Hawk

by Tiya Rayne

  This time Zel answers me. “If they are trying to recruit you now, I don’t think it’s to become a Deacon. Something is up.”

  “I agree,” Priest replies. “I don’t know what’s going on with the Church. Things aren’t making sense. Which is why I had you stay close to Hawk. With that shit that happened last night, I’m starting to not trust anyone.”

  Priest turns to Walker. “Me and your brothers. That’s all you can trust. I’ll try to get to Beast when he is released, but I’m not sure I can. With the way things are going, I don’t think they trust me either. There’s obviously a snake in the Church.”

  “Have you talked to Pope? What does he think?”

  “I haven’t been able to get to him yet. He’s been busy trying to calm down the masses after Fem’s death.”

  “This is fucked up.”

  I agree with Zel. We already have two parties after us. We’re trying to solve a murder case in the next few days and now you add this to it, it’s too much.

  Walker wraps his arms around my shoulder and pulls me into him. I go a little hesitantly at first. I haven’t forgotten his reaction to finding out my sister was in love with Priest.

  “What’s wrong?” It’s still amazing to me that he can pick up on something being off with me without me ever saying anything.

  “Nothing,” I lie.

  “You two need to check those addresses,” Zel says, bringing our private conversation back to the moment. “We only have a few more days to crack this case.”

  He’s right. I can’t let my sour feelings get in the way of that.

  “Go get the black book so we can check the next address.”

  “I don’t need it.” I rattle off the address that I remembered from the first time I saw it. I haven’t needed the little black book since the day I opened it, but I kept it to always double check and for sentimental value.

  “That’s First International Bank,” Zel says after putting the address into his phone. Something I could have done if Walker hadn’t tossed my phone that first night. I’m still pissed about that. “Why would she send you to a bank?”

  “When it comes to Albany, I’m learning not to ask questions.”

  “Exactly,” Priest agrees. “If you’re going to that bank, you’re going to need to dress the part. Those yoga pants and that basic T-shirt don’t exactly scream business attire.”

  Seriously, Albany, this was the man you were in love with?

  “I have other clothes, asshole.”

  He grunts in reply. I roll my eyes and walk away. I needed time away from Priest. He is three seconds away from me putting my foot up his ass. I head into the bedroom to search through the clothes my sister ordered for me. She prepared me for everything.

  “You okay?” Walker’s sudden appearance causes me to jump. I haven’t done that around him in a while. He’s been doing his best not to sneak up on me.

  “I told you, I’m fine.”

  He grabs my arm, stilling me from going through the clothes hanging up in the closet and turns me to face him. “You’re angry with me. Why?”

  I was going to drop it, but since he asked. “You seem disappointed to find out my sister was in love with Priest.”

  He narrows his eyes as if my words are confusing. “You still doubt what you mean to me?”

  “I’m not doubting. I’m just telling you what I noticed.”

  Walker sighs and places his forehead to mine. “Priest is like a father to me. Maybe more of a big brother and Albany was my friend. Neither of them told me how they felt about each other. I thought he and I were closer than that.”

  He felt betrayed, not jealous. I can understand that. That’s exactly how I felt when I first found out about Albany and her secrets.

  It hurts to know that the person you think you’re closest to isn’t exactly all that close after all. It’s like a new wall forms between you and that person. In my case, I had to tear down that wall brick by brick to find the real version of my sister.

  “You know what I learned from all of this?”

  “What?”

  “I learned that some secrets are good secrets. And that if someone doesn’t tell you something, it doesn’t mean they don’t love you. Had Priest told you about him and Albany, would you have taken the time to form a friendship with her?”

  He shakes his head adamantly. “No.”

  “And if you’d never gotten to meet Albany, you would have never discovered Red.”

  His smile spreads so wide it lights up his face. “I would have found you eventually. My heart was going to always lead me to you.”

  I laugh and place a kiss on his lips. “You’re trying to get some.”

  He laughs. “Maybe.” He lets me go and walks out of the closet. I pull down the pants suit Albany ordered. I guess I know what I’m wearing.

  Chapter 23

  It’s Official

  Brooklyn

  This bank is like a cathedral inside. Intricate tile flooring in geometric designs trimmed in gold. White limestone pillars run up the middle of the building like a church aisle. Large picture windows go from the first floor to the second. Detailed crown molding curves into arches. This bank is entirely too fancy to hold my measly savings.

  Even with a twelve-thousand-dollar pants suit and two bodyguards at my sides, I feel out of place in this building.

  “May I help you?” a well-dressed man asks, stepping in front of me.

  “Ummm, yeah.” I have no idea what I’m doing here or what I’m looking for, but if I know my sister, she already thought this through. “I’m Brooklyn Creedmoor Walker.”

  “Mrs. Walker.” Another man appears from the right of me. He’s a little older than the first man and wears a genuine smile. “It’s good to see you again. Are you here for the lockbox?”

  I am now. “Yes.”

  The older guy steps up to us and with a pat on the back, dismisses the first man. “Right this way, Mrs. Walker.”

