And he’d get his beautiful bride all over again.
“Let’s talk business,” she said, leaning into her husband’s body. His arm was around her shoulders, and he was leaving little kisses across her ear.
Emma knew what he was thinking about and her mind was going there too.
Her cave-Croft was turned on, and she’d handle that later—with pleasure.
“We hit up Tony Mays,” Greyson stated. “It went about as well as we thought it would go.”
She stared at him. “Explain.”
Greyson pointed at Dimitri’s face. Hopefully, that would answer all of her questions. There was a bruise forming on the Russian’s cheek.
“Holy shit! He hit you? Did you kill him?”
Dimitri laughed.
Oh, he only wished.
“He kept his cool, but someone has an enemy, and when the bodyguard took a swing, he was asking to be hurt.”
She stared at the man across the table.
“I still can’t believe YOU took a face shot? I know that had to be on purpose. No one takes you down.”
“They had guns…”
Greyson cleared his throat. He really didn’t plan to tell his wife the whole story. The less the little woman knew, the better off a man was in the long run.
“Uh, Dimitri…”
Emma stared at him. “Greyson Thaddeus Croft, you had better explain to me what it is you’re trying not to talk about. Now!”
He stared at Dimitri. “Really? You couldn’t leave that part out?” he asked.
“I like seeing her get all fired up. Sue me. A pissed off Emma Croft is fun to watch—especially when she’s not angry at me. I was the one who took the face shot, remember?”
Greyson would get even later.
“Greyson.”
The tone in her voice left nothing to the imagination. If he didn’t tell her, he was a dead man.
He knew his wife.
So, Greyson told her everything. The entire time, she stared at him. When he finished telling her all the details, she shook her head.
“Well?”
“You should have shot him in the balls.”
Dimitri laughed. “I knew I loved her. I think you married my soulmate. Can I have her back?”
Croft sputtered. “Can I kill you right now?”
Dimitri opened his mouth.
Greyson pointed at him. “Don’t get started.” Then he stared at his wife. “Why are you being so calm about this? I know you, and this is your freak out point.”
He touched the scar on his face as if to remind her how she lost it when he was in danger.
She shrugged. “It’s just another day in a crooked little town we like to call Vegas. I’m getting accustomed to the crazy. It’s not like Tony Mays wasn’t gunning for us before.”
She had a point.
A very valid one.
“Besides, you’re the top of the Mob food chain. You’re their goal. So, whether you stir the pot or not, you’re going to get them worked up. We are screwed either way.”
Greyson couldn’t believe how calm she was being over all of this.
Had the shoe been on the other foot…
Yeah, he’d be stroking out.
“How was your expedition with Curtis?” Greyson asked, taking a sip of his coffee. “Did you find anything?”
“It was good. We found a hotel key card behind a picture in a locked room.”
“Uh oh. That generally means that Mr. Married wasn’t keeping his oath,” Greyson mentioned. “If he was smart, he wouldn’t have hidden it anywhere in the home. That’s the first place the wife looks…”
He noticed Emma was staring at him.
“I mean.”
She shook her head.
“Yeah, well, it’s only a key card. We can’t judge him yet. For all we know, it opens a…”
Now he was staring at her.
“Okay, it’s probably to some hooker haven somewhere. Who the hell am I kidding?” Emma stated. “All the good men are married or taken.”
Greyson wiggled his eyebrows.
“I’m very good. I get applause after the fact,” Dimitri said.
That had Emma’s attention. “Do tell.”
“NO! DO NOT TELL!” Greyson said.
The man shrugged. “If you insist.”
“I do. Let’s focus on Dalton, not you in bed with anyone. Okay?”
He laughed.
“Anyway,” Greyson began. “We found out some fun facts from the local lowlife mob guy,” Greyson added.
“What?” Emma asked.
“It seems that Dalton and his boss liked to get their dicks rubbed at some clubs.”
“I’m not shocked,” Emma admitted. “This is Vegas we’re talking about. There are more strip clubs here than anywhere else in the world.”
Greyson was going to let Dimitri tell her about this one. While he owned clubs, the man had to come clean to Emma.
“One of those clubs is owned by yours truly,” Greyson stated.
“We own a strip club? Yuck. We won’t tomorrow,” she stated, stealing a sip of Greyson’s coffee. “Sell it.”
Greyson kept his eyes on the man across from him. “Go ahead, Dimitri. Tell her.”
“Uh oh. I hate when you say it like that.”
“You don’t own it. I own it,” Dimitri stated.
She stared at him. “Oh. Well, in that case, carry on.”
“I’ll sell it if it bothers you.”
Emma stared at him. “Dimitri, it’s your business, not ours. I personally don’t like strip clubs. I think it just gives men the opportunity to behave badly.”
“Tell her,” Greyson stated.
“Tell me what?” Emma asked, glancing back and forth between them. “I feel like I’m missing something here, and it has to be huge. When you’re freaked out, you smoke or play with your shirt cuffs.”
