by Sedona Venez
I eyed Core. “You have a private doctor on call?”
“Yep. I keep him on payroll to take care of my team and me in case of emergency. He even has a private medical office in my building.”
I blinked. “Your building?”
“I own the whole building where my penthouse is located. It just makes it easier to maintain our privacy. Ram, Max, Rocco, and Kevin have their own luxury apartments in the building. We call it Command Central because we all live there. Well, everyone except Zuri.”
“So it’s like a fraternity house?”
“Without the fucking parties,” he returned. “The single security code elevator gives us unlimited access to each other’s space.” He frowned. “That means don’t be surprised to see them hanging out in my penthouse or going through my refrigerator like I’m their personal grocery store.” He touched my cheek. “Since you’re going to be spending a lot of time at my place…”
“Am I now?” I grabbed his shirt, leaning into him.
He reached down, clutching my face. “You are.” He kissed me, saying against my lips, “Every night, I want to go to sleep with you in my arms and wake up every morning with my face between your gorgeous legs.”
I shivered deliciously. “Damn. That sounds like a plan, McKay.”
I sensually licked his bottom lip. He roughly growled before kissing me.
Breaking off the kiss, he explained, “Seriously, there’s no privacy. Is that going to be a problem?”
I cupped his cheek. “Core, I don’t mind. I like your team. They’re your family, so they’re mine, too.”
I already respected the hell out of Zuri, Ram, Kevin, Rocco, and Max because of their skills but more importantly because of how much they obviously loved, respected, and protected Core. And just that devotion was enough for me to hope they’d someday feel the same way about me.
He gave me an honest-to-goodness bad-boy smile that made my heart thump with joy. “Damn, I’m one lucky man.”
“And don’t you forget it, McKay.” I smiled gently.
My attention was diverted when I heard Rocco mutter, “Fuck! Too many bodies.”
Core grabbed my hand as he strode over to Max, taking me with him. My eyes panned over the open field. Rocco was right; there were a lot of dead bodies. I shivered at the reality of this faceoff. So many lives had been lost.
“Text the cleaner,” Core directed at Max.
Max pulled out his cell and barked into the phone, “Cleanup requested,” and then he clipped out the address to the warehouse and our current location.
Rocco walked up to us. “How are we going to handle Bigsby’s body?” he asked Core. “Are we going to leave it for the authorities to find?”
Core nodded. “Yes. We’ll have the cleaner dump his body in the Hudson so when it floats to the top in a couple of days, someone will find it, and the authorities will assume one of his rivals did him in.”
Core’s plan was cold and calculating but bloody smart.
“Got it,” Rocco replied before he and Max moved over to the side and started talking in low voices.
Core turned me to face him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I glanced up at him. His face was relaxed. He looked at peace. It had to have been hell for him, waiting all these years to finally put the past behind him. Now his mother could rest in peace, and he could move on… finally. And so could I. Now all was right in our world.
“Yes,” I started and then bit my lower lip, fighting the urge to cry—both sad and happy tears.
It was finally over. Bigsby was dead. His death didn’t fill the empty hole from the loss of my dad, but it was a start.
“But let’s not do this shit again. Being a commando is not my style. I’d rather stick to designing clothes.”
“You’ve got it, darling,” he remarked before hungrily kissing my mouth, tilting my head back and deepening his kiss. He repeatedly swept his tongue through my mouth, pausing only to nibble at my lips before sinking into me again, the passion and heat in his kiss bringing every erogenous zone to life. He lightly kissed my lips before saying, “I’ll ravish you later. Now it’s time to finish business.” He gestured toward the dead bodies.
EXHAUSTION CONSUMED ME AS I sat in the passenger seat while Core drove.
We had stayed just long enough to see the cleaner and his crew pull up to the scene in large black vehicles with tinted windows. Then Core had ushered me into his vehicle, leaving Max and Rocco behind to ensure that everything was taken care of, and we had taken off.
“Forget what you just saw, okay, darling?” Core asked me.
I nodded because there was no way in hell I was built for going to jail, ending up as Big Bertha’s prison yard bitch.
But now that the adrenaline had worn off, my mind slipped to thoughts of Dad—Ian. I hadn’t visited his grave in years. Partly because I’d felt so guilty I had caused his death—though now I knew better—and partly because, frankly, I believed the body was just a shell for the soul, and upon death, it was freed.
Even though it was late at night, I longed to visit his grave at least one more time. So I asked Core to take me there before going back to his place.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
I stared at the skyline through the window and nodded. “Yes. It’s time to say good-bye.”
“Okay, darling,” he responded simply.
After that, I was grateful that he respected my need for space, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Completely calm, I felt my eyelids slide closed even as I fought the need for sleep.
Core’s cell echoed throughout the vehicle, startling me awake.
“Shit. Sorry, darling,” he said in my direction before grabbing his earpiece and answering the call with, “McKay.”
I couldn’t hear the person on the other end, only Core’s response.
“Hey, Mitch,” he greeted. “Look, I’m kind of busy. Can we talk business tomorrow?”
The business conversation lost my interest. Mitch Fillion was Core’s lawyer and Erika’s husband.
