by Lane Hart
“Thank you,” I tell him as I blink away tears before they can fall. “The last few months, the scariest part for me is having to figure out everything by myself. I don’t know anything about babies and wasn’t planning on having any for years down the road.”
“I’m even more clueless than you. Now we can try to figure it out together.”
“You’re a good guy, Knox,” I tell him with a kiss to his chest.
With a heavy exhale that blows through the top of my hair, he says, “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jade
“Chief wants to see you.”
Those five words turned my blood colder than the waters of the Arctic Ocean.
Looking up at Webb and trying to keep the terror off of my face, I ask, “Did he say what it’s about?”
“Nope,” the man replies before he plops down at the rolling chair behind his own desk.
Fuck.
I’ve avoided the chief at all costs the last few months, ever since he fucked me over for my transfer to Greenville, but it looks like my luck has run out.
Swallowing down the bile that rises up my throat and has nothing to do with morning sickness, I get to my feet. After buttoning up my baggy suit jacket that I bought a few sizes too big to try and cover my bump, I march toward the office at the back of the station. One that’s completely private other than the small window on the door that always has the shades pulled down in front of it if it’s closed. I will not let him lock me inside with him this time or lay a hand on me, I tell myself.
The door is wide open, so I step just inside the threshold, unable to meet the eyes of the man on the other side of the large desk. “You wanted to see me, sir?” I ask, focusing instead on one of the awards hanging on the wall behind his head.
“Yeah, close the door.”
Dammit.
I reach behind me and seal myself inside the office with the evil pervert. At least it’s unlocked, so someone else could come in.
“Have a seat,” the chief tells me. I reluctantly go over and lower myself into the chair across from him, refusing to look at the part of the desk he blackmailed me to get naked on a few months ago. I pinch my eyes with my finger and thumb to try and stem off the horrific memories and embarrassment of that night.
“We’ve got a homicide out at the Grandview Resort in Timberlake that I’m sending you, Bates, and Walters out to,” Chief Stokes says.
“Sure,” I say on an exhale, glad that he only wanted to talk to me about a case.
“While we won’t be able to take over jurisdiction from the sheriff, the deceased, Jimmy Russo, lived here in Raleigh. He was apparently just rejoining the game thanks to a five-year prison stint but was high up on the Italian’s chain of command.”
“You think he took over for Mario Guerra after we put him away?” I ask in understanding. We’ve been talking to informants, as well as watching and listening to the gossip around Escapades for months trying to find out who the new head boss is, so no, I wasn’t just spying on Knox for personal reasons. So far there’s been no clear answer about who’s in charge other than the fact that the Irish, led by Liam O’Donnell, was moving in on the Italian’s turf. There has been a lot of bloodshed between the two groups lately as they battle it out for control.
“We think Russo was Guerra’s second in command, yes,” Chief Stokes says.
“So the dead guy could have access to evidence to bring down the entire crime family. Are we getting warrants?”
“Russo recently bought a house in the Lakewood neighborhood, so we’re trying to find a judge to sign off on a search of it. Until then, head out to the hotel where his body was discovered and see what information you can gather from the sheriff,” the chief says as he stands up from behind his desk and comes around it. “We need to know who killed Russo, whether it was an inner circle beef or if the Irish wanted him out of the way, before more blood spills over in our streets.”
“Right,” I say as I stand up from my seat to leave, so glad that the past shit is forgotten, and the chief and I are back to having a professional relationship. “I’ll see what I can find out for you, sir.”
“Wait,” Chief says as he grabs my elbow and tugs me against him so hard all the air leaves my lungs because my stomach is against his. “There’s a rumor going around about you.”
“A rumor?” I repeat as my heart races uncontrollably.
Before I realize his move, a big, meaty paw slips between us, groping and squeezing my lower stomach hard. Unlike Knox’s sweet, reverent touch, Chief Stokes is rough, manhandling me without the least bit of concern for the baby inside.
