Sinfully Yours, Sir

by Laylah Roberts

  They never bought their way out.

  Dylan worked hard to keep his disgust from his face. Rogan had warned him to remain calm and impassive.

  “New bodyguard?” Iker asked, looking up at Dylan.

  “Yes,” Rogan replied.

  Iker nodded after he’d run an assessing eye over Dylan. “So, this about Fizz? You finally changed your mind?”

  Rogan shook his head. “No, I don’t want that shit on my streets.”

  “Your loss.” Iker shrugged, but Dylan could see he was annoyed. His gaze turned calculating. “I hear the Seven Sinners struck a deal with the Fuerte cartel. They’ll be wanting more territory to offload their product.”

  “I’m not worried about the Seven Sinners,” Rogan replied tightly.

  “Then what’s this about?”

  “Miller Toresso,” Rogan said.

  “Who’s that?” Iker asked, his expression never changing.

  “Don’t act dumb with me,” Rogan said coldly.

  The other man’s gaze grew cunning. “What’s she to you?”

  “Absolutely nothing. But I owe a friend a favor. I want to know she’s okay.”

  “Tell your friend she’s fine. She’s right where she wants to be.”

  “And where’s that?” Rogan asked.

  “In my bed. Sucking my cock.”

  Around him, Iker’s men laughed. Dylan kept his breathing slow and steady. Years of being a Marine and a Dom had honed his self-control. He needed every ounce of it now.

  “And she’s damn good at it.” The man leaned forward. “Now why don’t you tell me what this is really about?”

  “If she’s with you of her own free will then why did she call her friend for help?”

  Iker sat back, tapping his finger on his chin. “She called asking for help?”

  “She did. So you can see why I’m eager to meet with the girl and ascertain her safety.”

  “She’s busy,” Iker said, standing. “And this meeting is over.”

  “You’re willing to go up against me because of the girl?” Rogan said in a low voice.

  Dylan stilled. Shit. Things had just gotten bad, very bad.

  Iker must have realized that too because he sat back down.

  “We’ve had a good relationship up until now, why fuck it up over a girl?” Iker asked curiously.

  “I’m not,” Rogan said. “You are.”

  There was a long moment of tense silence.

  “Where is the girl?” Rogan asked.

  Iker narrowed his gaze. “She approached me. We don’t go around snatching women off the streets. Said she wanted to join the gang. I told her to fuck off. But the bitch didn’t want to leave. I was about to turn her out when she tells me an interesting story. Seems one of my middlemen was taking a larger cut than agreed. Taking my money and keeping it for himself. Naturally, I had to check her story out. I couldn’t let someone steal from me.”

  No, that would make him look weak in front of his men.

  “Turns out she was right. He was taking money from me. Only the asshole didn’t have the cash. He’d left it with his ex. Matilda King.”

  Dylan had to work hard to keep the shock from showing. Tilly, he meant Tilly.

  “That phone call wasn’t real,” Iker continued. “Miller is quite the actress. She faked it to prove her loyalty and she passed admirably.”

  The depth of her friend’s betrayal floored him. If he hadn’t been with Tilly when she’d taken that call… he swallowed and tasted bile. She would have walked straight into their hands.

  “How could you be sure that Miss King wouldn’t call the police after that call?” Rogan asked.

  Iker raised his hands. “And tell them what? That her friend was in trouble? If they’d turned up looking for her, Miller would have reassured them she was with me of her own free will. Miller was certain Miss King would drop everything and come for her. At the very least I figured it would give us enough time to search her apartment without interruption. If Miss King actually turned up looking for Miller, well, all the better. We could have a little talk.”

  “Why not just snatch her?”

  “Come on. You and I both know it’s not that easy to just kidnap someone. You have to study them, work out their schedule, figure out when they’ll be alone and vulnerable. This way held far less risk for me. Even if she did tell someone, Miller would deny it all.”

  “So you really think this Matilda King has your money?” Rogan asked.

