by Naomi West
“Wait a minute,” said Angus, “why have we even let him in here? He’s the man in the video, and there’s good reason to think he’s behind all of this!”
Detective McConnell and Nikki’s dad both raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Think about it,” said Angus, “he’s a career criminal, most likely. I bet he’s got some racket going where he tricks and seduces young girls like Nikki who don’t know any better. Then he finds some way to get incriminating footage of them and uses it to blackmail their parents—it makes perfect sense!”
I couldn’t help but smirk at that. Angus didn’t know what I knew.
“That sounds … possible,” said the detective. “What do you have to say about this, uh, mister …”
“Call me Tiger,” I said. “That’s what everyone else does.”
“Um, Mr. Tiger,” said the detective. “Are you behind all of this?”
“Now how the hell would the motorcycle club I run with have the capability to hack into one of the most sophisticated fucking security systems in the city? You think my boys and I take breaks from working on our bikes to brush up on our IT skills?”
“Who knows what you lowlifes are capable of,” said Angus. “I say we just arrest him now and figure everything else out later.”
I glanced towards Nikki’s father, who was watching everything unfold. He shot me a few sly glances, as if trying to figure out what my story was.
The police officers seated here and there seemed ready to jump up and throw the cuffs on me. I glared at them hard, making it clear that they’d be wise not to make a move unless they had a damn good reason.
“Do it!” shouted Angus, his voice now more frantic. “Arrest him!”
“Sounds good to me,” said the detective. “Man makes a strong case.”
“No!” Nikki shouted out. “You can’t just arrest him for nothing—you don’t have any evidence that he even did anything!”
“Look at the footage!” said Angus. “He’s the man in it, clear as day. And right after that, all of this business with the blackmailing starts. I don’t see what more you’d need to throw this asshole behind bars for a good, long time.”
“And what about you, Nikki?” asked her father. “You ever stop to consider the possibility that this man just might be the one behind all of this?”
Silence hung in the air. I mean, what Angus said didn’t seem to be all that far-fetched. It did seem a little suspicious that all of this shit would’ve started after I met Nikki. And though they didn’t know just what sort of shit I got up to, they were right that I was a criminal. Nikki’s gorgeous face tightened in concentration, and I could tell that she was giving the whole thing some serious thought.
“No,” she said. “I don’t believe it. Not even for a second.”
Normally at a time like that, I’d have had a smart-ass comment to make, or at the very least I’d have felt really pleased with myself, thinking that I was invincible. But at that moment, as I realized that Nikki was going to bat for me, that she’d believed that I was on her side despite the fact that she didn’t have any real reason to trust me … it made my chest swell, and my heart soar, as weird as that made me feel.
I’d never had a girl have an effect on me like that before. I’d been with my share of women, but none of them had been like Nikki—not even a little. And this demonstration of her loyalty just made me more certain that she was something special, that she was a woman who I’d be a fool to let go.
“You’re … under his spell!” said Angus, pointing his finger in my direction.
Angus had gone from cool as a cucumber to totally shook with record speed. He had to know that I knew something, and that this attempt to pin all of this on me was a Hail Mary attempt to get out of what I was about to bring down on him.
“You’re just some dumb girl,” said Angus. “You don’t know any better; you’re blind to what’s going on right in front of you!”
“Hey!” shouted Nikki’s father. “You’d better watch your goddamn mouth, Angus. That’s my daughter you’re talking about.”
“He’s going to get away with all of this and you’re both letting it happen!” shouted Angus, a few strands of hair coming loose on and flopping onto his now-sweating forehead.
“If I didn’t know that you were Marcus’ old man before, I’d sure as shit know now,” I said. “You and him are one and the fuckin’ same—you try to act calm and in control, but as soon as shit doesn’t go your way, you lose your damn mind and give everyone a good look at the scared kid underneath.”
“Fuck you!” shouted Angus.
The detective raised his hands.
“Both of you need to calm it the fuck down right now,” he said. “Now, Tiger, we can’t just throw the cuffs on you without any evidence, but things aren’t looking so good for you right now. Unless you’ve got something to say in your defense, then I’m considering you the prime suspect in this case.”
I smirked.
“No need for that, detective,” I said, slipping my arm around Nikki’s waist and pulling her close. “I didn’t just come by to say what’s up—I’m here to let you all know just who the hell’s behind this.”
“You know who did this?” asked Nikki’s father. “How the hell did you find out? How did you manage to figure out what the police couldn’t?”
