‘Captain Christopher Ford--seventeen year veteran of the LVPD, and head of the Homicide division, has NOT survived the siege. He was called DOA at the hospital.’
Dominic began laughing.
The next move was up to the Crofts, and he didn't think they’d have a way to come back from this.
But, if they did, he still had a few aces up his sleeve. This was far from over.
First, there was Sky Villa, the most secure condominium in the city.
Then, there was the actual Las Vegas Police Department, with all those cops milling about.
Next…
He was taking it to their home.
Before they knew it, Dominic was going to have access to Terrace Glen, and Greyson Croft.
The rat would have nowhere to hide by the time this was over. Oh, he threatened him, but there was going to be a twist to this plot.
They’d never see it coming.
Greyson Croft was a dead man.
It was only a matter of time.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
Valley Hospital
Emergency Room
Sunday Night
They were all there.
Why wouldn’t they be?
After all, he was part of their family. As Emma sat there, watching BNN report Chris’s death, she wanted to be sick.
She wanted to be angry.
Truth be told, she wanted to walk over to the television and rip it from the wall.
They had no right to say his name. They had no right to talk about Chris Ford.
He was better than all of them.
He was an honorable cop who deserved to be recognized as such.
When this was all over, Emma wasn’t sure if she could do this day to day. How was she supposed to do her job when the media made it a million times more difficult?
They reveled in the pain.
They were joyous when the law failed.
It was as if they were having fun with the fact that people had died. They were the piranhas that feasted on the souls of those who refused to give up.
She hated them.
Each.
And.
Every.
One.
Of.
Them.
As she sat there, trying not to be sick, she thought about Chris’s family, and how they must feel. To see that news, despite knowing the truth had to be hard.
Yes, Chris was dead.
To the world.
In truth, he wasn’t really gone. They were still struggling to save him, but Greyson and Dimitri wanted to buy him time.
Dominic came after them, and he needed to be kept safe as he lay in a hospital bed.
If he pulled through surgery, he was going to need to be protected.
If Dominic thought he was dead…
They wouldn’t have to worry about another attack. Yeah, Chris had to die for a little while so he could make a miraculous recover once Dominic was dead.
Hopefully, when they took down Marianna, he’d be welcomed back into the world of the living.
God knew he had a long road ahead of him.
“Emma, honey?” Greyson asked. “What can I get for you?”
She turned.
“I want Natasha in his room until he goes home. He’s going to have twenty-four-seven bodyguards. When the truth comes out, that dick will come at him again.”
“And you, Emma?” Greyson asked, finally able to breathe. The last few hours had been hell.
He had been in hell.
What he needed now was to take her home.
“I want blood.”
He could see that. She was a warrior, and she was covered in Captain Ford’s blood. She wouldn’t wash it off. She wouldn’t get changed.
It was like her war paint for the battle she refused to lose. Greyson didn’t know how to reach her.
“Let’s get you to Terrace Glen.”
“I have to stay. I won’t leave him until I know he’s safe and alive.”
He took her hand in his. “You can’t stay, honey. You know Dominic will be watching you. If he sees you sitting here, then someone will come for Chris. We have to play this one out.”
She knew he was right.
Greyson always was when she couldn’t focus.
“Will they call me when he comes out?”
Dimitri handed Natasha a tablet. “I can do one better. As soon as he’s in his room, she’ll let you see him. Chris will be safe. The doctor said he’d pull through, since you helped keep him alive.”
She stared at Natasha.
“You keep him alive. I’ve lost one brother by violence. Chris wants to go naked, in bed with a beautiful woman, and not like this.”
Natasha nodded. “I’ll handle it, Emma.”
“Not the naked in bed part!” she said, as the woman started walking away.
She turned and winked at her.
“Gotcha, boss. I’ll wait until he’s better to go there. I promise.”
With that, she was gone.
Together, they made their way to the car. The men wanted her to fake tears. Before they got outside to where the media had camped, Dimitri needed her to play along.
Funny, to her, this was no longer a game, and she didn’t have to fake it.
They were very real.
Chapter Seventeen
Terrace Glen
When they returned, everyone waiting for them at the house were worried. How could they not be? Until that moment, they all believed the newscasts. When Emma, Greyson, and Dimitri returned, they were inundated by questions from the family.
The team had been mourning.
Then they were let in on the situation.
Once they were told, the mood was still somber. Chris hadn’t been hit in any major organs, and for that he was lucky. The wound had been through and through, but the blood loss was the major issue.
Detective Mace Bristol had wanted to leave, but Greyson put everyone on lockdown.
Including his brother.
“I want to head out to the morgue to stay with Steele,” Dante stated. “I don’t like that this has become a bloodbath, and I’m worried for his safety.”
No one liked what was happening.
Unfortunately, it was out of their hands.
