Chapter 36
Scooping a large spoonful of ice cream into my mouth, I close my eyes and moan. “This is what I needed.” I smirk at Sloane happily, as I tuck a strand of my short blonde wig behind my ear.
I’m at her place for a girls’ night, having had about enough of being locked up in my apartment with the boys. Overprotective Geovani is lurking out in the hallway somewhere, but at least they let me out of their sight for a couple of hours, knowing Sloane is more than capable of taking care of me if she has to.
“More chocolate syrup?” she asks, wiggling the bottle in my direction. “I’m sure this shit is good for the baby.”
I hold my bowl out for more. “Right!” I smirk back at her. We have decided not to tell anyone else about the baby just yet. But I needed a girl to talk to, and I know I can trust Sloane to keep our secret. When I told her I had to talk to her about something important, she insisted on taking the night off. Which is very unlike her, but in truth, we have hardly seen each other lately, so maybe she needed this just as much as I did. And Myriah and Sally are more than capable of taking care of The Raven’s Nest without her.
She slouches down on the couch next to me, propping her feet up. “What are we watching?”
I shrug, not bothered. “I’m more interested in what’s going on with you. Tell me some gossip from the club. Man, I miss that place already.”
She laughs. “Nothing much new going on there. Oh, that billionaire dude came by looking for you, though. A Sebastian someone.”
“Again?” I mutter, rolling my eyes. What’s his problem?
“I sent him on his way, but he looked like a lost little puppy.”
“Weird.” I shake my head, hoping I don’t have to deal with him again.
“It was, but we get all types down there, so nothing really surprises me anymore.”
“I bet.” I finish up my ice cream and place the bowl on the coffee table in front of us, pulling my legs up and wrapping my arms around them. “Hey, you know how you told me about all that creepy shit Jagger saw in the videos from The Precinct? The long red wigs Enzo and Valentina made the girls wear. Well, get this, the other night when the boys and I were summoned to dinner at Enzo’s, he took me on a tour of their estate.”
“That would have been a hoot.” She looks disgusted.
“It was fucked up, that’s what it was.”
“I bet.”
“There was this painting hanging over his bed, him, Valentina, and my ma.” My skin prickles at the thought of what it could mean.
Her eyes go wide, and she stares back a me, piecing it all together. “Don’t tell me your ma had the same hair as you.”
“Yep. I look just like her. And the creepy part is he said she was his first love. But then the boys and I had this whole conversation out in the garden. Alex remembered all this stuff from the night where my ma had died. We were all at a party at their estate first, and then he remembers Enzo driving us all home because ma was so intoxicated. There was no mention of my papa, so I have no idea where he was. But it was the night she died; she died from an overdose, and I fucking know it was him. Apparently, Alex said his mother was losing her shit, yelling at Enzo and saying he always takes away what she loves.”
“Sounds like some pretty good proof right there. You think it was your ma and Valentina who had the relationship, not your ma and Enzo?”
I nod slowly. She’s seeing this exactly the way I do. And it would make sense. “I think so. But Enzo said she was his first love. I don’t know, it was all so weird. And Alex said that apparently my ma and him had some big fight right before he drove us home. Something about her lying to him.”
“What do you think she lied about?”
I shrug my shoulders, hugging my knees in a little closer. “I wish I knew. I feel like it’s the missing piece of the puzzle.”
She tilts her head, thinking on it. “You don’t think? No… You’re not one of his love children as well?”
I pick up a cushion off her couch and toss it in her direction. “Don’t make me puke all over your expensive couch.” I glare at her.
“I was just putting two and two together.”
My stomach rolls at the thought. “Well, don’t. Marco said the detective he was working with told him they didn’t start working together until I was already a baby, so that horrible vision can be wiped from both of our memories.”
She laughs. “Thank God.”
Sloane’s doorbell chimes, making both of us jump and exchange nervous glances. Onyx comes out of another room and moves toward the door. Leaving the latch on, he opens it.
