She’d been a mother.
That had to be her duty—like Rogue’s mother. She’d had him, and she’d taken responsibility. Charlotte had been playing dirty and look what it got her.
“Really?” he asked, skeptically.
He laughed.
“Son, are you really that dense? She wanted your connections. She wanted to know who you knew, and she wanted your skills. Charlotte told me that she wanted to be the great thief you were. Maybe if she had…?”
He cut him off.
If that was true, this was on her—not him.
Still…
Who was this woman?
He really had thought she was sweet, innocent, and gentle. All this time, all these years, Rogue believed he was the bad guy in the situation.
Now the truth was out.
There was no way Julius knew what he did for a living unless Charlotte really had known and told him. Rogue’s biggest gift was going under the radar. He NEVER told anyone what he did. As far as the world was concerned, he was a rich-guy, playboy, who made really lucrative investing deals.
If Julius knew, there was a good chance Charlotte had played him—and played him well.
Well, fuck.
To find this out…
“It’s hard to believe she did that,” Rogue stated.
Julius began laughing.
“You’re an idiot. She was picking your proverbial pockets for your contacts. She knew you were good at what you did. You were aces at stealing. She was aces at manipulating people, son, and she saw you coming a mile away.”
Great.
This made him feel worse.
He’d been played by a woman he’d slept with, loved, and had a relationship with on top of it all.
Yeah, his mother had been right.
Charlotte was a nightmare. Only, she was a million times worse dead. If she were alive, he would have killed her. That anger was a bad thing.
It made you screw up.
Rogue prided himself on being cool, calm, and collected, and now he was anything but—thanks to the woman.
Yeah, her double-dealings were what did this. It was what ended up getting her killed.
“Who was she meeting?” Sarah asked, seeing that Julius was calming down, having some booze, and in the mood to share some of the details.
That was what they needed.
“Oh, that’s what got her killed. Charlotte was hooked up with one bad hombre, and he ended her. There’s no doubt in my mind it was him. He is an asshole.”
They listened.
“He was running guns, laundering, and pedaling flesh. I told her to run for it when it came to him, but Charlotte liked money. She liked that nest egg for her child.”
“OUR child,” Rogue corrected.
“Well, the only good thing about you, half-breed, is that Peony is loaded now.”
He cringed at that term.
Oh, Rogue hated it.
There was nothing worse than someone disparaging your ethnicity with one word. For him, that was the surefire way to put him on edge.
Sarah gave him the look.
Rogue got it.
Now was NOT the time.
“Chesky?” Sarah asked, trying to keep it going.
They needed answers.
Today.
“Yup. She was up to her eyeballs in it. I don’t know why or how she got involved, but her side ventures, like the traveling gambling boat went South, and she was freaked.”
“Why?” Rogue asked.
“Money. You have it, she didn’t, and she wanted it. When you’re born with a stainless-steel spoon in your mouth, opposed to a silver one, you’ll do anything to get the money.”
Stella understood. She’d come from wealth, but unfortunately, it seemed to be part of this. In the back of her mind, she was forced to wonder if her father had been selling women.
If so…her money.
His money…
Yeah, this sucked.
Instead of saying anything, she listened.
“Bottoms up,” Julius stated, pouring another round.
They all kicked back the tequila.
“To Charlotte,” Julius stated, wiping his eyes. Then he continued without missing a beat. “She was running numbers as she was running this place.”
Sarah leaned on the bar and listened to the man. Every now and again, she patted his arm in sympathy. She hoped it would keep the information flowing.
They needed it.
“She bought this place after the last owner died. I told her it was bad juju, but she didn’t listen to me. She never listened to me,” he stated.
Rogue didn’t know what to say.
He really didn’t know Charlotte was playing him. That anger was dissipating.
No.
The guilt was.
He was plenty pissed off, but this time, it wasn’t at himself. There was that hope that she had been a rotten apple from the start. If she was, then he didn’t corrupt her—he didn’t ruin her life. She’d done that all on her own.
It was freeing.
For him.
“She worked this bar as a front. She would get intel from the patrons and sell it off. That’s how she supported herself and Peony. Well, that’s where it started. Then somehow, she got sucked into the Chesky mess.”
“Why did you give me Peony?” he asked.
“It was what she wanted. I laid low with her for a few days, knowing that if Chesky had gotten the kid’s name out of her—if he tortured her—he would come for that kid. He’d sell her off in the sex ring.”
Well, that was…horrifying.
The mere idea that his three-year-old daughter would be sold to some pedophile for sex…
Rogue wanted to be sick.
He couldn’t let that picture ebb into his head. He couldn’t let that thought get to him. He needed to keep being strong for his daughter.
“Thank you for getting him his daughter,” Sarah stated. “I was raised by two fathers and adopted. My mother didn’t want me. It was kind of you to let Peony be part of her father’s life and save her from Chesky.”
He patted her hand.
“Charlotte told me many times she felt bad about Peony not having a daddy. She wanted that for her in her death. It’s the least I could do for her.”