“So it’s true,” he grumbles.
“Yes, sir,” I answer since there’s no reason to try and lie about what’s so obvious.
Finally removing his hand from me, he asks, “Is it mine?”
Thank fuck, no.
Rather than say those words, I tell him, “No, sir.”
“Then whose is it?” he demands, as if he doesn’t believe me.
“A, um, a friend’s,” I stammer since I refuse to give him Knox’s name. Not only will the chief possibly fire me for sleeping with someone who was part of an investigation, but it would likely put a bullseye right on Knox’s back. And no matter what I want to believe because we now share a child, I’m certain Knox is not a saint by any stretch of the imagination. Knowing that he’s a bad boy is actually one of the reasons I find him so damn hot. Not that I would ever approve of his extracurricular activities…
“You’re absolutely sure?” Chief asks.
“Yes. Positive, sir.”
“Still, it would be best for both of us if you took care of it, you know, just go ahead and end it.”
“End it?” I exclaim in horror with a hand going protectively to my stomach. No, I wasn’t ready to be a mother when I found out I was pregnant, but this baby is mine and I already love it more than anything in the world. I can feel him or her moving. I’ve seen and heard the galloping heartbeat of my son or daughter that’s very much alive and healthy. Ending the pregnancy never crossed my mind even in the beginning, and it’s certainly not going to now after I’ve grown so attached to the life Knox and I created together. “You can’t be serious. It’s not yours!” I tell the chief.
“Oh, I’m very serious,” he grumbles. “Your career will suffer as a single mother, and I can’t have that type of proof getting back to my wife, now can I?”
Then you really shouldn’t fuck around on her or blackmail female officers, should you?
“It’s…it’s not yours,” I repeat to try and get that fact through his thick skull. “I’m one-hundred percent certain it’s not. We can do a DNA test if you want, but I am not ending it,” I assert.
“A DNA test? So then if it is mine, you’ll have the proof to ruin me? I don’t fucking think so.”
“Fine,” I tell him through clenched teeth. “Then I’ll get a test showing you who the father is.”
Getting in my face, the chief says, “If you tell anyone there’s even a chance it could be mine, I’ll end you.”
“I won’t,” I assure him. Why would I want to admit to another living soul that I was stupid enough to have sex with him in the first place? It’s one of the biggest regrets of my life, and I plan to take it to my grave.
“Good,” the chief says. “Don’t give me any reason to think you’ve done otherwise.”
“Is that all?” I ask him through gritted teeth, more than ready to get away from this asshole and his insane accusations.
“Report to me in person when you return from Timberlake.”
“Yes, sir,” I say before I finally escape the confines of his office to enter a space with witnesses.
As I pass by Walters’ desk, I tell him, “Get Bates. We’re heading up to the Grandview Resort in Timberlake on a homicide.”
“Cool. You riding with us?” he asks.
“No, I’ll drive myself,” I say before I grab the keys f
or the Taurus I borrowed from the motor pool and my phone. Never one for hauling around purses much unless I’m shopping, I keep a small wallet in my back pocket with my driver’s license and debit card inside.
Out in the parking lot, I’m unlocking the car door when Bates and Walters come out the front doors.
“Where’s your car, Horton?” Bates asks.
“In the shop,” I lie, which reminds me that I should probably check in with Knox since I haven’t heard from him since early yesterday morning when he left my bed with the keys to my Altima, bullets, and my gun for what I’m guessing was probably more than a run to the grocery store. “See you guys later,” I tell the men before I sit down in the driver seat. I tap the buttons on my phone to bring up the app for the tracker I installed on my car after my last one was stolen. Car thieves run rampant in this town.
Refreshing the app, it pulls up a map of Raleigh and then zooms in on the road where my car is currently sitting, unmoving. Thankfully, the cross roads are in a decent neighborhood, a rich one that a guy like Knox wouldn’t usually be in. Then, I spot the name of a road that’s very familiar — Lakewood.
