Killian gritted his teeth. “We already know that. Keep going.”
“Although the Portland PD didn’t charge her with any crime, the owner of the tapestry, Larry Bakersfield, sued her in civil court for damages amounting to twenty million dollars.” Quinn whistled. “She retained the services of Brian McGill, one of the top lawyers in the city and he was able to defend her resulting in the judge throwing out the case. Wow, I bet that must have cost her a pretty penny.”
Killian felt lower than shit, and from the look Connor was giving him, his brother agreed. Guilt gripped him. The magnitude of what Luna had lost when he split was just hitting him now. Why Luna was still sticking around now was a mystery to him.
“What else?” he said, his hand gripping his coffee cup so tight, he feared it would break.
Quinn cleared his throat. “Well, I dug back further and…” He gave the tablet a tap and pulled up a mug shot of a man. “John W. Rhoades—Luna’s father. He’s currently serving a life sentence in the Arizona State Correctional Facility. Rhoades was a petty thief, previously did a nickel for armed robbery. When he got out, he did a big bank job with his usual accomplices, but he shot a cop hence the life sentence. Luna was two years old.”
“Christ.” Killian rubbed his palm down his face. Everything clicked into place now. His inner wolf was pacing again, urging him to go home and make sure Luna was still there, as if it was afraid she’d bolt anytime. All this time…he didn’t know about her father.
“Hey, Kill,” Connor said. “Focus. Think about that later. Remember what Archie taught us.”
Killian nodded. “Compartmentalize.” He took a deep breath. “So, what’s your analysis?”
“Two possibilities,” Quinn began. “First, maybe someone’s out to get revenge on dad. Either an old accomplice or maybe someone on the inside.”
“Or it could be Bakersfield,” Connor added.
“Hmm…Bakersfield lost in court, but I’m sure he made off with the insurance payment,” Killian said. “Besides, Luna doesn’t have anything else he could take.”
“So you’re thinking of the prison angle?”
“Work on it,” Killian instructed Quinn. “And let me know what you find out.”
Killian spent most of the day locked up in his office, trying to rack his brain and remember any details from his time spent with Luna and the last few days to see if he could think of anything significant that could help him. But, his thoughts kept straying to the past and what he had done to her. The lawsuit, having to sell her apartment, and of course, her father serving time in prison. What a shit-show she had to deal with. He vowed to make it up to her, but somehow, he just couldn’t think of anything he could do to restore her to her old life. And part of him didn’t want to. He wanted to be selfish and keep her with him forever.
“Killian!” Quinn burst into his office, Connor hot on his heels.
The hairs on his arms stood on end. He knew that look on Quinn’s face. He’d found something. “What is it? Did you find any more info on John Rhoades?”
He shook his head. “No. I mean, yes, but only to eliminate that angle. All of his accomplices from the robbery are either dead or on their last legs. And nothing significant on any prison inmates either. John Rhoades turned to drugs and became violent, so they put him in solitary for most of the last decade.”
“And—what did you find?”
“This,” Quinn showed him the screen of his tablet. “Larry Bakersfield has been in New York for the last week. I have his private jet logs to prove it. He’s also secured the services of at least a dozen PIs all over the city. I hacked into some of their servers to look at invoices. He’s been having her followed ever since she moved here.”
A chill blasted through Killian and he gripped the edges of his table so hard his knuckles turned white. “What else? Anything significant?”
“Yeah, we really need to get better security for the office. For a security firm, we’re pretty lousy at keeping ourselves safe,” Quinn quipped, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, I picked up those guys who came in here on a couple of surveillance cameras around the block and got some good pictures of their faces.”
Three mug shots showed up on the screen. Connor let out a soft growl as his eyes landed on the one in the middle.
“Jack Borden, Gene McConroy, and Marty ‘Shorty’ Alberts. Shorty was the guy who was in charge of the attack on the office. All career criminals with various arrests ranging from robbery to assault.”
