“Well, my work here is done,” Poppy said, as she got up and headed toward Dimitri.
He looked troubled.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked. He looked irritated, and that worried her.
“No, not you. You did everything right. I just had my confirmation and it doesn’t sit well.”
“About?” she asked, hoping it had nothing to do with her. She genuinely liked Dimitri’s kids. She hoped she didn’t overstep some boundary.
“She’s not my sister.”
She stared at him.
“Uh, she’s not? What is she then?”
“I killed my father years before she was born. If she’s six or seven, that means he raped more women, and he has more kids.”
“Oh. You think she’s your niece.”
He was impressed that she got it.
“Yes. This is a mess.”
Dimitri couldn’t help but worry that one of them would be just as crazy as Viktor. He didn’t need another lunatic gunning for him or his children.
Poppy held his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She knew how he felt. The not knowing was the worst.
“When we’re done finding the person who killed my mother, I’ll help you.”
He looked down at her.
No one, but the Crofts, had ever offered to help him with anything.
“Thank you.”
She led him to his bedroom and pulled open her bag. As she was doing that, her cell phone began ringing.
She looked at it.
“Oh, shit! It’s the commissioner’s office. That can’t possibly be good.”
“Answer it,” he said. “Put it on speaker,” Dimitri said, going into protection mode.
She did.
“Detective Wayne.”
“Detective, you’re needed at the commissioner’s office. He requests your presence there,” his secretary stated.
“What’s it about? I’m taking some down time,” she said. “I filled out my requests. I’m on vacation.”
“I don’t know, Detective. I’ve just been told to speak to you when I came in this morning.”
Poppy had no choice.
She was a cop, and he was the top of the damn food chain in that office. If he called you up, you had no choice but to show up or get in deep shit.
She was already in enough trouble.
Poppy didn’t need to dig the hole deeper. She could only imagine what he’d do to REALLY make her life miserable. He was a sadistic asshole.
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” she stated, really wanting to skip it. Poppy didn’t want to go there.
She was afraid, but she kept it to herself.
For Dimitri’s sake and his sanity.
The call went dead.
“I don’t like this,” Dimitri said. “He’s calling you in, and he knows I can’t go with you. Commissioner Raye will play all the cards he has. I’m going to bet that he’s seen the media.”
She didn’t doubt that for a second.
“He’s likely going to ask me who’s side I’m on and warn me that you’re a killer.”
He didn’t say anything.
He simply watched as she got dressed.
“Body armor.”
She took it from him as he pulled it out of her bag. Poppy slipped into it and secured it.
“If you need me…”
She glanced up as she clipped her gun to her hip beside her badge.
He saw the change.
“I’ll be good. What’s the worst that can happen?” she asked.
“Uh, I bet Thomas Christ thought that.”
She stared at him.
She didn’t think about that.
Now, that was the only thing on her mind.
Well, shit.
Chapter Thirteen
Wednesday Morning
Sky Villa
Penthouse
W hen Dimitri arrived upstairs for the morning meeting, he was frazzled. He was worried about Poppy, and her trip to the commissioner’s office. After walking his kids upstairs to Kat’s condo, he needed someone to assuage his fears.
Emma.
She would be the perfect person for the job. After all, she worked under him and knew the man.
Emma would know what he would do. All he could think of was the episode between him and Thomas Christ. Would he shoot her?
Was this just standard and he was overthinking it?
Heading into the penthouse, he found Emma at the counter, and Greyson cooking her something to eat. He was wearing a flowery apron, and shirtless.
“Oh, Jesus. You just had sex,” Dimitri stated, staring at the man. When he looked around the counter, he was in boxers and barefoot. “Christ! I can see the afterglow from here.”
Emma was in a robe, and she laughed.
“Yep.”
Since he was in a good mood, she assumed he did too. The police didn’t show up, so none of the other residents had called the police.
“Did you seal the deal, Mr. Gideon?” Emma asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.
It made him laugh.
“First, before I incriminate myself with details, I need to do something,” he said. He headed toward Emma took her face in his hands, and then licked her neck.
She stared at him like he’d lost it.
“Did you just freaking lick my wife?” Greyson asked from behind the counter.
“Yes. She tastes like peaches too. I need to know what that is. Poppy used some of it at the penthouse. I think I’m addicted to it. Help a guy out. I want to slather her in it.”
Emma laughed.
“Thanks for the lick. That was new,” Emma stated. Then she wrote it down on a piece of paper and slid it toward him. “It’s an all over the body kind of deal. I hope you didn’t just lick her neck.”
“Oh, I didn’t. Thank you, Emma. It’s delicious.”
Then he glanced over at Greyson. He had a bruise on his face—one he put there.
As he headed his way, Greyson held the spatula like a weapon. “If you lick me, I’ll flatten you.”
Emma laughed.
Dimitri, instead, hugged him. He held him and hugged him so very tight.
Greyson immediately knew he wasn’t going to screw around. This affection from Dimitri was always serious.
He hugged him back.
