“Fuck,” he whispered. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “We’ll figure something out. Just don’t go.”
“You stay with me,” he said in a tone that didn’t invite any argument.
I nodded against his chest.
“Does anyone want to explain what the fuck is happening?” Alex asked. “I’m glad you turned down the job, Mick. You’re out of your fucking mind. I didn’t realize how much the FBI scrambled your brain. Alisa, get the fuck away from him.”
“FBI?” I whispered. When I glanced up at Mick, he was regarding me cautiously. “Okay. Not ready to talk about it. That’s fine.”
He gave me a nod as Mason tapped him on the shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah, I think I need to sit down,” Mick said as he turned around and gripped the back of one of the chairs in front of Alex’s desk.
“You gonna puke, bro?” Mason asked.
Mick shook his head. He had a tight grip on my hand like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.
Some things were adding up in my mind with Mick. The dark moods, nightmares, the pushing, self-loathing. He’d experienced something painful and had it locked away somewhere in his mind. But it was clearly oozing out into his life in the worst ways. Something was eating away at him.
The only thing that seemed to ground him a moment ago was being near me. Whether that was good or bad, I didn’t know, but it was obvious he needed a lifeline and I wanted that to be me.
Chapter Nine
Mick
Blinking a few times, I tried to straighten myself out. Only the warm sensation of Alisa’s hand was helping me calm down.
I didn’t expect things to go that far with this. I only knew that my scare tactics hadn’t produced what I wanted to happen with Alex. I wanted someone to hurt for the pain they’d caused Alisa.
When she rolled over this morning and the sheets slipped off her beautiful body, I’d taken in everything. The soft round curves of her hips, the small glimpse of her breasts pressed against the bed. Then I’d looked at her back. The bandage was still in place, but the small scars from the past nearly undid me.
I saw red when I imagined her being abused in such a way. The same feelings of anger and need to punish the people responsible had slid over me like an unwelcome guest. It’d been going through my mind all morning. I’d tried to get a hold on it during the drive, but something churned in me to the breaking point when I could tell Alex’s shock was genuine.
I’d snapped and seen only one objective in mind. Hurt her father, make him pay.
A surge of emotion had taken over me in that moment. A blur of memories from my past had raced through my mind along with my anger. All the things I’d seen working in the missing persons department at the FBI after my transfer. I'd mainly been called in on cases where we found them dead. Where there were no happy endings and I was the person that catalogued their final moments of pain.
I’d worked very hard to detach the emotion to anyone and anything. Trying to see things without seeing what was around me. Then there was that one last case. The one that turned me upside down and made me doubt my own worth, not only as an agent, but as a functional human. The cruelties I’d witnessed, and the aftermath, had led to a decision I could never undo. I regretted nothing, though, which made me question everything I’d ever valued.
Since meeting Alisa, I was in a different tailspin. One that I didn’t know if I could handle. She was so damn beautiful. So utterly genuine. And the only woman that I felt like I connected to in some strange way.
I needed to get my head on straight to deal with this, but it was nearly impossible. Torn between wanting to protect her and trying to keep my distance wasn’t working the way I wanted it to. I nearly committed a crime for her.
Something we learned in training, was that there were really no reformed criminals in the system once they turned into repeat offenders. It applied to a lot of serial killers well enough, but even for the petty thieves it was the same mental process. Perhaps not as violent, but the urges to commit crime followed the same patterns. Their minds might have latched onto alternate obsessions, but they were never cured. Her father was the same way. After all these years she’d spent at college, he’d struck her out of his sick need. His malicious urge to do so wouldn’t stop. Not unless he was punished.
The irony of this situation was that I too was repeating a pattern. One that I thought I was immune to. Vigilantism had crossed my mind once. Just once and never again since then. Wanting to take someone’s life to deliver justice was the same as that first dark time for me. It was why the dead stalked me in my sleep. It was punishment, plain and simple.
I thought I’d never revisit that temptation, but after last night and her tears, I wanted to make someone pay. I thought I was a better man once, thought I had an unshakeable moral compass. My old mentor and the doctor believed I did.
And yet, here I was, sitting in her bother’s law firm, willing to attack his integrity in the worst way to find my fucking answers. When my need to satiate my anger with retribution wasn’t satisfied I’d seen only one path. It led to jail, but in my mind, it was worth it. There would be some justice for her.
“Fuck,” I whispered. I really was insane.
“Alisa, do you mind explaining?” Alex asked.
Her hand squeezed mine. I wasn’t sure if it was for me or to give her courage, but I wasn’t going to be the kind of man that let her stand by herself.
“Alisa?” I asked as I looked up at her from my chair. “Do you want me…”
She shook her head. The strength of ten people didn’t equate to the look she had behind her eyes. I admired her for it. It was yet another thing that drew me to her.
A thought, one of utter possession and yet vulnerability, swam to the surface of my mind.
Mine.
