He dropped his chin on the top of her head. “Go upstairs, Em. I’ll handle it.”
She hugged him.
“I can’t lose him, Chris. I just can’t do it.”
He was well aware. Setting her free, he lifted her chin. “Sometimes, a guy needs men to bitch to about shit. I’ll go handle it. Don’t worry.”
That was easier said than done.
When she headed out, she turned. “Thanks, Chris. I appreciate it.”
He grinned. “That’s what I’m here for, and you know it.”
When she was gone, Chris grabbed a couple bottles of water before heading down to see what was eating the man. If he was choosing running over Emma, it had to be big, and that scared him.
To death.
When he got down to the gym, he wasn’t the only one there. Dimitri was already leaning against the wall being ignored. When Chris walked in, the other man shrugged, signaling that it was a hopeless case.
“Croft.”
He was ignored.
“Yo! Grey!”
The man kept running.
Finally, Chris had enough. He walked behind the man and yanked the cord out of the outlet. The treadmill stopped.
He turned. “What do you want? Jesus! Can’t a man exercise in his own damn house when he wants?”
Chris looked at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning.
“You have a sexy wife in bed, and you want to be here, sweating alone? You’re insane. That’s why we’re here.”
Chris handed him a bottle of water.
“Why are you here?”
“I just ran into Emma in the kitchen. She looked like she was about to cry.”
He shrugged. “Mind your own business. She’s my problem, not yours.”
“Yeah, not only are you being a dick, but you’re wrong. If we’re your family, then it’s our problem too.”
Greyson went to move past him.
Only, Dimitri was right there.
“What? Are you two going to beat it out of me?” he asked. “Are you going to intimidate me? Well, screw you. I don’t care. I don’t anymore. I’m too far gone!”
That said a lot.
They couldn’t let him leave until he got to the bottom of it. This wasn’t like Greyson. It had to be bad.
Croft headed for the door, only to have both men block his way. Chris knew this wasn’t normal. Greyson treated Emma like gold, and now…
Yeah, he was way off.
“Let me through, or you can get out of my house and never come back.”
Neither man budged.
Greyson lunged for them.
Only, he was no match for the two of them. Yes, he might have been sweaty and slippery, but Dimitri came armed.
As soon as they got him flat on the floor, Chris sitting on him, he was cuffed. Then they hauled him up and dropped him against the wall.
Enough was enough.
“You once came to my place and punched me in the face for hurting her. Are you ready for me to do the same, since that’s how you like to play?” Chris asked.
He was defeated.
Greyson dropped his face to his knees. “I did something horrible tonight.”
Neither man moved.
“As in you killed someone?” Dimitri asked.
“Cheated on Emma?” Chris asked, sitting on the floor beside him.
“You two must really think lowly of me to throw those two things out. Besides, you were with me all night. How could I do either of those?”
He had a point.
“Then what?” Chris asked.
Greyson weighed his options.
“I know he’s a sinner. Are you with him or a saint?” Croft asked, meaning his job as a cop.
Dimitri laughed. “Gee. I feel privileged. I get to be the fun one in the group.”
“I’m not on duty, Grey. You know that. If it involves Emma, we both know where I fall. I’ve proven that in the past. I don’t have to be a sinner to be your friend.”
Greyson took the chance.
“Tonight, Commissioner Raye needed to talk.”
They recalled.
“You’re not going to like this.”
Chris could tell. If Greyson was this stirred up, that meant something bad had gone down.
“Spill it.”
“He told me that the media is pressuring him to split you and Emma up. He was going to move one of you out of Homicide.”
“Why that son of a bitch!” Ford stated. “I’ll go down to that office and tell him he can kiss my ass.”
Yeah, it wouldn’t be that easy.
“That’s not the bad part. It gets worse.”
Chris wasn’t sure how that could happen. This was already pretty damn bad.
“What is?”
“He told me that for a mere one million, she could stay and so could you.”
Both men stared at him.
One was shocked.
One wasn’t.
“Jesus!” Ford blurted. “I’ll report him.”
“You can’t. I offered to pay it. I told him he could pick up the money.”
Chris punched him in the face.
Hard.
“Christ! What the hell? I’m handcuffed!” Greyson said, feeling his teeth with his tongue to make sure they were still there. Now he knew how it felt.
Payback was a bitch.
“You offered to pay a blackmailer! If that gets out, your job is tanked! What the hell were you thinking? You went from perceived to being dirty, back to clean, and now back to dirty!”
He was well aware.
“Can you take these handcuffs off, Dimitri? I promise not to kill Chris for punching me. I deserved that.”
“You are the head of the FBI!” Chris said, continuing.
“I had to do it.”
“Why?”