“I’m so sorry I hit you. You’re my brother and best friend, and I shouldn’t have lashed out at you. Please forgive me, Greyson. You were right. I was holding onto that.”
Greyson held him.
“It’s okay, Dimitri. I know you were upset. I pushed your buttons to make you react.”
“Oh, poking a Russian killer. Sounds like a good idea,” Emma teased. She and Greyson discussed it before bed, and neither was upset with Dimitri. Sometimes, you needed help from family.
This had been one of those times.
“Speaking of poking...,” Dimitri began. “Something is poking me in the hip. That’s not your dick, right?” Dimitri asked with a look of horror on his face.
Greyson moved the spatula and slapped him on the ass with it. “Asshole.”
Emma laughed.
“Okay, I feel better. I love you both. Now for my freak out,” he warned.
“Uh oh,” Emma stated. “What?”
“Poppy was called to the commissioner’s office. Please tell me I shouldn’t get a gun, go sit on the roof of the building across the street, and aim for his head through his window.”
Well, that said it all about his state of mind.
“Um…sex is supposed to mellow you out,” Greyson stated. “What the hell kind of morning have you been having?”
He told them everything.
Like family, they listened and didn’t judge. He even told them about the sex. Greyson was his best friend, and Emma…well, she was Emma.
“I’m worried about her. He killed Thomas Christ, and now that I’ve slept with her, she’s mine.”
Emma thought about it.
�
��Well, he called me in once while I was off. It was because we were backlogged. He could be just calling her to work.”
That helped.
“Or not.”
That didn’t help.
“Ilan is following her. He’s inside the building, and he’ll call me.”
“She knows what happened with Thomas Christ,” Greyson stated. “She’ll be ready for it. You have to trust her. She’s a cop, and she has damn good instincts.”
He was right.
She’d nailed the Sam and Petra situation that morning, and handled it without an issue. That was no easy task.
“Oh, and I’m going to marry her,” he admitted out of the blue. “And have a baby.”
Emma choked on her coffee.
Dimitri patted her on the back.
“What? Today?”
He laughed.
“No, but eventually. She’s the one. You were right, I was right, and now I have to figure out how to get her to stay with me. She told Sam she hates my money.”
Emma laughed.
“Oh, you’re in for a long battle on this one,” Emma stated. “Your money, plus our money…”
Yeah, he was aware.
Together, they were beyond loaded.
“How do I get her to stay with me? I can lock her in the room and tie her to the bed.”
Greyson stared at him.
“I hope you were joking. I can’t tell with you. You don’t smile.”
He smiled.
“Too late. After the fact makes it creepy. My suggestion is don’t go with the kidnapping option.”
“Ask her to stay,” Emma stated.
“I did. She’s staying until this crazy is caught. We can push that back a few years, right? Just until I knock her up, and then she’ll have to stay.”
Emma laughed.
“Oh, and I didn’t use a condom. Is it wrong to tell her I want kids with her on date four?”
Emma slapped him in the back of the head.
“Are you out of your damn mind? She’ll run as fast as she freaking can and she should. That makes her sound like some breeding mare.”
“I’m bad with this kind of stuff. We worked out my issues, she told me she was upset because the idea of me sleeping with hookers put her in that same category.”
“Who thought that would be an issue?” Emma asked, laughing.
Greyson and Emma both raised their hands.
“Well, had I known…”
“Poppy is scared of looking like a gold digger. You have to dial it way back. WAY BACK.”
“Like what? I live at Sky Villa, and I’m rich. I’ve been poor, and it is NOT fun. Sam told her the same thing.”
“Okay, well, to start, when you take her out, and that means you keep doing it since you can’t give up on dating. You haven’t bagged the babe yet. She can run,” Greyson stated.
She pointed at him.
“Know what else sucks? Alimony, Mr. Croft.”
He laughed.
“I will tie you to a bed, AGAIN.”
Emma giggled gleefully at the visual in her head. It was pretty damn fantastic.
“How does that work for him, but I can’t do that?” Dimitri asked.
“Because he’s kinky, and we are married. He got me to marry him. You have to slowly work up to this with Poppy. When you take her out, he’s right. Don’t flaunt your money. Once in a while, take her to a fancy place, but do normal people things.”
“Like? I hired hookers. I need some help. I can’t use money to dazzle. I don’t know how to make her like me.”
“She loves guns. Take her to the firing range, shoot some targets, and then buy her ice cream.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Dating should be fun,” Greyson stated. “You didn’t have fun as a child. Here’s your time to really make the most of it.”
Dimitri liked that idea.
Emma continued, “You have kids. Go to an amusement park or a carnival. That’s normal people stuff. Do not fly her to Paris.”
He closed his mouth.
Then had to ask.
“Never? I like Paris.”
She laughed.
“When you propose, that’s one of those things. Pretend you’re not rich. You get paid like a cop. Think like that.”
“So, pizza on a Friday night after a movie in a theater?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Wings and beer at a bar,” Greyson suggested.
“I own a few bars…”
She shook her head.