He stopped.
Dimitri flushed red as she watched him.
“Oh boy, what?”
“It’s used for trafficking.”
There.
It was out there in the world.
Dimitri didn’t know why it bothered him, but Emma was staring at him.
“Trafficking of…?”
“Women.”
She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was intently staring into his aqua ones.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said.
“No, you don’t. I know you, Dimitri, and more importantly, I trust you. I know that there is no freaking way you’re exploiting women in the sex industry. So tell me exactly what it is you mean. I think we have a miscommunication.”
He relaxed.
“I’m not involved in the traditional meaning of the word. It’s a front.”
“For?”
He slid a file across the table for her to read. In it, there was a detailed list of all the women who had come and gone through the business.
“Pimps will sell their girls out, and I purchase them. They work there a few weeks, until it cools down, and I move them along.”
“To?” she asked.
“A better life. I try to get them out of the industry. Some go to halfway houses, and some get a trip home. It depends on where they want to go.”
She flipped the folder open. Inside, there were details of each woman, where she had ended up, and how much money she took with her.
Emma closed it.
“Excuse me,” she said, pushing away from her husband.
Greyson watched his wife.
He knew what she was thinking.
Emma slid out of the booth, moved to Dimitri’s side and hugged him.
“I couldn’t love you more than I do right now. You’re a good man, Mr. Gideon.” She took his face in her palms and gave him a kiss right on the lips.
“Want to get married and run away?” he teased, trying to cover his embarrassment.
Dimitri didn’t like people to know that beneath it all, he was a push over for abused women.
“Want to be dead?” Greyson asked, sipping his coffee. “I’ll let the kiss go, but the proposal will get you killed,” he offered.
Emma patted Dimitri’s cheek. “I’m an excellent judge of character. I knew I was right.”
He blushed again.
“Keep the strip club open. I’ll even frequent it. I have some wicked moves,” she said, grinning at him.
“EMMA.”
She snorted. “He’s no fun.”
“Well, we’ll see what you think when I have to go there with Dimitri to talk to some bouncers.”
She stared at him and crossed her arms.
“I mean, when he goes, and I sit in the car because I know that you won’t forgive me for going in two more strip clubs. It’s become a habit.”
Emma stared down at her hand. On it, there shone a gorgeous rock of a ring. She took it off.
“Emma, I won’t go.”
She looked up at him. “See this, Greyson? This is a bauble. I don’t need it to know that you won’t ever hurt me. You can go to the club. I believe in both of you, and I love my husband with all of my heart.”
“So I can take my ring off?” he asked, trying to tease her. What he wanted to do was pull her over the table and assault her mouth with his own.
“Dimitri, can you kill him for me?”
That made them all laugh.
“Go to the club, Greyson. Dimitri, thank you for being a good man, and I think I’ll put my ring back on. It will take an eye out if some hussy tries to get up on my guy.”
He didn’t want anyone on him but Emma.
In fact, he was turned on.
“Maybe we should talk to Tiffany Harding. She might give us some insight into her husband, and if she knew he was checking out other women. I know not all women are as easy going as I am,” she offered.
They agreed.
Dimitri waited for Emma to slide back over to her side of the booth. Once he was unblocked, he headed out to get Tiffany.
Greyson forced his wife to stare into his eyes. “How come some man is getting kisses from my kitten, but she hasn’t given her king any?” he asked.
“Oh, did you want some?” Emma teased, moving her face closer, but then pulling her lips away before he could even reach her.
“Emma,” he growled. “Don’t tease me. You’ll be naked and on this table.”
“Promises, promises, Greyson.”
“Kiss me, kitten. I need to taste you, and for the record?”
“Yes?”
“If you ever take your ring off, I will spank you. It stays on your finger until death do us part.”
Her heart skipped.
“Well, if you insist,” she said, before pulling his mouth to hers. Emma controlled the kiss, tearing to shreds any control her cave-Croft might have.
It was a beautiful thing.
Emma loved making him absolutely crazy.
When she set him free, he was staring into her green eyes. “That was pretty hot, Mrs. Croft. Want to go back to the castle and make a baby?” he whispered, as his hand trailed down her side, across her lap and to her hip.
She was trapped against him and loved every single second of it.
“Uh huh. If you can lose the bodyguard, we can make one in the back seat of our ride.”
Oh, that intrigued him.
Greyson could see Emma straddling his lap, sliding home, and... dear Jesus, it got hot in there.
“I’ll ditch the Russian,” he said, as they heard Dimitri’s approach.
Dimitri laughed.
He knew what they were talking about.
“Later, kitten,” he whispered.
“If you’re ready,” Dimitri said, offering the woman a chair he’d pulled into their booth. He slipped back into his spot, and took a sip of his water.
The woman didn’t look calm at all.
In fact, she looked nervous.
Dimitri had that effect on people.
Or maybe it wasn’t nerves.