“When we came here, I was going to go undercover as the crookedest man on the planet. I played with Randall, and Emma went along with it. Her badge was tarnished, cops spit at her, refused to work with her, and all because of me. She suffered, came home at night, cried in private, and went back the next day to face it all again.”
“I recall. I was one of them until I found out the truth.” It hurt that he’d thought that about her. He didn’t know her well enough, but now he did.
“I owe her this. I have to do it because I put her through hell, and she doesn’t deserve any more. I’m going to lose her. There’s only so much a woman can take. I’m afraid this might be it.”
He shook his head. “If you want to owe her, buy an island.”
“We have one.”
“A yacht.”
“We have that too.”
“Jesus! Stop! You’re giving me a headache!”
Yeah, he was well aware. He had that same one, and it was all because of Vegas.
“When do you have to pay?” Dimitri asked.
“Monday.”
“That doesn’t give me much time.”
Chris stared at him. “What the hell are you going to do?”
“Kill him.”
Chris closed his eyes. “I can’t be privy to this.”
He laughed as he was uncuffing Greyson. “You asked. You, yourself, said you weren’t here as a cop. So, pretend you’re not some suit with a stick up his ass.”
Chris growled.
“If you punch me, I punch back.”
Greyson rubbed his wrists. “I can’t let her lose her job. She hated the death and murder, I talked her back into it, and now some commissioner is going to desk her, or you?”
Chris got it.
“Maybe we can figure something out.”
He shrugged.
“Why are you mad at Emma?” Dimitri asked. “She isn’t to blame.”
“Exactly. I’m mad at me. I came to this damn city to make a difference. I wanted to help people. The only thing I’ve done is hurt my wife, bury my career, and made a few bucks.”
“Billions are not a few, Croft,” Chris said, “and for t
he record, you have helped people.”
“Yeah, and now I’ve become what I promised not to be. Director Greene was fired because of bribes. I didn't take one, but I promised to pay one for my wife to stay a cop.”
Chris knew this was bad.
If the media got wind of this, they’d never spin it. There was no way people would believe he wasn’t dirty. The past few weeks would fall away.
It would mean nothing.
“I say we take him and hide his body.”
“Stop!” Chris demanded. “You’re not shooting anyone and dumping them in the desert.”
“I don’t shoot. I use a knife. Jugular one shot. Every killer has his preferred way. I like to make sure I don’t miss.”
Greyson glanced over. “Are you drunk? You are sharing too much tonight.”
He laughed. “Oddly, I trust you two. I’m apparently losing it.”
“Well, what do we do?” Chris asked. “We can hug, kiss, and swap friendship bracelets later. This is a serious issue, and it involves me too.”
“I don’t know,” Greyson said. “For the first time, I’m at a loss. I just became someone I’m not proud of tonight. How do I tell my wife what I’ve done?”
They didn't know.
This was a tough situation—all around.
“I never thought I’d be dirty. Never in a million years did I think that I’d have to question my integrity, but here we are, and I’m there.”
Chris patted him on the back.
“I offered to pay a fucking bribe to the commissioner of police. If this gets back to my bosses, or the media, I’m done. All of this, the blood, sweat, tears. It was for nothing.”
They understood.
There was only one thing to do.
They had to make sure it didn’t come to that.
Chapter Fifteen
Sunday Morning
When he woke, she was wrapped around him. Katerina’s body was so close to his, they were almost one. They had rose petals stuck all over them, and they were even in her hair.
She was a mess, and he’d never seen anything more gorgeous in his life.
“Kat, wake up,” he said, nudging her.
Immediately, her aqua eyes popped open.
Then she started laughing.
“Uh, you can give a guy a complex when you laugh the morning after.”
She rolled, sitting across his hips.
That was probably not the best of ideas, since it was morning and he was staring up at a naked woman.
“You have rose petals stuck to your face,” she said, pulling them off.
Her fingers were so gentle.
It made him want to sigh in happiness.
So, this was what contentment felt like when you found that missing piece. The last few months, while he was dating and married to Brynn, it had been an uphill battle.
He now saw that they weren’t right for each other. Curtis hoped that she’d found this too in her last few moments with the detective she slept with.
She deserved it.
“I loved last night,” Kat said, leaning down to kiss him.
At the words, Curtis’s heart skipped.
He wanted her to say the ‘L’ word first, so he could tell her how happy he was.
“It was great.”
He rested back on the bed, bracing his arms behind his head. While he silently watched her, she trailed her fingers across his chest and abs.
“Did you mean what you told that reporter?” she asked out of the blue.
“Which part?”
“About me being your girlfriend.”
“Yes.”
He wanted to say he didn't sleep around and have one night stands, but he had in the past. After meeting her, that was never happening again.
“Okay.”
He stopped her as she tried to get off his body. “Okay? That’s it?” Curtis asked, laughing.
“What am I supposed to say?”
