by Cassie Wild
I kept a hand on my belt, trying to pretend I wasn’t nervous. I’d made arrests before and had been on the sidelines while others were arrested, but they were always the result of traffic stops. It had never been for anything big like this.
“I take it that your friends are in the black SUV outside in the parking lot watching?” Carl asked, his voice low. It was early. Plenty of people were still asleep.
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
“I had a feeling they might show up. Had to see it, huh?”
I shot him a look. “Some of the stuff he’s done…” I just shook my head. I’d go into more detail later, but it would have to be between us. I didn’t know if Suria and Joelle wanted it known what he’d tried to do, as far as the marriage went.
If I asked Carl to keep it quiet, I trusted he would.
We reached Marks’ floor, and he held up a hand, signifying it was time to be quiet. I nodded, although he wasn’t looking at me.
Milo fell into place behind him, and I was behind Milo.
As Carl came to a stop at the door, I situated myself where I could see Gabriel Marks when he opened the door.
The look on his face was one of almost comical shock at first.
Then understanding.
He went to slam the door, but Carl had placed his foot just inside, making it impossible.
“You don’t want to add resisting arrest to the list of charges, Mr. Marks,” he said after he finished reading off the warrant.
“This is a mistake,” Marks said, shaking his head. He looked around, first at Carl, then at Milo before finally letting his gaze land on me. “I’m just a businessman in town to see my son. I don’t know who you think you have, but it isn’t me.”
“Interesting tactic,” Carl said. “Try using that in court.” He shoved his way into the room. “You going to come along nicely or do we have to fight this out?”
Gabriel looked at the three of us, then turned around, shoulders slumped.
“Cuff him, Sinclair,” Carl said.
For a second, I didn’t realize he was talking to me.
I jolted when I finally figured it out and looked over to see him still staring at Marks.
But I had no doubt he’d meant me.
“Read him his rights,” Carl added.
Slowly, I pulled the cuffs from my belt, then approached him, my mind rushing.
“You have the right to remain silent…”
Nicco, Suria, and Joelle were no longer sitting in the car when we left the hotel.
They stood at the tailgate of the SUV, watching the hotel entrance intently. As if he sensed their presence, Gabriel Marks looked up, his head swinging in their direction.
He tensed at first, his face twisting in a mask of fury. I tightened my hold on him. “You don’t want to do anything stupid, Mr. Marks,” I said.
“No, sir, you don’t,” Milo said agreeably, and I knew he was just as aware as I was.
Carl reached the squad car before we did and opened it for us. Milo stepped back to let me handle him into the car, and as I did, I thought about Mary Jo, her parents.
A weight that had been inside my chest for so long I’d become inured to it, lifted and fell away.
I sucked in a deep breath, freed from a constriction I’d become accustomed to.
“Enjoy the ride, Mr. Marks,” I said softly.
His eyes met mine, then, after a few seconds, fell away.
Eighteen
Ravenna
“Can I have a minute?” I looked over at Milo as he started to circle around the car.
He glanced at the people gathered near the SUV, then back at me, shrugging. “Take your time.” He flashed a grin at me and nodded at the squad car. “He sure as hell isn’t going anywhere, is he?”
It surprised a laugh out of me. It felt good to laugh. Free and easy. “No. No, he isn’t.”
Moving over to the SUV, I met Nicco’s eyes first.
He had a faint smile on his lips, and I resisted, barely, the urge to kiss him.
Tearing my gaze from his, I nodded at Suria and Joelle. “You’re safe now. He won’t be able to bother you anymore.”
“Are you certain you’ll be able to make charges stick?” Joelle asked, her voice shaking.
“They’ve got a solid case against him already. Otherwise they wouldn’t have issued the warrant.” Taking a deep breath, I looked at Suria. “You’ve got a chance to build a better one against him. Apparently, the DA here already reached out to the DA in Los Angeles. If you testify against him, they’ll give you immunity for any possible crimes you might be guilty of.” I hesitated a second, then advised, “I’d suggest you do it. Chances are they’ll be able to make him take a plea bargain, and he’ll do time. By the time he gets out, Joelle will be over the age of eighteen and out of his reach for good.”
“I’ll do it,” she assured me. “I want to be free of him, and as long as I’m tangled up in his messes, that isn’t possible.”
Joelle looked back and forth between us, then asked, “Does this mean it’s safe to go home?”
“That place isn’t home.” Suria snorted. “We can go back, get the stuff we weren’t able to take that we wanted, but I don’t want to live there. Do you want to, Joelle?”
“But where are we going to go?” she half-whispered.
Kian slung an arm around her shoulders. I hadn’t been surprised to see him waiting when I finished getting Marks into the car. Wherever Suria was, he seemed to be close by. He hugged Joelle up against him and dropped a kiss on her temple. “You’ll stay with me. Suria and I have already talked about it.”
Nicco opened his mouth, then closed it. After a few seconds, he said, “Hopefully you’ll both come visit me. I’ve decided I like having sisters.”
Joelle flung herself at him.
I realized my eyes were watering a little, and I had to blink to clear them.