The man that I was, screamed it from some inner place. Something shifted inside me making that one solitary thought the only reason for my miserable existence on earth. Although I couldn’t explain it, she’d already become important to me. I wanted her with me, needed to be the one that she had watching over her, and protecting her.
She was also the only reason I stopped and started thinking clearly again. Her gentle pleading had penetrated my rage.
As I listened to her tell her brother everything, I memorized the contours of her face. The pert nose, that needed to be kissed. The soft sweep of her cheek up to her small ears. Two small holes for her earrings, the gorgeous column of her neck.
She started shaking and I pulled her into my lap. I needed to hold her, to reassure her and myself. She settled against my chest with warm tears against my neck and my body relaxed.
“It’s okay, beautiful,” I whispered into her hair.
She nodded. “I know.”
She was stunning. Any other woman might not have done so well. Instead, she told the one person, her brother, whom she clearly idolized and trusted, the whole truth of her ordeal. And why she'd held the truth from him.
Mason cleared the money off the desk and put it back in the bag. It was useful, but stupid to be walking around with that much cash. We had a safe at the house that Mason used for those kinds of funds. I didn’t know why he had it there and never questioned it. He knew what I was thinking last night and that I’d probably pull some sort of stunt. He didn’t say a word as he repacked it, just did it without judgement.
When he stuck his hand out, I maneuvered Alisa around to remove my guns and handed them over. They were mine. They’d been packed away for so long it was a strange feeling having them on me again.
I eyed Alex over her shoulder as I ran my hands down her arms.
He looked stricken as he slumped in his chair.
He nodded at me and didn’t break eye contact for a few minutes. I could see his wheels turning, the madness of revenge beginning to bloom.
“I thought—”
He held up his hand, cutting me off. “I know what you th
ought. I would have done the same damn thing. I think I might have started with a punch though, and the questions afterward.”
“Alex,” Alisa said.
“No, if I was in his position, I would have beat your brother to a bloody pulp first. Shit.”
“I lost it,” I responded. “I know you’re not lying, Alex, but I couldn’t see straight.”
He eyed me for a moment, his gaze darting once to look at Alisa before returning to me. “I just hope you know what you’re in for. The Kings are a different breed.”
“Wait, before we have this conversation. Have you ever swept for bugs in this office?”
He nodded. “Yes, once a week. Are you kidding me? I’m just about as paranoid as you are. Jack found some a few months ago but we haven’t found any since.”
“What happened?”
He leaned back in his chair. “I took on a case defending a man that was accused of arson. Small business owner. You have to understand, I try to remain impartial, but the lies some defendants tell you just makes you become—”
“Desensitized.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re familiar,” he said as his eyes darted to Alisa again.
I could read the billboard on his face. It read like a warning. He wondered how I’d treat Alisa if I battled with the same sort of issue. I didn’t blame him. I wondered the same damn thing.
“Anyway, Jack was working with me on a couple of things. I mentioned to him, that for each thing I filed to get the case dismissed, there was nearly a simultaneous response that blocked it. You’ve met Jack, not exactly trusting of anyone. So, he swept the office. Three bugs.”
“Jesus,” Mason mumbled.
“The evidence and all the pressure on this guy seemed overwhelming. I didn’t believe the defendant, until Jack found the bugs. Then it made me question whether I’d been manipulated to believe in the evidence in other cases, or whether I’d folded and bargained a little too much under the pressure. Pissed me off.”
“I’m sure,” I said.
“I hired Melanie after that. Fired the other girl. Replaced the locks, installed cameras that record offsite, and I still have him sweep the office once a week.”
“Okay,” I responded. I didn’t know what Jack’s skills were, but Mason’s opinion was gold to me no matter what Alex said.
“There are six brothers and one sister, Helena, in the family. You may not remember all of them, but their influence has grown over the last few years. My dad, Denny, you’re familiar with. Louis is a land developer.”
“Monica’s dad,” Alisa whispered.
“John King is a retired superintendent of the local school district. He’s now working with Warren, who runs several branches of banks here. Bill, is in housing development for the city but also owns a lot of real estate. Malcolm is on the city council. Helena runs a lucrative commercial insurance business and her late husband, George Richardson, was about to announce his plan to run for mayor until he died over the weekend.”
“J.D. and Tyson Richardson are cops,” Mason said under his breath.
I assumed that they might be the culprits behind some of Mason’s troubles last year if he was mentioning it.
“So, from what you’re telling me, the King family has control of most of the city. And are you their defense lawyer if they break the rules?”
“I don’t take family on as clients. The other people in my firm, can and do, take some of their cases but I’ve stayed out of it.”
I considered Alex for a minute, wondering why he hadn’t fallen in line with the perfect setup his family had. It didn’t make sense to me. Although he wasn’t lying about Alisa’s past, it didn’t mean he still wasn’t shady.
“I don’t understand where you fall into place in all of this, Alex. It makes me question your self-proclaimed sterling integrity, no offense. You’re a King, which from what you’re telling me, means that you have Kingston by the balls.”
His eyes wandered to Alisa’s shocked face as she opened her mouth to likely yell at me for saying it. I squeezed her tighter and turned her head into my chest.