He poured more tequila.
“She contacted me when she was dying. She was shot, and she was thinking about her child. I raced upstairs, grabbed her, and hid her out.”
“Thank you,” Sarah stated. “You did a good thing. That little girl will have a chance in life thanks to you, Julius. You made a difference in her life.”
“I owed it to her. I owed it to Charlotte. I couldn’t keep her safe, and this was the only way I could give her something.”
They toasted her again.
Then tossed back another shot.
Stella was smiling a little too much.
“Uh, maybe you should switch to cola,” Sarah stated. There was a fine line between sober and tequila-fied. The woman was there. With that liquor, you went from good to shitfaced in a matter of minutes.
“I’m good.”
He continued, knowing it was time to ask for help. For Charlotte, he’d do what he had to for justice.
“You have to find who did this to her.”
Rogue laughed.
“Oh, we know who did this to her,” he stated. “She put us on that river cruise where we ran into Chesky. I’ll bet all my money that he cleaned up his mess.”
The man slammed his hands on the bar, and all three of them jumped at the suddenness of it.
“That asshole!”
Yeah, with that, they could agree, and they were grateful that the man’s hair-trigger was no longer pointed at them. He had a new person to direct his anger at.
“We need to find him!” Julius stated.
“Well, we will, but you can’t go shooting up the streets,” Sarah stated.
“What are you, the fuzz?” he asked.
“Hell, no! I just don’t want to see you die. You’re good people, Julius. Let us help you.”
“I want out of this business,” he stated. “Charlotte left this place to me. I don’t want it. I’m going to sell this place.”
“Well, it’s not really a bar,” stated Sarah. “You have it hidden in a house.”
“Oh, a good barkeep will find his way here. Maybe he or she can turn it around. It’s easy to sell a house. Let the next idiot take on this mess. I’m out.”
She was shocked the cops didn’t know about this place. It was a literal den of iniquity hidden in a residential zone. When you walked up the steps to the front door, you were thinking house, but once inside, it was a full-on bar.
A speakeasy of sorts.
“What do you know about Chesky?” Rogue asked. “If you can lead us to him, we can make him pay. We can get justice for Charlotte.”
Yeah, well, he figured she’d been served it, but Rogue was NOT bringing that up to the man. He liked his brains inside his head. He would find Chesky for Zayn and the man’s deceased sister, Adsilla.
Period.
When Julius reached under the bar, both Sarah and Rogue went for their guns.
“Relax. I’m not going to shoot you. You’re my only hope that Charlotte gets justice. Here.”
He handed Sarah a key.
“Uh, what’s this? The key to the bar?” she asked, suddenly enjoying that idea. Maybe it was in her adopted blood.
“Hell, no! This bar is for sale. I need a retirement plan. That’s the key to Charlotte’s real nest. The police searched Charlotte’s faux home after her murder. She had a place on her license that was a front. This key opens the door to the place she really called home.”
“Okay, and?” Sarah asked.
“Well, she didn’t really live at the place the cops searched. That was her front. She was raking in the money, so that was the place people thought she lived. Charlotte has a place across the street.”
Yeah, they knew she lived in an apartment. Dakota and Zayn had visited her once before. Sarah recalled the tale of how Charlotte had tried to get into Dakota’s pants.
It looked like they had a new lead to chase—courtesy of a dead woman. Hopefully, something would turn up.
“If there’s anything to be found, you’ll locate it there. Charlotte kept all her ledgers and information there. That was where she felt safest. When she’d go home at night, she’d get into her car and drive around for twenty minutes before heading in the back way. She was super careful. Peony was her life.”
Yeah, and now she was Rogue’s responsibility.
Sarah took the key.
That would help them out.
“One more for the road?” he asked, pouring them four more shots.
“One more,” Sarah stated, eyeing up Stella.
She was drunk.
It was clear.
She was grinning like an idiot. No one smiled that much when talking about death and murder.
Zayn was going to kick their asses for letting his wife get shitfaced drunk at this time of the day. It was not going to be pretty.
“Weeee!” she said, spinning on the barstool. “One more!” she cheered.
Rogue shook his head.
“Her husband is going to kill us.”
Oh, she had just been thinking that, but the damage was already done. They needed to own it and get her home.
Fast.
They did their shot.
“Can I ask you something?” Rogue inquired, curious about this man and the customers.
“Yeah, what?”
“Do you know a man by the name of Tasunke Harris?”
He laughed.
“Taz? Yeah, I know him. He’s the biggest dick I know. He’s not allowed in here. Charlotte booted him when she found out he was your father.”
“What?”
“I think you heard me, boy. I doubt your Indian ears missed that,” he stated.
Rogue let it go.
Indian was better than half-breed in his book, so he’d swallow it.
“She knew he was here? In town?”
Jesus.
What a bitch.
Even those years ago, he’d confided in Charlotte that he’d been searching for his father. She didn’t ‘find out’ he was his father. Rogue had told her.
There was no doubt in his mind she would have used that against him at some point.
