“Should it?”
He didn’t answer.
Neither did she.
“You’re in for a battle,” she stated. “I’m not easy,” she added. “I can already warn you that it’ll be difficult at best.”
He smiled.
Oh, his life had been hell.
This was nothing more than a little obstacle course to get to the really amazing prize at the end.
“Since you were honest with me, I’ll return the favor. I don’t want easy, Poppy. I want you. You have an equal battle to fight. We’ll talk tonight. Now, we should go out and start trying to find the person who hurt your family and tried to hurt you.”
Yeah, that worked for her.
She got up and headed to the couch to grab her files. Clipping her badge onto her hip, Poppy tried to process everything he’d said to her.
Dimitri Gideon…
He wasn’t a battle.
She could tell.
He was going to be an outright war.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
Across Town
Parking Garage
When Greyson was finally able to get into the vehicle, he pointed at his son. There was no freaking way that the family would stay intact if Curtis and Kat broke up. The foundation of the family was based on both families. They were Crofts, and they were Gideons.
They were woven together.
If this went to shit, they’d all fall. While he and Dimitri were best friends and brothers, he’d have to defend Curtis. Dimitri would have to side with Kat.
Emma would be in the middle.
It would divide them and make one hell of a freaking mess on both sides.
So, Greyson had to stop that from happening.
Immediately.
“What the hell, Curtis? Why are you saying your marriage is over? It’s only been a year. Not even!”
Curtis wasn’t surprised that this was his reaction. He knew it was coming. That’s why he waited to say anything to them.
“Dad, you saw her. She was feeding Sadie and walked right past me. She didn’t even say goodbye. She isn’t into me anymore. I don’t know what I did. This is my worst nightmare.”
Greyson rubbed his eyes as Heath drove them to their first meeting.
“Curtis, marriage is hard.”
Yeah, he was aware.
“Dad, I am so miserable. I love being a father, but this is hard. I’m losing my wife, and I’m freaking out.”
Greyson sighed.
And the drama continued.
If his next child was like this, he was going to lose his mind. Here, they thought they’d lucked out by missing the teen years too…
Clearly, not.
“Curtis, she just lost her sister, and she gave birth on the same day. Maybe you’re being a little too hard on her. She’s likely struggling too.”
“She won’t talk to me.”
“At all?” he asked, trying to troubleshoot the boy’s relationship.
“It’s all pleasantries. It’s have a good day, and are you hungry, or what time is it? There’s no Kat left. She’s gone, and I don’t know what to do!”
“Curtis.”
“She won’t touch me.”
Without any hesitation, Greyson slapped him in the back of the head.
“Are you kidding me with that bullshit?” he asked.
“What?” Curtis asked, looking surprised.
“She just gave birth. Your dick is NOT important right now. You’re a father. You created a life, and you need to put that life first. The fun sex days are over. Welcome to the reality of being a parent.”
“Yeah, well, intimacy is important, and that’s easy for you to say. You’re still curled up with Emma.”
“Curtis, her sister died. She can’t have sex for a while until her body heals. She pushed a living person out of her body. That’s not an overnight fix.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Fine, then stop putting it on her. She can’t have sex, and honestly, son, if that’s your first thought now, you’re the problem not her. It’s selfish. Stop being an idiot.”
“There’s no cuddling. I can understand the sex part, but she won’t even hold my damn hand!”
Okay, that wasn’t good.
Greyson was trying to save this. He didn’t have the time, patience, or inclination to deal with a relationship meltdown—especially if it was NOT his. While it was good to keep their relationships in the family—meaning with the Gideons—it would be a million times worse if it went bad.
“None whatsoever?” he asked hoping the boy was exaggerating.
“None, Dad. If I touch her the baby cries. The baby cries, and then she leaks milk. She leaks milk, and she’s out of bed and done with me.”
“WHAT?” Greyson asked. “Is that a thing? Heath, get me a book on leaking breasts.”
“Yes, Mr. C.”
“Be serious. I need you, Dad. I’m scared. I can’t do this again. I can’t lose Kat. I love her so much.”
“Your child is less than a month old. Cut Kat a break. She’s tired. She lost her sister. She gained a sister. It’s an emotional rollercoaster the last few weeks. When she’s ready, she’ll talk. Look at Dimitri. He still hasn’t said much about Natasha’s death. He’s internalizing it. When he’s ready, he’ll talk.”
“What if it’s me?”
Greyson slapped him again.
“Hey!”
“One more time, and I’m telling Emma. She will kick your ass. It’s not all about you!”
Curtis understood that, but he was afraid.
“The baby hates me.”
Heath even rolled his eyes.
Greyson shook his head. Sadie didn’t know what it was to hate. She only knew boob juice and cuddling. That was the extent of her life.
“How often do you hold the baby? How often do you tell your wife to stay in bed, and give your daughter a bottle?”
“Never.”