“Can we connect them to Bakersfield?”
“We sure can,” Quinn said in a smug voice. “While Bakersfield paid his PIs with checks, he must have used cash for these guys. He withdrew a large amount from his bank in Portland just before he left and as soon as he landed…” Quinn pulled up another piece of footage. “Bakersfield met with Shorty the day before the attack here.” There were two men on the screen, standing on a street corner. The footage was grainy, but Killian recognized Bakersfield. He handed the other man a large manila envelope. “Got this from a camera across the street. We got lucky because they were meeting right in front of the British Embassy and security there is tight ever since those terror attacks. Right after this, Shorty headed over to Brooklyn and paid for four rooms in a seedy no-tell motel, and then they headed here.”
“Fucking hell!” Killian cursed, slamming his fists on his desk.
“What do you wanna do now, Killian?” Connor asked. “Should we go get these guys?” His brother looked like he was ready for a serious fight.
Killian wanted nothing more than to wrap his hands around Larry Bakersfield’s fat neck and watch his face turned blue. But, unless he was prepared to make Bakersfield disappear from this world, there would be consequences to assaulting such a prominent figure. It also wouldn’t help Luna or give her her old life back. No, Larry Bakersfield had to be dealt with publicly. “Call the Alpha’s office,” he instructed Quinn. “We’ll need the clan’s connections for this one.”
Chapter Fourteen
Luna and Meredith were out having coffee when they got an urgent call from Quinn. While he didn’t give any details, he told them that they had to come to the Midtown NYPD station, now. Luna was worried that something had happened to Killian, but Quinn assured her no one was hurt. They rushed uptown right away and soon, they arrived at the police station.
“Luna! Meredith! Over here!” a familiar voice called out.
Luna’s head turned toward the voice. Evie was standing in the lobby. Quinn and Selena were right beside her.
“What’s going on?” she asked Quinn.
“We got him, Luna,” Quinn said in a triumphant voice. “The bastard who’s out to get you.”
She gripped his arm. “Who is it?”
“Mr. Quinn?” An older, balding African-American man in a dark suit approached them.
“Just Quinn."
“Yes, right. I’m Captain Jackson. Are these the witnesses?” His sharp brown eyes scrutinized the women.
“Yeah, these three,” he motioned to Luna, Evie, and Selena, “were in the office at the time of the attack. The men indicated that Ms. Rhoades was the target.”
Captain Jackson nodded. “All right, let’s go. We need to take their statements and then they need to identify the suspects.”
They followed the captain to the back room where the women gave their statements separately. Luna told the lead detective everything that had happened to her; from the hit and run to the attack on the office. Afterward, she went into another room where she had to pick out the three suspects in a lineup from behind a one-way mirror. She easily identified them, of course. There was no way she was going to forget those men.
It felt like days had passed, but it was only a few hours. A friendly female officer had helped her and given her some water and juice, but she declined any food. Though she was hungry, she couldn’t bring herself to eat, not with her stomach in knots. She was sitting in one of the waiting rooms when Quinn came to get her.
“They do
n’t usually let civilians watch interrogations,” he said. “But we called Grant’s office, and he called the Police Commissioner. He’s aware of Lycans and so they’re letting us keep close tabs on the investigation.” Quinn led her to another room, and as soon as her eyes landed on Killian, she immediately went to him.
“It’s almost over, Luna,” he said as she embraced him tightly. Killian’s body stiffened and then relaxed against her. She pressed her nose to his chest, letting his scent calm her down. She had been antsy and nervous the entire time she was in the police station, but she was determined to be brave. Now, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed with Killian and never leave.
“Who was it?” she asked. Killian nodded his head towards the one-way mirror, and Luna let out an audible gasp. “Bakersfield?”
Larry Bakersfield was sitting inside the interrogation room, wearing a smug expression. His lawyer was next to him, poker-faced, as the detective who she had talked to earlier calmly asked questions.
“But how?”
