Sins, Lies & Spies (Black Brothers #2)

by Lisa Cardiff

  She swallowed, and her throat bobbed up and down. I could tell she was lost somewhere in her memories. “No,” she admitted, her chocolate colored eyes popping open. “I don’t trust him. Not completely.”

  I rubbed my hand down the side of my face. “That’s good. Miles is on the wrong side of this deal with Lang’s computer.”

  “But I don’t trust you either.” Her tone was hard and unyielding. “So if you’re done searching my home, you can leave.”

  I threaded my fingers through my hair, frustrated. “Fine, but do me a favor.”

  Her nose scrunched up in disgust. “What’s that?”

  “Ask Miles why the information on Lang’s computer is so important to him. Ask him how Speaker Benton is involved.”

  She sucked in a breath, and her spine straightened. Silence wrapped around us, pressing against my chest like a hundred pound weight. “His client hired him to do a job. I didn’t get what he needed. It doesn’t look good. There’s nothing else to it.”

  A bitter chuckle spilled from my lips. “This is about more than doing a good job for a client. I know it and I think, deep down, you know it too. What were you instructed to do with the information from Lang’s computer?”

  She stared out the window over my shoulder. “He wanted me to destroy the thumb drives, then upload a virus onto the computer.” Her voice was barely audible, but somehow her words had the impact of a grenade tossed into a crowded room.

  “Do you want me to tell you why he asked you to do that?”

  She turned her attention back to me, and the force of her gaze speared me. She didn’t answer right away. Instead, her eyes hardened. “You mean the truth as you understand it?”

  “No, the unqualified truth.”

  “There’s no such thing as an unqualified truth.”

  I searched her eyes. What happened to this woman to make her so cynical? “Of course there is.”

  “No, there’s perception, interpretation, and wishful thinking. When you bundle all of that together, you get shades of the truth.”

  Irritated with her and myself, I jammed my hands into my pockets. I glanced around her narrow townhome, taking in all the nearly non-existent details. One picture of Trinity and a younger woman resembling her sat on an otherwise empty fireplace mantle. There wasn’t a single decorative pillow on the gray sofa. The only splash of personality came from the yellow accent wall. If not for minimal clothes tucked away in the closet and the personal hygiene products in the bathroom drawers, I’d think no one lived here. I needed to dig a little more into her background to understand her strengths and weaknesses.

  I stepped around her and opened the front door. “Well, when you’re ready to hear the truth, you know where to find me.”

  ***

  “Did you find anything?” Jack said, spinning around in his chair.

  I tossed my car keys on the conference table. “Nothing. Her home has fewer personal effects than a hotel room.”

  Jack snorted. “Miles trained her well.”

  “I don’t know about that. I got the impression her lack of personal effects had more to do with her personal preference than professional necessity.”

  “Hmm.” He tapped his pen on his thigh.

  “What about you?” I propped my hip on the corner of the desk. “Did you find out anything else about her?”

  “Not much beyond the basic facts.” He folded his hands on top of the desk. “Her uncle raised her. She moved to D.C. days after she turned twenty-one. Her younger sister goes to college in Texas a half hour from their hometown. It looks like Trinity pays the tuition. The mom is MIA, and a dad isn’t listed on her birth certificate.” He shrugged. “No deep, dark, dirty secrets as far as I can tell, but I’ll keep digging.”

  A big part of her story was missing, which made me hesitant to trust her. Trinity acted tough, but it felt like an illusion or a shell to hide all the emotional scars beneath the surface. Sure, she was strong and independent. The fact that Miles took her under his wing and trained her was a testament to her intelligence and potential. Miles was a lot of things, but dumb wasn’t one of them. He didn’t waste his time on average people. My instincts told me to roll the dice on her, but I didn’t know if my attraction to her was overruling my common sense.

  “What about the thumb drives? Did you find anything else?”

  “Honestly.” He ran his fingers through his already disheveled hair. “I just started digging though the information an hour ago.”

  My eyebrows knitted together as I spotted the half empty bottle of beer next to his computer. “What am I missing? What aren’t you telling me?”

  He blew out a breath. “Miles was waiting for me when I left the office for lunch.”

  “Fuck,” I hissed.

  Jack nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

  “What happened?”

  “Not much. You know Miles. He never comes right out and says anything. He infers stuff.”

  I stared out the window over Jack’s head. Clouds dotted the otherwise clear skyline. “I know.”

  “He acted like it was a coincidence.” He waved his arm in one giant swoop. “He said he was just walking around looking for a place to eat lunch. Then the ass had the balls to ask me to join him.”

  I peered at him, my eyebrow scaling my forehead. “Did you?”

  “Hell no. After the shit he’s put us through over the last couple of months, I’d strangle him within twenty minutes.” He shook his head from side to side. “But I was tempted so I could hear more of his bullshit and try to figure out what he wanted.”

  “Yeah.” I tugged on the sleeves of my shirt. “So what do you think he’s up to?”

  He scrubbed his hand down the side of his face. “He asked if business was good. He mentioned he heard you took a trip to Moscow last month. Then he babbled about Trinity Jones for a few minutes.”