“Good afternoon, I’m Officer Zoely, and this is Detective Hops of Ravens Hollow Police. Can we come in?”
“Why?” Onyx grumbles.
My heart kicks up a beat. The police commissioner said I would pay for turning him down. I hope he didn’t send them.
The officer clears his throat. “We have a warrant for the arrest of Harley Havardi.”
My skin prickles, and I feel like I’m about to pass out. I glance at Sloane, my eyes wide. “What the actual fuck,” I whisper.
“There is no one here under that name.” Onyx goes to close the door in their faces.
“We have reason to believe she is going under the false identity of Vivian Blackwood.”
Onyx looks back to us, and I know he has to open the door. If he doesn’t, he could get arrested himself for averting the course of justice. He grunts out a response but opens the door.
I glanced at Sloane, my stomach plummeting with a horrible, sinking feeling of dread. She stands in front of me, stopping the men from approaching.
“What seems to be the problem, Officer?” she asks, her voice laced with a warning, but we both know there is nothing she can do if they want to arrest me.
They look past her toward me. “Harley Havardi, you’re under arrest for the murder of Detective Wyatt Cross. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I’ve read them to you?”
My blood runs cold. I’m utterly fucked.
Sloane looks back to me, her face as hard as stone. “Keep your mouth shut. I’ll get this sorted,” she tells me, but her words don’t offer any encouragement. I still have to leave this place with them right now. And we both know I did it.
One of the officers comes toward me. “Please turn round and place your hands behind your back.” I do as I’m told, knowing there is no point in fighting them on it. He places the cuffs tightly in place. The other digs his fingers into my bicep as they drag me out of her apartment alongside them.
Geovani spots us from where he was waiting in the hall and follows. “Where the fuck do you think you’re taking her?” he calls to the cops holding me.
“To the station for questioning,” one of them throws over his shoulder, all fucking cocky about it.
“Like fuck you are.” With a grunt, he runs at one of them, sending him sprawling away from me with a forceful shove.
“Geo, no!” I try calling to him, but his psycho switch has been flicked, and he’s unleashing on the cop. “Geovani, stop, please,” I shout desperately.
He punches the cop, and the other guy moves to get in his way and takes one as well. The two of them are no match for Geovani, but this isn’t going to make my situation better.
Out of nowhere, Maddox comes running up the hall, followed by Alessandro and Ricky. It takes two of them to pull Geovani off the cop. His breathing is ragged like a rabid dog, and the look in his eyes even scares me.
“We’ll follow right behind them,” Alex tells him, trying to calm him down, but I can see Alex is almost as murderous, the vein in his neck dangerously close to popping. “We don’t all need to get arrested tonight.” His eyes meet intensely with the cop holding me and I know that was never an option. Enzo wouldn’t allow it unless it assisted him in some way. And we all know he’s best buddies with the commissioner.
“You lay a fucking hand on her and you’re both dead men, you got that?” Maddox says, getting up in their faces.
“We’re just doing our job, sir. Lucky for you we have only been instructed to arrest the girl or you lot would all be thrown in jail for the night for obstruction of justice.” They tug at my arm ready to get a move on.
“Rick, call our lawyer,” I hear Alex say, but I’m again being dragged down the hallway with the two cops, one now with blood pouring out of his nose.
When the elevator door closes, nausea hits me, bubbling up my throat. I try to cover my mouth to stop it, but they’re handcuffed behind my back, so it’s no use. My dinner and bowl of ice cream come right back up and all over the carpeted floor of the elevator. One of the men curses and moves to hold me at arm’s length, but the other dude couldn’t give a shit, his fingers tightening around my arm. The doors ping open, and it’s a relief to have the cool air on my face. I step over the pile of vomit, and they guide me through the front foyer to their car, tossing me in the back seat, before taking off up the road.
One of them radios in. “We have the Havardi girl,” is all he says, his call through to the precinct not sounding the way I would expect it to.
