Cash Money (Bad Money #4)

by Ali Parker

  "Fuck, Jon. Billy has Kate."

  Chapter 19

  Jon

  "What?" Jon's heart almost stopped in his chest. "No. He can't have her. He's lying."

  "Jon, this fucker doesn't lie." Marcus pulled his keys from his pocket. "He wants us to meet him tomorrow night at the party with the Zandra supplier info that Victor had."

  "Call Zak and get it." Jon pressed his hands to his mouth and tried to keep a steady stream of air coming through his nose.

  "I will, but we need to find him tonight. I'm not waiting until tomorrow to get Kate back. That shit ain't happening. He's a monster."

  "Have you been out to the plantation house? I followed my partner, Clay out there the other day." A dark numbness settled over Jon that he was grateful for. After being on the police force for most of his younger years, he knew how to find a calm place amidst the storm, but for some reason when it came to Kate, all bets were off.

  "Yeah. Stay here, and I'll let Jeffery know that we're out for the night." Marcus started for the door.

  "No. You go to Victor’s and get the supplier information. I'll go get Kate." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Just do it."

  "No. I'm going with you. You have no fucking clue what you're up against. It's going to take both of us." Marcus turned and walked back into the club, leaving the heavy metal door to slam loudly and echo throughout the alleyway.

  Jon turned and jogged down to his bike, unlocking it as his pulse spiked. He could freak out later that night if necessary, but right now it was about getting to Kate. He didn't know if Billy had multiple locations that he stayed at, but it would seem that the plantation home was a good bet.

  After pulling on his helmet, he took off without looking back. Marcus would catch up, or do what was best for all of them and get the fucking information just in case. The idea of Billy being anywhere near Kate left Jon's blood running cold. He'd seen the file on the guy after all the shit went down with Seth.

  He wasn't a drug lord. He was a sick fuck who had no sense of morality. There were few men that Jon had seen dive so far into depravity. They shouldn't have held him on death row. They should have electrocuted his ass the first chance they had to do it.

  Pressing his bike forward far faster than he should have, Jon pressed his chest to the top of the handlebars and prayed that he could get out to the place in time to find Kate there and untouched. Where he had never expected to be faced with a situation like the one before him, there was no doubt that every darkened part of him would swim to the surface and thrive if needed.

  Marcus and Kate only knew what he wanted them to know. He'd been Benton's right hand, but death was his calling card during those years too. There was a quiet place deep inside of him that would calm all things and allow him to persevere through anything.

  He stopped the bike beside the house and turned it off, yanked his helmet off and ran into the house with his gun pulled. There was no time to be stealthy, though some part of him screamed for him to slow down and fucking think things through.

  The house was dark and smelled like shit. He pressed his arm to his face as he surveyed every room on the bottom floor and glanced outside. Nothing.

  He bounded upstairs and paused at the sound of someone sniffling. The instinct to call out to Kate was almost overwhelming, but it wouldn't help her situation if they knew he was there.

  Should have thought of that before you busted through the damn door.

  Sickness pulsed through him, but he swallowed it down. The darkened hall teased the darkest fears from his childhood, but he pushed through and stopped outside of the last bedroom door.

  Making a quick motion, he moved into the room and pointed his gun, turning in a quick circle to ensure that no threat existed around him.

  "Help me," a soft feminine voice cried out, but it wasn't more than a choked whisper.

  Jon flipped on the light and moved over to the thin blond girl who was huddled in the corner. "Shh... it's okay. I'm here to help."

  Her wrists were chained above her, and her hands and upper arms were light purple from lack of blood.

  Jon looked around for something to get her loose with. Nothing.

  "What's your name, sweetheart?" He got up and walked back to the hall, looking down it to make sure no one was sneaking up on them.

  "Sarah. They aren't here." She sniffled and pulled at her bindings. "The keys are probably downstairs in the kitchen drawers. Please get me out of these. I can't... I can't feel my fingers."