Killian gave her a brief rundown of what they had found out. After they had called Grant Anderson, he called the Police Commissioner who immediately assigned it to Captain Jackson’s precinct. They picked up the suspects and as soon as the women identified them, all three began to talk. Not long after that, they picked up Bakersfield, right before he readied himself to leave New York.
“This is preposterous!” Bakersfield suddenly interjected.
“Larry, don’t say anything—”
“I wasn’t trying to kill her!” the hedge fund manager yelled. “I swear!”
“So, you admit to trying to kidnap her though?”
“I wasn’t…I mean…I just…”
“You don’t have to say anything Larry,” his lawyer instructed.
“But I can’t let them label me a murderer!” Bakersfield’s face was red, his smug smile gone. “Detective, I just wanted to talk to the girl. She knows where my tapestry is—I know it! I knew it was just a matter of time before those two met up.”
“So you know Mr. Jones?”
“Yeah, Jones or Smith or whatever his name is. You should be arresting him! Do you know the list of crimes he’s committed? He’s responsible for over a dozen major art and bank thefts all over the world, and I’m the one sitting here?”
“And you have proof of that?” the detective asked as he leaned back in his chair.
“Well, no. But I used all my underground connections to find out who could have stolen my tapestry and all my leads pointed to that man. He’d been dating Ms. Rhoades for some time and then disappeared as soon as the tapestry disappeared. When she wouldn’t give him up even after I sued her, I knew she was in on it. Probably had a big payday too.”
Luna winced and Killian’s body tensed up.
“So, what happened next?”
“I had PIs following her, waiting until she met up with him. And she did. When I got the report that she had made contact, I flew here.”
“And you hired Mr. Alberts and his friends to kidnap her?”
“No!” he denied.
“We have proof Mr. Bakersfield,” the detective said. “The British Embassy voluntarily gave us the footage from the security camera. You and Mr. Alberts met the morning of the attack on Lone Wolf Security.”
“Purely circumstantial evidence,” the lawyer answered. “My client could have been meeting him for any number of reasons.”
“Ah, but we picked up the three suspects and they’ve confessed,” the detective said.
“Fucking assholes!” Bakersfield exclaimed out loud. “I’m going to kill them!”
“Larry, don’t say another word,” the lawyer ordered in a sharp tone. He turned to the detective. “The girl wasn’t harmed, nor was she kidnaped. Even if they identify my client, I could argue that it was attempted.”
“Oh, but then there are the murder charges. Someone attempted to run over Ms. Rhoades a few nights ago. And we have it all on video.”
“That wasn’t me!” Bakersfield roared. “I swear! I didn’t want her harmed or killed. I just wanted to know what they did with my tapestry.”
The detective shook his head. “Our investigation will continue, but for now, we have enough to charge your client.”
“We’ll make bail.”
“If the judge grants him bail. Did you know that Ms. Rhoades was pregnant, Mr. Bakersfield? That’s an attempt on two lives.”
Bakersfield screamed in anger and his lawyer tried to keep calm him again. Luna couldn’t stand it. She had to get out of there. She quickly ran towards the door, heaving and trying to get as much air as possible into her lungs.
Larry Bakersfield had been having her followed all this time. What did they see and know about her? She suddenly felt vulnerable and naked, and the bile was rising from her throat.
“Luna.” A hand touched her shoulder, and she immediately knew who it was.
“It’s over, right?” she asked. “He’s going to go away?”
“I’ll do whatever I can to make sure he gets jail time,” Killian assured her.
“But…do you think he’s telling the truth? Is there someone else trying to…”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But if there is, I’m going to get them, too.”
Chapter Fifteen
The rest of the evening went by in a blur. They all stayed another couple of hours, just to make sure the police charged Bakersfield. Luna assured the detectives she would be willing to cooperate and testify every step of the way. After a quick dinner, she followed Killian into his Jeep, not even protesting or assuming she was going anywhere else.
