by Ali Parker
He caught her and pulled her toward him, wrapping her in a tight hug. She fought against him, tears of pain and deceit rolling over her eyes onto her swollen cheek.
"It's not what you think."
"I held him while he died because of some drug lords last week, Marcus. I was taken downtown on manslaughter charges."
"Which were cleared."
"I made love to his fucking brother and almost gave him my heart."
"He's a dick. That has nothing to do with me."
She pulled away, walking from him as a sob left her. "I could have died today or been raped for hours because Victor believes me to be the other drug lord in town. Your boss is the only other drug lord in New Orleans, Marcus. Why does Victor believe that I'm that person?"
"Kate, I don't know, but I'm trying to find out. The kid wanted a job and said he knew you. I didn't know his fucking history with you."
"Why didn't you mention it?"
"He asked me not to. He said he was in love with you and wanted to get himself right before seeing you again."
"You know why Victor thinks I'm the head of your organization?"
"Why? Tell me and I'll fix it."
She pressed her fingers to her mouth as she let out a groan of heartfelt agony. He started toward her and she held her hand up. "No. Don't you come near me. He thinks I run things because I was set up."
"By who? Tell me and I'll kill him."
She sniffled, reaching up to wipe a tear from her good eye. "By the only man I thought I could ever trust. You."
"Kate..."
She turned and jogged down the stairs, everything adding up far too well. Marcus had been involved in the drug ring far beyond her days of being in it, her only argument with him relating to him selling his shit in her club. Obviously he sought to get rid of her and take her place at the club, ushering in his products and making millions of dollars on the deal.
"Kate, you're being ridiculous."
The sound of him following her fueled her fire as she walked out into the street, turning to wait for him. She would blast him again with the truth and this time he couldn't deny it.
"Am I? Adam's name is on your credit card receipts. You let Jon stay with me and you just happen to be out of town the night your boss sends the boys over to welcome Victor."
"I'm the fucking one being set up here. Don't you see?"
A beeping noise pulled her attention from him, the phone on the ground beside her lighting up with a text message reminder. She looked down at the small contraption, bending over to pick it up out of instinct. It buzzed again and she looked around to see if anyone seemed to be looking for it.
"Kate. Stop worrying about the fucking phone and talk to me. How long have we been together? Who came after you to save you?"
"You did," she muttered and turned back to him, starting to slip the phone in her pocket. It buzzed again and she pulled it out, looking at it.
Kate Jarret
She pushed the button and the full text opened, her message to Jon on display. She looked up at Marcus before worry struck her.
"This is Jon's phone. Why is it here?"
"He dropped it?"
She looked around, spotting his bike across the street as her heart stopped. "Oh my God. Something happened to him. His bike's still here too."
"I thought he drove a car."
"He has both. I saw him that night, after I got out of the station, on his bike. I just didn't know him then." She tucked the phone in her pocket and let out a shaky breath.
"Kate, I'm sure he's fine."
"Of course you are. Your plans are in motion and he's just a distraction. Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"Stop it. I love you and have been with you for the last three years. You’re my best friend and I almost fucking died today when you called. You better get your shit straight and stop accusing me of shit I would never do. I didn't touch your boy and you're lucky that fucker upstairs was dead when I walked in. I would have torn him apart with my bare hands for touching you."
The passion in his eyes, the roar of his emotion, set her right, her heart shuddering in her chest. Not sure what to do, she raced past him, running full speed up the stairs to grab her keys. She had to find Jon. He might not want her anymore, but she had given him a piece of herself the night before. She needed to make sure he was safe and not in harm’s way because of whatever shit she had herself mixed up in.
Marcus met her in the middle of the stairs. "I'm coming with you."
"Coming with me where?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"To find him. I hate that you already think you're in love with him, but you mean more to me than anyone else. If you want to save him, I'm doing it with you."
"I don't know where he is, Marcus." Her eyes filled with tears again. "I haven't cried more than three times in my life and two of them have been today."
Marcus stepped up another step and pulled her close, Kate sinking into his strong hold. "I know sweetheart. This has to be Victor's doing."
She moved back. "What if it's your boss? Would he have anything to do with all of this? Maybe he implicated me to bring Victor to my door and start a war that Jon would shut down fast. Maybe all of this time we've been focused on the wrong bad guy."
"I don't think so, Kate." Marcus moved back, reaching up and palming his bald head. "My boss isn't really the type to do anything too maniacal. He's really just a rich pussy with his fingers in too many pies."
"Have you met him? Do you know him?"
"Yeah... of course. He's a cop on the force, or pretends to be one. That's why we have such an easy time dealing in the city."
"What's his name, Marcus?" She pressed her hand to the side of his neck, tilting his face toward hers as she tried to keep her cool.
"He goes by boss, but I've seen some shit with the name Seth McGraven on it. I assume he's not willing to use his real name."
"Seth?"
"You know him, Kate?"
"Why didn't you tell me?”
"Fuck, Kate. You never wanted to know before. Why are you looking at me like I'm hiding something?"
"Are you?"