  "Okay. I'm going. I'll be right back." Jon jogged down the hall and found the key in the first drawer he came to. His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to see Marcus calling.

  "Peterson." After racing back upstairs, Jon dropped down beside the girl, ignoring the rotting bodies beside him and the putrid smell.

  "Jon. Where the fuck are you, man? Are you nuts? Billy isn't your average run of the mill ki-"

  "I'm at the plantation home. He's not here, but some poor girl is chained up to the wall."

  "Sarah?" Marcus's voice softened, but only slightly.

  "Yes. I'm getting her loose. I'll call the cops to come get her. Where are you?" Jon barked into the phone and tried to help the weak girl up. She couldn't seem to use her legs, which infuriated him all the more. Billy deserved a bullet in his head, not a comfy stay in a maximum security prison.

  "I'm almost to the warehouse where Billy used to have us meet. If he's not here... Fuck, Jon. I don't know where he is."

  "Call me when you get there. We'll find him. We have to." He tucked the phone in his pocket and picked the girl up before jogging down the stairs and laying her on the couch. The place was incredibly filthy. How anyone could live in it was a shock.

  "I'm going to call the police and they'll get someone out here to help you." Jon touched her arm as she curled up on the couch and started to cry.

  "New Orleans Police De-"

  "Karen, it's Jon. Track my phone and get someone out here stat. I have a girl who's half dead and evidence that Billy Turner's been here." He reached down and took the girl's bony hand as she reached for him. "I can't stay. I'm searching for Kate. She's gone. Tell Mike to call me. Now."

  He dropped the call without waiting for more than a quick reply, and squeezed the girl's hand. "You're going to be fine, Sarah. My friends are on their way out here. I'll visit you tomorrow in the hospital, okay?"

  "Please don't leave. I'm scared they'll come back." She glanced at the door, her eyes wide with fear.

  "Did you see them leave? Did they have another woman with them? Black hair? Brown eyes?" The confusion on the girl's face left Jon's heart breaking in his chest. She wasn't with it. Too many drugs or perhaps the trauma of staring death in the face.

  The sound of a siren lifted all around him, and he let out a sigh. "Thank God."

  "Are they here? To get me?" She tried to stand, but fell to the ground at his feet.

  Jon leaned over and helped her up before picking her up and walking out into the yard. An ambulance pulled up beside four cop cars. Jon walked out and handed the girl to an EMS.

  "Be careful with her. She's in rough shape and scared as hell." He turned to see Mike walking up.

  "We were down the street for dinner. I texted you to join us, but you didn't respond." Mike reached out and touched Jon's shoulder. "You look like hell. What's going on, Jon?"

  "He's got Kate." Jon took a shallow breath and closed his eyes for a second to get a hold of himself. "The sorry mother fucker has my girl."

  "Oh no." Mike stepped back and growled. "Then let's find him. Now."

  "Yeah. I can't stop until I do." Jon pulled his phone out and turned. "I need to take this."

  Marcus's voice was tight, pinched. "Jon. They aren't here. Tell me you found something. Some sort of lead."

  "I got nothing." Jon glanced up at the sky as every part of him buzzed with anxious fear. "What are we going to do? Call him back. Tell him that you need something or want to hang out."

  "Jon. Tha
t shit isn't going to work. We're talking about Billy Turner here. Come back to the club and we'll go out to Victor's together. Our best bet is to do what Billy wants and show up tomorrow night with everything in check. We have to trust that Kate is capable of taking care of herself. We're out of options."

  "No. I can't stomach that. I... I gotta go." Jon dropped the call and slipped his phone in his back pocket before walking to his bike and getting on it. He didn't stop as Mike called to him, but pulled out of the darkened forest and drove like a madman toward the warehouse Seth had him locked up in only a handful of weeks before.

  The place was empty, barren when he arrived. After going room to room, Jon moved out to the center of the room and dropped down on the chair Seth had strapped him to.