“I have to get going,” I said, looking back at the squad car. “The DA is waiting to question him, and I don’t know what all will happen with those in LA who want to talk to him.”
“Will he be transferred there?” Nicco asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. And I don’t care. I just want him to pay for everything he’s done, everybody he’s hurt.” I turned to go, but I didn’t make it more than a few feet before I turned back and looked at them. “After all this time, it’s hard to believe this is finally done. Thank you. All of you.”
Without waiting for an answer, I hurried back to the car and climbed in.
Marks was blissfully silent.
Milo gave my shoulder a quick pat. “Let’s get rolling, kid. We still got a full day’s work ahead of us.”
I almost groaned.
I was already worn out.
The lieutenant allowed me to stay and observe the questioning.
I got the feeling he was still a little put-out with me, but he nodded at a fat file in his hand as I was led into the observation room. “These are just some of the complaints that have come in about Gabriel Marks – in and out of state. If even ten percent of them hold water, getting him behind bars will be a good thing.” He squinted at me. “Let’s not do it this way again, Sinclair. You got a feeling about something like this, come to me. We do it the right way.”
I nodded. “Absolutely.” I had no problem making that promise.
“I mean it,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s personal or not. Letting things get personal is how a good cop gets screwed up.”
Swallowing the knot in my throat, I nodded again. “I will, sir.”
“Okay.” He gestured to the window, and I moved over to stand in front of it. Gabriel Marks sat there, wagging one knee back and forth, a cup of bad coffee in one hand. He was drumming the fingers of his free hand on the table while a public defender sat next to him, flipping through pages.
“He’s already lawyered up?” I asked softly.
“He’s not stupid,” Carl said, a bit of a sneer coming through in hi
s voice. “Who knows how many people he’s fucked over through the years.”
“There’s no way he can get out on all the charges, right?” I shot a look up at him.
“Not likely.” Carl had a smug grin on his face. “He’s already had a couple of strikes against him. That’s not going to help him out…at all.”
The door to the interview room opened, and I sucked in a breath as Patricia Roth entered the room. She had changed, now wearing a pantsuit of power red, her dark, graying hair sleeked back from her face. She took a seat in front of Marks and put a file in front of her, flicking it open with a careless gesture.
“Well, now, Mr. Marks. You’ve been a bad boy, haven’t you?” she said easily. “Just where do we begin?”
Nineteen
Nicco
Ravenna dropped her cell phone down on the nightstand and rolled over to look at me. She pushed up onto her elbow and gave me a beautiful smile. “That was the DA. Roth said Marks has agreed to a deal already. Once he heard that Suria planned to testify against him, he pretty much stopped fighting. He’s going to do five years, then another five years’ probation. Plus, he’s got fines out the ass.” Reaching up, she brushed my hair back. “The house is going to be sold, along with his car, probably Suria’s too. Roth mentioned he’d co-signed for it, so it will probably be seized.”
“Hell.” Blowing out a breath, I looked up at the ceiling. “I’ll help her get another one.”
“That guy of hers might beat you to it.” Ravenna gave a lopsided shrug when I looked at her. “Just calling it how it is. You’ve seen how he looks at her.”
“Yeah.” I had. And it wouldn’t surprise me at all. “I’ll make the offer, though.”
Ravenna pushed me flat onto my back and sat up, throwing a leg across my hips.
She was naked, so it made the position interesting. It also made it hard to concentrate on what she was saying. I blinked and focused, watching her and trying not to think about how good she felt, the wet heat of her cuddled up against my cock.
“It’s done now,” she said, her eyes locked with mine. “Completely done.”
“Yes.” I reached for her hips, resisted the urge to drag her back and forth over me.
She bent down, increasing the pressure bearing down on me, and I closed my eyes. As she rubbed her lips over mine, I muttered, “Are you trying to kill me?”
She chuckled. “I’m thinking about trying to seduce you. But if that’s the way you’re going to be…”
“Ravenna.” I tightened my grip before she could slip away. “You’re naked, and you’re hot and wet. Seducing me will take little effort.”
Sitting back up, she grinned down at me. “Are you telling me you’re easy?”
“When it comes to you? Hell, yes.”
She laughed softly and rolled her hips, her head falling back. A husky noise escaped her throat. I wanted to grab her and hoist her up, fill her with my cock, but the smile on her face stopped me.
Realizing she was going to have the imprint of my fingers embedded on her ass, I forced myself to ease up on my grip and willed myself to relax. I managed to ease up on the grip, at least. Relaxation was pretty damn far out of reach.
She bent back down over me and pressed her mouth to mine, her lips opening this time. When she flicked her tongue against mine, I opened for her.
She wiggled and slid against me, reaching down between us. As she wrapped her fingers around my cock, I thought my eyes might roll into the back of my skull.
Finally, she had me poised at the entrance to her body, and I couldn’t stop myself. I arched my hips.
She gasped as I sank into her, just the head of my cock.
She slid farther down on me and broke the kiss, sitting back up, her eyes half-closed. As she moved, she took me deeper, and by the time she had straightened up, I was fully seated inside her.