“Curtis, the baby is going to bond with whoever feeds it. She’s going to be all ‘mmmmm milk’. Try more. It takes practice to build that bond. Kat is using Sadie to get over hurting. You need to be the one she uses. Step in, take control, and be the person your wife needs to get over this.”
“What if it never goes back?”
“Are you quitting?”
“NO! I need my dad on this one. I don’t know what to do, and I’m scared. I need your help.”
“Do something nice for her. Instead of thinking about your dick, think about her.”
“She won’t let me even go there,” he said, pointing at his groin area.
“Heath?” Greyson stated. “Please help me explain to my son what I’m trying to convey here. If he points at his dick again, I’m going to let Emma talk to him.”
The big man laughed.
“He’s saying be more of a giver. Put the baby to bed. Sit on the couch and give her a foot rub, let her sleep in, and stop being a douchebag.”
Curtis closed his eyes.
Then he started to cry.
Greyson, immediately, felt bad. They’d ridden him hard, but there was no room for a divorce in this family. Now that he was weeping, Greyson realized that he was really scared. Switching gears, he put away the tough love and hugged him.
“Curtis, Kat loves you. I promise. Tonight, put Sadie down, sit with your wife, and talk to her. She’s upset. Kat is normally bubbly, happy, and full of life. She’s mourning. Help her. That’s your job as a husband.”
He let the storm pass.
“We’ll stop at a jeweler, and you can get her something pretty. She gave birth on the day her sister died. We didn’t celebrate Sadie. We mourned Natasha. Give her a celebration. Keep trying. Keep pushing your love all over her. It’ll work.”
“And if it doesn’t?” he asked, wiping his eyes.
“Heath, don’t let Dimitri kill Curtis.”
“On it, boss.”
“That’s not funny,” Curtis stated.
“Son,
I wasn’t kidding. The man just lost his one sister. If his other one gets hurt…”
Curtis swallowed.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, exactly. Work this out, or there’s going to be a Russian killer gunning for you.”
Great.
Curtis was worried about that now too.
Worse, he’d take Dimitri’s wrath.
He didn’t want to lose his wife.
Ever.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
Tristan And Emily
Bauer’s Home
When they pulled up to the first interview, Emma and Chris scoped it out. Outside, there was a woman on the front porch having a discussion with her husband. They assumed it was her husband since she was kissing him goodbye.
Well, this was going to be an easy one. They had the couple outside and trapped.
Now they’d really make sure no one got away.
“You know what to do,” she told Chris.
Immediately, he blocked the driveway with their big Navigator, and they both hopped out.
It didn’t take them long to notice them heading their way up the driveway and toward the couple.
Their faces said it all.
They were curious.
“Can I help you with something?” Tristan asked. “Are you lost?”
Yeah, no.
“Are you the Bauers?” Emma asked, checking her phone to pull up their driver’s license photographs. Thank God for the FBI technology they were ‘borrowing’.
“Uh, yes, we are,” he stated. “I’m Tristan, and this is Emily.”
Yeah, she was aware, but she appreciated the introduction. Maybe, if they were lucky, this would be an easy interview.
“I’m Emma Croft, and this is my associate Christopher Ford. We have some questions that we were hoping you’d answer for us.”
They looked at each other.
“We know who you are,” Tristan stated. “We just don’t know why you’re here.”
“Libby Raye,” she said, hoping that would give them the motivation they needed to help them.
It had the desired effect.
Emily gasped.
“Did they find her?” she asked. “Did they finally find her? Is she alive?” the woman inquired. “Did they find my friend?”
Emma hated to disappoint her, but they were just beginning their job of finding her, but, with time, they would.
There was no doubt.
“We’ve been asked to find her. We’re working on locating her dead or alive, and we were told that you had a good relationship with her and her husband. Is there any way you can see it in the kindness of your heart to help us?”
Or she could use money.
Emma was good with that too.
“Of course I’ll help!” Emily Bauer stated. “I worked with her,” Emily stated. “We became really good friends, and then we would hang out—her and her husband, and us. We did lots of things together.”
Emily’s husband agreed.
“I would go to games with Jeffrey, and Libby and Emily would go shopping. We became close.”
“What happened the day she went missing?” Emma asked, trying to get a baseline of what had gone down. People didn’t just disappear unless there was some nefarious reason.
“I don’t know if we should be talking to you,” Tristan offered. “You’re the Crofts.”
That was the story of her life.
Well, Chris had a solution for that.
“I’m not a Croft,” Chris said. “You can tell me then. Unless you want what happened to her to stay hidden…?”
They hesitated, but the last part of that seemed to make them more willing to help out.
Emma gave them the push they needed to spill what they knew about the missing woman.
“Listen, we’re going to keep asking questions. The media follows me around,” Emma stated. “I will bring your names up in passing, and you will be on TV. Is that what you want?” she asked, playing dirty.
Tristan shook his head.
Emily too.
Oh, look.