“Now?” Core asked. There was a pause. “Why?” There was another beat of silence. “Okay, if you insist. I’m heading to a cemetery in New Jersey. The address is…” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “How do you know the location?” He scowled. “Mitch, what the fuck is going on? Okay… but only because you’ve earned my trust. Don’t make me regret this. See you there.” He ended the call.
Glancing over at him, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Core frowned as he raced through traffic. “Mitch wants to meet me at the cemetery. He says it’s important.”
He looked worried.
“What’s the problem?” I inquired.
“Maybe nothing. It’s just…” He shrugged.
“Relax.” I squeezed his leg. “While I’m visiting Ian’s gravesite, you can wait for Mitch by the car and take care of whatever he wants from you.”
“But that’s just it.” His eyes slipped to me and then back to the road. “He asked me to make sure you were there, too.”
I raised my eyebrows.
What does Mitch want with me?
LEAVING CORE BEHIND TO WAIT for Mitch, I walked across the grass, not remembering the gravesite being this serene and beautiful. It had been so long since I was there that I fumbled along until I found Dad’s plot.
There were fresh flowers lying on top, which was strange because Grace was dead so she couldn’t have put the arrangement there. But truthfully, even if she were alive, I couldn’t imagine her ever bringing flowers. She had just been too much of a selfish person to give a shit about doing something so sentimental, even for a man she’d shared years of her life with.
With my arms hanging slack at my sides, I stood, staring at his headstone, as the crisp fall air whirled around me. There was a tightness in my chest when I thought about his remains locked in a coffin in the stone-cold earth.
“Hi, Dad. I know it’s been…” I croaked and then bit my bottom l
ip, fighting back the tears that prickled my eyelids. “Way too long. I’m so sorry about that.”
Reaching down, I placed the flowers on his grave that I’d purchased after Core and I made a quick stop at a twenty-four-hour grocery store on the way to the cemetery. “I was a coward.” My chin trembled. “I couldn’t face the guilt I felt for getting you killed… but now I know the truth.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. I dashed it away.
“I know now what you did to give me a place to call home and to make me happy.” I swallowed around the lump of emotions clogging my throat. “And I want to thank you for that and for loving me as hard as you did.” My voice broke. “And it doesn’t matter that you’re my uncle. You will always be the man I consider my dad.”
Sniffing, I wiped at my nose before taking a seat on the cold grass, facing his headstone. Drawing my limbs close to my body, I whispered, “I love you.” A long stretch of silence passed. The only sound was a jet in the distance. “And I want you to know that you can rest in peace because Bigsby’s dead.” I inhaled deeply, taking in a lungful of air and mentally shaking myself.
“Now we can both breathe easier because Bigsby’s no longer in our lives,” I heard Erika’s husky voice say.
Startled, I looked over my shoulder to find her standing right behind me. I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I somehow tuned out the sound of her footsteps.
“Erika?” I stood up, wiping my hands against my legs. “What are you doing here?” I regarded her for a moment, noticing her face with no makeup, hollowed cheeks, and eyes red and puffy, like she’d been crying.
“Sin”—Erika’s eyes locked with mine—“Core told me you know about the ledger and what happened to your dad—to Greer.”
“Why would he tell you—”
“Sin.” She interrupted me. She moved closer, her eyes searching my face. “It’s time for closure for both of us. I’m Aubrey… your mother.”
I blinked while teetering on the edge of losing my shit.
My lips parted because, for once, I was at a loss for words. After minutes of silence ticked by, I finally shouted, “This is bullshit, Erika!” I spit. “Or is it Jemma Kane?” I narrowed my eyes. “No. It’s Aubrey Cruickshank, right?” I laughed without humor because my life had officially become some fucked-up reality show, starring me.
Erika frowned. “All of the above.”
My heart hammered hard as her response sank in. “I guess that solves that mystery,” I muttered.
“Sin.” Erika reached for me.
I swatted her hand away.
Her hand dropped to her side. “You’re not planning on making this easy for me, are you?”
I stared at her like she’d lost her ever-loving mind. “What do you think?” Heat flushed through my body.
Erika sighed heavily. “I get it. Not telling you sooner was wrong. I messed up.” A look of regret crossed her face.
My nostrils flared as my anger began to boil. “No. More like fucked up,” I retorted. My entire world felt ripped apart. Up was down, and down was up.
“You’re angry with me,” Erika accused before running a hand down her face. “I don’t blame you.” Taking a deep, pained breath, she briefly closed her eyes.
Erika is my mother? How did I not see this coming? But how could I have?
Nothing could have prepared me for this news. Nothing.
But it did explain Erika’s interest in me.
“Why didn’t you tell me? We’ve known each other forever.” My heart thudded in my chest. I wanted to walk away from her, but I didn’t—I couldn’t—because I was done running away from the truth. Now I just wanted damn answers.
Erika clenched and unclenched her hands. “If Bigsby found out you were my daughter, he would have killed us both right then and there.”
Given what I now know about Bigsby, that is true… but still…
“But Bigsby did find out,” I snapped. “That’s why he went after my business.”
