Mick: Kingston Corruption, Book One

by Vester, Jennifer

“But I thought something happened at his job.”

  He arched his eyebrows. “Something did. Even though I’ve asked him a few times, he won’t open up and fill me in. It’s never been this bad. He’s a good man, Alisa, smart as hell. I wouldn’t have anyone else at my back in a pinch. But he won’t let anyone fuck with him. I’m telling you, because I can see where he’s going with you. He won’t ever let anyone fuck with you either. No one, not even me.”

  “He’s kind of said that, but I thought maybe he was just being protective.”

  He squeezed my hand. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him and I’m glad to see it. You make him happy, or at least as happy as that stubborn ass can be. I’m just letting you know, that there’s going to be a day when you may not understand some things. Just remember he’s a fighter and you’re his reason for fighting now.”

  I nodded, not entirely sure what Mason was trying to say, but appreciative of his thoughts nonetheless.

  “I’m going to go. Have a few things I need to do for Mick. The guy in the corner is your new bodyguard.”

  My face scrunched as I looked at the hulking man reading a magazine. He glanced at me and gave me a tight smile. It wasn’t exactly friendly, but it wasn’t unpleasant, just professional I presumed.

  “His name is Paul, and he’s a good friend of a friend. Anyway. Just remember what I said about not understanding Mick. Let him do this for you.”

  “But I don’t need one, Mason. I don’t want him to spend the money on something that I don’t need. It was just a random act of violence. That’s it.”

  He chuckled. “You’re cute. That’s why I like you. Don’t ever worry about funds, Mick can afford quite a bit. See you soon, Alisa. Just get better, okay? Without you around it’s not quite as fun to fuck with his sorry ass.”

  I giggled then winced from the wound in my side. “Thanks, Mason.”

  “Anytime, sis.”

  Frowning at the term he used, he chuckled again as he left the room.

  I eyed Paul, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do around him. Or what he should be doing around me. He seemed relaxed enough flipping through pages in his magazine.

  A bodyguard. Not something I would have ever imagined in my life. Paul was a brick wall to put it mildly. Although not particularly over muscled, he had a broad physique and looked quite a bit like several bouncers I’d seen through the years. The difference lay in the serious expression in his brown eyes, the way they scanned the door every few seconds and the way he carried himself. As if his tall body was poised to take immediate action, but hiding that fact, by looking seemingly relaxed, even if he wasn’t.

  Mick and Alex both entered the room at the same time. Alex’s face fell when I smiled at him. My eyes slid to Mick’s and I saw something, a small glimmer of rage, before it was wiped from his face.

  “Hey, baby,” Mick said as he placed a small kiss on my forehead. “Feeling okay?”

  Nodding, I gave him a small smile. “Yeah, just a little groggy.”

  Alex took my hand and kissed it. “Just glad you’re okay.”

  I looked between both of them as their eyes slid away from me.

  “Uhm, what’s going on?”

  Alex gave me a tight smile as he squeezed my hand. His expression was one that I’d seen a few times with clients when he was trying not to say something, but he had plenty of opinions rolling around in the back of his head.

  “Nothing. It’s just unfortunate that you two were attacked so randomly. When Mick called I nearly lost it.”

  My head turned toward Mick on my other side. Unlike Alex, who I could read fairly well given our relationship, Mick’s expression was blank. I wasn’t sure if it was the blank stare he was giving the wall, or his non-response that scared me more. The fact that Alex hadn’t commented on Paul’s presence in the room also said a lot. It was if they both suddenly were in complete agreement about something that they were trying to hide. Alex, with his ability as an attorney to lie, and Mick with his dark, moody eyes.

  “Right,” I said with a sigh. “Then Paul isn’t really needed here if that’s the case.”

  Paul looked up at me with an enigmatic expression before he scanned the doorway again and went back to pretending to read.