Yeah, she was a total bitch.
“Charlotte knew everyone who was walking that crooked road, son. You can bet that, at one point, she did a deal with him. I don’t know much about her business ventures, but I do know if he screwed her over, she’d end him.”
They listened.
“I think he screwed her over. Once, a year ago, he tried to come in here, and Taz swore he’d get her for the shit she spread about him. Charlotte was a snake in the field full of mice. He didn’t know how to deal with her, but she knew how to deal with him. She passed on the word that Taz couldn’t be trusted. When Charlotte added her two cents, the scum in N’awlins listened.”
They didn’t doubt that.
Charlotte was a wild card on a good day. On a bad one, she could wipe you out.
Clearly.
“What can you tell me about him?” Rogue asked. What he needed was intel, and Julius was giving up the goods for free.
“He’s a gambler.”
“And?”
“He has a place.”
“And?” Rogue asked.
“That’s all I’ve got—for now. You come back with some details about Charlotte’s killer, and I’ll give you a little more. I figure you have until I can sell this place.”
Well, that sucked.
There went the free intel. Now, it was going to be tit for tat. In fact, they were being blackmailed by a criminal and right to their faces.
Rogue needed that intel, and Julius wanted Charlotte’s death avenged. This was a bad place to be in, and he knew it. The only person in a worse situation was his sperm donor. His father had been near the house that held Storm St. Clair. If he was involved, he had to go.
Taz had a shortened life expectancy as of that moment.
“Are you in?” Julius asked.
“Deal,” Sarah stated.
Rogue nodded.
“We’ll help you get justice for her,” he said, nearly choking on his words. Oh, the irony. Here he was, going to find a killer who gave Charlotte just what she deserved.
Yeah, the universe had a sense of humor.
As did Stella, since she was laughing like a fool.
That was their sign.
“We need to take her home, and then we’ll hit up Charlotte’s home,” Sarah stated, hoping Dakota wouldn’t be pissed that they had taken it upon themselves to play this angle.
The end goal was the same.
“Yeah, someone can’t hold her tequila,” Julius stated. “Have me the intel before I get a buyer. Once I do, I’m out of here. Then I’ll handle the loose ends on my own.”
They got it.
Tick.
Tock.
The clock was ticking.
“Will do,” she stated. “For now, one of our team needs to hit detox.”
“I can go,” she stated. “I’m fine.”
Yeah, no one was buying that.
“I’ll see you again,” Julius stated. “You, Bunny, come alone next time if you haven’t handled Charlotte’s killer. I don’t like when people don’t follow through.”
She got it.
Rogue had made a big promise. If they didn’t come through, the man was banning him. That wasn’t good, since the underbelly hung out there, and they needed to work with the criminal element.
“Julius.”
“I mean it. He said deal. I want Charlotte’s killer handled, and fast.”
Rogue threw down cash for their drinks.
“Your money isn’t good in here,” he stated.
Apparently, tequila made him mean.
Good to
know.
“Keep it. I won’t have you saying I owe you anything,” he stated. “I hope you sell this place to someone who isn’t so damn angry!”
“I hope you find Charlotte’s killer. Don’t take me talking to you as me liking you, playboy. You screwed over my girl.”
Well, that was perspective. Only, Rogue didn’t want to fight it out. He wanted peace, and the only way to get that was to find Charlotte’s killer.
Purgatory could kiss his ass. Hopefully, the next owner would burn it to the ground and start over. It was a shithole mess, and it needed to be purged.
Sarah stopped him from saying more.
This wasn’t the time or place, and he got that. They’d handle this later.
Together, they headed out.
Stella was stumbling.
Yeah, they didn’t live far, but she couldn't walk there. They were going to have to hail a cab.
Sarah whistled, and they hopped into the back of the cab that pulled up to the curb.
“I can walk!” she insisted. “It’s only a few blocks,” she stated. “I’m good.”
No one was buying that.
NO ONE.
Tequila either hit you like a bus or you could handle it. They weren’t sure which category Stella was going to fall into, and they didn’t want her falling flat on her face.
That drew attention.
From the cops.
“Four twenty-five Chartres,” Rogue said. “Step on it,” he offered, handing the man a crisp hundred-dollar bill. “Make it fast. She may puke.”
That was all he had to say.
No cabbie wanted vomit in the back of their car. In New Orleans, that had to be a common occurrence.
The man pulled out into traffic, which was chaotic for the mid-day, and headed toward their destination.
“This whole thing sucks,” Rogue said to Sarah.
She got it.
He was hurt.
He’d been played.
“I’m sorry. What she did was…”
“I hate women,” he said point blank. Rogue was NOT mincing words. “I hate that I didn’t see it coming. I’ll never trust a woman again.”
“Really?” she asked.
“What?” he replied.
She stared at him and then pointed at herself as if to prove a point.
“Present company excluded, of course.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
There was no arguing with him. He was still raw over Charlotte’s demise and getting Peony. For now, they’d let it go.
Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two) Page 9