by Jen Talty
A whore for a mother.
A gangster for a father.
The former he wasn’t ashamed of, the latter made him sick to his stomach. His mother never intentionally hurt anyone. She did what she had to in order to survive. Only she continued to work as an escort even when she didn’t have to.
It took Clayton a long time to accept his mother couldn’t or wouldn’t give up a half a dozen of her regular clients. These men were kind to his mother and lavished her in gifts and money, much like Maxwell had, only they didn’t force his mother to give it all back or beat her into submission.
But still, his mother never stopped selling her body, and he had to admit, if only to himself, that fact bothered him, but only because Clayton knew in the depths of his soul what he was capable of doing.
And that wasn’t any better than his gangster father.
Clayton’s genetics were not something that should be passed on to another generation.
“You’re lying,” Sage said with an authoritative and all-knowing tone. “You care very deeply what others think of you, or you wouldn’t be so aloof and live in a trailer that can be attached or detached from your truck at any minute. You choose not to get close to people because you’re afraid they might find out that you believe you are no better than your father. Maybe in some ways, your mother as well.”
He waggled his finger. “I loved my mom.”
“I’m not saying you don’t. I loved…love my parents.” She swiped her finger under her eye. “When it comes out what my parents have done, the world will look at me differently.”
He cupped her cheeks and held her gaze. “No. You’re innocent in all this, and everyone will see that.”
“You’re innocent as well—”
“I’ve done some bad things in my day.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“I’ve had to take human life.”
“Had to? During combat? To save yourself and others? That doesn’t make you a bad person,” she said with fire in her throaty voice.
“You don’t know the half of it. And if you did, you would think very differently of me.” He wanted to push from her sweet touch and tender gaze. It had been twenty-five years since he’d uttered a single word about what could have destroyed his life. Hell, he barely allowed himself to think about it. Had Frost not stood in Clayton’s corner all those years ago, Clayton could have easily been sharing a cell with his father.
“While we’re waiting to be attacked, why don’t you tell me,” she said.
Being honest with her might make it easier for both of them to say goodbye because she wouldn’t be able to look at him once she knew the truth. “It’s an ugly story.”
“What is it you think you’ve done that is so bad?”
“I killed someone.” He pressed his fingers over her lips. “It wasn’t in combat. I was fifteen years old.”
Her eyes widened, and her jaw slacked open.
His heart beat so fast that he had trouble filling his lungs. A wave of nausea gripped his stomach. He hadn’t let his mind go back and pull up the images from that day since his mother’s funeral. He’d filed them in a back corner of his brain and did his best to forget.
She cleared her throat. “Are you going to leave me hanging?”
“Do you really want to know?”
She nodded.
He shifted his gaze to the fire, flickering toward the sky. The yellow, orange, and red flames swirled and merged, snapping his memory into focus. Clutching his chest, he heaved in a deep breath. Telling her would give her the freedom to walk away from him and never look back. It would be hard, considering what was about to happen to her parents, but he couldn’t bear the thought of keeping her down, and that would be exactly what he’d do if he even attempted to have something with her when all was said and done.
“There was this girl I was dating when I was in high school. Her name was Bella, and she was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen at that time.” Clayton slid from the log to the ground, sitting next to her, but keeping a safe distance. He needed to remain detached from it all, or he might fall apart, and he couldn’t afford to do that. “She grew up much like I had, but her mom had married some rich dude and took them from the streets. He didn’t like me. Didn’t think I was good enough for Bella, so he forbid her to see me.”
“You said you killed someone. Can we get to that part of the story, please?”
Her words stung his heart, but it was the way she looked at him with a dash of understanding behind her shocked-filled eyes that terrified him.
“She came to school one day with a black eye. She told me she walked into a door, but I knew better. When I pressed her, I found she had bruises in other places, and she told me her stepfather had raped her.”
Sage gasped, covering her mouth. “What did you do?”
“I went to her house and confronted him.” Clayton ripped open his shirt, pulling it down over his shoulder. “If you look carefully, you’ll see a scar from a bullet here.” He tapped his tattoo and then turned his back. “And another one on the Eagle’s head.”
Her fingers burned his skin as she traced the scar. “He shot you, and you killed him in self-defense.”
“Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one who died that day.”
“Bella?”
“When she told me at school, I just took off with rage in my heart. I wanted him to die, and I wanted to be the man to kill him.”
“You wanted him to pay, but you didn’t want him dead.”
“Oh, yes, I did. To me, he represented every man who hit a woman, or a prostitute, or anyone for that matter. He represented all the bad things that created my world, and I wanted it to end. I wanted more for Bella. And for myself. But Bella followed me, and the bullet that hit my back had gone right through her body before nailing me. She died in my arms.”
“You didn’t kill her.”
“I might not have pulled the trigger, but she’s dead because I acted out of emotion, something I won’t ever do again.”
“You’re kidding, right? Because he would have killed her, anyway.”