“Can you hang out a little while longer?” Greyson asked. “We’re going to have a media onslaught, and I want to keep them here, focused on us.”
They looked at him as if he was crazy.
“They think Chris is dead. We need to keep it that way. If we all go about our business like nothing happened, then we’re in trouble. We need to look like we’re licking our wounds and in hiding.”
Dante finally relented.
“Besides, we have to talk about a few things.”
Greyson knew it was going to be a mix of personal and private. “While I talk to Emma, Dimitri, can you tell them about Dayton Chester? Brief them on who he was going to testify against.”
“I’ll handle it.”
He looked over at Paris and Tessa. “I want to thank you for sticking here and doing the paperwork and searches. I couldn’t do this without you.”
Paris didn't mind.
Working with Greyson Croft was a privilege. He was the pinnacle of Fed. Many agents wanted to be just like him, and he’d set the bar high. Greyson was an asset to the FBI.
“No problem, boss man,” Tessa offered.
Mace raised his hand. “I’ll help out. Chris is a good man. We have to find the person behind this.”
He laughed.
“Oh, it was Marianna. When I find him, I’m going to make him bleed.”
Everyone felt that way, but no one would say it. They were all cops.
Tessa hated him for coming after her husband.
Paris loathed the man for risking Tessa’s life.
Curtis wanted him dead for taking shots at his family.
Croft…he wanted nothing more than to make him hurt, and he would.
“We need to kee
p a level head,” Mace suggested.
Oh, he would.
Right before he taught him what happened when you screwed with his family. There was only so much a man could take before he was pushed beyond his limits, and he was officially past them.
Croft was going to make him pay on every level.
Personal.
Professional.
Nothing was going to be safe in Dominic Marianna’s life, and he was going to make sure of that.
“I need those searches on Dayton Chester. There has to be someone who saw him before he went missing. Search family, and if need be, let’s dig into the US Marshall database, Curtis. I want to know who knew where he was, and see if we can find a money trail to who betrayed him.”
“On it,” Curtis said. “I just need to talk to Katerina while it’s running.”
Croft didn't care.
He wanted this done, and he trusted his team to do it without a babysitter. After all, this wasn’t their first time working a case.
“Get me a way to tie him to this!” he said, heading out of the room. “Tomorrow, bright and early, we dig up that last body. We’ll have all six, and someone has to say something to Steele. The dead do talk, if we listen long enough.”
Or so he hoped.
When he was gone, Mace sat beside Paris on the couch. “Let’s find a way to bring him in.”
Everyone began laughing.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” Dimitri stated. “I’m pretty sure the man signed his own death warrant today. The justice system hasn’t been able to bring him in, and after this morning, I’m pretty sure we’re beyond that.”
They all agreed.
When Mace looked around, he noticed that they were serious.
“But he’s a Fed. We’re cops! We are sworn to protect and uphold the law. This isn’t some Wild West town where blood justice prevails.”
“Greyson is protecting. He is upholding the law.”
Jesus!
Mace knew this was bad.
They went back to work to find a lead, ignoring Mace Bristol, as he tried to convince them that Dominic Marianna deserved a trial.
After a while, he realized he wasn’t changing their minds. He didn't know what to say or do.
They were all heading down a dangerous road. It was only a matter of time before it exploded.
He had to do something.
Mace Bristol had to make a call.
Someone had to stop Greyson Croft from crossing that line.
Someone.
Upstairs, Greyson found Emma in the bathtub. She was submerged to her neck, and her eyes were closed. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to escape—at this point, he did too.
Vegas was destroying them.
It was trying its damnedest to pull them under.
They were fighting for their lives.
Moving closer to the large tub, he noticed that her face wasn’t wet from the water, but her tears.
Greyson knew what he needed to do.
Stripping, he slid into the water to sit across from her. When the bubbles and water shifted, accepting his weight, she opened her eyes.
“We need to talk.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
He sighed. “I wasn’t mad at you, Em. I was mad at me.”
“Then why did you avoid me? You didn't say goodbye this morning. What if we never saw each other again?”
He’d already thought about that, and it was haunting him first and foremost.
God knew that he was suffering over the what ifs. It was one more weight on his already overburdened shoulders. All he could think about was how close they came.
It scared him.
“I have to tell you why I did it, and I need you to listen and not get mad at me.”
She sat there.
“Promise me.”
“Okay, I’ll try.”
“If I stayed, I would have lied to you. If I lied, our marriage would have been over, and honestly, Emma, you’re all I have left. I left to keep you in my life.”
“I don’t understand any of this, Greyson. This isn’t like you. We’ve done this before, and you know it nearly destroyed us. We’re a team.”
He was aware.
That was why he was coming clean now.
She deserved it.
“At the party last night, Commissioner Raye approached me to have a private conversation.”
“Okay.”
“He told me he was going to send either Chris or you to a new department. He was going to break you both up, because of the media reports of your infidelity. He told me that he believes that you really are having a secret torrid relationship with your boss.”
