True Justice

by Morgan Kelley

  “Did Elizabeth cause mayhem?”

  He laughed.

  Oh, he could say that.

  “Yep.”

  “Well, I’ll do what I can. It’s later here, so Jameson may still be in his office. He owes me one from a case years ago. I’ll call it in.”

  “Thank you, Chris. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he stated. “Keep her safe. I need her to come home.”

  He totally got that.

  “I’ll check-in later. Text me when you get it handled and obtain what she needs.”

  “Will do.”

  “How is the tribe?” Ethan asked. He was thinking about his brother, their kids, and the family at home in DC.

  “They’re good. We found Callen’s son making out with my daughter.”

  Blackhawk laughed.

  “Well, he is his father’s child,” Ethan admitted.

  Chris agreed.

  “Callen wasn’t nearly as amused when EJ said they were loping. We think he meant eloping.”

  “Ah, young love.”

  Chris laughed.

  “Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing to see. Other than that one thing, all is good.”

  “Kiss the kids for me, Chris.”

  “I will.”

  Ethan disconnected the call and took the bourbon Greyson was holding.

  “Are we invited to the wedding?” Greyson teased from where he stood beside him.

  “I’m hoping they don’t elope, but I get it. When you know, you know. EJ is madly in love with Chris’s daughter. This isn’t the first time he’s stated he’s marrying her. He even punched his brother in the face when he caught CJ blowing her a kiss.”

  Greyson laughed.

  “How old are they?”

  “EJ is five and Bethe is less than four. She and Charlie are the same age give or take a few months.”

  He found that amusing.

  “At that age, I was all about cars and guns,” Greyson admitted. He was thinking about his own child. He was wondering what he’d be like.

  “Me too. Kids will be kids,” he said, sipping his bourbon as they watched the city.

  Greyson knew how much he owed him.

  “Thank you for coming.”

  “You could have called, Grey. I would have sent someone sooner.”

  “I didn’t know what to do,” Greyson said, pulling a cigar from his pocket for each of them.

  “It’s bad here,” Ethan stated.

  Oh, he was aware.

  “The director of the FBI is helping a crooked police commissioner, and now we find out there was an unsanctioned mole in the sex trafficking. This is a nightmare. I’m going to be here for weeks, and then back again.”

  Greyson closed the sliding patio door so he wouldn’t get smoke in the penthouse.

  “I was struggling with it when I was director, but they feared me. Now…Lee was a pussy.”

  Yeah, he was aware.

  That was part of the problem.

  Before he could agree, his phone beeped. Ethan pulled it out and read the text message.

  ‘You’ll have the emails in the hour. Jameson has four Jane Does, and they were all tortured. This looks like your creep. Be safe, and if you need me, I’ll come. I can work out of the Vegas office. Love you.’

  He showed Greyson.

  “Well, you and your ME are cozy.”

  He laughed.

  “Yeah, you could say that.” Ethan didn’t go into details since it was already all over the tabloids. Just yesterday, he’d read that he and Chris were seen making out at a DC function.

  Blackhawk hadn’t even gone to that function, and Chris wasn’t there either. The rumor mill was in full swing.

  This was EXACTLY why they were protecting him. It was a hot freaking mess.

  “I already know what my wife is going to want to do tomorrow,” Ethan stated.

  “What?”

  “She’s going to head to Lee’s house to shake the stupid out of him,” he said, clipping his cigar and lighting it with Greyson’s silver lighter.

  It was monogrammed with a D and a G. That he had it said it all. His intel had told him there was trouble in paradise when it came to the male Gideon.

  “He bailed, huh?”

  Greyson leaned back.

  “I know why he did it,” Greyson stated. “I just didn’t think it would impact me this much. Yeah, he protected me, but he was…is my best friend.”

  Ethan knew that if Elizabeth was going to be able to work on this, she was going to have to have someone who was calm, ready, and thinking.

  Greyson was stirred up.

  “Sometimes, people come into, and then leave, your life for a reason.”

  “He was like my brother. Did you ever serve in the military?” he asked.

  “No. I went right into the FBI after college. I knew if I went in, I likely wouldn’t get my FBI goal. I thought about it. I was mad enough at the world.”

  “Dimitri is mad at the world. He’s mad about his past, he’s mad about his sister, and he’s furious with his blood.”

  “Then you might not want to hear this.”

  “What?”

  “There are more Gideons out there. I guess that would be Marchenko, not Gideon, since that wasn’t his real name.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have the file.”

  “And?”

  “His father has two more daughters—that we know of right now. There could be more.”

  “Wow.”

  “When we saw him helping you, we did our research, and we did it on Viktor. His father knocked up two more women. He saved Katerina when he was nineteen. He’s young.”

  Greyson lifted a brow.

  “He told me he’s thirty-six.”

  He shook his head.

  “Nope. He turns thirty-two in a couple of days. I have his real birth certificate. What he uses is one he’s had to keep people off his trail. For someone so young, he’s led a wild life.”