“Mick!” she grunted while she wiggled in my lap.
I put my lips to her ear and whispered very quietly, “What did I tell you about wiggling in my lap at the club?”
She stopped immediately, staring at me with shock.
Good. She needed a distraction from all of this and if she was thinking about my suggestion of her on her knees, then she’d be far less concerned about my need to grill Alex for some answers.
“You’re dirty,” she whispered back.
Smirking at her, I didn’t disagree. I was dirty, and she seemed to bring out the worst of it in me. It should be a warning, but neither one of us was running yet. I wasn’t sure what her reasons were for staying. Mine were purely selfish.
Alex was staring a hole through me when I looked back up at him. I didn’t give a shit what he thought either way.
“You can believe whatever the hell you want, Mick. You think they haven’t tried to bring me into their fold? I spent years away from this place and their politics. I saw how they treated my own sister after high school ended. It soured me to anything they might have ever offered.”
Frowning, I stared at Alex, then shifted my gaze down to Alisa. I wanted to know what happened after high school that was significant enough for Alex to deny his family.
The phone on Alex’s desk rang and interrupted before I could ask.
“Yes?” he answered.
He paused for a minute, looking at me.
“She’s at my house. She’ll be staying with me for a while.”
There was another pause as he listened and my arms around Alisa tightened.
“Had a bout of nausea. I picked her up and she’s resting there. Sure, I’ll let her know you called.”
He hung up the phone. “That was my father. Apparently, when Alisa didn’t make it back last night he was worried. He’s probably just wondering if she went to the police.”
I didn’t comment, waiting for him to say whatever he was thinking.
Alex stood up and started pacing. “Alright. I’m afraid taking her to my house would just make things worse. He’ll likely show up over there.”
“She’s coming home with me,” I replied in a tone that was final. “We’ll pick up her car today and move it out there.”
He shook his head. “No, take it to my house and park it in the back. If its spotted at your house, it would cause an uproar if anyone thinks you’re with her. No offense.”
“We can do that,” Mason agreed.
“I have a proposal for both of you,” Alex said. “We’ve been sitting here talking about the things we both detest about my family. I haven’t lied about what I’ve told you.”
I nodded, but reserved my continued speculation.
“The firm owns a small building that we use mainly for storage. Old documents, records. It’s larger than we actually need, to be honest. The records are locked up there in a back room. We thought about expanding at one point. Possibly putting a few offices over there, but we’re not quite in agreement about it so it looks like we’ll be storing elsewhere and getting rid of the building.”
“I’m not having her camp out in an empty office,” I replied.
He shook his head. “Not what I was going to suggest. Mason and Jack just got their PI licenses and for all intents and purposes are on retainer for this firm, but mainly for me. I’ll never trust another piece of evidence without some sort of research from them.”
“Okay?”
“I’ll buy out the building. They can work out of it. We start investigating the family on the side.”
Mason interjected. “Alex, that’s going to cost a fortune not to mention your reputation if someone found out.”
He thought for a moment, biting the inside of his cheek. “Not if you open a legitimate shop and put my last name on it. No one would really question it, and if asked, tell them it’s a private business that I branched out wi
th. I’ll handle the legalities, make sure it’s airtight on paper. You just run your business, take clients if you feel like it, do things for me when I need it.”
My eyebrows shot up. “And the side purpose is to bring your family down?”
He shrugged. “They may never end up in a courtroom facing anything legal, but that doesn’t mean we can’t embarrass them publicly through other methods.”
“You’re forgetting that we’d need some sort of evidence of deceit to convince the public.”
“In the eyes of the media, everything is true.”
I shrugged at Mason. “Your call, you’re the PI.”
Mason stared at me in silence, then shook his head. “You have to be part of this.”
“Mason…”
“Look, I know you’re dealing with some shit. Doesn’t mean you’re not still good at what you do. It’s surveillance, records, figuring out if something we find means anything interesting. I can’t think of a better person that can draw a line between two insignificant things than you. You’ve done this for years.”
Rubbing my chin on Alisa’s forehead, I gave it some thought. Right now, I was a liability as far as I could see. I needed to straighten some things out in my life and that didn’t leave a lot of room for running after leads for Alex.
Alisa eased out of my grasp and gave me a gentle smile. “I think you’d be perfect for it.”
Running my hand down her cheek, I said, “You would.”
Mason grabbed the bag as Alisa walked around the desk to hug her brother. The expression on Alex’s face was one of relief and protectiveness. I could appreciate that about him, if nothing else, and guessed that was at least a start on the road to trusting him.
When they released each other, Alisa joined Mason at the door and I followed.
“Mick. A minute, if you would,” Alex said behind me.
Mason met my eyes, and after receiving my slight nod, steered Alisa through the door and shut it.
“Yeah?”
He narrowed his eyes at me for a fraction of a second, his expression a little annoyed.
“I said I’d think—”
Mick: Kingston Corruption, Book One Page 10
