“Maybe not,” I drawled. “But if it gets leaked to the press, your career is over. And I’ll make damn sure the authorities decide to dig a little deeper into your dealings over the past decade.”
“Where’s David?” he asked suddenly.
’Bout time he got around to asking about his son. This fucker deserved to be rotting in the ground next to his psycho spawn. But we were already cleaning up one kill tonight and didn't need the heat that would come with two. Especially when one of them was a decorated police officer.
“Well, Johnny,” Dom sneered. “He’s burning in hell for his crimes. Pretty sure his charred body won’t ever be found.”
John’s eyes bounced back and forth between us for a minute as he contemplated what to do next. “If he’s not a problem anymore, then why are you here taking up my time?”
“I’ll just give you another minute to mourn the passing of your son,” I said, my tone slathered in disgust. He just stood there and waited. That. Was. Fucked. Up.
“We want your guarantee that you’ll leave Lucy Skye and Paisley Wessex, and other victims or witnesses to your son’s crimes, alone. Or this shit goes public.”
“Fine,” he agreed through clenched teeth. “You have my word.”
Dom outright laughed at that, but his tone held no humor. He snatched the file back and growled. “Your word doesn’t mean fuck all to us, asshole. That’s why we’ll be watching, and if you take one step out of line, we’ll take you down.”
He stopped for a minute and contemplated the slimy son of a bitch. “Oh, and one more thing. If, by some slim-to-none chance, your son’s carbonized corpse is happened upon, we expect you to do what you’ve proven to be so competent at effectuating.”
Despite the rage I was suppressing, one side of my mouth kicked up. Just because we were bikers didn’t mean we were uneducated buffoons. A lot of us had college degrees, and I’d even completed my doctorate while I was in the army. Though, I didn’t spread that shit around. Not because I wasn’t proud of my accomplishments, but because I knew I’d be the butt of endless jokes. I preferred to be the one dishing it out rather than taking it.
John was clearly seething with anger, his hands fisted at his sides, his shoulders tense, and his jaw locked, while his chest rose and fell rapidly.
“If you didn’t understand,” I drawled. “It means, cover it the fuck up.”
His head bobbed sharply before he spun around and marched back into the station.
Dom breathed a sigh of relief, but I didn’t think I’d be able to relax until I saw my girl again. We returned to the truck, and once we were on the road and headed to our hotel, I pulled out my laptop and used my fingerprint to open it before entering a secure password to access all the files and data. I wanted to do a little more digging on Paisley. Initially, I’d been mostly focused on what she’d witnessed and how to locate her. Now I wanted to learn everything there was to know about her.
She was still in school and on track to graduate with her associates in six months. I was about to check into the possibility of her finishing online when we pulled up in front of the hotel. I closed my computer and slid it into my bag. Dom put his hand on Lucy’s arm and whispered something to her. She nodded and stayed in her seat while Dom and I exited the truck. I’d gotten out on his side, and before I could walk toward the building, he grabbed my arm.
“Nobody understands your instincts when it comes to your girl more than I do, brother. Gotta tell you, though, Paisley isn’t like Lucy. She’s softer, and she’s been through some shit, making her wary.” He paused, but I knew he wasn’t done, so I just waited. “I’m not telling you how to handle your woman. I’m just making an observation. Seems to me, if the man who wanted her hung back a little and waited for the right time, he’d be able to go after her without worrying about scaring her off.”
I narrowed my eyes and shook off his grip so that I could fold my arms over my chest. “Not that I’m agreeing with you, but what exactly constitutes the right time to you?”
Dom shrugged. “If you step away from the desire and caveman shit, which I know is hard as fuck, you might be able to look at things logically and figure it out.” Then he held up his hands, palms out, and shook his head. “Just one man’s opinion.”
“Noted,” I grunted before stalking to the lobby of the hotel and checking into my room to be alone. I fucking hated that he was right.
1
Paisley
“The payment was rejected because the account isn’t active.”
After waiting on hold for more than an hour, I wanted to bang my head against my desk at the customer service representative’s non-answer. “Yes, I already knew that. The email I received said as much. But what I don’t know is why the account is inactive. Sarah isn’t up for parole for another three months.”
Although I didn’t know Sarah Weinstock, I’d been sending money to her every month since she went to jail for a crime she hadn’t committed. I felt a lot of guilt over the part I’d played in what had happened to Sarah, but I was too scared to try to set things right for her. When I’d given my statement after witnessing a guy beating up a woman in a parking lot, I’d been prepared to testify in court to everything I’d seen. But I hadn’t known that his dad was a well-respected police lieutenant with a history of covering up his son’s crimes. One who had no problem threatening to make my life hell so that I wouldn’t make my statement official.
He’d stared down his nose at me