It could be that she was harried. This was apparently the first job she’d had to hold down in a long time.
“Get comfortable, Mrs. Harding,” Greyson offered.
“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you earlier,” she stated. “I’m a little out of my element working here.”
They got it.
Her husband was missing.
She had to be beyond worried.
“We need to ask you a few questions regarding Dalton’s disappearance, if you don’t mind.”
She picked up a napkin and worried it between her fingers. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“Do you?” Croft asked.
“He’s dead. I can feel it,” she said, wiping her eyes. “My husband loved us. We were his world. There is no way he’d walk away from us. Something horrible had to happen to him for him to disappear.”
They were beginning to believe that was a distinct possibility. When you swam with the mob, you were taking your chances.
Dalton was buddied up with Tony Mays, and he was a dirty snake who would kill to get to the top.
That was a dangerous partnership. Dimitri had even avoided working for him for too long.
He knew what would happen.
The man was NOT trustworthy at all.
“Was anyone bothering your husband?” Emma asked. “Did he mention any issues that he might have been having with someone?”
She shook her head. “No. Dalton didn’t tell me much about his job. All I know is he would handle some accounting for Tony Mays, get paid, and we lived a normal family life.”
“And you know that Tony is one hell of a bad apple, right?”
She shrugged. “So are you three. I guess it’s perspective. I never thought I’d be getting help from anyone who broke the law.”
Apparently, the woman had done some research.
Google had given her a good picture of who she was now dealing with.
It wasn’t shocking.
“All I know is my husband was doing Tony’s books. Most of his work was out of his partner’s office. I don’t think he even spent any time with Tony Mays. How much trouble could he get into?”
Was she really this naïve?
He was in the mob, and she was clueless. Her husband was getting his dick rubbed by strippers in clubs. That certainly wasn’t doing the books in his office.
Unless that was the new name for it.
“Did he go out after work?” Emma asked.
“Never. He’d come right home. We ate dinner at seven sharp.”
Greyson knew that didn’t make sense. He went to work early, and worked late.
Yeah, not as an accountant who had an office in his own home—a locked one.
“Was he acting odd?” Greyson asked. “You know, like locking his office door? A change in his behaviors?” he asked.
She stared at him.
“What are you asking?”
Men didn’t go to strip clubs just to get a drink. They went there to get off.
In Vegas, the laws were a little looser, and for a few extra bucks, the lap dance could be so much more.
Blowjobs were the state activity and what happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas—unless it was an STD you picked up with a dirty stripper to take home after your vacation.
“Have you ever heard of ‘Boots and Saddles’?” Greyson asked.
“He liked riding horses?” Tiffany asked. “I don’t think so. That wasn’t my husband’s thing.”
Greyson didn’t know where to take that one. He wanted to joke around, but this was the woman’s life.
It was hard to hold it back.
“How about ‘Black Spades’?” he asked.
It took a second.
“Wait. Is that the strip club out by the mall?” Tiffany asked.
Emma nodded.
“Are you saying…?”
That’s when it happened.
Tiffany Harding got the full picture, and she began to cry.
Chapter Six
<
br /> Friday Afternoon
E mma had every intention of riding home with her sexy husband. Only, that wasn’t what had gone down. As they were strolling out of ‘Aquarius’, Chris Ford was walking in, and he looked three days past frazzled.
That meant one thing.
Woman issues.
The second they saw him, Greyson and Dimitri ran for the hills, ditching Emma. Greyson didn’t have to deal with a lot of woman drama, since he was married to Emma, and Dimitri didn’t want the details on the budding romance between his sister and Chris.
The less he knew, the better off they all were in the long run.
So, she was up to bat.
Again.
As they drove in his truck, Emma waited for him to get it off his chest. With Chris, he moved at his own speed, and until he had processed it, and was ready, he wasn’t going to spill his guts.
“Emma.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“I have an issue.”
Of course he did.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“Your help.”
“With?” Emma asked.
“I did it.”
“You did what? Sex? With Natasha?”
He looked horrified that she had even said that word out loud, let alone in such a casual manner.
“Jesus, Emma!”
“What? I know what sex is. I have a lot of it. What are you getting all spaz-y over?”
He stared at her. “First, no, I didn’t jump the woman, and two, I really am weirded out having that conversation with you. I don’t think it’s appropriate we talk about S.E.X.”
She laughed when he actually spelled it.
“Why? What’s the big deal?”
“Because you’re my sister, and at one time I wanted to have sex with you.”
“Now I’m weirded out.”
He felt the flush creeping up his neck. Chris knew that anything he said in that vehicle was between them.
Then he recalled.
“Holy shit!”
“What?” she asked, looking around.
“What if he’s listening?” Chris said, pointing at the in dash navigational system.
“It’s not in your vehicle. You told Dimitri hands off, remember?”
He relaxed.
“Now tell me.”
“You’re going to make me work for it, aren’t you?” he asked.
Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2) Page 13