  Pressing his hands to his face, he let out a guttural scream and let every horrid emotion that threatened to strip his sanity away leak from his lips. After a few minutes of screaming into his hands and crying so hard his face hurt, he leaned back and looked up at the night sky through the hole in the roof.

  "I know you hate me, but take me instead. Please. Give her back and let her be untouched. Protect her like I can’t. Please. I'll give you anything. Do anything. Please. Please, God. Don't take her from me. I'll do anything." He leaned back over and pressed his face to his hands as his heart bled out.

  If given another chance, he wasn't fucking up things with the dark-haired bartender ever again. Kate was all he wanted and whatever that meant, in whatever way he could have her... he was completely and totally in.

  "Please, God. Please."

  Chapter 20

  Kate

  A thick film sat over her gaze as she tried to lift her head, but found it far too heavy to move.

  "Princess. There you are." Rough fingers touched her cheek, and try as she may, she couldn't jerk from them. "I fucking told Reni not to soak the goddamn cloth in that shit. He never listens. You okay?"

  "No," she whispered and blinked a few more times as her vision started to clear. "Where are we, Billy?"

  Her throat hurt like someone had taken razors to the back of it. There was no reason to panic just yet seeing that she was still fully clothed, and untouched from what she could tell.

  "We're at the Marriott, pretty girl. You slept all through the damn night." He chuckled and reached out, petting the side of her face again. "You're so incredibly beautiful. It almost seems as if you get more and more attractive with age. You're like no other woman I know, Kate."

  The dreamy sound of his voice was sickening. He'd turned her into something far more than she was in his head, but maybe it was for the best. If he believed her to be something of worth, he might spare her life. Maybe. Doubtful. Funny how Victor was a day in the park compared to her current situation.

  "Why are we at a hotel?" She kept her tone soft and as innocent sounding as she could.

  "There's a big party tonight, you know the one after Mardi Gras they do here. Loads of costumes and people come out of the fucking woodwork." He nodded toward the wall. "I got you a dress. Should fit perfectly."

  Kate turned her head a little and let out a groan as she realized she was tied to the bed beneath her. Billy was a sick fuck, so the goal would simply be to keep him preoccupied with everything but her.

  "Are we going to the party?" She let her head drop back down onto the bed.

  "We are. Your boys are coming as well. I figure we'll grab the information on the New York drug supplier seeing that you were being such a cunt about it." He licked at his darkened teeth and tilted his head to the side as he studied her.

  "Billy. You know I would have gotten the information for you. It's been bad lately. Really bad. All that shit with Victor was horrible." She closed her eyes and took a quick breath. "I killed him for you. Why wouldn't I get the supplier information? That makes no sense."

  "Very true." His smile grew wide. "I knew you offed him for me. Just like you did Benton."

  Reni poked his head in the room. "Food's here. Get Kate and come on."

  "Right." Billy moved onto the bed, brushing her hair back and working on the strap tied to her wrist. She tried not to think about how much she once cared about the disgusting bastard above her. He wasn't at all the monster back then that he'd become.

  Not even close.

  "We're gonna eat, and then we'll get changed and go." He pulled her up as she rubbed her wrists. He started to work on the bindings around her ankles. "Now listen, and hear me, Kate. You try to run, hurt one of us, or do anything I don't say do, and I'll kill you. I don't want to, baby, but I will."

  "All right." She nodded and got out of the bed before walking in front of him to the living room. "I'm insanely thirsty. Do you have a bottle of water or something?"

  "Get my girl a soda, Tim," Billy called out to a younger-looking guy with a nasty scar on his face. "Anything you want, just ask."

  Kate was shocked that she hadn't been molested or beaten on or something. Nothing. She was absolutely fine. She walked to the kitchen and took the can of soda from the guy before turning to face Billy.

  The younger guy wrapped her in a hug and squeezed her breasts before pressing his mouth to the side of her neck.

  Kate jerked away from him and spilled her soda down the front of her shirt. She turned to scream at him to back the fuck up as the horror on his face forced her to stop.

