I nod, and then walk out.
Samson closes the door behind me and locks it.
As I walk back to my car, the agonized roars of those men follows me. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and then exhale slowly.
How much more can we possibly take?
20WAVERLY
“Zariah,” I say, opening the door to see my sister standing, fully in uniform.
She looks tired, and worn, and I know this is bothering her. She hates what she had to do; she’s torn about what side she should be on. She has a son, and her job means everything to her. She’s worked so hard to get where she is, but at the same time, she knows the club has been good to her, and they’re good people, and it’s tearing her apart.
“Can I come in?” she asks.
I nod, stepping aside. We head into the kitchen and I turn the coffee-maker on. If anyone loves coffee more than me, it’s my sister.
I look to her while it heats up and ask, “Are you okay?”
She shakes her head, exhaling.
Zariah is strong, stronger than any woman I’ve ever met, but she’s tired. I can see it in the way her shoulders are sagging, and the way her eyes seem like she hasn’t slept in days.
“Talk to me,” I urge, walking over and putting my hands on her shoulders. “What’s happening?”
“They are currently doing an autopsy on Bennett’s body, and looking into his connection to Dax and the club. I don’t know how well Dax hid what they were doing, but I imagine they’re going to find something pretty damned revealing. They’ve got an arrest warrant out for Dax, and they’re going to come and question the other members of the club later today.”
Well, Alarick would want to clean up the mess he’s making then. I make a note to warn him about that.
“Kendric?” I ask, my heart aching at the thought of him sitting in prison.
“He’s angry—god, he’s so angry. I’ve never . . . I’ve never had someone hate me so much in my life. He . . . he just hates me.”
My heart aches for her. Anyone with two eyes can see that she and Kendric had some sort of weird connection. I don’t know what it was—I just know that when they’re together, you can practically feel your skin burning from the sparks flying off them. He helped her a lot when we were looking for Dax, and I know they spent some time together, though I don’t think it went any further than that.
For him to hate her now, I know it bothers her.
“He’s so mean,” she whispers, hanging her head. “I deserve it, too.”
“First of all, you do not,” I say, clicking my fingers in front of her face so she looks up at me. “You’re doing your job. It’s not on you at all. This is something that went horribly wrong for everyone. The club knew they were working with a cop, and they knew how much you were risking to help them out.”
“I’m no better than Bennett, and whoever else is helping Dax and Peter. I’m no better, Waverly. I’m helping a club that does plenty of illegal things. I’m supposed to be on the right side of the law, but here I am, risking everything for them.”
“They’re good people, Zariah. That’s the difference between them and most of the criminals you deal with. They’re good people, and they keep to themselves.”
“They’re still doing illegal things.”
“But are they hurting innocent people?”
She exhales, running her hands down over face. “No.”
“Listen, you’re going to figure this out. You know how I know that?”
She looks to me, her eyes so broken it hurts my heart. “How?”
“Because you’re strong, Zariah. You’re good at your job, and you’re a brilliant human being. You’re going to figure this out, and this will all be okay. You just have to trust yourself and what you know. Trust who you are, because you have worked hard to get here.”
“It’s just such a mess. I don’t know how we’re going to get Kendric off these charges. He admitted to working with Dax. He admitted to being part of this. Even if we find Dax, unless he makes a full confession, Kendric is going down.”
“We’ll find Dax, and he will make a full confession. We will find a way to have him give a full confession. Everyone has a weakness, Zariah. We’ll find his. We’ll get Kendric off. In the end, without evidence, what can they charge him with? He’s protecting the club, they know that, but they’re going to see the club has no link to Dax when they look into it properly. We have to trust that.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” She exhales. “I just don’t know how we’re going to get past this. They’re convinced the club is in on it, which means they’re going to be looking into them.”
“And me?” I ask, holding my breath.
“Like we said, if it comes back on you, it’s because they were told you were forced to help. You just need to keep your distance from the club, until it’s sorted out.”
It’s not going to be easy to do that.
“That’s not going to be easy . . .” I tell her.
“You have to do it, Waverly. Trust me, you have to do as I’m asking if you want to be left out of this. They’re going to question you, too. If they ask, you were so drugged you don’t remember anything. You got tangled up with Dax, and he tricked you into believing he cared about you. Say nothing unless you absolutely have to.”
I nod, swallowing. “Okay.”
She sighs. “I should get back to work. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I’m okay. It’s all going to be okay.”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Yeah, I hope so.”
So do
