by L. A. Fiore
He reached for the zipper, pulling it slowly down, kissing every inch of skin he exposed. He pushed the straps from her shoulders, the gown slid down her body.
“Look at me.” His voice was hoarse.
She turned, dressed only in her lace boy shorts. “I was right. It looks better pooled at your feet.”
His gaze moved down her body; he brushed his finger over her nipple, her breath hitched. His gaze moved back to hers. “Move in with me,” he whispered.
He watched her expressive face and could practically hear her internal argument, the doubt, and the worry that it was too soon, that they were rushing, but he saw when she settled on the answer he wanted to hear. Instead of giving him what he wanted, though, she said, “I have a cat.”
He countered smoothly, “He’s invited, too.”
Her smile was blinding. “Yes,” she whispered.
He wanted to kiss her, but he knew he wouldn’t stop at kissing. She had to get to work, so he helped her dress, but held her chin when he added, “I want you in my apartment by the weekend.”
She drew her lower lip into her mouth, her blue eyes heating with want. She didn’t answer with words, but that was all the answer he needed.
Fifteen
Molly
“Holy shit,” Zac said, pacing the captain’s office. “Holy shit.”
“How did you get this info?” Cap asked, then held up his hand. “Do I want to know?”
I’d definitely crossed a line, but considering what we learned, it was worth it. “Kade Wakefield’s PI.”
“And he’s helping because?” Captain narrowed his eyes, then answered his own question. “It’s an active investigation, Molly.”
“I know, I know, but he knows about it since we interviewed him. He offered to look into Jason Benjamin, and since we weren’t having any luck, I didn’t see the harm.”
“We can’t use anything he shared,” Captain warned.
“I know, but it gives us a direction to look, one I don’t think we would have found on our own.”
“We’re going to have to pull in Vin’s team, get him to do some of the legwork, maybe they even have shit on Jason and Katrina, shit they don’t even know they have,” Captain said.
“I agree with Molly. I think Jason killed Katrina. And since he’s the only player in the wind, him killing now, to keep his secret, makes sense.”
“Agreed, but I’d still like to know who the father of Katrina’s baby is and where that baby is now. And follow up with that coroner. Why did he withhold the pregnancy from the autopsy report?”
“I already have a call into Jackson. As far as the baby…” I said, earning both of their attention. “There’s a gala tonight and a woman who worked in the ward and cared for Katrina is going to be there.”
Captain dropped down on his desk. “Whoever the hell this PI is I think he needs to work for us. I’m guessing you’ll be attending this gala.”
“Yes, as will Zac.”
“I am.” Zac looked surprised.
“Kade made it happen.”
“I think we need to put Kade on the payroll, too,” Captain said. “Alright talk to this woman. I’ll reach out to vice. We need to find Jason Benjamin’s true identity and let’s find her baby.” Captain moved around his desk. “Follow up with Milton Teller. He didn’t know about the baby? And now that we know her parents’ secret, selling their kid for fifty grand, maybe they’ll be more willing to talk.”
Zac fidgeted with his tie. “I want to be mad, but Kade’s guy found out more than our entire forensic team.”
“Why didn’t Breen follow the money?” I asked. “It’s Detective 101, but he didn’t follow it.”
“Yeah, that’s a question we’re going to have to ask him.”
Kade appeared. “Car’s here.”
He’d given Zac and me time to strategize. I hadn’t needed to ask. He greeted Zac then disappeared, leaving us to it. I walked to him now, slipped my hand into his, and touched my lips to his.
He responded with another kiss, hard, quick and perfect.
Zac approached, fidgeted with his tie again. “Thank you for the invite and the info.”
Kade studied Zac before he said, “That hurt.”
Zac blew out a breath. “You have no fucking idea,” he said, and started for the door.
When we reached the gala, Zac was all business. My head was in the game, but looking around at the museum, where the gala was being held, all the beautiful people, I wanted to mingle, too. Maybe after, we could.
“We need to draw her from the crowd,” Zac said. “Any thoughts?”
“I’ll bring her to you,” Kade offered.
He didn’t wait around for a reply before he disappeared.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I kind of get the appeal,” Zac said.
I’d just taken a sip of my champagne. It almost came out of my nose. “Warn me next time.”
He chuckled. A few minutes later, a woman approached us. “Your presence is requested in the Chloe room. Out those doors, second exhibit on the right.”
Zac glanced down at me when the woman disappeared. “He’s good.”
We entered the room that still had people mingling, but the noise level was manageable. I spotted Kade, immediately, in the corner with an elderly woman, early seventies. Camilla Mulroney was dressed in a long black gown that hugged her figure, and she still had a hell of one. Her gray hair was swept off her face and small diamonds hung from her ears.
We approached, and Kade made the introductions before Zac took point.
“We’re sorry to ambush you, but we wondered if we could ask you a few questions about a patient you tended.”
Camilla knew immediately. “Katrina Dent.”
“Yes.”
She looked a little nervous, but she surprised us when she said, “What would you like to know?”