“Nope. Because I killed him too.” Clayton had heard this argument a million times, including from all the first responders that had shown up that day. Not to mention, Clayton had never been charged for a single crime, even though he thought he should have been. He’d already suspected Maxwell was his father, so Bella’s death just gave him the proof that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
He should have been arrested because he showed no mercy.
He hated putting Sage through this, but if he didn’t, he feared he’d want to find a way to keep her in his life, and that wouldn’t be good.
“You’re not giving me all the facts,” Sage said. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “And he raped a young girl, he—”
“He deserved a fair trial, but he didn’t get that because after he shot Bella and me, I managed to stab him twice. The second time I hit a main artery, and he bled out before help got there.”
“That’s self-defense,” she said.
“I went after him. I threw the first punch. He was the one defending himself.”
“Do you feel guilty?” she asked.
That wasn’t a question anyone had ever asked him before. As a matter of fact, everyone told him not to feel bad. But no one asked him how he felt about it.
“I feel guilty human life was lost.”
“Do you feel guilty for defending your friend?”
“No,” he admitted. “But my actions directly caused her death.”
“Well, if anyone raped and beat me, I hope I have someone like you on my side. And for the record, that doesn’t make you like your father. If anything, it makes you the exact opposite.”
The microphone in his ear crackled.
“We’ve got Nolan, only it’s not Nolan,” Boomer said. “We’ll be there in five.”
He tapped his ear. “Who is it, then?” Clayton’s lungs deflated. They were playing a r
isky game, but it was the only way to bring Stanley down without having to spend months, maybe even years, gathering information, only to have him get off on a technicality. If they could pin him on conspiracy to commit murder, they suspected shortly after, the DA would be able to dig deeper and put Stanley behind bars for life.
But where did that leave Sage? She might be strong, smart, and perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but this would forever change her life, and he was partially to blame.
“It’s an interesting story and one best told in person. However, the plan is still the same, so it’s time to have Sage take cover.”
“Ten-four,” he said, turning his attention back to Sage. “I want you to go in the trailer, okay?”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Just do it and lock the door,” he said behind a tight jaw. None of this was her fault, and since he believed that, he had to believe it wasn’t his fault either.
Caring about someone put a damper on his ability to be dishonest with himself.
“You’re scaring me,” she said.
He jumped to his feet, pulling her with him. “This should all be over in the next half hour, so just go inside and try to relax.”
“Easy for you to say.”
He held her hands, rubbing his thumbs over her skin. “Do you trust me?”
She nodded.
“Good.” He kissed her gently, lovingly. He kissed her as if she were the air that he breathed. “We’re going to be okay.”
He watched her step into his trailer. She glanced over her shoulder. Tears shimmered across her cheeks.
“Wait for my signal,” he said.
“Be safe.” She blew him a kiss.
“Always.” After the door closed, he tossed a few more logs on the fire and poked at them. The next few minutes ticked by slowly as he waited for Boomer.
In the distance, he could see Boomer walking up the road, his rifle slung over his shoulder as another man stepped out in front of him, his arms swinging freely.
That gave Clayton pause.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Clayton, meet very special agent Benny Young,” Boomer said. “They picked up Nolan a couple of hours ago. It looks like your girl’s friend hacked his arm so good that he had to seek medical attention. He went to a vet who called the Feds, so he’s been in custody for the last twenty-four hours.”
“That pretty much fucks up our plan.” Clayton shook Benny’s hand. “Why’d you have Sage take cover if Nolan isn’t here?”
“Because her father thinks I’m Nolan,” Benny said. “And we didn’t think she needed to hear everything I had to say before we move forward.”
If this were any other job, he’d agree and go alone, but this wasn’t just any case, and Sage was his charge. “No. If you have something to say about her father, she has the right to know.”
“He’s taken a hit out on his own kid. That’s way too much—”
“She knows that already.” Clayton made his way to the trailer and pounded on the door. “Sage. Come on out.”
“It’s more than that,” Benny said. “It’s too dangerous for her to know.”
“I agree.” Boomer held up his hand. “But if she were my girl, I’d want her to hear the truth before it comes out in a media shitstorm she might not recover from.”
“Have it your way,” Benny said.
A couple of seconds later, Sage stuck her head out. “What’s going on?”
Clayton took her by the hand and led her back to the firepit. “I’m not exactly sure, but this is Benny. He’s a federal agent.”
“Now I’m totally wigged out,” Sage said.
“Sorry to meet you under these circumstances,” Benny said as he leaned against Clayton’s truck.
“So, can we cut to the chase?” Clayton asked, keeping his arm looped around Sage’s waist, holding her steady.
“In a nutshell, the man hired to kidnap Sage has been taken into custody, and we cut a deal with him—”
“Of course you did.” Clayton cut Benny off. “I’m well aware of how Nolan operates; now, can we get to the problem at hand?” Clayton didn’t like it when someone else called the shots on his operation, but he knew his hands were tied, and his job was to protect Sage, and he’d do whatever it took to make sure she walked away without even a scratch on her head.
“Stanley has no idea what Nolan looks like,” Benny said.