I glance over my shoulder, and through the back window, I find the boys driving like madmen to keep up with us. Not that I ever had any question they wouldn’t do all they could to get to me. But there is no point. I killed a man, and somehow these guys know about it. I close my eyes, trying not to completely freak the fuck out. The boys have high-priced lawyers just for this type of thing. Sloane as well. Someone will come through for me. I have to have faith.
When we make it to the station, the officers come around my side of the car and resume their position of taking me by the arm, one on each side of me.
Maddox’s car pulls up on the street, and he and Geovani run toward us, with Alex and Ricky close behind.
As I’m dragged through the front door, I see Sloane’s car pull up as well. They’re all here for me.
The two officers take me through to an interrogation room and shut the door. One of them I recognize from somewhere, but I can’t quite place him. He leers over me. Taking a key from his pocket, he releases the cuffs. I rub my wrists back to life.
“Empty your pockets, sweetheart, we’re going to make this as quick and painless as possible.”
I put my hand in my jean pockets showing them they’re empty.
“Back pockets as well. And take off that wig, who knows what you’re concealing under there.”
“Hands on the table, legs spread,” calls the other guy angrily when I refuse to move.
I jump at his tone, not expecting it. But I can see this asshole is losing his patience with me already.
He runs his hands down my body, patting me down, lingering on my ass way longer than he should be. Then his hand slips into my back pocket, and he pulls free my knife. “What do we have here?” he shows the combat knife to the other guy.
“Looks like it could be the murder weapon, you might have just made this very easy for us.” He moves around to the other side of the table and slams Alessandro’s knife down just out of my reach.
I stare him down, not sure what he expects me to say. But all of a sudden, I’m very grateful Alex had the sense to switch knives.
“Take a seat, Miss Havardi,” the other cop with the bleeding nose wheezes.
I do as I’m told, sitting across from them, tossing my wig down on the table to prove I’m not concealing anything under it; what’s the point in my disguise now anyway. They know who I am. The guy with what looks like a broken nose, from the amount of swelling and darkness under his eyes, does the same, sitting across from me. The other remains standing, arms crossed over his chest. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re doing here?”
“Isn’t that your job?” I snap back with a little too much sass. But I just remembered where I know this asshole from. Valentina’s garden party. He was right there with Police Commissioner Palmer and Detective Carillon. What was his name? Hops, I think. Fuck, I’m so fucking screwed if the commissioner has anything to do with my arrest.
“Are we going to find the blood of our colleague on this knife?” He taps it on the table right in front of me.
I cross my arms over my chest and smile back at him smugly. “I’m going to reserve my right to keep quiet until my lawyer is here.”
“It’s going to be a long night in a holding cell for you then, Miss Havardi. I’m sure in your condition it would be easier to get this interview over with, wouldn’t it?”
I look him over, wondering what the fuck he’s talking about, “my condition.” We haven’t announced my pregnancy to anyone. I lean back in the chair, indicating I’m not going to say a word.
The broken nose guy shoves his chair back, and it scratches on the linoleum floor. He approaches Detective Hops. “Call him. She’s not going to say shit,” he mutters right up in Hops’s face.
Hops must agree with him because he pulls his phone from his pocket and dials someone. “The girl’s waiting on a lawyer,” he grumbles down the line, then listens to the person on the other end of the phone.
I glance at the other guy, wondering what the hell is going on.
Then Hops disconnects the call and looks back to me, a sly smile on his face. “Put her in the holding cell till her lawyer gets here,” he grumbles.
His grip is firm on my arm as we walk down the long, dimly lit corridor, the silence broken only by our footsteps, until we reach the cold steel door of a holding cell. With a violent shove, he pushes me inside, the air knocked from my lungs, just catching myself. Then he slams the door shut, the impact reverberating off the concrete walls.
I collapse onto the bench seat and bury my head in my hands. Fuck. Not only am I fucking locked up for killing a cop, one of their friends probably, but I’m sure it won’t be long before creepy Commissioner Palmer finds out about it and is down here fucking bothering me. After our last altercation, I know it’s not going to go well.