  “She’d better,” Iker said ominously.

  “How much are we talking about?”

  “One point two million.” Iker watched Rogan assessingly. “Now, you want to tell me why you care about all of this? And don’t tell me it’s all for a friend. You’re like me. We don’t have friends.”

  Dylan stepped forward. “Because Matilda King is my girlfriend. You harm one hair on her fucking head and I’ll kill you.”

  ***

  “Well that could have gone better,” Rogan said as they stepped out the back door and into the alleyway. The meeting had been held in the back room behind a laundromat.

  “Sorry,” Dylan said. “I lost my temper.”

  “I thought you’d have better control over yourself,” Rogan replied with a hint of censure.

  “I should. But just the thought of one of them touching Tilly, it makes me feel murderous.” He clenched his hands as fury rolled over him.

  “All right. Well, it’s done now. We just have to make the best of the situation.”

  “What’s Fizz?” Dylan asked as they walked back towards the car.

  “New drug. Looks like candy and it fizzes on your tongue. Iker has secured a supply and he’s been trying to convince me to buy it off him. I’m not selling shit that’s so new we don’t even know all the side effects. Plus, they’re marketing it to kids and I don’t sell drugs to kids.”

  “He’s not happy about it,” Dylan commented.

  Rogan snorted. “Iker can kiss my ass. He’s just pissy because the Russian mob is refusing to get on board as well. He thinks I have some influence on the mob’s boss.”

  “Do you?”

  Rogan slanted him a look. “Anisimov’s his own man. He makes his own decisions.”

  “I thought the Seven Sinners didn’t have big numbers here anymore?”

  “They didn’t,” Rogan said grimly. “Until they made a deal with the Fuerte cartel. Now they’re like fleas on a dog. You get rid of one and twenty more appear.”

  “Are they creating problems for you?” Dylan asked.

  Rogan grew tense. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  It didn’t sound like nothing. But then, what did Dylan know?

  ***

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  Tilly held her hand against her chest as an older man stepped into the limo. His face was deeply tanned and lined. His white hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

  “Jimmy, what the hell are you doing here?” Aedan sounded annoyed, but there was a small smile on his face.

  “Saw the limo here and thought I’d stop in,” he said in an Australian accent.

  “Rogan’s going to spew if he finds you here,” Aedan told him. “Bad enough you keep hanging out in the alleyway behind Underworld, now you’re following Rogan? How did you even get in here? Colm should have stopped you.”

  “I’m not following him.” The older man looked insulted before he grinned. “And the day I can’t get around a bruiser like Colm is the day I retire. Hear you’re looking for a girl.”

  Aedan gazed at him suspiciously. “How the hell did you hear that?”

  “Got my ways. Listen, boy, about that girl, ahh, what’s her name?”

  “Miller?” Tilly asked.

  “Yeah, that’s it.” He snapped his fingers. “You know her?”

  “She’s my friend. Have you seen her? Is she okay?”

  The old man gazed at her with sympathy. “No, she’s not. You need to get her out quick before she—”
>
  The door to the limo opened again and Colm peered in. “Rogan’s coming. Go, Jimmy.”

  “Ahh, crap. That boy always had bad timing.” He stepped out of the limo.

  “Wait, what about Miller?” she said urgently.

  “Just get her out quick.”

  He was gone. Tilly sat back in her seat and gaped at Aedan in shock. “Who was that? How did he know about Miller?”

  “That man is the bane of Rogan’s existence. He’s a broker.”

  “Like on the stock market?”

  Aedan grinned. “No, on the streets. He’s an information broker. He gathers up information and sells it on for a price. Only sometimes he gets things wrong. Last time, he nearly cost one of Rogan’s men his life. So I would take everything he says with a grain of salt. Oh, and best not to mention this to Rogan.”

  The door opened again and in climbed Rogan then Dylan. Relief made Tilly lightheaded as she ran her gaze over both men.

  “Are you okay?” she asked Dylan.