  “He’s not going anywhere for now,” Mick replied in a flat voice. “Just a precaution.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So, if it was a random attack, then why the precaution? Have they caught him? Did they pull the cameras? Why was your dad here?”

  Alex glanced at Mick. “I told you…”

  Mick dipped down to kiss me on the forehead again. “You should rest. I want him here because it makes me feel better.”

  I groaned at his response. “Really? That’s all you’re going to say? Then he can stay with you.”

  He leaned over ran his hand over my jaw before taking hold of my chin. “My father is the Chief of Police. He was here to take a statement, it’s his job. They haven’t caught the fucker yet, and Paul is a deterrent just in case. He’s staying right where he is because I fucking want him to be here.”

  “You’re being ridiculous,” I hissed.

  His eyes scanned my face before he replied. “Remember when I said there were some things I wouldn’t tell you?”

  I nodded.

  “Well this is one of them. So, get used to it.”

  Alex mumbled something to my other side drawing Mick’s attention.

  “We have some things we need to do,” Alex said as he gave a nod to Mick. He leaned in when Mick retreated and held his head against the side of my face. Before he moved back, he kissed me on the temple and gave me a genuine small smile.

  He left the room, leaving me with Mr. Personality Paul and Mick.

  “Do you have to go too?” I asked as I glanced at him.

  He nodded slowly taking my hand in his. He studied my palm, running his thumb over my fingers. When he looked back up at me he gave me a tight smile.

  “I’ll be back later. You’ll probably sleep for most of it, your eyes look tired.”

  I shook my head as I yawned.

  He chuckled. “Stubborn.”

  “Jerk.”

  He smirked and leaned over me before peppering my neck with small kisses.

  His mouth hit my ear and I shivered. “Yeah, but I’m your jerk. I’ll be back, I love you.”

  “Love you,” I whispered sleepily as he stepped away and gave me one last glance.

  He looked at Paul, who nodded and shut the door behind him.

  Letting out a sigh, I turned to Paul and his fake reading expression. “Do you play cards?”

  He smirked. “Yeah. Sleep, we’ll play after.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him and he gave me the same look. His was a lot scarier than mine was, so I gave in and closed my eyes.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mick

  Angry, didn’t describe my mood a week after the attack.

  Furious, filled with rage might have come close. Whatever it was, it’d settled in my chest ready for a long, unwelcome stay.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there was a connection between Alex’s house getting broken into, Alisa’s car being vandalized, and the man in the elevator with the knife. Something that Mason, Alex and Jack all agreed on. My father was a different story and other than placating my temper, he seemed indifferent to what happened.

  While I let the police search for the man on the video feed, I stewed, burying myself in the club’s financial records and accounting. It was tedious and mind-numbing, but prevented me from storming my father’s office again.

  Meanwhile, Mason and Jack were doing their own search for the attacker between chasing down things for Alex. Although it hadn’t produced any results, one benefit had been networking with people that had the same idea we did about the King family. They were dirty, and at least half the city agreed when they talked to him.

  Their crimes didn’t just include the one against Alisa. They were far reac
hing. Extortion, bribes, threats, and alleged murder were just a few things Mason had heard. He’d laid it out in the kitchen the first night Alisa was in my bed, but the more I heard, the more tangible it became to me. They had an organization, a system, and links to crime after crime all while looking like they were the city’s elite.

  I moved another invoice in front of me to a folder and grabbed the next one.

  The large mahogany desk that was currently piled with papers and my laptop, was left over from the previous owner. It was the only thing that survived the purge of old, ratty furniture when we cleaned out the back rooms.

  A cursory look at the man who’d sold the place to us, was enough for me to know that he’d been as shady as the lighting downstairs. I knew at a glance that he’d been using drugs and had more than likely been dealing out of the club. Rumor from the staff was that he was as free with it as he’d been with his dick when some club patron was stupid enough to think he was worth visiting.

