Chapter Nineteen

 

“Are you seeing anyone?” Ace asked before taking a sip of the rich coffee Sabrina had made for them before Ace arrived at her office.

She shrugged. “It’s not that serious, but it’s getting there fast.” That was more of an admission to herself than to her old friend. She hadn’t wanted things to go beyond a night or two, but Veda was magnetic, she drew her like a frosted cupcake did a child’s finger.

“She needs protection,” Ace told her with a gleam of curiosity in her eyes. “Who is she?”

“Veda Price.”

“The chubby lingerie woman?” she asked with a frown.

Ace had more than likely done a background check on Veda a few months back when Ace had protected Chloe from a possibly dangerous situation.

“There’s nothing wrong with her,” she said defensively.

“I didn’t think she was your style being that she’s overweight,” Ace replied carefully.

Not in the past, but Veda was hot fully dressed and downright gorgeous naked.

Veda was pure sweet temptation.

“There’s something about her that makes me want—anyway, I’m seeing her.”

Ace shrugged. “She’s not unattractive,” she murmured and then smiled. “I never thought I’d see the day when you started falling for a woman.”

“Shut up, Ace. I’m not falling in anything but deep lust. I’m intrigued by her.”

Ace laughed. “Been down that road and I know where it can lead,” she said mockingly. “But I’ll put Blade on her. I think whoever called you will be apt to use any means necessary to get the information back since you don’t give a rat’s ass about your brother.”

“Even if I had, I’d have lost all respect for him after last night,” she said and got to her feet. Her office was spacious with plenty of room for her to pace as nervous energy settled into her legs. Sabrina ran a hand through her hair as she walked around her desk.

“Try to relax, Bri,” Ace ordered. “Blade will be there before she even steps outside.” She typed in a message on her phone. “The heads up on this thing will help us bring The Hatter down. His people will retreat. Whoever takes over his org will be Texas’s problem.”

She cracked her knuckles. “I’m just concerned that Veda will get hurt in all this.”

“She won’t if we can help it, and you carry right?”

“Yeah, I have a permit. We’re going to Russ this weekend. I want some coverage out there. How much?”

Ace frowned. “You’re handing me a way to bring The Hatter down—you’ve literally given me a doorway to invade his life and finish him so my woman won’t have to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life. I owe you, girl, and I’ve got no problems paying up. So, whatever you need, you got it.”

She shook her head. Pamela or Westmore had stumbled onto a goldmine. If used right they’d be able to write their own ticket with The Hatter. Unfortunately for them things hadn’t worked out that way.

“I’m sure The Hatter ordered the hits on Pamela and her boyfriend,” she mused thinking out loud. “She said she’d been selling for a guy named Trigger. He’s one of The Hatter’s men according to intel on one of the cards. She’s been trafficking kids too, but they got sloppy and got caught I guess.”

“Did she skim profits?”

“That’s why she said she needed money.”

“What’s bugging you though?” Ace asked.

“She called me the night she was killed asking if I’d gotten into her place and taken the cards. She told me—can you find out if her brother’s involved? He’s an FBI agent. She seemed to think he’d be able to help her out of this mess.”

Ace nodded slowly. “He could be in this up to his eyeballs,” she replied. “If he is, he’ll be dead soon too, and they’ll really be on your ass. I haven’t seen what you have, but I’m assuming it was worth killing them over.”

“It was. I’m thinking Westmore was the one who recorded the conversations, took the video footage for insurance. But it makes no sense that he’d gather it against The Hatter when he knows his reach is long. So, he has to have planned to use it against his handler in The Hatter’s org., you think?”

Ace shrugged. “It’s possible and it’s possible Pamela’s brother was the intended target. Was he on there more than once?”

“No, but another agent I’ve seen was. In fact, more than one. They were helping this guy plan a mass kidnapping of shelter kids. I swear when you see it, it’s going to piss you off as bad as it did me.”

She rounded her desk again and opened the drawer to remove the copies of SD cards she’d brought with her.

“Charles is probably going to come after me. Pamela told him I killed their father.”

“If he doesn’t back off, we’ll take him out of play permanently, but that will cost you.”