  “That son of a bitch. Of course, he knew about Moscow.” I went to Moscow to get information about Dima Antonov, the person I suspected of hiring Miles to orchestrate the whole blackmail scheme. Antonov was a Russian businessman involved in a lot of nefarious shit.

  Unfortunately, my trip wasn’t successful. All of the people I interrogated were careful not to give up anything. I could’ve used more forceful techniques—ones that violated the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions—but I didn’t want to risk being detained by Russian authorities if Antonov got wind of my presence. He had enough government authorities in his pocket to make my life uncomfortable.

  He nodded. “Yeah, and that means he knows you didn’t get squat while you were there.”

  “What did he say about Trinity?”

  His gaze collided with mine and his lips curled up at the corners. “Nothing special. He casually mentioned they were more than business associates. Then he laughed about your run-in with her at Lang’s house. He apologized for attempting to poach our work but said business was business and not to have any hard feelings.”

  “And what’d you say?”

  “I told him we got what we needed, but he should stay the hell away from us, and do his own dirty work.”

  I nodded. “Good.”

  “That’s where things went south. He said he’d do whatever it took to take us down.” He cocked his head to the side. “Well, you in particular. Apparently, I’ll be collateral damage if I continue to associate with you.”

  I balled my hands into fists. “Yeah, well, I feel the same way about him. I won’t be happy until I find a way to put him behind bars for the foreseeable future.”

  He tipped up the bottle of beer, emptying the last half in one swallow. I shook my head. Jack rarely drank like that. “I know,” he finally said. “Just be careful. I think he’s getting desperate.”

  “We’ve talked about this. It means we’re getting close.”

  “Possibly.” He wiped a hand over his mouth. “He also told me to tell you to stay the hell away from Trinity.”

  “That’s too b
ad because I have plans for her.”

  “Dammit, Knox,” he muttered under his breath. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  My grin widened. “Don’t worry about it. Just keep reviewing the documents from Lang’s computer and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  He shook his head. “Miles is going to freak. Remember what happened with his ex-wife.”

  I raised my hands in mock surrender. “That was a mistake. I didn’t have a clue who she was, and nothing happened. She’s crazy. She sought me out because of Miles’s never-ending need to compete with me.”

  Jack pursed his lips. “I know, but Miles probably doesn’t see it that way.”

  “Miles is a jackass.”

  He burst out laughing. “I’ve never heard truer words.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Trinity

  For twenty-four hours, I avoided everyone.

  Miles.

  Faith.

  Leslie.

  Knox.

  I locked myself in my townhome and refused to answer my phone. I didn’t have a choice. After Knox left, my mind wouldn’t stop spinning in circles, and for the first time in over six months, I knew I needed to talk to Speaker Derrick Benton, my half-brother. We didn’t talk much any longer. Recently, he hadn’t made much effort to stay in contact. It wasn’t unexpected. We didn’t grow up together. In fact, I didn’t even know he existed until right before I turned twenty-one.

  He sent me letter after letter. When I didn’t respond, he showed up at my uncle’s house. Basically, he’d been nominated for Speaker of the House, and he didn’t want me to reveal our connection. I nearly laughed in his face. Before he made contact with me, I didn’t even know anything other than my dad’s first name, Richard, and I didn’t have any interest in seeking out a man who didn’t want to be part of my life.

  In short, I promised to keep our parentage a secret, and in exchange, Derrick helped me out financially on occasion. At his insistence, I relocated to D.C. He found my townhome and paid the security deposit. He gave me enough money for a down payment on a car three years ago. Simply put, he handed me the rare opportunity to reinvent myself without the demons of my past nipping at my heels. For that alone, I owed him even if he decided he didn’t want to be a part of my life anymore.

  When I started dating Miles, I occasionally ran into him at political events, but we never acknowledged each other in public. It was better that way. He didn’t want to call attention to our dad’s infidelities, and I didn’t want to call attention to myself.

  I had to call three consecutive times before he answered.

  “Hello.” His voice was stiff and icy.

  “It’s Trinity,” I blurted out, my voice shaky.

  “I know. Hold on one second.” I heard a puff of air as his hand or something else muffled the speaker of the phone.

  I bounced my leg up and down, watching the clock on my nightstand as I waited.

  One minute.

  The toe of my flat echoed loudly on the hardwood floors. I should’ve invested in a rug, but I never bothered. For almost six months, I believed Miles and I would get engaged and I’d move into his house. Once our relationship fell apart, I couldn’t bring myself to commit to anything. Emotionally, I was stuck in the mud, not wanting to move forward, but knowing things would never be the same between Miles and me.

  Two minutes.

  “Asshole,” I mumbled under my breath. Derrick had been a complete jerk since I started working for Miles. Our bi-weekly phone calls turned into monthly calls and then stopped almost altogether in the past year.

  Three minutes. I pulled the phone away from my ear, intending to disconnect the call when his voice echoed through my bedroom.

  “What’s going on?” he barked.