He wasn’t sure.
“Uh, I’m crazy about you, Curtis? You rocked my world?” he teased.
Only, he wasn’t teasing.
He wanted her to feel something.
Anything.
“We should shower,” she said, glancing at the time. “I have to follow Emma today as she’s doing that public/media event.
“Oh, okay.”
She headed toward the bathroom leaving him in bed. It was like a switch had been flipped. Kat was distancing herself. Curtis could feel it, and he was a pro at pushing women away.
He heard the shower kick on.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked, staring at the ceiling. Here, he had thought it had been a really memorable night.
Instead…nothing.
Curtis flicked the rose petals off his arms and grabbed his clothes. There had to be something seriously wrong with him.
Here was the proof.
“Kat, I’ll shower at home,” he said, tossing her dress on the bed.
He didn’t get a reply.
That hurt more than anything. It was his last relationship all over again.
History was repeating itself, and he’d screwed it up.
Again.
Inside the bathroom, she was so glad that he didn't come in to join her. Truth be told, Kat was falling apart.
Last night had been amazing.
Then this morning, she remembered something her brother had said.
‘Protect yourself.’
Yeah, they didn't. In the midst of the fun, and the newness of the relationship, she’d forgotten to protect them. Some security guard she was.
Now, Katerina was scared out of her mind.
Later, she’d talk to Emma.
Hopefully, she’d know what to do. Kat didn't have a clue about these kinds of things, and here she just had sex not once.
Not twice.
But three times in one night, risking them.
Talk about Russian Roulette.
Granted, she wasn’t worried about picking up some disease. Instead, Kat was worried about something more frightening.
She was afraid of being pregnant and having to raise a baby alone.
Curtis was going to be mad when he found out she wasn’t on anything.
Then there was Dimitri.
And that was where the alone part came into play. As soon as Dimitri found out, there was only one outcome.
Curtis was dead.
And then so was she.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
Terrace Glen
When she got up, it was later than she intended. Most of the night, Emma tossed and turned, worried about her husband. At some point, he came to bed, but he slept as far from her as possible.
That couldn’t be a good sign, could it?
Now it was a new day, and instead of going out to find proof that Dominic Marianna was a criminal, she was getting dressed to play friendly cop to the hordes of people who were just coming out to gawk at her.
Great.
Already, this day was shitty.
When she rolled over to kiss her husband good morning, he was already gone.
His side of the bed was cold and empty.
Yeah, this was a very bad sign.
In his place, she found a note.
‘Dimitri and I headed to the next site. I want to keep Dominic guessing, so we’re going to dig up the next body. Have a good day today. Katerina is going to be in the crowd of people shaking your hand.’
She flipped it over in her hand.
That was it?
Where was the ‘love always, Greyson’, or the ‘kisses to the wife I misses’?
Could he be any colder?
This was proof that he was losing it.
Yeah, make that she was losing him.
As she reread the note, there was a knock on her door. When she opened it, Chris stood there, fixing his tie.
“Hey, Em, are you ready?”
Then he noticed she looked like she was about to cry. Apparently, Greyson didn’t
talk to her.
Shit!
“Hey! No! Not today! I need you smiling and chipper. You were supposed to be the one who got me through this shit fest.”
She handed him the note.
Chris read it over.
“I talked to him last night.”
“And?”
Yeah, this was a slippery slide. There was bro-code, and he couldn’t break it.
“He’s upset about the Marianna situation. It’s not you. You know Greyson. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
She thought about it.
“Are you sure? You wouldn’t lie to me, right?”
He feigned shock. “Ouch, Emma!”
She laughed. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Chris. I’m just not good when he’s off balance. We’re like yin and yang. When he’s gone over, I fall too.”
Yeah, he could see that.
He hoped a woman never screwed him up like that ever.
“He’s twisted up over that issue last night. Give him time.”
Oh, he was so going to Hell on this one. She was looking to him for support, but his hands were tied.
Then again, technically, he wasn’t really lying.
Right?
He was angry over last night—but not at the part she was thinking.
“Want to get dressed so we can go?” he asked.
“Do I have to wear my dress blues, or can I wear jeans and a sweater?”
He stared at her. “Emma, the commissioner…”
Then he stopped.
Fuck him.
The man was as crooked as Booker.
“Wear jeans. Maybe toss on a blazer. We can’t look like we’re going to a football game.”
“Want to? We can bail and catch the NFL at the stadium.”
He pointed at her. “Stop trying to bribe me.”
Yeah, there was enough of that going around.
“I’ll see you downstairs in ten. Got it?” he said, slipping into his blues.
“Hey, Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for having my back. You’re not only a good friend, but you’re a pretty awesome brother. Your siblings don’t know what they’re missing. I’m lucky to have found you.”
Justice is Dead (Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 7) Page 36