"No. I told you who the fuck he is. Why are you acting like you know who I'm talking about? Are you working for him and I don't know it?"
She moved past him and jogged down the stairs, yelling over her shoulder. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
Marcus caught up to her and reached for the keys in her hand. "I'll drive. Tell me what you're thinking."
"Jon has a partner on the force. His name's Seth, but he's not come with Jon once to talk to me or help gather information."
"You think it's the same guy?"
"I sure as fuck do. My theory makes way more sense now."
"If he has Jon, then they are near the edge of the city limits, on the west side, at the large barn we torture people at."
She shivered as fear wrapped around her heart. Reaching back, she made sure her glock was in place. She had a feeling she would be using it more than once that day.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Jon
"Hey, wake up, sleepy head."
Jon came to, the sharp sting of a slap against his cheek jolting him. He tried to reach up to wipe his eyes, the haze sitting over him thick and blurry. His arms didn't respond due to the ropes tied around them.
"Where am I?" He blinked a few times, looking around at the large empty warehouse. Seth stood to his left, his partner wearing a suit that didn't fit his personality at all.
"You're at one of my warehouses." Seth opened his arms and spun around. "You like?"
"What the fuck is going on, Seth?"
"I'm glad you asked. I do plan on making this short and sweet because I have a bitch to kill and the competition to stomp out, but things couldn't be playing out more beautifully."
Jon listened to the man before him as he glanced around the room, trying to discern how an escape might be possible. The shock that sat heavy on him due to
Seth being involved in something as nefarious as the situation seemed, would have to take a back seat.
"I'm all ears. Let's hear it." Jon glanced back at him, his face expressionless.
"Where to start." Seth tapped his fingertips together in front of his chest, his smile wide and screaming of mental illness. "I know. Let's start with your baby brother. What a sick little fuck."
Jon ground his teeth together, heat rushing up his chest and flooding him with rage.
"Did you know that he was in love with your girl? I'm sure they fucked. And then you fuck her too... you knew didn't you? Wanted to tap something your little brother had tapped, I suppose? Bring you closer to him in some morbid dicked up sense?"
"Not sure what you're talking about, but I know a good doctor that could help you move past whatever's going on inside of you, partner." Jon tried to reach him.
"Kate's apartment is bugged. I drank a whole bottle of red wine last night, listening to you try to turn the trashy bitch into a woman." Seth laughed, dropping his hands and slapping them against his thighs. "Was it good? I plan on trying her on for size once we're done here. Not in the loving manner that you sought to achieve. I'm going to tie her up and spend hours desecrating her. She needs to know her place."
"You better not fucking touch her, you sick fuck." Jon lifted up, struggling against his binding.
"Oh. Hit a nerve. I like it." Seth rolled his shoulders, reaching up and removing the overly priced blue jacket he wore. "So, I found your brother and decided to bring him in to my operation, that part was honestly just the hand of God. I had no idea he was your little brother and it really was irrelevant until this new mother fucker moved into town and decided that he wanted my territory."
"You're the drug lord we've been after all these years?"
"Not all these years. Billy Turner had this fine organization before me, but once I decided to join the police force, well... it was easy to get help in taking him out." Seth shrugged. "I was his right hand. Dumb old bastard never saw it coming."
"Marcus works for you?"
"He does. He's my right hand." Seth smiled and moved to pull a chair in front of Jon. "He hired Adam for me, and I have to wonder if he knew what he was doing. Smart fucker, that Marcus. Someone to watch out for, for sure. Too bad your girl opens her legs to him nightly."
"Shut the fuck up, Seth. I'm going to get loose and when I do, I swear to God I'm going to strangle you with my bare hands."
"Does she know?"
"What?"
"Does Kate know that you've killed someone before? Does she know that your past isn't exactly as clean as you made it out to be?"
"How do you know about that?"
"I know about everything because it's my job to know this city and all the tiny little people in it."
"What does this shit have to do with you kidnapping me?"
"When Victor Parence showed up a few weeks ago I knew I needed help... and quickly. He's from Russia and they're tough mother fuckers over there. I hear they eat glass for breakfast and shit." Seth shrugged as if they were carrying on a casual conversation. "Anyway, I needed to take him out, but that would require diverting him to believe me to be someone else."
"You made him think that someone else is the original drug lord in this area?"
"Yes, Jon. Keep up please." Seth smirked. "He thinks it’s Kate."
"What? Why?"
"See, I paid Adam a lot of money to become a rat for me. The kid was perfect at making friends, so sweet and innocent and yet... not. He went to work for Victor too, but he fucked up. He smoked up the first shipment Victor gave him, the meth from overseas seriously a thing of pure beauty. I'm not saying he wasn't forced to smoke the shit until he was sick over it. But from their point of view, the boy fucked up and they came after him." Seth shrugged. "That's just how this shit works."
Jon sat in stunned silence, his partner a monster, one that rode beside him in the car for the last two years. What kind of detective was he, that he never suspected anything?
"Adam wasn't looking for Kate that night at the bar." Seth laughed loudly. "Fuck, I'm sure he almost shit himself when she opened the door. He was looking for Marcus, his mentor. When Kate walked out and held him as he died, my plan locked into place perfectly."