It was indescribable. Smoothing my hands down her hips, then her thighs, I stroked back up. A shiver raced through her, and I watched as she arched her spine, the movement lifting her breasts upward. Her nipples were dark and tight, and I wanted to pull her down to me so I could suck and lick and bite. But, again, I resisted the urge.
This was her show.
Ravenna reached for my hands and guided them up, her eyes nervous but determined as she looked at me. “I want to feel your hands on me,” she said, voice husky.
“All you had to do was ask.”
She guided them to her breasts and held them there for a moment. “Touch me.”
It was like being given the keys to the kingdom. I rolled her nipples and tugged, watched the expression flutter across her face as she started to move, rocking her hips back and forth.
I slid my eyes across her body, from her mouth, all the way down to the red curls at the junction of her thighs.
I could see where we joined, where I pierced her, and it made me ravenous for more.
Ravenna whimpered.
I looked up at her.
She was staring at my mouth.
“What?” I whispered.
“I want to feel your mouth…”
She didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t have to.
“Come up here,” I said, grasping her hips and pulling.
She looked puzzled at first, then her cheeks went scarlet. “Come here,” I said again. “I want to taste you.”
“I…” She touched her tongue to her lips, then slowly crawled up my body, following the guidance of my hands.
“On my face,” I told her, and I watched as, impossibly, she flushed an even deeper shade of crimson.
“Ravenna…” I had to tug her closer, but I didn’t care. She was hesitant, almost reluctant at first, and her body was tense, shyness and nerves punctuating each movement. But then I flicked my tongue against her clit, and she jolted against my mouth.
“Nicco!”
Her hands shot into my hair, and she rocked forward to meet the next stroke from my tongue.
Soon, she was rocking against my mouth, riding my face, and I could feel all that slippery wetness on my lips and chin. I loved every second of it, guiding her hips and holding her steady as I used my tongue and teeth to coax her closer to orgasm.
She hit it with a broken cry, her body going limp, slumping forward toward the head of the bed. I worked her until I knew she’d drained herself, then I eased out from under her and curled up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist.
She shivered as I touched my lips to her shoulder.
The feel of her ass pressing against my cock had the impatient bastard pulsing in hungry demand. She reached backward, her hand coming between us to close around my dick, and she began to pump her wrist.
It was awkward, her facing away from me and her arm twisted around behind her, but she found her rhythm and I began to move against her.
Soon, her breathing sped up, and I caught her hand, tugging it away. I eased backward on the bed and urged her down on all fours. She shot a look over her shoulder at me.
I met her eyes as I tucked the head of my cock against the mouth of her cunt, teasing her.
She shuddered.
Then, as I arched my hips and slid inside, she sank forward, her shoulders collapsing down onto the mattress. “Nicco…” The sound of my name was muffled and weak…hoarse and sexy as hell.
I wanted to hear it over and over again.
Thrusting deeper, harder, I hitched her hips up. Soon, the sound of flesh slapping against flesh filled the air. Ravenna’s pussy was tight around me, and she reached back, catching my wrist in her hand, squeezing. “Nicco…!”
The orgasm edged closer, dancing down my spine, and I could feel hers moving in closer on her as well.
It hit her harder, quicker than I would have thought, tripping mine, and soon, we were sweaty and panting in the twisted mess of sheets.
She gave a weak, dazed laugh. “So much for me seducing you.”
“You seduce me just by breathing, Ravenna,” I murmured against her skin.
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“Sweet talker.” She rolled over to face me and cuddled in closer.
I curled an arm around her, feeling drowsy.
I could sleep like this, happily, for the next twelve hours.
Ravenna snuggled in closer and reached for the blankets. I caught the edge and tossed it over us.
We might have slid right into sleep if the phone hadn’t rung a minute later.
“Ignore it,” Ravenna mumbled, her voice already heavy with the edge of sleep.
I kissed her temple. “Go to sleep,” I told her as I reached for the phone. “Hello.”
“Nicco!” Suria’s voice came over the line, full of nerves and edgy with panic.
Against me, Ravenna tensed.
I could practically see the sleepiness falling away from her, leaving her alert and awake.
As she sat up, I pushed myself up onto my elbow.
“Suria. Everything okay?”
“No!” She sucked in a breath, clearly upset. “I don’t know what to do. My cousin Trice just called. She’s in trouble. She needs my help.”
The End
Deceit and Desire continues in STING, coming June 27. CLICK HERE to join my newsletter and get an email reminder on release day.
About the Author
Cassie Wild
Cassie Wild loves romance. Ever since she was eight years old, she’s been reading every romance novel she could get her hands on, always dreaming of writing her own romance novels. In her spare time, she enjoys watching superhero movies, playing video games, reading tons of books all while cooking her favorite Italian meals.
First, I would like to thank all my readers. Without you, my books would not exist. A big Thank You goes out to all the Facebook fans, street team, beta readers, and advanced reviewers. You are a HUGE part of the success of the series.
Also, a big Thank You goes out to my editor Lynette. You make my ideas and words look so good.