“She was pregnant,” Zac said.
“Yes, she came to us before she started showing. Stayed with us for the duration of the pregnancy. I’d never seen someone so excited about having a baby, and I worked in the maternity ward.”
“Did she admit herself?”
“Her fiancé did.” It was her tone that revealed she wasn’t a fan of his. “For someone so highhanded, he didn’t come around very often. Katrina was exhausted when she joined us, but for those seven months, she was happy, rested and so excited to be a mom.”
“But she wasn’t,” Zac said.
“No. I’ll never forget that day. They didn’t even tell her. She needed a C–section, and they took her baby before she woke from the anesthesia. She never got to see her baby.”
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
Her gaze turned to me. “It was the most heartbreaking scene, but as soon as she recovered, he had her checked out and back to work.” Anger was in her tone now.
“Why would she go back to work?” I asked. “Why agree when he did something so heinous?”
“To be honest, I think it was fear. She wasn’t going back. She was leaving him, leaving the business, but he came to her one day, and whatever he said, she was packed the next day.”
“So he was blackmailing her,” Zac said, not hiding his anger.
“That would be my guess.”
“Has anyone found you since?” I asked. “Looking for information on Katrina?”
“I would have thought so, but, no, not one person until a few years ago. Some reporter found me.”
“Frank Harris?” Zac asked.
“Yes, that’s him.” She sobered. “I never believed she killed herself. Even with everything she’d been through, she had a thirst for life. I’ve always thought it was a crime that whoever killed her got away with it.”
“Well, we’re hoping to fix that,” I said.
“I hope you do.”
/>
“Thank you for your time,” I said then asked, “Do you know what happened to the baby?”
“No. I never even knew if it was a boy or girl before they were whisked away.”
“Any thoughts on the father?”
“No, I just know it wasn’t her fiancé’s. That was a relationship in name only.”
I paced in front of my desk, still wearing my gown from the gala. Zac had taken off his tie. It was almost midnight, but we were compiling a list. Kade had dropped us off, demanded I call him when I was ready to be picked up. He understood, didn’t push, gave me what I needed. I liked to think I did the same for him. He said it couldn’t work, but we did work.
Zac was at the board, as we brainstormed the baby daddy. “Milton, Mitch, Russell, they all could have been the father.”
I settled on the edge of my desk. “Mitch was her childhood friend, but he didn’t mention the baby. I think he would have if he’d known. And I didn’t get lover from him. Speaking of, has he done the composite?”
“Got a call yesterday. He’s meeting with them today,” Zac said.
“Russell made a few comments that led me to believe he was interested in Katrina. Was she interested back? It’s possible he’s the father, but he doesn’t know there was a baby.”
“I agree.”
“And Milton, something about him bothers me. He’s been withholding shit from the beginning. He could tell us what Jason looks like, but he hasn’t shared. He had to have known about the baby, at least the break she took, but he never shared.”
“I agree, he’s holding back, but why?” Zac said.
“Why bring Milton in at all? Jason seemed to control all of it. No one worked with Milton, though they all knew of him.”
“We need to talk to him again,” Zac said. “So Gregory Enzi senior gets his foot in the door of Hollywood through Jason and Katrina. His endgame is running drugs, but Jason gets caught up in the lifestyle, works Katrina to keep the lifestyle he’s become accustomed to. Camilla said Katrina hadn’t wanted to go back to work after the baby, but she did. And since all of this was started with her parents, people who have been dogging us from the beginning, people who are living well beyond their means, but not on their kid’s dime, we need to talk to them.”
“Yeah, we do, but I say we bring them here. They want to play hardball, let’s make it official,” I said.
“We only have circumstantial evidence.”
“Well, maybe we can find a judge who was a Katrina Dent fan.”
“I’ll get on it. In the meantime, we need to talk to Vin. Learn more about Gregory Enzi senior. The attack on his life…was that unrelated or was our killer targeting him, too?”
I hadn’t thought of that but shit, it was possible. I pointed at Zac. “That’s another thing Milton is holding back on. He had to have known about Enzi back then, certainly knows of him now. I can’t believe a mob boss isn’t going to check in on his cash cow. And there’s no way Milton didn’t know who Enzi was. His job is public relations, he knows all the players. So why didn’t he mention that link?”
“I’ll call him in the morning,” Zac said.
“Is it possible this is all about keeping the identity of Katrina’s baby a secret?”
“It’s definitely a theory, but why?”
“Maybe the blowback, the father doesn’t want his past coming back and fucking up his world,” I theorized.
“If that’s the case, he won’t be getting any parenting awards.”
“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Ethan said, when I visited him later that day. “It’s Kade, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“You worked it out.”
“We did.” He looked down at his fingers that he was twisting together. “I won’t live across the hall, but we’ll stay in touch. We have drinks to get,” I said.
He looked up, but I saw the reservation.
“We’re not going to lose touch, Ethan.”
“I don’t have many friends in the city. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t. In fact, once I’m settled come for dinner.”
His eyes lit up. “Seriously? At the penthouse?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, yeah.”