  We follow him down a side hallway, not the main one with the large pillars and bright natural light. We take a left down the hall and come to a small bare room. The only thing in the room is a security guard and a vault door.

  “Hello, John,” our banker speaks to the security guard.

  “Hey, Scott.”

  Scott turns to us. “Only two people are allowed in here at a time.”

  Zel nods. “I’ll wait out front.”

  He spins around on his heels and walks back out of the room. I’ve spent all day with that man and I’ve yet to figure out his superpower. He seems like a regular guy. Other than that dangerous glint in his eyes, he could be someone I met at work.

  “Right this way,” Scott says, pulling my attention back to him as he directs us toward the vault door the security guard opens. We step through the circular door and come into a room that reminds me of a post office with PO box style walls. Hundreds of small metal doors.

  Scott walks us over to the number 612. “You will need your key for this.”

  Well, we finally know what the key is for. I take off my necklace, slide the little key off and hand it to Scott, then place my necklace back on my neck. Scott uses the key and opens the metal door. He slides a medium sized box out and hands it to me along with the key.

  “I’ll give you a few minutes alone,” Scott says before walking out of the room. I take the box over to the built-in shelf—kind of like a bar—and place it down. On the front of the box are number dials. Four to be exact.

  “Walker, look at this.” I draw his attention to the box. “This needs a four-digit code. What do I put?”

  He turns his head to the side in that way that’s so familiar to me now, I find myself doing it sometimes.

  “Everything she has shown us, she prepared for it. She wouldn’t send you here blindly. Think back. Has she given you a code?”

  I close my eyes, drawing forth one of those canvases. My paintbrush is slowly moving across the white backdrop. My mind is working frantically to pull up the me
mory.

  The first image that appears is me the day my sister died. I had gotten out of the shower. It was around seven that night. My phone vibrated on my nightstand and when I picked it up it was a message from my sister. It would be the last one she would send before she died.

  TTFA

  That canvas fades and another one pops up. This time my paintbrush moves quickly over the background. I’m in that little security room at the hospital with Detective Long. And he’s asking about that text.

  That’s when I remember there was something different about the message this time. She didn’t write it the usual way. The first three words were spelled with numbers and the last word was spaced out. 2day. 2morrow. 4ever. A.L.W.A.Y.S.

  My eyes pop open and I put in the numbers two, two, four, six into the dials. The clicking of the box lets me know that once again, my sister was always prepared.

  Inside the box is one of those blank CDs you buy at Walmart. There’s also an envelope with my name on it and something that has my head spinning. A New York marriage license between Walker and I. Holy shit, she married us? I thought she was being funny with all the Mr. and Mrs. bullshit.

  “Do you see this?” I ask him. He steps beside me, placing a kiss on my temple. “She married us.”

  He steps away from me, his eyes wide. “That can’t be. We would have to be there for that. And I’m pretty sure I missed it.”

  “Well, obviously I did too. It says we got married in Brooklyn three months ago and it looks real.” I turn the document over to the signed form on the back. “This has to be fake.”

  Walker steps closer to me and turns my head to him with his finger under my chin. “What if it isn’t? Would it be so bad?”

  Has this man lost his mind? It’s one thing to pretend, but it’s something else to actually be married. “You can’t be serious? We just met.”

  “Did we? You can’t tell me that this relationship feels new to you. Don’t look at it from a time standpoint, tell me what you feel?”

  I shake my head. He’s crazy, no one in their right mind will believe I’m in love with this man after only sixteen days of knowing him.

  The imaginary sound of a needle scratching over a record halts all further thought. Did I just admit that? Am I in love with Walker?

  I’ve spent years getting to know him, thanks to Albany. She taught me about his likes and dislikes, and even the things he and I have in common. And in the last week and a half, I’ve learned to trust him.

  I trust him with my life actually, and that’s one of the biggest hurdles for me. I’ve learned to rely on him, confide in him, and gotten to know him on a deeper level. I guess it isn’t so farfetched that I’m in love with him.

  “You’re right. I guess being married to you isn’t the craziest thing that could happen. We do already have the rings.” I hold up my hand and wiggle my ring finger, which holds the ring that—despite my initial belief it had been unnecessary—I still never take off.

  “Believe me, it would have happened eventually anyway. There was no way I’d continue to let you roam this earth without being my wife.”

  I find myself blushing, even though I don’t want to be. “Oh, and in this scenario did you also assume I would say yes?”

  “Are you challenging me again?” He backs me into the shelf, placing his hands on the wood behind me, caging me in. “Do you remember what happened the last time?”

  My knees go weak with the mere thought of the way he fucked me in that bathroom. I thought I was never going to stop coming. That orgasm nearly snatched my soul.

  “Not a challenge,” I say, correcting myself before Scott and John get the show of a lifetime. “An observation.”

  He kisses his teeth, then smiles down at me before placing one hand at my lower back, drawing my body flush into his.

  “Not that I need to ask because let’s face it—we’re already married—but for the sake of it. Brooklyn Creedmoor Walker, will you marry me?”

  I bite my bottom lip to tease him. Hell, I might as well say yes. As he pointed out we’re already married. “I guess.”