“Easy,” I said. “Now, if you’ll let me begin …”
Chapter 22
Nikki
I couldn’t believe it was really Tiger. But sure enough, it was him. He’d come for me, risking everything. For all he knew, the cops could’ve taken him down as soon as he stepped foot in the building. But here he was, the man I loved and the father of my child, standing at my side.
My eyes turned to Dad, who watched Tiger carefully. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was going through his head, knowing that this massive wall of tattoos and muscle was the father of his grandchild. But I supposed he and all the rest of us had more important things to worry about.
Tiger cleared his throat and spoke.
“It’s no secret that your boy Marcus has it out for me,” said Tiger. “Little brat seems to think that Nikki is his property and that if he throws a big enough fit and flashes his status around enough that he’ll eventually get his way. I wasn’t too worried about that at first; little rich brats like him are a dime-a-dozen. But something about just how much he had it out for me … it gave me fuckin’ pause, to say the least.”
“That’s when I thought about just who he was. Marcus Goldman. Name sounded familiar—really goddamn familiar. So I had a few of my boys look up the information for a few deals we’d done in the past.”
“Deals?” asked Detective McConnell.
“Don’t worry about it, detective—this is all legit shit; just shipping in parts for bikes and selling them in town. All above the board and all on paper. But you can’t be a guy like me and run with the people I do without finding bumping into guys who’re into, ah, less legal means of making their money. One of those crews is the gang called Los Demonios, led by a charmer named Freddie Ortega.”
I couldn’t help but notice that Angus was totally silent as Tiger spoke. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw him twitch in fearful anticipation at the mention of this name.
“I know that name,” said Detective McConnell. “Big drug runner.”
“That’s right,” said Tiger. “Now, one of the policies of my crew is that we don’t fuck with moving drugs. Risks are too high, and call it civic pride or whatever you want, but I’m not down on bringing meth and heroin and shit into my city. I didn’t get into this game to ruin lives. A fucker like Freddie, on the other hand, doesn’t give a fuck about any of that. He’s in this to get paid, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get that money. In that way, you and him have a lot in common, right, Angus?”
“Fuck you,” said Angus, his voice stern and cold.
Tiger just smirked.
“The Cats and I have gotten into a few scrapes over
the years. See, if we can hold onto our territory, then that means those assholes have fewer venues that they can use to bring drugs into the city. They’re not crazy about that, so we tangle every now and then, busting up their shipments when we can. Anyway, thinking about one of these shipments, I remembered an address. The address of this very same building, actually.”
“What?” shot out Dad. “Are you saying that this gang, these Demonios, are using this building as a location to bring drugs into the city?”
“You’re half right,” said Tiger. “What I’m saying is that this asshole, Angus fucking Goldman, has been using his hotel business as a front to bring in drugs.”
A clamor rose from the officers in the room. My mouth nearly hit the floor. Part of me wondered if I’d misheard what Tiger had just said.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” said Angus, his face turning a deep shade of red.
Angus glances at the officers around him as though they were his own personal security staff.
“Aren’t you all going to do something?” he demanded. “This man has just confessed to being a criminal!”
“Actually,” said Detective McConnell, “he hasn’t confessed to anything. As far as I can tell, you’re the only one that he’s suggested is the criminal here.”
Tiger went on, his attitude cool and calm as ever.
“And the more I started thinking about all this blackmail bullshit, the more I started to wonder just how convenient it was that someone just happened to know that there was incriminating footage of Nikki and me. What, are there criminals just going through all the security footage, risking being caught just on the off-chance of finding something they can use?”
“No,” said Dad. “They’d have to know there might be something to look for.”
“And I’m guessing you all didn’t find any evidence of the servers being hacked into, right?” asked Tiger, addressing the officers.
“Nope,” said Detective McConnell. “Not even a trace.”
“Now,” said Tiger. “I’m not a cop, but if I was investigating a crime scene and I didn’t find any evidence of a break-in, I’d start thinking the suspect was someone who already had access, you dig?”
I could tell that Tiger was building to something, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was. I couldn’t help but watch him in awe as he took total command of the room, the eyes of everyone there fixed onto him. Then, he slipped his phone out of his pocket and hit “call.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I think it’s time to bring in our little buddy.”
“I have a feeling I know what you’re getting at,” said Angus. “And I hope you aren’t considering the possibility that anyone here believes your bullshit story.”
I glanced around the room and, from the looks on the faces of everyone there, it looked like Tiger was making a pretty strong case that Angus had something to do with everyone going on.
“Hey,” said Tiger, “I’m just going from my gut and following the evidence. But you have to admit that it doesn’t look great for you, Angus.”