  He pulled out his phone and pulled up a file. On it was a copy of a birth certificate. “We have the only copy. We had the rest burned. He saved Katerina over a decade ago, and he saved Natasha a couple years after that.”

  “Can you get me that file?”

  “To help or harm?”

  “I think he’d want to know he had more sisters. Where are they?” he asked.

  “One is in Romania. She was sold off to a gypsy caravan. We have her tracked. The other one is stateside. She’s older. She’s twenty-three. She was adopted by an American family—a doctor.”

  This was surprising, but not surprising. Dimitri always joked around about there being more offspring from his sperm donor.

  “He’ll want that information when he heals. He’ll want them back. He’s going to need them back.”

  “He deserted you. Why do you care?” Ethan asked.

  “He’s my family. It comes first. You can leave, and you can always come home. That’s our policy here.”

  Yeah, theirs too.

  Family mattered.

  “I can get the little girl sent here—the one in Romania. She was sold once, so we can get her sold again. I can get her here and through customs.”

  He weighed his options.

  “Does she have a good life?” he asked.

  “Ehhh, she lives in a caravan and drives around grifting people. She’s headed down a bad road. She’s a child.”

  He showed him the picture.

  She had Natasha’s red hair and the signature Gideon aqua eyes. She was dirty, bedraggled, and a mess.

  Yeah, he knew what had to be done.

  “Can you make her disappear without anyone knowing? I don’t want them to find her.”

  “What if he doesn’t want her?”

  “I’ll raise her. Emma will raise her. He’s still ours, even if we aren’t his. We made our choice, and he’s made his. I’ll give her a life she deserves and a family.”

  Blackhawk patted him on the arm.

 
“I’ll handle it, my friend.”

  “Thank you, Ethan. I know what you’re risking for me, and I know that it can cost you everything.”

  “Greyson, you’re the good guy. I’ll go to bat for you any day. Gabe knows why I’m here, and he told me to keep it quiet. I know she may not like this, but you shouldn’t take Emma out to investigate.”

  He laughed.

  And laughed.

  “Oh, that will go over well. Here, shoot me now,” he said, handing him his gun.

  Oh, Blackhawk was aware.

  He was in that same damn boat.

  “Do you have anyone who can go out with you?” he asked. “You’ll need a partner in the field. Elizabeth can’t ride shotgun, and neither can I.”

  “I won’t take Dante. He’s got to run this circus. We are making money, and that’s keeping everyone afloat. Plus, he just got married and back from his honeymoon. I don’t want him to get hurt.”

  He understood.

  Ethan worried about Callen all the time.

  “There’s Curtis, but he’s more a tech guy. He can work it like no one’s business, but he’s my son. If he gets hurt, I won’t forgive myself. He just had a baby. He’s a father now. His life has changed.”

  Blackhawk was aware.

  It did change you.

  “Anyone else?”

  He thought about it.

  “We have one ex-cop—Riley Henderson. He’s on administrative leave until his partner’s murder is put to bed. We all know it was Thomas Christ, but Commissioner Raye is keeping it open to keep Riley sidelined. If he’s cleared, he’s in-house and nosing around.”

  He understood.

  “Maybe tomorrow, first thing, you should visit him. You need a second pair of eyes, and, honestly, Emma out in the open…”

  He got it.

  “We have a function on Thursday.”

  “What do you have?”

  “The Commissioner’s Gala. We always go, but I was thinking about bailing.”

  “Why?”

  “I won’t have anyone to watch my back.”

  “What’s his number?” Ethan asked as the plan began formulating in his head.

  Greyson pulled out his phone and showed him. Ethan dialed the number, sat back, and smoked his cigar.

  “Yes?” came the voice.

  “Commissioner Raye? It’s Deputy Director Blackhawk, I called to talk to you about something.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “I want an invite to your gala that’s coming up. My wife and I are in town, and we would like to step out. It’s been brought to my attention that it’s the place to be.”

  He seemed to calm down.

  “I can get you official invites, Deputy Director. You can be at my personal table.”

  “Actually, I’m watching Greyson Croft. He’s the real reason I’m going. Get me at his table. I want to keep my eye on him.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Have them sent to the FBI building,” he stated. “I’ll be there all day tomorrow.”

  The man sounded a little too damn happy.

  “I look forward to it. We can have a drink.”

  Yeah, no.

  Ethan would rather eat his own shoe than be seen talking to the man. He was a snake.

  He hung up.

  Greyson laughed.

  “Well, I guess I’m going to that gala. We’ve been laying low for a while, so Emma will be glad to get out.”

  Ethan patted him on the back.

  “Now I’ll have your back at the gala, and security will have both of ours, so we’ll be good.”

  Greyson held out his hand.

  “Thank you, Ethan.”

  He shook it.

  “Please tell me your wife can cook. I’m starving.”

  He laughed.

  “She can, and well.”

  He grabbed his drink from the ledge.

  “Then let’s go eat, and tomorrow, you head out to see a cop. Take Gamble. He’s a good guy.”

  “Uh, about that. Your security doesn’t like him.”

  Ethan smiled.