  “She’s been frantic with worry this whole time,” Aedan added. She glared at him, but he just grinned.

  “Did you learn anything about Miller? Where is she?”

  Jimmy’s words were running through her brain, pushing her sense of urgency higher.

  “Miller doesn’t need rescuing,” Rogan said coldly.

  “What do you mean? Is she okay?”

  Dylan sighed and pulled her onto his lap. “Babe, I know you don’t want to believe it, but Miller is with the Vipers of her own free will. Rogan’s info wasn’t wrong.”

  “But the phone call—”

  “Was faked. It was a test of her loyalty,” he told her.

  “Why? How? I don’t understand.”

  “Your friend betrayed you,” Dylan said gently. “She wanted to join the gang and she made that call to lure you here and into the Vipers arms.”

  “But why?”

  “Well, apparently it has to do with your ex,” Rogan told her.

  ***

  Dylan’s heart was breaking for Tilly. She looked absolutely shattered. If he could get his hands on that bitch, Miller, he would wring her neck. She’d thrown Tilly in the deep end without a thought to her safety.

  Looking pale and drawn, she sat on a couch in Rogan’s living room. They’d waited until they were back at Rogan’s house to start questioning her.

  She rubbed her head. “Are you sure they said that Miller was with them voluntarily? Couldn’t they have been lying?”

  Dylan cupped the side of her face gently, turning her to face him. “To show that she was serious about joining, she offered them information they’d want. She told them that your ex had been stealing from them. When they questioned him, he told them that you had the money. She put you in harm’s way. She betrayed you. I know that hurts and believe me if I can find a way to make her pay, I will. But right now we need you to concentrate. It’s important.”

  Tilly stared at him, her green eyes glassy with tears and fatigue. Then she thrust her shoulders back.

  “Okay, I’m okay. But how did they even talk to Javier? He’s dead. He died a few days ago in prison.”

  “How?” Rogan asked.

  “One of the other prisoners stabbed him.”

  “Probably one of Iker’s men,” Rogan said grimly. “They questioned him then killed him once he was no longer any use. So he’s going to be no help in tracking down the money.”

  “I have no idea why Javier would tell them I had their money.”

  “Start from the beginning,” Dylan told her. “Maybe something will help us figure this all out.”

  Tilly sat nervously on the edge of the sofa. “I met Javier during my last year of school. I thought he was handsome and smart. He showered me with attention and gifts. I was seventeen and he was twenty-six and I thought he was wonderful.

  “When I graduated from high school, I moved in with him. It didn’t take long for things to unravel. He would have these bursts of temper where he’d scream at me over nothing. He was out all hours of the night. The only time he seemed calm and normal was when we were around other people, especially around my family. I figured it was because he didn’t want them to realize that he was, umm…”

  “Abusing you?” Rogan asked in a surprisingly gentle voice.

  “He never hit me,” she said hastily. But his words could be incredibly painful. How many times had he screamed at her that she was a fat whore?

  “I never really understood why he was with me when he seemed to hate me so much. I was such an idiot. He didn’t want me for me. He wanted access to my family’s ranch.”

  “He was transporting things over the border?” Rogan guessed.

  “Yeah. Drugs. He was hiding them on the ranch. Thank God we discovered what he was doing. If those drugs had been found by someone else on my dad’s land…” she didn’t want to think about the consequences for her father.

  “Okay, so what’s this asshole’s name?” Rogan asked.

  “Javier Cabeza.”

  “Fucking hell,” Aedan said, glancing over at Rogan.

  “What?” she asked. “You know him?”

  “I know of him,” Rogan replied. “I’ve never worked with him. I don’t like his methods or his involvement in human trafficking.”

  “He takes money from people just wanting a better life then leaves them to make their own way over the border. Old, young, doesn’t matter to him if they make it, only that they pay him,” Aedan said with disgust. “And you were with him?”

  Tilly shrank back under his disgust.

  Dylan sat forward, shielding her. “Do not speak to her like that.”