“I want to hear you say it,” said Angus, his hands balled into tight fists. “You’ve been dancing around the accusation for long enough; let’s hear you say the words.”
Tiger let out a quick bark of a laugh.
“You think I’m scared to say it?” Tiger asked. “Let me lay it out for you, then: I think you’re the one behind the blackmail, and more than that, you’re planning on using the money you’d be scamming out of Mr. Naylor here to fund your criminal side business.”
Complete silence fell over the room.
“Tell me this isn’t true,” Dad said, stepping slowly towards Angus. “Tell me that he’s trying to frame you or something.”
“Of course it’s not true!” shouted Angus. “This man is a criminal thug, and he’s trying to pull one over on you. You’d be a fool to believe him!”
“Hey,” said Tiger. “You don’t have to take my word for it.”
A knock sounded from the office doors.
“Who’s there?” called out Angus.
“Couple of my boys,” said Tiger. “And someone else you might be happy to see. Or maybe not, depending on how this all works out for you.”
“Yo, Tiger!” shouted someone through the door. “We’re here, and we’ve got our new friend.”
The eyes of everyone in the room but Tiger turned towards Detective McConnell. He appeared to consider the matter for a long moment before speaking.
“Let them in,” he said.
With a low creak, the doors opened. In stepped two beefy bikers from Tiger’s crew. And between them was none other than Marcus Goldman.
Chapter 23
Tiger
To say the kid was a mess would’ve been the understatement of the damn century. He was crying like a damn baby, snot running down his face and everything. Not sure why he was so freaked out—my boys had made it clear that we weren’t gonna put the hurt on him. Then again, maybe for a soft little fuck like Marcus, just being around some real roughneck heavy hitters like the Big Cats was enough to get him good and shook.
Either way, the Cats brought the little prick into the office and tossed him onto one of his dad’s fancy-ass, high-backed chairs.
“Marcus!” shouted Angus.
He ran over to his son with a burst of speed that I never would’ve guessed a man like him was capable of.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking at his son with a frantic expression.
“I’m fine,” said Marcus.
“What the hell is all of this about, exactly?” asked Detective McConnell. “And just why the hell do you think it’s acceptable to come barging in here with your goddamn motorcycle gang?”
The rest of the officers and security watched the scene with eager, interested faces. They clearly wanted to know just how all of this was going to shake out. I, on the other hand, was as cool and calm as it got. Everything was going according to plan.
“I wouldn’t be bringing my crew in here unless I had a damn good reason,” I said, keeping my tone nice and even.
“Then you oughta get to it,” said Nikki’s dad.
“I’m thinking that little Marcus here might be better suited for that,” I said.
I turned to the kid and gave a swift nod of my head, one that said “get on with it, if you know what’s good for you.” To make my point even clearer, I balled my hand into a tight fist and raised in his direction. He got the message.
Marcus gulped hard, clearly understanding that he was fucked either way.
“It was me,” he said. “I mean, it was us.”
Gasps sounded out from the officers and the security staff in attendance.
“What?” shouted out Angus, his face twisting with anger. “Marcus! Think about what you’re saying!”
“The night that Nikki and Tiger met, I told my dad about what was going on. And he told me that if … anything had happened between the two of them, it might be on the security cameras the next day. So I got into the footage and found the elevator security footage.”
I glanced over at Nikki, an expression of disgust on her face. She clearly wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of Marcus seeing footage of her getting pounded hard.
“You had no right to look at that!” shouted Nikki.
“Fuck you!” shouted Marcus. “What kind of girl fucks around with a goddamn thug like him?”
He pointed a shaking finger in my direction. In response, I shot him a mean glare that made it crystal fucking clear that he’d better watch his goddamn attitude. Marcus lowered his head and went on.
“Then when I told Dad about what I found, he told me to copy the footage and send it to him, that he had a plan about just what to do with Nikki. At first I had no idea what he was getting it, but when I met with him at his office, he said that this would be perfect, that it would kill two birds with one stone.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” asked Detective McConnell.
I glanced at Nikki’s dad out of the corner of my eye, noting the expression of pure, barely contained rage on his face.
“It means that Dad knew he’d be able to use this footage to both get money out of Mr. Naylor, and to hurry along convincing Nikki to agree to marry me. He figured that if we ‘helped’ get this situation taken care of that Nikki would feel obligated to marry me.”
“Disgusting,” said Mr. Naylor.
“Marcus,” said Angus. “You’d better not say another goddamn word.”
Detective McConnell raised his palm towards Angus, making it clear that he didn’t want to hear another word out of his mouth.