“Are you sure about that?” Clayton knew better than anyone that Nolan kept a low profile, not wanting most people to know what he looked like. It had been joked that Nolan was a master of disguise, and Clayton didn’t doubt that, but people did know who he looked like.
And Clayton was one of those people.
“We’re sure.” Benny took one of the chairs and made himself comfortable in front of the fire. “Funny thing is, we’ve had our eye on Stanley, his company, and his wife’s firm now for a while, but it wasn’t until after we picked up Nolan that we found out Stanley wanted to hire him for a second job.”
“To kill me.” Sage shivered.
Clayton pulled her close and pressed his lips against her temple. “No one is going to kill you on my watch.”
“Or mine,” Benny said.
“Me three,” Boomer chimed in with a grin.
“Anyway, we’d like to alter the plan,” Benny said.
“Alter, how?” Clayton never liked last-minute adjustments. “Why can’t we stage her death, making me look as though I did it to force Stanley to confess.”
“That won’t give us enough to shut him and his wife down,” Benny said.
“What did my parents do, exactly?” Sage stiffened her spine and stood taller.
“A plethora of things between embezzling money, laundering money, fraud, to name a few. The bigger crime we want them on is human trafficking.”
“Excuse me?” Sage’s voice cracked.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the news lately about missing prostitutes?”
“Fuck,” Clayton muttered. “How are they involved in that?” He’d seen all the news reports on the missing girls, half were thought to be runaway teens, the other half most figured they moved on, but hookers didn’t just move on. Life on the streets didn’t work that way. They needed help to get out of that way of life, and as his mother knew all too well, it was almost impossible to stay away. Of course, his mother said she did so to ensure she helped as many women and their kids as she could, even if that meant keeping a foothold in that way of life.
Sage shook her head. “No. No. No way. My parents might be a lot of things, but trafficking young girls? I don’t believe it.”
“I wish I could tell you it wasn’t true, but one of the many business holdings your parents own is a talent agency, but it’s also a cover for getting young girls and boys out of the country and sold into slavery.”
“Are you talking about the Holland Agency?” Clayton asked.
Benny nodded.
“Fuck. Right before my mother died, she told me about her concerns over missing hookers and their connection to the Holland Agency. Nothing ever came of it, and I let it go.”
“My parents wouldn’t…wouldn’t…” Sage’s voice trailed off. She glanced up at him. “That’s not your fault.”
Leave it to her to switch her focus to him and not the pain her own parents caused her. Clayton squeezed her hip. Her entire world had been turned upside down all because she wanted her father to be proud of her accomplishments; only her father turned out to be unworthy of Sage’s loyalty.
“Are you positive about what my parents have been doing?” Sage’s voice turned hard and cold.
There was nothing Clayton could do to stop the change happening in Sage’s mental state. He might not have been exactly where she stood, but he understood betrayal in more ways than one.
“We’ve been trying to nail your father ever since he took over for Maxwell.”
Clayton groaned. He should have known Maxwell had a hand in all this.
“And what does Maxwell say about Stanley and this operation.”
“He’s the one who gave us all the information.”
“That sounds like a setup to me,” Boomer said as he poked at one of the logs with a long stick. “What does he get out of it?”
“Payback,” Benny said. “Stanley and Lorna made the mistake of thinking that just because Maxwell was in prison, that meant they could run the operations any way they wanted.”
“So, he’s yanking their chain to get rid of me and destroy them in the process,” Clayton said.”
“You’ve got that one right,” Benny said. “Maxwell doesn’t care how any of this goes down as long as the Adams’ pay for stealing and Clayton either ends up dead or blamed for a murder.”
Clayton wondered if he’d ever be out from under Maxwell’s curse. He thought by denying the man was his father, he’d be free of his grasp, especially since Maxwell had told him to his face that Clayton wasn’t good enough to be his kin.
That was fine by Clayton.
But the reality was that Maxwell’s blood raced through Clayton’s veins, and as long as Clayton continued to give the man space in his brain, Maxwell would always be a part of his life, and that was something he could no longer accept. If he was going to have any chance at the kind of life he realized he wanted, it was time to stop giving Maxwell space inside his brain.
“How can we help make sure my parents go to jail?” Sage asked.
“Instead of faking your death, we want you to wear a wire and get them talking,” Benny said.
“Over my dead body,” Clayton interjected.
“That can be arranged because we think they are more apt to talk if they think you’re dead. Maxwell has all but said he doesn’t care who dies, as long as you get blamed for it,” Benny said. “So, you die, and we put a wire on her, and she gets her parents to tell us all about where they are hiding the missing young men and women and when the next sale is and to whom.”
“No way. I won’t allow it,” Clayton said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Sage poked his arm. “I’m doing it.”
“Babe, it’s—”
“Time to get my hands dirty,” Sage with a tinge of pride.
“That’s not what I meant when I said that.” Clayton closed the gap, ignoring the two men right behind him. He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head. Her soft blue eyes caught the glow of the moon, making his knees go weak.