It worked.
“Emily, tell them,” Tristan stated, urging his wife on so they could get it over with and out of there.
She sighed.
“I told the police all of this.”
“Well, now tell us,” Chris stated.
“We were supposed to meet for brunch on that Sunday. I got a text from the group saying where we were meeting, and I headed there. It was the normal day. I went there, and met up with the group.”
Chris made notes.
Now they were getting somewhere. They had names, but they needed more, and this was a way to get it.
“Who was there?” he asked.
She thought about it.
“It was Marci, me, and our friend Jeanette. We, four, always had brunch together. We’d be there for hours eating and laughing our asses off.”
“Where did you meet?” Emma asked.
“Peter’s. It’s that bistro on fourth. When I got there, Marci and Jeanie were already there. We waited for Libby, but she never showed.”
“Did you speak to her before the brunch?”
“Yeah, she was at the gym that morning. Libby was always working out. Raye liked her svelte.”
Well, Jeffrey Raye was an asshole.
“Did they have issues?” Chris asked. “Did they fight? Seem unhappy? You know…any of the things that would send up some red flags?”
They both shook their heads.
“Libby never said anything to me,” Emily stated. “She would gush about Jeffrey at work, and he’d send her flowers. When we hung out, they were always smiling or laughing. They were a good, strong couple.”
They looked at Tristan.
“We’d go to the games, and he’d text her to make sure she was good. He doted on her. He liked to make sure his wife was safe. I think it was a cop thing.”
They made notes.
“Ever see her with bruises?” Emma asked, trying to confirm Abby’s story.
Emily looked uncomfortable.
“What?” Emma asked.
“It’s embarrassing.”
“What is?”
“She once mentioned she got off on a kinkier foreplay. I think the bruises you’re talking about were from S.E.X.”
Chris nearly laughed that she’d spelled it. They were all adults, and Emma was pregnant. There was no doubt that everyone there had done it at least once...
“How kinky is kinky?” Emma asked.
Again, Emily hesitated.
“We can’t help her without your help.”
“She told me once she frequented that sex shop on Hill and West. The one with the racy clothes in the window. She liked the things they had there. She said the anonymity of the place was the best part. No one knew her, and no one cared. It’s pretty seedy, I guess.”
“I know the place.”
Chris lifted a brow.
He nearly wanted to laugh.
Of course Emma would know the place. Greyson was a damn lucky man.
“You should try going there. She was a regular, but again, she liked it there because they’re pretty busy, and no one ever batted an eyelash when she’d go in.”
Oh, they would.
It looked like she and Chris had a backup mission.
Now, they needed to try a different angle.
“If she was going to ‘disappear’ where would she go?” Chris asked.
They both looked confused.
“Nowhere,” he stated. “Libby loved her job, she loved her friends, and she loved her life,” Tristan stated.
Yeah, Emma was betting she didn’t just go missing. She went to the other side. It wasn’t lost on her that Tristan didn’t say she loved her husband.
Was he cueing her in?
Or was it inadvertent?
It looked like they were going to have to find out.
“Thank you for your help,” she said.
Emma and Chris
hopped into their vehicle and pulled away. Inside, Emma was quiet.
“What are you thinking about?” Chris asked. “You have that look on your face.”
She glanced over.
“When people talk about my marriage, what do they say?” she asked.
“That your husband is a crazy, possessive, lunatic who keeps you on a short leash because he’s a freaking caveman.”
She snorted.
“Oddly, all true. Boy, did they call that one.”
“Yeah, and?”
“No one’s relationship is perfect. Greyson and I fight, and when we do, it’s huge.”
“I concur. I once watched you throw out his cookies. He was pissed. I think he was seriously going to divorce your ass,” he teased. “I thought I was going to get to swoop you up and rub it in,” he added in jest.
She laughed.
“Okay, so now that you dropped that uncomfortable truth bomb, maybe you can focus?”
He snorted.
“You have my attention. Where are you taking this one?” he asked.
Emma explained, “That’s one of her best friends, right? By her own admission, they did brunch every Sunday, right?”
“Yeah, and?”
“Who’s my best friend?”
“Me.”
“What don’t I tell you?”
“You tell me everything—even shit that I don’t want to hear. We pretty much just share everything.”
Then he got it.
“You think that either Emily was covering for her, or she wasn’t as good a friend?”
“How often do I have sex?”
“WAY TOO MUCH.”
She snorted.
“My room was across from yours at Terrace Glen. Greyson is a morning person, and that pains me to even say those words.”
She found that funny.
“Very true.”
“And you’re a night person,” he said. “I have no peace whatsoever.”
She punched him.
“Yeah, that woman…she was hiding something. She handed us a little kinkery. I’m not buying it. Let’s go back. The husband should be gone by now.”
If that was what she wanted, he’d do it. After all, it was his job to keep her safe, let her talk the case out, and drive her around.
Mob Justice Page 24