  The manager, a fiery woman the staff called, “Satan”, but was otherwise known as Holly, had clearly been the person in charge of the staff. She'd handled most of the club’s daily operations, while her boss snorted, injected, smoked or sold whatever was earned. The club itself, was running at a profit, a huge one. The amount of money they earned versus what they spent was phenomenal. But it was hard to tell how much they’d had year after year by the books the owner had been keeping. Although Holly had cleaned up most of the confusion in the last week by the look of it, unfortunately there was a mountain of missing payments and data.

  The door opened, and Alex strolled in, drawing my attention away from the confusion of the last liquor shipment that had been delivered.

  I gestured toward the new set of leather chairs in front of the desk. “Come in, have a seat. Isn’t it a little early in the morning to be slumming it here?”

  He gave me a wry smile and dropped a thumb drive on the desk before lounging in the nearest chair.

  Glancing at it, I raised my brows in question.

  “That’s a gift from Reid Thomas.”

  I steepled my hands and shrugged. “You mean the dipshit that was flirting with Alisa at the gallery? Why would I care?”

  Alex chuckled and surveyed the office. “This place isn’t as bad as it seems from the exterior.”

  “We had it repainted, I’ve been huffing fumes since we signed the papers. New furniture, new look. Hopefully the cocaine on the floor got mopped up.”

  He smiled. “Ahh, yeah, I heard from Mason.”

  “Reid Thomas?”

  “Yes, well he’s an old friend of mine. Works around Malcolm King, when he shows up for City Council meetings. He owns the art gallery we were at and just happens to be as paranoid as I am.”

  “Still not hearing any reason why I should care.”

  “Get over it, Mick. He’s known Alisa for a long time and he wasn’t pissing on your territory. He’s like that in public with every woman.”

  The door opened to the office and Holly strode in without glancing at Alex. She laid an invoice on the table and turned to leave.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  Alex’s eyes slid down Holly’s frame with no indication of what he thought of the leggy woman who was sporting dark blue coloring in her normally brunette hair. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore cut-off jeans with a black shirt that looked like it had gray paint on it. She was younger than I’d imagined when Mason told me about her. I was half convinced that Mason was afraid of the little firecracker by his initial descriptions. It still didn’t prepare me to deal with a girl in her twenties with so much ambition and spunk.

  “Liquor delivery, boss,” she said sarcastically. “Thought you might want it for your pile of paperwork.”

  I leaned back in my chair. “It’s Mick, we’ve been over that. And it’s not just my pile of paperwork, it’s ours. As soon as I go through it, you can have your folders back.”

  She shrugged with a slight expression of indignation and hurt on her face.

  “Holly, you’re still the manager, we just need to see what we’re dealing with.”

  “Yeah, whatever. You want to know then just ask.”

  I grabbed the invoice from the edge of the desk and flipped it over. I frowned at the name of the delivery service. Martin’s Shipping had come up on a few items that I’d flagged to talk to her about.

  “We’ll talk about this one later,” I said absently. “This is Alex. Alex, Holly.”

  She glanced at Alex for a moment, who gave her a tight smile. She nodded at him then left the office.

  “Alex, you can wipe the drool off the floor. How’s Heather?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me before looking away. “Probably thinking about her next plan of attack to get me to marry her. I’m assuming she’s doing what Heather does best, getting a tan, living off her daddy’s money and spending loads of time talking about herself to anyone that’ll listen.”

  I whistled. “Hmm, you’re not as dumb as you look.”

  “Her father’s a mutual acquaintance of the family. Owns a very large bank with Warren King. To whom I owe a bit of money on a loan I took out to open the firm a few years ago.”

  “I see. So, you’re dating her to extend the loan? Or is it your dad pulling the strings? This is exactly why I question your loyalties, Alex.”