  Blood covered her shirt and splattered onto her chin and cheek from the kid getting shot twice in the chest just beside her. A silencer must have been fitted on the gun Billy's boys had.

  "Fuck," she muttered and dropped the drink.

  "Don't touch my fucking woman." Billy lifted his gun and pointed it at all of them as Kate turned around and held her breath.

  "No one's going to touch her, Billy. Tim was new. You should have told him, man. Now we gotta clean that shit up." Reni got up and walked into the kitchen, moving around Kate, but not touching her at all. "Fuck. Dude."

  "Keep it up, and they'll be cleaning you up." Billy pointed the gun toward them.

  "Me?" Kate moved out of the kitchen and tried hard not to show a reaction at all to the blood on her.

  "No, baby. Reni and his loud fucking mouth." Billy moved toward her and pulled her close, smiling down at her. "Red looks good on you, Katie."

  She stiffened as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her roughly. She kissed him back and prayed like hell that he'd kill her soon or the night would be over. There was no way she could belong to him. Not ever again.

  She pushed at his chest softly. "Later. Not now in front of these guys. I'm not that kind of girl. You know that."

  He smiled and nipped at her. "I know, baby. You're for my eyes only."

  "Yep. I need a shower. Stay out." She walked past him as he whistled through his teeth and started to brag on how hot she was. She barely made it to the bathroom and locked the door before dropping to her knees and letting her stomach empty out into the toilet.

  Being trapped in her worst nightmare was only the beginning of things. Knowing that both Jon and Marcus were walking into a trap was far worse. She wiped at her face frantically with toilet paper and started to cry before stripping down and starting the shower.

  Without waiting for it to warm, she got in and scrubbed at her skin frantically, trying to get the blood off of her as sob after sob left her. The roar of the shower would keep her cries contained in the bathroom, but she would need a few minutes to calm her nerves before going back out or he would know just how deep her façade ran.

  A knock at the door caused her to stiffen and let out a soft yelp.

  "You almost done, baby? We need to head downstairs in about twenty minutes. I know you like time to do your hair." Billy's voice was soft and caring. The sound of it caused her stomach to turn over violently.

  "I am, but I'm going to braid it tonight, unless you don't like it like that." She pressed her hand to her mouth as she leaned against the decorative shower wall.

  "I love it any way you wanna do it, Katie
. Just hurry up. I don't want to be late for our guests." He chuckled.

  She bent down and moved to her hands and knees, dry heaving through the torrent of terror pumping through her. She couldn't let anything happen to Jon or Marcus. There had to be a way to get a message to them, to call in help. Billy wasn't the run of the mill drug guy. Marcus knew that. He would know what to do.

  She let out a soft cry as she moved to the back of the shower and pulled her legs up to tuck herself in the fetal position under the spray.

  Marcus loved her. Even if he were ready to walk away forever. He would come in crazy and not thinking about anything but saving her.

  Jon would be no different. Poor Jon. Having gotten wrapped up in the insanity of the world she and Marcus lived in. No one deserved a better outcome, a more solid future than Jon did. He hadn't signed up for all the shit they'd put him through, but he was persevering through it because he loved her.

  "I love you too." She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. They could figure things out. Marcus and Jon had each other, and she could work Billy if needed. It was going to work out, they just had to be willing to descend into hell if necessary to pull each other out.

  She was willing to go, but if they ever saw the light of day again... she was done. No more club. No more drugs. No more killing or stealing or lying. No more darkness.

  No more Marcus. No matter how much she loved him.

  It was over. All of it.

  Chapter 21

  Marcus

  It took a full joint and half a bottle of Jack to get Jon to chill out enough to sit down the night before. He passed out around two that morning after working to exhaust every possible option. Marcus had never seen anyone so fucked up. Where he was torn apart inside, he'd never have imagined Jon's pain to rival his own.

  The man loved Kate. There was no denying it.

  "Hey. Get up, buddy." Marcus patted the cop's shoulder before pulling out his phone. "We need to get dressed. We got about an hour before we need to head over to the hotel."