Benny. The fighter who killed David was found all over the desert—well, not all of him. We have reason to believe the men Tarou sent over are part of this Yakuza nest we’ve been interviewing.”
I frowned, still confused. “Why was the nephew of Tarou doing low-level goon work for Benny?”
“The mother,” Val said simply as if I should have known. “When his mother died, David blamed Tarou. There was a fight. David left and came to the States. He gravitated toward what he knew and ended up with Benny.”
“This is a train wreck,” I said.
Val looked up to Thomas and then back at me. “We were waiting to pull the trigger on Grove because we knew he was playing both sides, but now that we’ve cracked the connection with Benny, we don’t know what intel from our case he’s turned over to them.”
“Shit,” I said. “How much does he know?”
Thomas took a step toward me. “Like I said, I’ve been suspicious of him for a while. Sawyer has been keeping track of his activities.”
“What kind of activities?” I asked.
Sawyer crossed his arms. “Daily activities—what he eats, where he sleeps. I know what gives him indigestion, what soap he uses, and what porn sites he jacks off to.”
“Thanks for that,” I said.
Sawyer chuckled, “Surveillance, boss. I’m damn good at surveillance.”
“Like the master,” Val said.
Sawyer smiled at her. “Thanks.”
Val rolled her eyes. “Fuck off.”
Sawyer continued, “Maddox kept Grove in the dark about the Vegas case for the most part, but when the cases began to intertwine, Grove became interested…and so did Tarou. Benny is smoothing things over with Tarou, and with these guys, money can turn enemies into friends. The fights are big money. Benny wants a champion, and Travis is a sure thing.”
Val sat back in the chair. “We can control what Grove learns at the Bureau, but if Benny or Tarou mention Travis Maddox to Grove, it’s all over. He’ll make the connection.”
I sighed. “Travis’s deal, even Abby’s access…”
Thomas nodded. “The case. All of it. We’ll have to turn in what we’ve got and wrap it up without Travis or Abby.”
“And Travis will no longer be an asset to the Bureau. He’ll go to prison.”
The weight of my words seemed to bear down on Thomas, and he used the bookshelf for support.
I looked at the file lying askew halfway between Val and me. “The Inspector General just blew us out of the water.”
Sawyer shook his head. “Grove doesn’t know yet. We need to get on the phone, delay his arrest, and drag this out just a little longer.”
“You should have told us your
contact was Liis,” Val scolded. “We could have avoided this.”
Thomas glared at her, but she didn’t yield.
“How?” he asked. “Telling you that Liis was keeping tabs on Grove was going to keep the IG’s office from writing that report? Are you fucking joking?”
“Knowing we could use Liis to check Grove’s transcriptions would have been helpful,” Sawyer said.
“I was having Liis check them, Sawyer,” Thomas said, annoyed. “You think she’s been listening to Taylor Swift on her headphones in here?”
I shook my head. “Why the secrecy?”
Thomas held out his hands and let them fall to his sides. “It’s Spy one-oh-one, kids. The fewer people you tell, the less risk you take. I didn’t want Grove to know I had another Japanese translator in the unit. He needed to keep tabs on all the interviews for Tarou, and another Japanese-speaking agent could have gotten in the way. She might have ended up a target just to keep Grove in charge of the Yakuza interrogations.”
“Oh,” Val said. “You needed to protect her.”
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “That’s absurd. He didn’t even know her to want to protect her.” It took him a moment, but when Sawyer recognized the shame in my eyes, his mouth fell open. His index finger waggled between Thomas and me. “You two were…”
I shook my head. “It was before. He didn’t know I was here to work at the Bureau.”
“Discussing line of work comes right after name-swapping.” Sawyer cackled. “You one-nighted the new hire, Maddox? No wonder you jumped on her ass at her first meeting. You don’t like surprises. This is all beginning to make sense.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Thomas sneered.
Sawyer stopped laughing. “Is that why you gave her the promotion?”
The small smile on Val’s lips vanished. “Oh, shit.”
Thomas lunged for Sawyer, and Val and I stood between them, bouncing like pinballs as we pushed them apart.
“All right! I’m sorry!” Sawyer said.
“A little fucking decorum, please!” I yelled. “We’re grown adults! At work!”
Thomas stepped back, and Sawyer smoothed his tie and then sat down.
“Grow up!” I snarled at Thomas.
Thomas touched his fingers to his mouth while he calmed down. “My apologies,” he said through his teeth. “I’ll call Polanski. We need to get that report buried and intercept the warrant for Grove’s arrest—at least for now.”
Beautiful Redemption (Maddox Brothers #2) Page 14