  “Alright, Mick,” he said as he leaned forward, giving me a scowl. “You want to know a few things? I’m a King. When your dad suggests taking the daughter of a wealthy man out to dinner and maybe give her a healthy fuck on occasion to placate your uncle’s business partner, you do it. Why? Because as far as they’re concerned I’m dedicated to the family. Not only that, but it helps me stay in business, so that Heather’s dad, doesn’t convince Warren to demand the full amount of my loan to him with a month’s notice.”

  “How much do you owe?”

  He chuckled. “Initially a lot, but I’m getting it down. Meanwhile, I work so many late nights that it makes it nearly impossible to see the bitch except for a random date or two or when she shows up at the office.”

  Alex’s hard glare dared me to say something about it as he leaned back in his chair. The urge to prod him and piss him off was on the tip of my tongue until I thought of Alisa. She respected her brother, even if I found him annoying, and unfortunately that alone made me hold my tongue. If he ever fucked her over, it’d be a different story.

  Grabbing the thumb drive off the desk I held it up. “What’s on this?”

  “Reid wouldn’t say. Just that you might find it interesting.”

  I threw him an irritated glance and plugged it into my laptop. There was one file, a video, that I opened. When it began to play, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. An alley, much like any other in the city with few lights and dark shadows.

  I shrugged and turned the screen to let Alex watch. “What am I looking at?”

  He frowned at the footage as it played. “Not sure.”

  We watched for several minutes then caught movement just outside the light of the darkened alley. Two figures became visible as they walked toward the camera. Both men, one shorter than the other, but they were both very clear when they stopped just shy of walking out of the frame.

  “Son of a bitch,” I mumbled. “That’s the guy from the elevator. The shorter one on the right. Why and how did Reid not only film this, but also know who we were looking for?”

  Elevator guy’s arms moved out of view as the other man leered at something they were looking at. When the shorter man stepped back he had a bulging square package in his hand that resembled an envelope. He handed it to the taller man, said something to him, then both walked back in the direction they’d came.

  The video cut to a black screen then to a video feed of the gallery. It was a recording of the gallery opening. I spotted Alisa walking away from Reid’s table with me, then Alex holding me back as we had words.

  Pausing the video, I scanned the room.

 
“What are we looking at?” Alex said to himself.

  “More like who are we looking for. I can’t imagine that the videos aren’t related.”

  Alex pointed to the top left of the screen. “There, shorty.”

  Playing the video again, the man watched us leave, then followed shortly afterward before the video ended.

  I sat back, staring at the blank screen. “How does this play into our theory about your family making threats? We can’t see who’s in the alley with them. The art gallery? He saw me kiss her, but was he already following us?”

  Alex ran a hand through his hair. “Good question. But I think what we talked about still fits. I’m not a detective, but the way I see it, my family, at least my dad, thought she was with me. Maybe he hired someone to follow her and then he realized she was with you. Your kiss in the gallery confirms it, but since he doesn’t think I’d lie about where she’s staying, he had someone break in?”

  “Hmm,” I said as I tapped my finger on the desk. “Something is missing. Why go after her at your house if shorty followed us to the hotel?”

  Alex shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Do you have Reid’s number?”

  Alex pulled out his phone and tapped a few buttons. He laid the phone on the desk on speaker as it rang.

  “Hello?” a smooth male voice answered.

  Alex opened his mouth, but I cut him off.

  “You know who this is. Do you have a name?” I asked when Reid picked up.

  “Dan.”

  “Do you know where Dan is?”

  “I do,” he said with a distracted tone. “Your brother just walked out of his favorite diner for breakfast about ten minutes ago. I’ve given him the information.”

  Why the man knew my brother’s habits was disturbing. I didn’t even know what Mason’s favorite diner was, and that irritated the hell out of me.

  I picked up my phone and dialed Mason.

  “Hey. I’m working on something,” he answered gruffly. He sounded like he’d been up most of the night, likely up to his familiar habits with a woman, since he hadn’t come home last night.

  “Were you at a diner for breakfast?”