Erika’s eyebrows drew together. “And that’s why I had my husband, Mitch, get so close to Bigsby.”
I arched my brows high. “Mitch knows everything?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Mitch knows about my past, and he also knows about you. We’ve both been keeping tabs on Bigsby while ensuring you were safe. We’ve even been feeding the Feds information about Bigsby’s shady dealings, including the sex trafficking ring.”
I snorted. “Ensuring I was safe?” I pursed my lips. “Well, that was an epic fail because he was plotting to kill me and Core. And the only person who stepped up to the plate to save my ass was Core.”
Erika opened her mouth to say something and then stopped short and pinched her lips together.
My breaths quickened when something horrible occurred to me. “Wait. Is that why you hired Jade?” I narrowed my eyes. “To get close to me?” There was a knot in my belly.
Erika crossed her arms. “You know better than that shit.” She countered with a sharp tone. “I hired Jade because she’s a talented actor.”
“You’re damn right she is,” I defended. “What about Ariana? Did you seek her out because of me?”
Erika didn’t seem that cold and calculating.
But shit, what do I really know about her?
“Contrary to your belief, Jade and Ariana didn’t have shit to do with you and me. It was fate that brought them both into my same social circle. Nothing more, nothing less. Six degrees of separation is damn real.”
I eyed her, really wanting to believe her. “That’d better be the truth, Erika.” Stepping forward, I jabbed a finger in her face. “Because they’re my family. And no one fucks with my family. No one,” I hissed.
Her eyes softened. “I love both of them, Sin. They mean the world to me.” She paused. “You know that. Shit, you know me.”
I arched a brow. “Do I?”
“You do.”
I silently stared at her because the truth of the matter was I didn’t know her at all.
“I know finding out that I’m your mother is shocking.” Her voice was soft and measured.
I rolled my eyes skyward. “That’s putting it mildly.” Rubbing my brow to ward off a headache, I replied, “Maybe this is a bad idea. It’s been a long damn day, and frankly, I can’t deal with more drama right now.”
“Please,” Erika pleaded, “just let me say my piece. And if you still don’t want anything to do with me…” Her voice broke. She cleared her throat. “I won’t push it, okay? I’ll leave you the hell alone if that’s what you really want.”
I hesitated but then let out a long and tired sigh. “Fine.” My head barely moved into a nod, and I controlled the frown that was threatening to form. “Let’s get this talk over with.”
Erika’s eyes darted around. “Don’t you want to go someplace else to talk?”
“No.” Irritation stormed through me, and I fisted my hands by my sides. “Right here. Right now.”
The confident Erika that I knew fidgeted uncomfortably. “My real name is Erika Aubrey Watson. I never liked my first name, so my mother just called me either Aubrey or Brey.”
She bit her bottom lip, and the familiar gesture—something I did when I was anxious—made me relax slightly because it proved that this conversation was important to her.
To ease the tension a little, I asked, “Is your mother still alive?”
She shook her head. “No. I was fourteen years old when she died from cancer. And since I didn’t have any family, I bounced around from foster home to foster home until I was done being used by foster parents that were more interested in the monthly check they got for taking me in than giving a shit about me, the little girl who needed stability, love, and protection.”
I arched a brow. “And your father?”
“He left my mother when she got pregnant with me.” Her eyes hardened. “And he never looked back.”
“Oh… I see.” And I did.
The pieces to the puzzle of who Erika had been before becom
ing one of the most powerful women in television slowly started to come together.
She’s a broken crayon just like me.
Feeling completely drained, especially after Erika had dropped a big bucket of emotion and a lot of expectations in a matter of minutes, I plopped down on the grass to sit.
Erika followed, crossing her legs, facing me.
“What about Greer?” I asked, uncomfortably shifting on the grass.
She studied me for a few minutes before she spoke. “I was involved with Greer way before I went into business with him and Bigsby.”
“By ‘involved’”—I made air quotes—“you mean having sex with him.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes,” Erika replied, and I nodded for her to continue. “I knew who Bigsby was, even before Greer gave me the lowdown about him. I’d heard the rumors on the streets that Bigsby was a backstabbing asshole who would cut a person down in a heartbeat, but my business deal with him and Greer was too good to pass up.”
I snorted. “It was all about the money, huh?”
“Yes, it was. I’m not going to lie about it.” She shrugged. “I was young, ambitious, and yes, greedy.” She pursed her lips. “I wasn’t thrilled about working with Bigsby, nor did I trust him, so I had Greer be the middleman between us, making sure Bigsby never saw my face. For that matter, none of my clients or girls ever saw my face. I was the puppet master behind the curtain.”
I arched a brow. “That was cunningly smart.”
She nodded. “I’d started out as an escort and worked for a woman who took me under her wing before she got busted. She ultimately pleaded guilty to arranging an encounter between two prostitutes and a man who turned out to be an undercover police officer. Her downfall was her clients and escorts who snitched her out to the police. I never wanted to be that vulnerable. So when I had taken over her business, I’d made sure never to reveal my identity to anyone.
“Anyway, I wasn’t thrilled about working with Bigsby, but he had the right connections to get me the upscale clients I needed, and I had the women to make the engine work.”