“I would casually not mention that, so don’t go into any you own but Aquarius. She already knows about that one.”
He could do that.
Heath came in.
“Hey, Mrs. C,” he said, sitting beside her. “Hey! Who gave you a hickey?”
Greyson smiled. It was time to get revenge.
“Dimitri licked her against her will. It was horrible, Heath, just horrible. He put his mouth on her.”
Heath pointed at Dimitri.
“You’re dead.”
“Hey!” Dimitri said.
Greyson pointed at his face and the bruise. Payback was a bitch.
Dimitri found that amusing.
“Fair enough, but, Heath, I’m your boss. So....”
“Fine,” the big man stated. “I’m not happy with you putting your tongue on her. I’ll angrily glare at you for ten minutes in protest.”
Emma laughed her ass off. The big man beside her was funny as hell. She couldn’t help herself.
“What are we doing today?” Heath asked. “I want to crack some skulls.”
Croft laughed.
“You and I are going to stop by Abby McCoy’s home. I want to know why she didn’t mention her ex was banging her now missing sister.”
“She might not have known,” Emma stated. “Her friend Emily said she was into kinky shit. She might have been banging quite a few married men.”
She was right.
Still, they had to ask.
“I’ve got your back, Mr. Croft.”
“What about you, Dimitri?”
“I’m taking Poppy’s interviews. The cop we interviewed said one of the men might be her father. I don’t want her to do that one. I’ll take it.”
“By yourself?” Greyson asked. “Is that a good idea after the killer tried to make you a Russian hood ornament?” he asked.
Oh, he was aware.
There was a call from the other room. Dimitri looked at his watch.
“My partner has excellent timing.”
Tessa headed in, and she was smiling like the Cheshire Cat. That said it all.
“Does your husband know you’re going out?” Greyson asked.
Tessa didn’t bat an eye.
“Pardon?”
That said it all.
“Listen, I’m bored out of my mind. You guys don’t have anything for me to research, and anything that could be found in a search is likely outdated. Poppy’s mother has been dead for over two decades. Libby Raye has been missing four years. This is going to be in the interviews. We all know that.”
Greyson shook his head.
“Paris is going to lose his mind.”
She laughed.
“And I’ll hurt anyone who mentions it,” she said. “Mark my words.”
Heath grinned.
“I like a badass woman. They are hot.”
None of the men there would argue that.
“So, Tessa, or Mrs. Badass, and I are going to interview her possibly biological father. I want that out of the way for Poppy. Then, I’m hoping she’ll call me when she’s done with the commissioner.”
“Uh oh. She went alone?” Tessa asked.
It freaked Dimitri out all over again.
“Is that bad?” he asked her.
Emma made a slight signal and Tessa caught it.
“No, no, it’s not bad at all.”
Dimitri closed his eyes.
“This is bad.”
“I h
ave an idea,” Emma said, picking up her phone. She knew she shouldn’t bother her, but she had an idea.
On the second ring, Delilah answered.
“Hey!”
“Happy honeymoon, Delilah Henderson! We have an issue.”
“What?” she asked, caught off guard.
“The commissioner called Poppy in by herself. Are you on your flight yet?”
“We are about to board. I can get out of line and head there.”
She didn’t want to screw up the woman’s honeymoon. They both deserved it.
“How about Finn?”
Delilah figured now was a good time to tell them. She and Finn…
“I quit my job.”
“Pardon?”
“Finn told me not to get married, and it pissed me off. I’m unemployed, but I can call him. He’ll take the retainer fee and do the job.”
“I’ll send funds. When you get back, come here. I want to discuss your future employment.”
“With?”
“Us,” Emma stated. “We will use you on our retainer. Full time.”
“I knew you’d say that,” she said, laughing. “You Crofts get in a lot of trouble.”
Oh, she was aware.
“I’ll call him and have him show up. He should be in the office. He’ll cover her. Finn is about money. He will take it without batting an eye. He’ll try to get you guys to sign as his client.”
“Thanks, Delilah, but that’s not happening. You’re our lawyer. We’re loyal. Oh, and we won’t bother you again.”
“See you in a few days!”
She hung up.
“Good idea,” Greyson stated. “Finn is big, scary, and intimidating. He’ll guard her like a rabid dog. I liked having both of them in our corner.”
She explained what the woman had said to her about quitting.
“I’ll have Dante make it happen. He and Steele are already gone for the morning.”
She was glad.
“Ready to head out?” Dimitri asked, knowing he needed to get his mind off of Poppy at the commissioner’s office.
Tessa was up and grinning like a loon.
“Let’s go! I need to keep in shape. I’m going to get fat soon.”
Emma stared at her and pointed at her baby bump.
“REALLY?”
“Uh, not you. Me. It’s going to be from sitting on my ass all day. You go out. My husband is a hoverer—which from a wheelchair is a feat in itself.”
Greyson snickered.
“Sorry, I pictured it. Call me, Dimitri, if you need me.”
Mob Justice Page 40