“What?” She knew Mojo wouldn’t want money.

Ace took the clear case that housed the cards. “I might need to use your mag as a cover to infiltrate.”

“Just let me know the deets,” she said.

Ace got to her feet and quickly slid the case away and the door opened a second later. Sabrina had always thought Ace had some kind of super hearing and sense of smell.

“Agents,” she said evenly as Agent Crow barged into her office ahead of his partner Jansen. “To what do I owe the displeasure?” Her tone held all the mocking she could muster.

Agent Crow’s lip lifted in a snarl that surprised her while Agent Jansen grunted. His gaze was riveted on Ace and she followed it. Ace was standing there tense as if ready to attack.

“We’ll talk later,” Ace said and headed for the door.

“Crow,” Agent Jansen called his name when he turned his head to follow Ace’s retreating form.

Agent Crow slowly turned back to face her, blue eyes hard as diamonds. “We talked to your girlfriend,” he said. “She did give you an alibi, but unfortunately for you your sister was killed after midnight,” he told her.

“Well she was with me and a few old pals having some drinks,” Ace said.

Sabrina turned to find Ace was standing in the doorway facing them now.

“All night?” Jansen asked. “I wonder what that sweet little Miss Price would say to that? She struck me as the easily wounded type.”

“We’re friends, planning a girls night out to meet Sabrina’s new flame,” Ace drawled. “You can come by Mojo’s, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions.”

“She was with you all night?”

“Friends don’t let friends drive wasted.” Ace flashed him a grin. “Later.” She turned on her heel and strode away.

“I wish you guys would stop fucking with me,” Sabrina murmured. “I bet Charles put you up to this.”

“We have a tape with your voice as you threatened to kill Pamela if she didn’t stop blackmailing you.”

“Apparently, you killed her father,” Agent Crow said with a mocking smile.

“Maybe I did, but I didn’t kill her,” she said. “As you can see I have an alibi.”

“We’ll be checking that out thoroughly, but for now we have a warrant to search your office and take all computers and computer disks, drives, etc.” Agent Crow reached into his suit jacket pocket and removed a piece of paper. He practically threw it at her.

Sabrina picked it up from her desk and read it carefully. Just her office. Well it was a good thing she’d been a mercenary for a few years. You learned to listen to your gut. She’d already hidden the copies of the SD cards and not in her car or here at the office, but she was thanking the stars Ace had showed up when she had or she would haven’t have been able to hide the cards she’d given her.

Sabrina had destroyed the cassettes of her crime though.

“Knock yourself out,” she said. “I’ll head to my conference room and work there.”

“We need all of your personal computers,” Jansen told her.

She smiled. “Luckily this is a company one.” She laughed. “Mine is in its case.” And had nothing but her latest stories on it. “Enjoy.” She exited the office with Agent Jensen hard on her heels.

“Why is Charles so certain you killed your sister?” he asked her.

“Ask him. I’m sure they were closer than she and I was. She must have given him some reason. Though could be that she didn’t like me and never did. I was the intruder in their family, the unwanted stepsister. The kind of animosity they had against me never dies.”

Blood was thicker than water. She’d had to scrub Williams off her hands for hours it seemed and seemed he was trying to reach out from the grave to make good on his promises.

“I own you, Sabrina,” Billy had whispered to her the night she’d killed him. “I’ll kill you before I let you escape me.”

A chill rippled down her arms making her flesh pimple.

She’d looked him in the eye as she’d said, “Then, you’ll have to kill me because I know what they did to my mother. I won’t stop talking until someone investigates and if they don’t, I’ll tell them what you’ve been doing to me.”

He grabbed her by her hair and jerked so hard her head veered to one side and started to ache. He kissed her hard, his kiss tasting of her essence and turning her stomach.

“It’ll be over my dead body,” he whispered in her ear. “I never lose.”

The chill receded, but inside she shook. The Cains had nearly destroyed her with their systematic dual layer attack, but it was time their legacy of evil died.

She exhaled softly, fingers clenching into tight fists. Charles could very well have grown up to be as sick as his father. His sister had and it was a shame, but the evil that had been Billy had seduced the dark side of them all.

There was possibly no redemption for any of them.