by Linzi Basset
It was a small gesture but a big victory for him. He didn’t have to tap into the submissive inside her. She acted on instinct. Not as a sub to a Dom but as his submissive to her Dom.
“Maybe there’s hope for you yet, my pet.”
Pamela didn’t respond. She relaxed in his arms, reveling in the soft circling motions of his fingers on her back. She was tired. The stress from the threats were dragging her down and having waited for him in a kneeling position for over two hours hadn’t helped.
Her eyes fluttered closed and soon her even breathing alerted Alex that she had fallen asleep. He stared at her face; beautiful, even without a speck of makeup. He brushed back her hair and dried the tears from her face. For the first time, he wondered if she’d ever gone for therapy after Kieran’s death. A suicide of someone close to you wasn’t easy to overcome and with the added guilt, it was little wonder she’d pushed him away. He had understood it at the time, but when she continued to erect a barrier between them, he’d turned bitter and resentful.
He had tried to be supportive, to understand. God knew he’d tried, but once Pamela had made up her mind about something, she kept to it.
“I loved you, Pamela, so fucking much it hurt.” His voice was raw as he ran his fingers over her lips. They pursed invitingly under the soft caress. “You have no idea what it did to me when you betrayed my affections and left my heart in shattered disarray of pieces. You stole a part of me, and it took everything in me to put myself back together. But I managed to survive. I’ll not go through that again. Not even to appease your sudden desire to make right what you did wrong all these years.”
The sigh that trickled through the atmosphere was heavy and slow, like his brain needed that time to process the finality of his words. His eyes remained fixed on her face, now in repose.
“Yeah, it’s time to move on.”
He lowered her onto the bed and pulled the covers over her naked body. Her creamy marble-like skin was too tempting by far. He undressed and took a quick shower after which he walked downstairs to check his emails. He had intended to be home by six at the latest but had been delayed by one of the senators who insisted he join him for a drink. He frowned as he realized that due to the very satisfying encounter it had slipped his mind that they were supposed to talk about what was bothering her.
His phone rang on the kitchen counter as he got to the landing. He rushed there to answer.
“Hey, Max. What’s up?”
“You were right to be concerned about Pamela.”
Alex had found the information of her current cases in the court records and had asked Max to investigate the defendants in the four cases he’d found.
“Talk to me.” He took out a bottle of mineral water and sat down at the breakfast nook. “Which case is it?”
“Select Liquor Store versus Five Star Enterprises.”
“That’s the owner transfer dispute, correct?”
“Yes. On the surface, Five Star looks like the perfect investment firm but this is where it gets interesting. Remember Carl Falcon?”
Alex sipped on the water as he searched his memory. “The Director on the board of Crown International who's also one of the owners of Xenia Pharmaceuticals.”
“The one and only. It seems the elusive Carl Falcon has his fingers in every piece of pie we uncover. He’s a shareholder of Five Star Enterprises.”
“Jesus, he’s obviously the man who sets up all the shell companies for the Sixth Order.”
“My thoughts exactly. I have a suspicion that he might even be one of the Syndicate leaders.”
“What’s Lance’s take on him? Has he interviewed him as part of the due diligence he and Jack were doing for Flores?”
“That’s partly why Lance’s suspicions were triggered. He was never around or available to talk to him.”
“So, we can assume that somehow the transaction to purchase Select Liquor was, in fact, money laundering. Someone fucked up and that’s a red flag, mate. The Sixth Order has been too sharp to make such an obvious mistake. Do you think it was Falcon?”
“I doubt it. We’re still trying to dig up more information about the actual sale to see if we can find a name and connect it to a body. One that we can actually find!”
“This is fucked up.” Alex twirled the bottle around in his one hand. “We need a security detail on Pamela, Max, but make sure they’re covert.”
Max was silent for a moment. “What the hell, Alex? Are you suggesting we use her as bait?”
“Hell no, but I know her well enough to know how she’ll react. She’ll throw a tantrum of note that she can take care of herself, and believe me, she’ll ditch them around the first corner. No matter how good they are. In the meantime, get your team to work on this 24/7. We’re not losing another of our own.”
“Agreed.”
Alex finished the water and stared at the empty bottle. “I’ve asked Lance to set up a meeting with Michael Flores. It had to be canceled because of what happened at the interrogation bunker on the farm.”
“You don’t trust him?”
“I don’t know. There’s something about him that makes me reticent.”
“I’ll get Lance on the horn and have a detail at your house in fifteen and remind him to reschedule with Flores.”
“And I’ll see if I can get Pamela to open up about the case.”
Alex didn’t move for a long while after they ended the call. He might not trust Pamela’s motives for being underfoot but he didn't want to see her hurt either.
His heart contracted painfully at the vision of her beautiful face cut into shreds, blood staining red the luxurious blond curls.
“Not gonna happen. Even if I have to chain her to my side.”
He didn’t question his own motives when he slipped in beside her moments later and drew her into his arms. Heat flooded his body as she pressed closer. One lean leg pushed between his and her arm wrapped around his waist.