I joined him on the sofa. “I don’t have many friends, either. This…” I said, gesturing between us, “means a lot to me, too.”
He pulled me close. “Good.” I held him as hard as he held me.
Kade joined me later that day. I found myself glancing over often, resisting the urge to pinch myself because Kade Wakefield was helping me pack up my apartment. In fairness, he’d hired movers, and they did most of the work, but there were things I wanted to do myself, namely my clothes and personal things. It was Saturday; I had the case to think about, but Kade was very persuasive, so after fucking me stupid, he convinced me to work from home.
Zac was on point, anyway, following up with Milton and Jackson.
I stopped folding my shirts, distracted with the sight of Kade in faded jeans and a tee, one that was old, well-worn and had a whiskey label on it. His feet were bare, not something he did often, but he looked so fucking hot.
“Stop or we’re never going to get this done,” he said, not even turning to confirm I was staring.
“That’s a good look on you. I can see you like that on your beach.” He looked back now. “Though, how we spent those days on your beach, that was pretty hard to top.”
“You naked is hard to top, period.” His eyes grew dark. “And as much as I want you naked right now, when I fuck you again, I want it in our bed.”
It had only been a couple of months. It was crazy. I wasn’t just moving in with him; I was in love with him. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. The thought of losing him had my legs going weak. He was across the room in a heartbeat.
“What just happened?”
Looking into those eyes, I couldn’t stop the words. “I love you.”
His hold on me tightened, but it was watching his gray gaze turn stormy that had me saying it again. “I love you, Kade.”
He walked me back until I hit the wall, his hands moved into my hair, his focus unwavering. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
He growled, before he kissed me, not hard, not rough, but deep and long and filled with promise. He broke the kiss, his breathing as heavy as my own. “I’ve never in my life said those words,” he whispered. “I wasn’t sure I knew what it felt like, but from the moment you walked into my office, there’s been a pain right here.” He took my hand and pressed it against his chest. “One that only eases when you’re around.” His mask was off now. “We never should have met, but I can’t imagine a life without you.” His gaze drilled into mine. “I love you.”
It was my turn to demand, “Say it again.”
He smiled, not grinned, but smiled, before he said in that voice I loved so much. “I love you.”
He kissed me again, deeper, longer, and as much as I wanted to get naked, he was determined to wait. I fisted his tee, held his tender gaze. “We need to get this shit done.”
In reply, he kissed me, again.
I lay in bed and watched Kade sleep. My body was pressed against his, his hand on my ass, but his breathing was deep and even. We’d packed my apartment in record time. I was going to miss Ethan, but it hadn’t been hard leaving my apartment. I was rarely there with the hours I kept. But moving in with this man, we could live in a box by the river, and I’d go happily. I smiled thinking about earlier. As soon as we stepped off the elevator, he dragged me to his bed, but it didn’t stop there. He fucked me on the kitchen counter, on the dining room table, the sofa in the living room, he even fucked me up against the windows. We ordered Chinese takeout, sat in the living room, barely dressed, and had a picnic. It had been the perfect day.
I was careful when I climbed from the bed. Salem was curled up next to me, but he jumped from the bed and followed me out of the bedroom. I pulled on Kade’s tee and moved to the living room, standing by the windows, looking out at the city that never slept.
I faced death every day. It was what I chose to do, but there was a part of me that I’d buried deep, the part that feared what I did for a living. That fear had begun to grow stronger after meeting Kade. I knew better than most how fast it could be taken away. How one minute you’re attending the event of your life, and the next, you’re another statistic. For so long, my job was my life. I was good at it, and I loved it, but being with Kade, I understood now there was more to life. And that was what had that fear growing. I thought of Katrina, and as much as our lives were different, she had found happiness. I really needed to believe that. Her baby, the man she’d found comfort with, and it was taken from her.
I loved the city. If you asked me two months ago where I saw myself in ten years, I would have said exactly where I was. A family, children, for me, that was much like the fairy tale. I never really saw it happening because I never found anyone I wanted that with. And then I met Kade. He filled all the places in me I didn’t know were empty, and I knew I did the same for him. Now, I didn’t just think about it, but I wanted it. I wanted children with him, wanted the house on the beach with Kade in his faded jeans and bare feet. I wanted days of playing and nights of making love. And because I wanted it so much, it brought the fear that I could lose him. Learning what we were about the Enzi family, knowing Carmine DeLuca was somehow linked to them and he was like a brother to Kade. How deep was Kade in the underbelly of New York? How would those take it that he was now living with a cop?
Strong arms moved around my waist and pulled me back against a hard chest. His lips brushed over my ear. “Talk to me.”
“Two months ago, I didn’t even know you,” I whispered.
He turned me to him; dark eyes studied my face. “Too soon?”
“No, I think I was ready for this after our first dinner together.”
His expression softened, as he pulled a hand through my hair. “So what’s bothering you?” He asked, but then read me like he so easily could. “You’re thinking about Katrina and how fast it can be taken away.”