It takes me a moment to figure out why that road sets off alarms in my head.
“Russo recently bought a house in the Lakewood neighborhood”
Wasn’t that what the Chief just said to me?
“Son of a bitch!” I mutter when I look at data showing where my car has been earlier today — up in Timberlake, at the scene of the fucking murder.
Knox must still be mixed up with the Italians! I warned him to stay out of trouble, and now he’s at the dead guy’s house? How stupid could he possibly be?
Cranking the car and putting it in drive, I pull away from the department, intending to find out what the hell Knox is up to, and praying that I’m wrong about him being involved in this murder investigation.
Today is just turning out to be one pain in the ass after another.
Chapter Sixteen
Knox
I’m surrounded by murderers.
And the crazy thing is, I’m okay with that.
When Cain told us about the fire in his past and then his fight that lead to Robbie’s death, it was obvious that he didn’t mean to kill anyone.
Then, just hours ago, Ivan killed Jimmy Russo in cold blood with a bullet through his head and chest while I stood in the other room, fully aware of what he was going to do. That guy really fucking deserved to die, though. I know Ivan doesn’t talk about it, but seeing his mom get murdered by the bastard has fucked him up for years, just like it would anyone. I just hope that he can now have some measure of closure and peace after finally pulling the trigger.
Finding out from the birth certificate in Russo’s office that Ivan just killed not only his mother’s murderer, but that Russo was also Ivan’s biological father, adds a whole new layer of fuckedupness to this incredibly bizarre story.
It’s a horrible time for me to be jealous of my friend, but at least he knows who his father was, even if he was a killer. A part of me would love to just know my father’s goddamn name.
While Ivan, Cain and I are still snooping around the dead man’s house, Ivan using my t-shirt to prevent leaving any fingerprints, a door creaks down the hallway, making the three of us jump and stare at each other in concern.
“Think it’s his ghost?” I ask the guys right before a beautiful woman in a gray suit appears in the doorway with her gun aimed right at us.
“Jesus Christ, Jade!” I exclaim as I slap a hand over my bare chest to keep my heart from jumping out of my skin. “You scared the shit out of us. We thought you were a ghost!”
Gaze landing on me, Jade blows out a breath and finally lowers her gun, holding it by her thigh so that she can slap the shit out of my chest with the other.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” she looks up and asks me with her pale green eyes narrowed in anger.
“Good to see you too, babe,” I say casually with a grin to try and calm her down.
“You took my car to the scene of a murder!” Jade shouts, her cheeks glowing a bright, worrisome red. And how the hell does she know that?
“It was her car you borrowed?” Ivan asks me in disbelief, making me cringe at his tone.
“Calm down. All this stress can’t be good for our baby, right?” I say to Jade, ignoring Ivan’s question for now when I reach for her belly that I’ve missed touching since I left her the other morning. As I rub my palm over the home of my son or daughter, Jade’s shoulders finally begin to relax as some of the tension fades away.
And I guess the cat is out of the bag about who I knocked up. For two days, I’ve tried to figure out how to tell Cain and Ivan about what happened between me and Jade several months ago and just haven’t been able to find the words to admit I betrayed my friends.
“You need to leave,” Jade says on a sigh. “As soon as a judge signs the warrant, every state and federal agent will be swarming this place.”
“How did you know we were here?” I ask, forcing my hand to lower from her belly.
“I have a tracker on my car in case it gets stolen. Did you really think I would let you borrow it without being able to track it down?”
Well, I’ll be damned. I thought she gave me just a little bit of trust, but I guess I was wrong. Not that she wasn’t right in this situation, but I’m only in this shit for Ivan. It’s not like I put a hole through a man’s head.
“Why are you three still standing here with those dumbass looks on your faces? Go!” Jade screeches at the three of us.
Ivan moves first, picking up the file with his birth certificate in it from the desk and tucking it under his arm.