  He laughs before placing a sweet kiss on my lips. His kisses are usually demanding and feverish, but this one is slow. He takes his time warming me up.

  A throat clears behind us and we pull away from each other.

  “I am checking to see if you two are done,” Scott says, stepping into the room.

  “We are,” I reply.

  I hand the marriage license to Walker and grab the envelope out of the box. My heart races. I’m a bit nervous to read that letter. I fold it in half and stuff it into my pants back pocket. I grab the CD next.

  “Actually,” I say, turning to Scott. “Do you have somewhere I can view this?”

  “Umm, yes. My office.”

  I smile. “Thanks.”

  Scott puts away the safe deposit box and then leads us out of the vault. We head back out to the main section of the bank where we spot Zel. He catches our eye and stands to follow us.

  Scott leads us down the hall straight across from the one we were just in. He opens the door to a small office and holds it open as we walk in. I take one of the two seats across from his desk. Zel takes the other while Walker stands behind me.

  When Scott sits down, I hand him the CD. He pops open the case and take the circular disc out before sticking it into the side of his laptop.

  “Do you have any idea what’s on this?”

  “No, but if a raven pops up, you might want to turn it off immediately.”

  Zel snorts beside me. “Let me guess, Lucien?” he asks over his shoulder to Walker.

  “Yeah. It was bad.” Both men laugh. I like seeing Walker like this. He jokes and teases with me all the time, but there’s something different about him when he’s with his brothers.

  I think we are scaring Scott. That wide-eyed panicked stare he is giving me tells me he doesn’t get the joke. Scott presses a few buttons on his computer and then turns the screen around to us.

  “It looks like surveillance footage.”

  He’s right. It’s a split screen of the apartment my sister owned. There is a view outside the building and one at her front door. Zel and I both lean into the computer.

  The time and date on the top of the screen reads a little after midnight five years ago. I’m guessing this is the night Walker took down Heimlich Research. Right as the thought crosses my mind, Walker appears on the screen. From the way he’s clutching his side, I can tell he’s injured.

  He walks into the building and disappears. Moments after he’s gone, a thin woman appears. She also walks into the building.

  “Did she follow him?” Zel seems to be thinking the same thing I am.

  Walker appears in the next frame. He’s at Red’s door. The door swings open and I gasp. There my sister is looking exactly like me. Her sexy red lingerie leaves very little hidden and although her curly red wig is longer than my hair, it’s the same color red.

  I can’t hear what they’re saying, but eventually, they both walk into the apartment and shut the door. Then seconds later, the girl appears. I can only make out the top of her blonde hair, but she walks right up to Red’s door.

  “She followed you that night. She has to be the one.”

  The woman on the screen turns around and her entire face appears on the camera.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shout the words as I surge to my feet. “Do you see this shit?” I turn to ask Walker.

  “Who is she?” Zel asks.

  “Her name is Gabriella. We met her at a boutique. That bitch walked right up to me and shook my hand.”

  I guess I need to find my way into one of her celebrity parties… and Albany knew it. That’s why she ordered the gown. And the sixth address makes sense now too.

  Alpine, New Jersey. How the hell didn’t I make that connection when Chloe mentioned Alpine? I can’t fucking believe I was that close to the bitch involved in my sister’s death.

  “Call Lucien, see wh
at he can get me on this woman,” Walker says. I can tell he’s as angry as I am. We had her and didn’t know it.

  Zel picks up Scott’s phone off his desk and makes the call. These guys are serious about no cell phones. Scott takes the CD out of the computer and hands it to me. I place it back in the case.

  Zel hangs up the phone. “I got Seth, but he said he will deliver the message to Lucien.”

  “Good, let’s go.” Walker grabs my hand and lifts me out of the chair.

  “Wait,” Scott calls out to us. “Do you want to check your balance now?”

  I look to Walker who shrugs, I think his mind is still fixated on what we’ve discovered.

  “Sure,” I reply.

  ***

  That response has me sitting in the back of this SUV staring down at the piece of paper in my hand. There are so many numbers written on this paper, I’m not even sure it’s real. Even Walker says that it’s an exorbitant amount of money. He admitted that they got paid well, but not that damn well. I’m still trying to figure out where the hell Albany got all this money from.

  “Hey, Hawk.” Zel draws our attention to the front seat. “We have company. Two cars back. Five men.”

  “What do you mean?” I go to turn around and Walker places a hand on my thigh.

  “Don’t look back. Relax, act natural.” He reaches down between his feet and grabs the black duffle he’s never without. “Steven, we’re going to take a little detour. Is that all right?”

  “Sure, Mr. Walker.”

  Walker pulls out two large guns and hands one to Zel, slipping it between the door and the passenger seat.

  “I want you to turn left up here at this light.”

  Steven follows Walker’s direction a lot calmer than I would, turning down a narrow two-lane street.

  “They followed,” Zel informs us, then cocks the big gun in his hands.

  “Guys, isn’t this a bit dangerous. Maybe we should make a run for it or try to hide in a parking garage.”

  “Cute,” Zel jokes. “Someone has been watching movies.”