"Your brother gave the Russians a perfect view of her being either his lover or his boss. If I could simply pin on her the ownership of my ring... they would come after her and one or two things would happen. Marcus would kill them all for hurting his girl, because you know she really belongs to him, or they would kill her and Marcus."
"How does them killing Marcus and Kate help you at all?"
"It didn't until I got you assigned to your brother's case. I knew Kate was your type and that damsel in distress with big tits and dark features would send you over the edge. They kill her and you wouldn't stop until you found them." He laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. "So fucking brilliant."
"But I'm sitting here. This makes no sense."
"Kate killed Paul today. The right hand of Victor's empire and there is no one able to step up and protect the boss for the next few days... I took you so that Kate and Marcus would go after Victor. She's going to find you missing. Your bike's out front. Your phone right in front of her door. If she's dense and misses that, I'll be sending her a text tonight from you with lots of sorries and a lovely save me."
"You're sending Kate and Marcus to a blood bath." Sickness washed over Jon in waves.
"Exactly."
"I thought Marcus was your right hand."
"He was and I'm sad to lose him, but sometimes greatness requires sacrifice."
"You're sick. I cannot believe I didn't see this shit."
"Not sick, just very focused on my empire. I'm a bit surprised you didn't see it too."
"Where is Adam's body, Seth?"
"Why would I take it?"
"Why wouldn't you? You've not done anything I would have expected thus far. Did you take it?"
"I did. The drug inside of him is hard to produce, but we're harvesting his organs. A few of the scientists who work for me here can gather all they need in order to help me recreate it."
"You son of a bitch."
"He doesn't feel anything, Jon. He's dead, remember?"
Jon let his head drop as bile rose in his throat. Kate was on her way to her death, Marcus beside her and Adam was gone, his body being hacked up by someone Jon would have called friend without question.
"It's time for you to die. I have nothing else to say to you and I have some aggression I need to get rid of." He stood up and walked to a large stack of boxes, pulling a baseball bat from behind one of them.
"You're going to beat me to death?"
"Pretty old school, right?"
"You should untie me and earn the right to kill me. It's a pussy move to take my life without any effort on my part. You're scared though. I get it. I beat you over and over in our training class. Remember that?"
Seth tapped the bat on his palm and shook his head. "I do. I've hated your ass ever since."
"I can see why. Untie me."
"Nawww... I like pussy moves. I hope they kill Marcus today and just fuck Kate up a little. I heard her and Marcus fucking the night before you got a hold of her. Seems like she's not let anyone give it to her in the ass yet. I'm thinking I'll be the first." He laughed and moved toward Jon, his eyes filled with madness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kate
"I think not." Kate moved out from the open door at the far end of the large warehouse, Marcus standing right beside her, fuming.
Seth turned and smiled. "Oh good... You're here. Marcus, tell them how we planned this so well."
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, you sick bitch."
Kate moved away from Marcus, unsure of anything in the moment. She knew the truth of their past and felt rightness in his promises, but after understanding who Seth was and all that Marcus had done to play a hand in the various piec
es of the puzzle, nothing seemed right.
"Kate. Get the fuck out of here." Jon looked up and yelled loudly in her direction.
"No. I want her here. She can watch you die." Seth turned to Marcus. "Grab her and let her watch."
Kate moved, turning toward Marcus and lifting her gun. "Don't you come near me."
"Kate... seriously?"
"I don't think he's involved, baby," Jon yelled again as he grunted loudly.
Kate moved toward Jon and Seth, her gun still pointing toward Marcus as she tried to figure things out. They hadn't spoken much in the car on the way over, both of them a bundle of nerves. Nothing was as it should be lately, so why would this be any different.
"I don't have time for this shit." Seth pulled out his gun and turned it on Kate, a single explosion resounding in the large space around them.
Jon came up out of his chair as Kate moved toward him, another dark figure walking out of the shady part of the warehouse, holding the smoking gun. Seth fell to the ground in front of Jon, his bat clanging on the concrete floor.
"Get me out of these." Jon looked up at her as she ran toward him, his words pouring from his lips. "I'm so sorry baby. Seth had me fucked up and turned around thinking that you hired Adam, you killed him and you took his body from the morgue this morning."
Kate worked fast, looking around Jon as Victor moved toward him. Marcus moved in front of them, his voice deep and commanding.
"Slow your roll, old man. Don't come any closer."
"I have to say, I was almost fooled by this clown you worked for. He has been busy twisting reality, has he not?" Victor smiled and moved to his left a little, kneeling down to make himself eye level with Kate.
She shivered, fear rushing through her. "What do you want?"
"What we all want, little girl. I want to rule the world and I want the perfect woman beside me when I do it."
"Well, you're under arrest," Jon barked out as he stood, Kate finally getting the ropes off of him.
She stood in time to see Marcus put a hand on Jon’s chest as and turn to press the cop with a look. Kate moved out to stand beside Marcus, her need to run to Jon stifled for a minute.