  “It’s not their job to like him. They don’t know everything. We all have secrets.”

  Greyson understood that.

  He had them too.

  Chapter Four

  Across Vegas

  Tuesday

  Night

  H e had every intent to take her out to dinner and then a nice walk through the strip, but that was NOT what had gone down—not in the least. His woman, Delilah Fleur, had a whole other set of plans in mind, and they involved sex in pretty much every room in his house—not that he was complaining.

  Only, they were mid-fornication, and Riley Henderson was so crazy about her that he would have given her his heart if she asked. Delilah was one hell of a woman.

  As he cleared the kitchen counter, he tossed her onto it and then climbed up to join her. He would never look at that island the same again.

  As he spread her legs, dove in, and did the deed, her nails were buried in his shoulders.

  “Jesus Christ!” he muttered, screwing Delilah again and again until he wanted to climb into her body so that they could be one.

  “Come on, Riley. Give it to me,” she begged, wrapping her hand around that tie circling his neck.

  His shirt was gone.

  His pants were gone, and she was nearly buck naked in his kitchen with her hair tangled up in his butter dish.

  Holy fuck!

  She was going to be the death of him.

  As he pounded himself into her, she wrapped those long sultry legs around his hips and locked him in place.

  She was wearing garters, some crotchless lace panties, and lipstick in wicked red.

  He’d never forget it.

  Why?

  It was all over his neck, his dick, and what was left of his shirt.

  She was a wild woman.

  Over the last few weeks, they’d gotten closer, hotter, and wilder. She’d gotten out of work, he picked her up, and the molestation started.

  The blowjob in the front seat of his truck got him heated up, and the rest was history.

  What she could do to a dick was likely illegal in most states, and for that he was grateful.

  “Cum in me,” she begged.

  He was struggling to do just that. It was his fourth round, and he was pretty sure he had nothing left. The siren had drained him dry.

  When she pulled him down and whispered so many foul things in his ear, he couldn’t help it.

  Somehow, he found the will to explode, and he came again—like a sweaty teenage boy in heat.

  God!

  This was exactly what every man wanted in life. He had some sexy pin-up girl beneath him on his kitchen island. His dick was buried to his balls, and her tits were bouncing.

  Life.

  Was.

  Good.

  Oh, and they were going to be sore in the morning.

  As his body shook, emptying into her, she ran her fingers down his chest.

  Delilah had never been happier in her life.

  Riley was one of the last good guys left, and likely the only one in the city.

  She was a lucky girl.

  As he lay on her, still buried in her, she ran her fingers up and down his back. She was still wrapped around him.

  “Please tell me you’re tired,” he muttered. “I’ve got nothing left. In fact, I feel dehydrated. You’ve been practicing black magic again.”

  She laughed when he lifted his head.

  God!

  She loved this man.

  “Not that I want you to stop. Keep doing it—just not tonight. I may die.”

  “I think I’m good for now,” she said. “I just missed you today. I went to the funeral, and then back to work, I was thinking about you.”

  “I couldn’t go,” he stated. “Greyson told me to stay away. He didn’t want the police riding my ass.”

  She went with him when he sat up. Delilah was still wrapped arou
nd his body, and he was still in her.

  This was her heaven.

  “You’ll get your job back,” she stated.

  Riley didn’t lie.

  He didn’t bullshit.

  He went with the truth as he set her free.

  “It’s not looking good, Delilah.”

  She sat on the edge of his island as he picked up the rest of their clothes.

  “Raye has it in for me. He’s gunning for me. He knows that I can only get paid on leave for so long. At some point, I’m going to have to find a job. My benefits run out.”

  “Riley, I can…”

  He stopped her.

  “Don’t, Delilah. Please.”

  She closed her mouth.

  She could easily support him.

  She made a ton of money defending people in Vegas. Only, she knew her old-fashioned boyfriend would shit a ton of bricks. He’d never let her do it.

  “It’ll work out.”

  That’s all she could say.

  “Want to go out to dinner?” he asked, as she wiped some of her lipstick off his face, and he did the same to her.

  She laughed.

  “Uh, we look like we were mauled by bears.”

  Yes, yes, they did.

  “In my defense, counselor, you started this when I picked you up. I was all tidy and ready to take you out. I didn’t foresee a blowjob the second you got in the car.”

  “I couldn’t help it. I really missed you.”

  He grinned.

  That made him feel so much better about his life. Yes, he was unemployed, but he was at least in a good relationship. That was his silver lining.

  “I missed you, too, baby.”

  She kissed him, and he pulled away the second the heat went up in the mating of mouths. His body stirred as she touched him.

  “You’re not human. You have to be some voracious robot,” he said when she tried to get him all horny again. “A witch. You’re definitely a witch.”

  She hopped off the counter and chased him around like two kids at a playground.

  They must be one hell of a sight.

  “Help! I’m trapped with a nymphomaniac,” he teased, as he ran right past her and up the stairs. She followed, catching him in his bedroom. They tumbled onto the bed and cuddled.

  “Delilah?”