“Fuck, it’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I warned you not to trust Michael Flores. The last thing we need is to draw attention to us.”
Zee paced the length of the luxurious living room of Dexter’s house in Woodley Park in Northwest Washington DC. He abhorred this city and was livid that he was once again forced to spend time here that should be more productively utilized elsewhere.
“We both made the decision to give him one chance. Don’t burden me with all the guilt. So fucking typical of you.”
Zee glowered at him but didn’t stop the incessant pacing that was slowly driving Dexter crazy.
“You’re the one who assured me he had done the perfect job in laundering our money. He fucking should have. We gave him all the information. Now, we stand to lose millions.”
“Not necessarily. If we settle out of court and pay the ten percent penalty on cancellation of the sale, at least—”
“Ten percent of fifteen million is still over a million. Don’t you fucking get it? We’re in shit, Dexter. First, they shut down our operation hub, knowing it would put us on the back foot for a very long time. Second, they shut down one of our biggest drug labs and raided every single distributor we had in this State. Hear that, buddy? Every single one. Do I need to do the math of the financial loss that brings?”
“I’m not an idiot, Zee. I’m well aware of the hit we’ve taken.”
“You said they won’t be able to decrypt any of our files.”
“And they didn’t. Jessica Simmons, our new IT expert, managed to link into each folder’s hidden tracker key. The only folder they managed to open is the one with our political contacts.”
“I’m not concerned about them. They don’t have a clue who we are or have any insight into any of our operations. At least now we know to close the door on them and source fresh blood.” Zee sat down and lit a thin Cuban cigar. “Then how the fuck did they get this information? Will Glover? Do you think he talked before we got to him?”
“No,
then they would’ve raided the lab and stash houses weeks ago already.” Dexter scratched his chin. “Hank Shutto. It has to be him. He was in charge of the distribution channel from that lab.”
“We slipped up, Dex. We should’ve kept looking for him and not allowed Michael Flores to stay our attention.” He slammed a fist into his palm. “What else does Shutto know? How exposed are we with him giving in under the pressure?”
“That depends with how much William Seely tasked him.”
“And we have no fucking idea where he is either.”
“No, but at least we now have all our data back.”
“When did that happen?” Zee perked up at the news.
“Jessica used the same link to retrieve it. That woman is sharp and a helluva lot cleverer than Glover was. They didn’t even know she was there. Used some kind of a backdoor ghost hacking system into their server. Once she copied our files, she downloaded a virus that will corrupt each folder the moment they start working on it.”
“She should wipe their fucking server clean.”
“I considered it, but we don’t want to alert them that we recovered our information, Zee. This way, we managed to gain back our advantage.”
“You’re right. While they bask in their success and believe we’re totally crippled, we’re in fact back on our feet. I’m impressed, buddy. Is the Sauna House ready to go live?”
“Almost. All the new staff we had as backup has been checked and approved. Most of the appointments have been made and they’re ready to move into the facility.”
“I want our operations up and running within a week, Dexter. If Rhone Greer thinks he’s going to shut us down, he’ll have to think again. The first order of business is to retaliate against every department that was involved in the raids. Get me the information. This time, there’ll be no doubt in anyone’s mind of the power we have.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
Zee tapped his fingers on his chin. “Come to think of it, we need to eliminate the Massage Parlor operatives that were taken into custody. We can’t take the chance that Glover hadn’t given them access to files to make his own load lighter.”
“Fuck, I never thought of that. I’ll get Dan on it right away. From what I’ve heard, no one could give any valuable information and most of them are being placed in a witness protection program. It might take some time but we’ll get them all.”
“We better. I’m not losing everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve. Not because of fucking Precision Secure! It’s time to up our game. Jack’s death was but a token of my wrath they’ve unleashed with that raid.”
The insistent chime of the doorbell interrupted them. Dexter frowned. Dan Scott, his muscle, attended to all visitors. No one got past the double-thick, iron front gate without his knowledge.
“Are you expecting someone?”
“No, and Dan usually informs me when there’s someone at the gate.”
Dexter quickly recovered his 9mm Glock from the jacket on the sofa before he walked briskly toward the door. Zee also drew his gun in preparation. They’d learned never to be too relaxed when in their Sixth Order disguises, no matter where they were.
“Ready?”
Dexter kept behind the door, giving Zee a clear shot if needed.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Zee barked and lowered his gun.
Dexter stepped back to allow the smiling man entry. He frowned as he passed him with a careless shrug.
“I have some interesting news. Something that could help us with the Select Liquor case.”
“You know the rules, Gun. You should’ve called and arranged to meet somewhere. What if someone followed you here?”
“Dexter is right. We didn’t pay millions to set up a background for you to get you inside Club Devil’s Cove just to have it blow up in our faces,” Zee pushed back the gun in the holster at his waist. With a derisive glower at their guest, he strode toward the study. “Don’t think because we’ve been friends for a long time you can take liberties. Let’s talk in here.”