  “That asshole didn’t give a shit that little kids died of starvation because of him. You haven’t seen the dead bodies. Then there are the young girls who were brought over to be sold off as whores.”

  “And Tilly had nothing to do with that,” Dylan said in a low voice.

  “She spent his dirty money. She must have had some idea.”

  Tilly placed a hand over her stomach. “I’m going to be sick.”

  Rogan grabbed a bowl, thrusting it into her hands. Tilly emptied her stomach’s contents. Luckily, she hadn’t eaten much in the last twenty-four hours.

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” she said, completely humiliated. Dylan rubbed her back. He placed a cool hand on her flushed forehead.

  “Shh, it’s okay, baby.”

  She studied the bowl. This wasn’t a cheap, throwaway bowl. In fact, it looked very, very expensive.

  “Oh no, I’m sorry,” she said to Rogan, who shrugged.

  “It’ll clean off.”

  “I’ll go clean it now.”

  Rogan shook his head and grabbed the bowl from her. He paused. “You’ve finished vomiting?”

  She rubbed her stomach. “I don’t think I have anything left to throw up.”

  Rogan took the bowl away and Tilly glanced over at Aedan, tears filling her eyes. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry, but I swear, I had no idea.”

  “Didn’t you wonder where all his money came from? The dirty money you probably spent on handbags and manicures?” Aedan sneered.

  After she’d moved in with him, Javier had become incredibly tight with his money. She’d been allowed enough for groceries and that was it. But she wasn’t going to defend herself.

  “Do you forget where my money comes from, Aedan?” Rogan asked. He kept his voice quiet, but everyone in the room froze.

  “That’s different,” Aedan replied. “You’re not involved in human trafficking. You’re mainly legit these days.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think that matters.” There was an almost sad note to Rogan’s voice.

  Tilly reached over and grabbed Rogan’s hand, squeezing it. “You seem like a good man to me,” she told him. “You’re helping me when you don’t have to.”

  Rogan watched her for a long moment, but he didn’t push her away.

  “So how did Miller find out that Cabeza was taking a bigger cut than he’
d agreed on?” Dylan asked.

  Although Aedan still seemed tense and angry, he was no longer staring at her with accusation. But she still felt the guilt eating at her. How could she have been involved with such a monster?

  “I have no idea,” Tilly said. “I always thought she disliked him. I certainly can’t see him confiding in her. Why would she do this to me?”

  “Who knows?” Aedan said. “But the Vipers will want their money or they’ll be after blood.”

  “H-how much money are we talking about?” she asked nervously.

  “One point two million,” Dylan said grimly.

  She rubbed her stomach.

  Javier had thrown her to the sharks. She now had a target on her back and so did anyone involved with her.

  “I can’t ask you all to help me,” she said. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “She’s right,” Dylan added. “You’ve already put your necks on the line for us. We can take it from here.”

  “I was talking about you as well, Dylan,” she said.

  He gave her a fierce look. “If you think I’m going anywhere, a mhuirnín, you’re sadly mistaken. A man doesn’t leave when the going gets tough. And if you try to leave, I’ll spank you every night for a week. I can take care of myself. And you.”

  “This is the safest place for you, Tilly,” Rogan added. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of this mess.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered. If she had more courage she’d try to convince them to stay out of this mess, but she was scared and totally out of her depth.

  “The two of you can’t handle this alone,” Rogan told them. “You need our help.”

  “Won’t it create problems for you to go up against the Vipers?” Dylan asked.

  “Let me worry about that.”

  “I really don’t believe Miller would do this. She sounded so scared on the phone. And why would she pretend to be in trouble? Why wouldn’t she just call me and ask me to visit her?”

  “Because this got you to drop everything and come running,” Aedan told her.

  “I suppose,” she said doubtfully.

  “We should have demanded to speak to her,” Rogan said. “But after Dylan threatened Iker, I thought we’d better make a quick exit. Once we get this sorted, I’ll demand to talk to her. I’ll find out the truth.”