“What’s that?” Jade asks, her hawk eyes on the folder while she continues to block the doorway.
“Nothing,” Ivan replies.
“Did you forget I’m an officer of the law and still holding a gun?” she asks him with a raised eyebrow that is sexy as fuck. “Covering up the B and E is one thing, but I can’t let you leave the house with what could be evidence about Russo’s business dealings. If you want to steal a TV, go for it, but leave the paperwork.”
“I’m taking this folder,” Ivan tells her sternly, leaving no room for argument.
“Why? Is there shit in there to implicate you in Russo’s crimes?” she asks him.
“Come on, Jade. Just let us get out of here. It’s nothing about drugs or mobster shit, I swear,” I jump in to try and defuse the argument.
“Then why can’t he just show it to me?” Jade turns to ask me.
“Because it’s none of your business or anyone else’s!” Ivan shouts, making me grumble out a curse. “Knox, move your baby mama,” he orders me.
“Can’t we just tell her?” I plead. “Everything?”
“Man, just because you fucked her, and she got Knoxed up, doesn’t mean we can trust her!” Cain throws in his two cents, making me roll my eyes when Ivan gives him a fist bump for the Knoxed up comment.
“We need to go, right?” I ask Jade. “This is personal. That’s all you need to know. You may not trust me, but I have never lied to you, have I?”
Lowering her eyes, she says, “No.”
“And I’m not lying now. Nothing in that folder is evidence you need to bring down any goons, okay?”
“Fine,” she eventually huffs and then takes a step back. “Go.”
Glad that she finally caved for me just once, I grab the side of her face and kiss the shit out of her as a show of gratitude.
“Thanks,” I tell her when I pull back and let her go.
Before I can turn to leave, Jade grabs my shoulder urgently with her free hand to stop me. “Did you…do you know who killed him?” Her pleading green eyes look up and lock on mine, needing to hear me say no.
“Knox didn’t, but I did,” Ivan stupidly tells her before I can reply.
Fuck.
Jade’s eyes widen in shock when her hand drops from my skin like I’ve burned her.
“Plea
se tell her why so she doesn’t arrest you for being a psycho,” I grumble.
Blowing out a breath, Ivan thankfully gives in. “Russo killed my mother six years ago.”
“Oh,” Jade mutters, looking from him and then back up at me. I nod to confirm that it’s true.
“Now can we go?” I ask her, praying that she won’t slap her handcuffs on Ivan. When she doesn’t answer, I throw out another question, hoping for some type of response from her that lets me know how fucked I am with her after all this shit. “Do you need your car back, or can I use it another day?”
Jade lowers her eyes and swallows deeply before she answers. “No, it’s fine. I’m using one from the department’s motor fleet.”
“Okay, good,” I say on an exhale since she doesn’t sound as angry or concerned. “Don’t work too hard,” I tell her.
“I’ll try not to,” she agrees before the three of us finally file out of the room and hurry out the broken back door before she changes her mind.
I know I’m putting her in a tough spot, but Ivan’s like a brother to me. If I had to choose between them, I don’t have a clue how I would handle it. He’s lucky as hell that she didn’t arrest him on the spot.
“Shit! I forgot my shirt,” I exclaim when we reach the backyard and a cool breeze hits my chest. Ivan must have left it back on the desk when he was looking through the file.
“I’ll be right back. Go start the car,” I say, glad to have the chance to talk to Jade alone when I urge the guys away and jog back inside.
The last thing I was expecting to find was the toughest woman I know standing in the exact spot I left her, still holding the gun and crying into her other hand.
“Fuck, baby. What’s wrong?” I ask as I reach for her.
“Don’t,” she warns as she startles and swipes at her tears. When she shrugs away from my touch, I’m certain it’s more painful than anything I’ve ever endured in the cage. Guess everything that just went down in the last few minutes has caught up with her. Before, when she walked in and found us, she must have been in a state of shock. Now she’s had a little time to process it, and it’s not looking good for me.