“You worry for nothing. Why would anyone follow me? No one would ever suspect me of being involved with either of you or the Sixth Order.”
Dexter poured three drinks and handed them out. He pinned their guest in place with a piercing glance. “Let’s have it, then.”
“The Browns’ attorney is Pamela Seeger, correct?” Gun Proctor reveled in the trust his longtime friends had in him. When they’d approached him ten years ago to join their ranks as a third partner in the syndicate, he hadn’t hesitated. His background as a highly regarded sports celebrity, albeit a retired one because of an injury, had stood in his stead as far as the owners and shareholders of Club Devil’s Cove were concerned. They trusted him inexplicably which increased the pleasure he got from knowing he had the power to destroy them all … with the help of the Sixth Order of course. Personally, he didn’t have gripes with any of them, but he knew the reasons why Dexter and Zee hated them with such a passion.
Besides, they stood in the way of unsurpassed power which all three of them had coveted since they were young. The success they’d achieved as the leaders of the Sixth Order were driven by that desire which was the energy that kept pulsing through their veins.
“Yes,” Dexter waited with impatience raging through him. He hated surprises and Dan better have a good reason for not warning him of Gun’s arrival.
“The first threat didn’t scare her off, so, we might have to change tactics.”
“We can’t decide what we need to do unless you stop talking in circles and get to the point.” Zee didn’t appreciate to be kept waiting and his patience was wearing thin.
“Governor Alex White just signed an agreement with the same Pamela Seeger as his trainee sub in Club Devil’s Cove. She’s also living with him at the moment,” he announced with glee in his eyes.
Zee and Dexter looked at each other.
“And Master Rage is known for being very protective over all subs,” Dexter mused aloud, his mind already at work to conjure up the best strategy to utilize this information.
“Maybe, but that’s not going to help us. If the Browns don’t withdraw the case or accept our offer to settle out of court, getting rid of her serves no purpose.” Gun looked between them. “Right?”
“Yeah, but an incentive might just be what she needs to push them to withdraw the case.” Dexter mused as he got up from the sofa. “At the very least, it might delay the case for a couple of weeks, in which time we could have all the ownership papers that were never filed, submitted and approved.”
“That could work. With our contacts, we’ll get the approval irrespective of the court case. They can ensure everything is backdated,” Zee speculated as he sipped his drink.
“And then our attorney could claim it had been miss filed by the Deeds office,” Gun caught on quickly.
“What about the short payment? He knew he had to push the Browns with an offer of the funds he had at his disposal. Flores screwed us there,” Dexter glanced at him sideways. “Deliberately, if you ask me.”
“Our attorney is on top of that.” Zee looked at him briefly. “The Browns, unfortunately for them, were a little negligent to trust Flores when they accepted the partial payment with an agreement to settle the rest later. The fucker, of course, had no intention of paying that, knowing we’d have to reach into our pockets if we wanted to seal the deal. We’re still within the timeframe stipulated on the sale agreement, so the judge will throw that out. They only decided to fight the sale when they realized we’re not prepared to let them dictate how we run the company once we have ownership. Flores fucked us by not providing all the documentation to finalize the ownership transfer. In that, we fucked up and should’ve done our own homework.”
“Lesson learned. We should never have trusted that goddamned bastard in the first place.” Dexter tipped back his head and finished his drink.
“So, in the end, we could win this battle legally,” Gun said, dis
appointed that they couldn’t use this opportunity to weed down the Precision Secure team a little further. They were all still smarting at the huge success of the sting operation on the distribution channel in Washington DC.
“We could, but it would be drawn out as I don’t see the Browns budging on their side. Our attorney seems to think they’ve realized Flores had conned them into selling before they were ready to retire. We don’t have the luxury of time,” Zee began to pace. “And with Flores fucking us around, we can’t depend on Crown International as our main source of money laundering. We need this company. The fact that they’re National, makes it the perfect offset for weekly cash turns.”
“Why not target the Browns directly?” Gun asked.
“Because it would point directly at Five Star Enterprises and then we can forget about it.” Zee looked between the two men. “No, we need to put pressure on Seeger. It’ll be the quickest and easiest way.”
“Not to sound like a prophet of doom, but the message we sent to her to withdraw points directly at Five Star,” Gun reminded them with a grim twist of his lips.
“Not necessarily. Anyone could have sent it and with the company’s good standing, it’ll be very difficult to pin something like that on the organization. Our next move is critical, and we have to get the message across hard and direct. If she doesn’t listen, there will be consequences she’ll have to live with,” Dexter interjected brusquely.
Zee nodded. He forced down his anger. He was annoyed that they had slipped up so badly this time but they had been so caught up with the Massage Parlor closing down, they’d not given it enough attention. Now they had to fix it and quickly. “And once we’ve got it resolved, we go for Flores. He’s already laid claim to more of our assets than I’m comfortable with. He’s going to learn we’re not the kind of people to trifle with.”
“The sooner the better. Flores knows too much about us and our business. He’s become a risk and a liability. Not just for the Syndicate but us personally.” Dexter sat down behind the desk.