  “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

  “Because I’m in the middle of an important meeting.”

  “I’ve called you at least ten times in the last twenty-four hours. I’ve left you at least three messages. You haven’t returned any of my calls,” I said, doing little to hide my growing frustration with him.

  “What do you need? Money? Help finding a job?”

  I squeezed the phone so hard I was surprised it didn’t crumble. “No. I have a job, and I sure as hell don’t need your money. I mailed you a check two months ago repaying you for everything plus interest. You still haven’t cashed it.”

  “I don’t want you to pay me back. The money was a gift. It was the least I could offer, considering…” He fell silent like he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words teetering on his lips. He hated talking about the circumstances of my childhood. It was almost as if he couldn’t stand to taint his beautiful life with the ugliness of mine.

  Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I bit the inside of my cheek to stifle the urge to blurt out a sarcastic response. “Cash the check, Derrick.” Despite what he said, I knew the money wasn’t intended as a string-free gift. I considered it hush money even though he’d never admit it. “I’m not going to tell anyone that your dad couldn’t keep his pants zipped. I have no interest in being associated with him.”

  Richard Benton, my biological father, made a fortune talking and writing about the importance of being an honorable person. He preached and preached until he was blue in the face, but he didn’t think it was necessary for him to heed his own advice. I was proof of it—a walking, talking, breathing stain on his shiny legacy, my half-brother’s career, and the illustrious Benton family.

  “Then what’s going on? I don’t have time to chat right now.”

  Anger fired inside my chest, but I pushed it back. “You haven’t called me in months, and you still don’t have a few minutes to spare for me?”

  Heavy breaths puffed through the phone, and I could imagine the frustration lining his normally serene face. “Just spit it out, Trinity,” he hissed. “I’m not in the mood for games. I’m having a bad week.”

  “Fine.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I ran into someone a couple of days ago, and your name came up in conjunction with Representative Lang. I got the impression something problematic was going on. Is there anything I should know?”

  “Are you asking me this or does this question come from your boyfriend?” he snarled.

  I dug my free hand into my duvet cover. “We broke up.”

  “Are you still working for him?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t hear anything from him.”

  For a moment, he didn’t respond, and I thought he hung up. “Tell me, Trinity. Did you tell Miles that we are related?”

  “No,” I yelled, irritation mixed with sleep deprivation making my voice sharper and angrier than I had intended. “Absolutely not. I told him I never met my biological father. He didn’t ask anything else.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Derrick could be such a pompous ass. I didn’t know why I bothered with him.

  “Yes, Derrick. I have never told anyone about our connection, and I have no intention of sharing that little detail anytime soon.” I shook my head. “I don’t want anyone’s pity.”

  A weary sigh whistled through the phone. “Okay. I believe you.”

  I cleared my throat. “Does someone know about me? Is that why you’re asking?”

  “Yeah.”

  My heart stuttered. “Oh shit,” I whispered. “What are you going to do?”

  “My people are working on it, but I can’t promise anything. I might need you to publicly deny our connection at some point.”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “What does this have to do with Miles? Do you think he knows about us?”

  “I’m not sure, but I don’t trust him. That’s why I’ve limited our contact over the last year.”

  “You’re the second person to tell me that in the last week,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.

  “What’d you say?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” I answered.

  “Just be careful what you say to people.”

&nbs
p; I stood, pacing back and forth along the side of my bed. “And why’s that?”

  “I’m just trying to warn you to be vigilant,” he said, his voice flat.

  “Did something happen?” I lowered my voice like someone could overhear me on the street outside of my townhome.

  “I can’t talk about it on the phone.”

  “Oh.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Do you want to meet in person?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t want anyone to see us together right now.”

  I rubbed the sudden ache in my chest. I understood why Derrick didn’t like to be seen with me, but it hurt. I didn’t have much of a family. Despite my best attempts, Faith and I had never been close. I worked hard to give her the things I didn’t have growing up, but lately, she seemed more entitled than grateful for all the sacrifices I made for her. My uncle only called me on holidays and birthdays, but I’d do anything for him. When I met Derrick, I thought he’d fill the hole in my heart. For a while it seemed that way, but like everyone else in my life, he had disappointed me.

  “Yeah, sure. I get it. Don’t worry about it.” My voice trembled despite my attempts to pretend it didn’t matter.

  He exhaled loudly. “I’ll stop by your apartment tomorrow night. It won’t be until late. After ten. Maybe later.”

  “What about Ellen? Won’t she wonder where you are?” Ellen was his wife of eight years. I’d never met her. I’d seen her in pictures, but our paths had never crossed. Not that it’d matter. As far as I knew, Ellen didn’t know about me.

  “She’s going to her parents’ house for dinner tomorrow night. I’ll tell her I have to work late.”

  “Oh. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He disconnected the call without responding.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Knox

  “How are things progressing with Trinity?” Jack asked.

  He looked a little worse for the wear this week. He had bags under his eyes and more than his customary day or two’s worth of whisker growth on his face. His clothes were wrinkled, and I could swear he’d been wearing the same jeans for the past week.