“What’s wrong?” Amelia asked.
“Motherfucker.”
“What? Talk to me, Ny. What’s happened?”
“He took it.” I held up the camera and showed her the empty SD card slot.
She frowned. “Shit.”
Plowing my hands through my hair, I tried to fight off the impending panic.
If you panic, you are out of the game. Breathe.
I forced myself to drag in a long deep breath, hold it, and then release it slowly by counts. “I went into the restaurant as planned. While I was serving, I was in there twice before they even noticed anything. But this fucking camera, one of them saw it. And then he chased me. I ran. God, I didn’t think anyone would follow or that he’d be that fast, quite frankly.”
“You didn’t take evasive maneuvers?”
I choked out a laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me? I ran for my life. Yeah, I took evasive maneuvers. He was just faster than I expected.”
Amelia took up my hand. “Relax, take another deep breath.”
My brain offered up helpful images of me fighting that arsehole. He was supposed to be a lazy billionaire. But oh no. The twat had fight skills. Actual martial arts fight skills. He had fucking surprised me.
I had done my research on the London Lords, as they called themselves. I was looking for proof of their secret society. There had been whispers, rumors. Filthy rich men who were the real London power brokers, and I knew in my gut the London Lords were part of it.
I had studied their movements, where they went, who they talked to, who their friends were. I’d just needed evidence, but all my evidence was fucking gone.
“Okay, I went in there. I took my pictures. I was trying to identify all the players, and fuck, there were some people I didn’t recognize in the room. And then he saw me and chased me, and we had a fucking fight in the park. He was good, Amelia. Jesus Christ, like skills you read about, he was that good.”
“So what, are you hurt?”
Even as I shook my head no, I rubbed my shoulder where I’d taken the brunt of my fall, but it was my kidney that hurt the worst. “Not in a real way. I don’t think he was trying to hurt me. Lucky couple of punches.” Bullshit. He had you dead to rights.
“You were so lucky, Ny. If he’d managed to subdue you, if you’d been caught, it would have been both of our asses. That wasn’t a sanctioned operation.”
Did she have so little faith in me? “I never would have given your name.”
She rolled her eyes. “Process of elimination. I’m your best mate, and we’re almost always attached at the hip.” She had a point there. With a frustrated sigh, she took the exit toward Camberwell and my townhouse. “How did he get the drop on you? That disguise should have worked.”
I shifted in my seat with a wince. “He was, at the very least, as good as I am. And he didn’t get the drop on me; he was lucky.”
Amelia slid a glance at me. “What are we going to do?”
I looked at the camera. ”I’m not sure yet, but I’m not giving up until we manage to pin something on the London Lords.”
“If anyone can do it, it’ll be you.”
I fucking prayed she was right because I’d lost this opportunity tonight. Cocked it right up. I only knew the London Lords as Bennett James Covington, East Hale, and Bridge Edgerton. They had another friend, Drew Wilcox. I didn’t know much about him. Wife, family, that was it. Covington had recently gained a fiancée. Edgerton also had a fiancée. They’d been engaged for two years but still had made no move to get married. That was all I had.
No sufficient proof and now no surveillance photos either.
“We know they’re involved in something larger. They are tied to the Van Linsted case. We just need to prove it.”
She was right. When I’d met Ben Covington earlier in the year, my instincts told me something was up with him. The more I pulled that thread, the more questions I had.
Then my case mysteriously had been tied up, with an additional high-profile case tossed in. I’d gotten credit for both busts. But I knew what they were. A pay-off of sorts. Ben Covington didn’t want me looking into him and his friends… and I needed to know why.
1 East
What the hell?
That woman. First, she was a hell of a fighter. Second, she was quick. She moved like she had proper training. She managed to put me on my ass.
I hadn't even bothered to go back to the restaurant. After Bridge had picked my ass up off the ground, I headed back to the penthouse. There was no way I could let it go.
She'd been taking pictures of us.
Exactly what did she see?
We were discreet.
Or so you think.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. Chances were, she hadn't heard anything she shouldn't have. But all of us together, that was a risk. And with Interpol sniffing around after the Van Linsteds were arrested, it was a big risk.
I didn't have any moral problems with what we'd done to Bram Van Linsted. After all the shit their family had pulled, the cheating, the lying, the abusing and trafficking of women, we had zero qualms about them getting exactly what they deserved.
Even if what they deserved was not the result of their direct crimes, we still put them in jail for a very long time. What I did have qualms about was getting caught before we finished getting vengeance for Toby. There were more people in the Elite that deserved punishment. And if we got pinched, they wouldn't get what