Killian seemed withdrawn the whole time, but she shrugged it off. He was probably tired. She was too, emotionally drained from the whole saga, but when he flinched as she threaded her fingers through his under the table at dinner, she knew something else was up. Was he hiding something from her?
“I need to take care of a couple of things,” he said as they entered his apartment. “Go on and get some rest.”
A cold wave of emotions washed over her. This was the first time in two days Killian wasn’t eager to have sex with her. She was exhausted, but all she wanted was to forget what happened and be in his arms. With a resigned sigh, Luna went to the bedroom, took a shower and dressed in one of Killian’s white cotton t-shirts, wanting to have his scent around her if he wasn’t next to her in bed. Meredith had explained today that as True Mates, Killian should smell particularly good to her and she to him. She had made a mental note to ask him what she smelled like to him, but she had forgotten with all the excitement.
She lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to get any sleep. It was past midnight according to the clock on the bedside table, and still, he was nowhere in sight. What was the meaning of this? An inner voice whispered that maybe he didn’t find her attractive anymore, sending a stab of hurt through her. Maybe that was it.
No freaking way. She refused to believe it. Not after all this time and not after she’d already fallen for him. She got up from bed and marched right into his office.
“Killian?” she spoke from the doorway . He was sitting behind his desk, his brows furrowed as he stared down at his laptop. The light from the screen etched the lines of worry deeper onto his face.
“Luna?” he looked up. “What are you doing up? You should be asleep.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “Come to bed, please.”
“I’m not done, yet. Go back to bed.”
Luna bit her lip. “No.” She walked over to him, determined to find out what was bothering him.
He pursed his lips and when she was standing right over him, he let out a sigh. “I’m doing some work. I need to do this. Please go back to bed.”
“No. Not without you,” she replied, her voice shaky.
Killian stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders. “This is important. I have to find out—”
“No—this is important.” Luna reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Sh
e brought him down for a kiss and though he seemed startled at first, he responded, moving his mouth over hers.
When he pulled away, she clung to him. “Please, Killian, make love to me.”
His gaze was hesitant for a moment, but then desire clouded over them. The look he sent her was almost feral. He grabbed her by the waist and planted her on the desk, pushing his laptop aside in one motion. He caught her mouth in a rough kiss, his lips almost bruising. Hands pushed the hem of her shirt up and her panties down to her ankles.
He groaned when he found her already wet and ready. She parted her thighs and he pushed her down on her back, raising her legs, so her feet lay flat on his desk. The sound of his belt unbuckling made her shiver.
“Killian,” she cried out when he thrust into her in one motion. She closed her eyes, biting her lip as Killian began to move inside her, dragging the length of his cock along her tight passage. His fingers found her clit and one touch sent an orgasm ripping through her.
He didn’t slow down, pummeling deep and fast into her. She hung on to the edge of the desk, meeting his every thrust. Her second orgasm was building and it wasn’t long before she came again, sending ripples of pleasure all the way to her toes.
As she came down, she looked up at Killian. His face was taut, almost like he was in pain. Still, he continued to plunge into her, and while she felt the edges of a third orgasm approaching, she realized he was holding off on his own pleasure.
“Killian.”
He wasn’t paying her any attention. His fingers found her clit again, coaxing a small shudder from her body. She thought he would cum, but he wasn’t stopping. The pain on his face was evident now. What was he doing? He was gritting his teeth and his eyes were closed, the tension on his face obvious.
“Killian, please,” she moaned. “Fuck me,” she urged. “I want your cum in me. Or do you want to come on my tits? Or in my mouth? I know you like that.”
He let out a roar and thrust into her one last time, his cock twitching as he spilled inside her. She wrapped her legs around him and he pushed deep, grunting before bracing his palms on the desk to support himself. His ragged breaths slowed down, then he withdrew from her, stepping back as he helped her sit up.
Killian's Secret: The Lone Wolf Defenders Book 1 Page 13
