“You won’t get another chance to do that,” I growl. “I’m trying my goddamn best to do right by you, but bitch, you make it damn near impossible. We’re gonna shower now.”
I pull her towards the en-suite while she tugs to try and free herself. I turn the shower on and the bathroom begins to fill with steam. Kicking and screaming, I haul her over my shoulder and stand under the spray of water. It soaks into my clothes and my shirt sticks to me.
“Okay,” she cries angrily. “I’ll shower myself.” I lower her to her feet, and she runs her hands over my wet shirt. “You wanna stay?” she whispers. “Remember the times we showered together? Any chance you got to have me wet, you’d take it.”
“Stop,” I mutter.
“I bet we conceived Ziggy in the shower.” She smiles, beginning to pop the buttons on my shirt. “I’ll do whatever you want if you give me one last hit.” It’s like a bucket of ice is thrown over me. I still her hands, then step out of the shower and grab a towel. “Oh, come on, Riggs,” she groans.
“Get showered,” I mutter, slamming the bathroom door closed behind me.
Chapter Nineteen
Anna
I place the bowl of cereal in front of Malia, all the while keeping an eye on the door. Reggie just received a call and he’s in the hallway yelling into his cell about cops. “Daddy sounds cross,” says Malia warily. I stroke my hand over her wild bed hair and smile softly. I don’t bother to find words of comfort because from the sound of Reggie yelling, I can’t deny that he’s cross.
I move closer to the door to listen. “You shouldn’t listen in, he might catch you,” says Crystal as she enters the room.
“Any idea what’s wrong?” I ask, and she shakes her head. “No intel from your boss?” I add, and she stops and turns to me. “It’s okay, Reggie doesn’t know you’re undercover.” She snatches my wrist and drags me out the back door and into the garden. “Hey,” I hiss, pulling my wrist away and rubbing it. Gone is the weak and wounded victim she’s been playing these last few days, and in her place stands a stony-faced, angry woman.
“How the fuck do you know?” she hisses.
“Does it matter? Reggie doesn’t know. It’s not common knowledge.”
“Of course, it matters, if my cover gets blown. How many people know?” she snaps.
I shrug. “Maybe I can help you,” I suggest, and she rolls her eyes.
“Well, he’s hardly confessing all to you, is he?” I snap. “I have a towel with his DNA on it. He ordered a kill on a guy called Marshall.”
“And you watched that, did you?” she asks sarcastically.
“Well, no,” I stammer. “Not exactly. He beat him though, I saw that part, and then ordered the kill as we left.”
“So he told someone to kill Marshall? He used those words?” she asks sceptically.
“Again, no,” I say, and she laughs, shaking her head like she thinks I’m pathetic. “He said to finish him off.”
“That means fuck all. It could mean wank him for all the judge will care. Finishing someone off means all kinds of things and Reggie isn’t stupid. He’ll say anything to get off a murder charge, and unless he slit the guy’s throat at your feet, we have nothing.”
“I went to a warehouse with him. There were drugs there, loads of drugs, and women packing them up.”
“The warehouse has been hit by police already. You’re too late with that information.”
“What about what he’s been doing to you?” I ask tentatively. “Can’t he get into trouble for rape or something?”
She glares at me like I’ve just killed her puppy. “No one can know about any of that. If my boss knows how deep undercover I’ve gone, he’ll pull me from the case,” she snaps.
“Oh,” I mutter.
“Tell me you haven’t told anyone that,” she growls. I shake my head innocently and swallow hard. I’m pretty sure Riggs won’t tell anyone what I said anyway.
She takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. “Look, if he gets arrested for the warehouse, then maybe we could use you as a witness to place him there, but I doubt it will be enough. Reggie is clever, so he will have a way to disassociate himself with the warehouse. We need more. We need much more.”
“What about the videos on his phone of the girls he’s forcing into prostituting themselves for his drugs?” I ask.
“Who’s to say they’re his drugs? Who’s to say they’re being forced? It won’t stand up in a court of law. His lawyer will say he’s within his rights to visit a whorehouse. Damn, the judge probably goes there with him.”
Reggie marches out into the garden, and without thinking, I slap Crystal across the face. “How fucking dare you,” I scream.
She grabs my hair and I’m grateful it’s not hard, just like my slap wasn’t. “Shit,” hisses Reggie before he pulls us apart. “I don’t have time for this drama today. I have a biker to bring down.” He takes my hand and pulls me inside. Malia is with her nanny and I smile to reassure her that I’m okay.
In the office, there are two large men. I eye them cautiously. Reggie puts his cell on a stand on his desk and it rings.
Riggs’ face fills the screen when he answers the video call. “Reggie, I hear you’re out of luck,” he says casually. “First the club, then the warehouse. Who knows what will happen next. Maybe your shipment that’s due today will come under attack.”
Reggie laughs, but it’s low and menacing. “Nothing will happen to that shipment, Riggs. Not unless you want to watch Anna suffer,” he growls.
“What?” I ask quietly, trying to keep the panic from my voice. The two men move