She was horrified.
That was furthest from the truth, and she really hoped her husband knew it was false.
“I wouldn’t cheat on you, Greyson. Chris and I aren’t having an affair. The media, like always, is trying to cause trouble. You know how they are.”
Yes, he did.
“We know that, and our family knows the truth, but frankly, he didn't care. I tried to explain.”
“But?”
“He came right out and offered to keep you in Homicide if I gave him one million dollars.”
She gasped. “He didn’t!”
“I wish that were true. He absolutely did. In order to keep my wife in her job, he wants a big fat bribe. The man is blackmailing me.”
Well, this made the situation clearer. No wonder why Greyson was stirred up.
She was pissed now too.
“I’ll go to another department. Hell! I’ll quit my damn job. No one blackmails us and gets away with it!”
Then he dropped the bomb.
“I offered to pay it tomorrow. He’s picking up the money from Dante.”
She stared at him. “Are you insane? You’re going to cave to a blackmailer? Why would you do that, Grey? Why? That’s not how we do things.”
Greyson slipped beneath the water to escape for that moment. When he came up, she was waiting.
“Greyson, you need to talk to me. What the hell is going on?”
He owed her everything.
“I caused all this. I made you come here. There was this sweet little house in Celestia that I was going to buy when I first wanted to marry you. It had a big back yard, swings, and stained glass windows.”
She knew what house he was talking about.
“We could have stayed there, I would have gone back to the reserves, and we wouldn’t have this mess. We would have had the American dream instead of this never ending nightmare.”
She didn't speak.
Greyson knew her well enough that she wasn’t happy with what he’d done.
Hell!
He wasn’t happy, and now he regretted it.
“Instead of that quiet life, I picked Vegas. I forced you back into the job, and it’s sucking you under.”
“Are you saying I can’t do it? Are you saying you’ve lost faith in me?”
“Not at all. I’m saying I can’t do this anymore. We fight and struggle each and every day to make this city better, and what happens, Emma? Our hands are tied to the point that innocent people—the ones who really need us—are falling through the cracks. What good are we doing? I mean really? Does it even matter anymore? We cut the head off one snake, and seven grow back. If we bury Marianna, he’s only going to be replaced. Then what?”
“We keep fighting.”
He didn’t know if he could.
“We came here and Brynn died, Curtis got his heart broken, Paris was shot and crippled, and now Chris nearly lost his life. Even Randall Mason was taken down. That cagey bastard lasted years until he crossed my path. It’s all because I brought us here.”
She moved closer. “Stop.”
He did.
“Curtis also became our ‘son’ because we came here. Then Paris and Tessa fell in love and got married. Chris, who was all alone, found people who love him, and we got him out of th
e hood. Randall was wicked, and we changed him. When he died, he wanted to be good. When his life was taken, he was paying it all back by helping us make Vegas right. If we didn't come here, Grey, they wouldn’t have been on this path. We did do good. We did make the world a little better. Can we do more? I think we can. Our job here isn’t over. Your job isn’t over.”
He wanted to believe her.
“I just feel lost. I feel like we can’t do anything. Today, I met these hookers.”
She lifted a brow. “Well, there’s a sentence a wife never wants to hear.”
Greyson clarified.
“They were familiar with Biagio—he liked paying for sex. You can relax.”
Emma smiled, trying to help him lighten up.
“I wanted to help them, but how could I? They were women who the city swallowed up. They had track marks, one had bruises from some man’s anger, and I can’t do shit. I wanted to help them, but I can’t. Justice is in the way. That’s not how it’s supposed to be, Emma. It was created to protect and serve, and it’s not. Who’s it protecting? The scum like Marianna—not the women and men who don’t have a voice. We can’t save them.”
She got it.
Every day, she lived it.
If he only saw the half of it, he’d weep. While he sat in the big glass castle, called the FBI, she saw the homeless, the hookers, and the dead. If it was weighing on him, he wouldn’t want to know what it was doing to her.
“So let’s quit.”
He stared at her.
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
“The city will turn into a soul sucking vacuum and the Dominic Marianna’s in the world will take over. Then what?”
He had a point.
They couldn’t leave, but they couldn’t stay.
It was a trap, and they were stuck in it.
There had to be a way.
“So, maybe fate put us here for a reason,” she offered. “We keep going until we can’t anymore. Let’s move toward philanthropy, and see what happens. Let’s dig in and hold our ground. Together, we’re stronger than alone, Greyson.”
“I feel like I’ve damned you to this city, Emma. I feel like I’ve broken us. I left this morning, because I’m ashamed of who I am. I offered to pay a bribe because I caused this mess. When I was playing dirty, I knew the truth about my character, but it was all lies. I’m actually just like them, and I finally see it.”
Justice is Dead (Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 7) Page 40