CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO ASHTON
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ASHTON
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Detective Worthing growled as soon as I walked into the room.
I took note of him before responding. There were some bruises on his face. His jacket was torn in a couple places. Scuff marks on his jeans. His eyes were wild, and he was scowling. He was also zip-tied to a chair in four different places.
He had zero chance of escape.
“I see my men were thorough.”
He growled again, shaking the chair as he jerked around. “I’m going to kill you, Walden. The second I’m free—”
I walked to a table set up in the corner.
We had all my toys here, but as I scanned them, a zing of disappointment went through me.
I wasn’t looking forward to torturing him.
Molly was right, what she’d said earlier.
I was the one who liked to get my hands dirty.
Torturing was my thing, but ... it wasn’t today.
Why wasn’t it today?
I stepped to the side and swung my head his way.
It was then that Worthing realized his predicament, and who I was. He stilled, the wildness in his gaze diminishing. “I’m a cop.”
I scoffed. “Like that matters to me.”
“I’m a Worthing. You know what my cousin will do if you kill me?”
I narrowed my eyes to slits. “You mean it’d be worse than him killing my uncles and my grandfather?”
He was really realizing his predicament now because we’d not had our payback. Yet.
He coughed, clearing his throat. “We’re in a ceasefire, remember?”
I was starting to get my hunger for torture.
It’d just been too long, that’s all. I’d forgotten the taste, and I went back to studying which weapon I wanted.
I ran my finger down the length of the table, stopping at a lethal but compact knife.
It had a selenite handle, which always made me smile about the irony of that type of crystal on a blade used for killing.
I picked it up and began turning it around in my hands.
“What are the chances that the day I send a rat scurrying to kick up a hornet’s nest is the same day a man tried breaking into Molly Easter’s apartment hours later?
” I’d been watching him through a mirror in the corner, one that he hadn’t spotted, and he’d been moving around, trying to get free, until I picked up the knife.
He began watching me more uneasily, but once I said Molly’s name, he froze completely.
I turned now, holding the knife loosely in one hand. “Or the odds of the coincidence that that same man received a phone call earlier from your phone.”
His eyebrows dipped. “What? I never called—” He grimaced, his entire face twisting before a whole new level of wariness hung from him as he watched me.
“I heard a rumor that Shorty was sniffing around, asking questions he shouldn’t be asking, and I got worried about Molly.
I asked a guy I knew to watch her, that’s it. I swear.”
“Your man is dead.”
He went rigid all over again. “What?”
“I killed him.”
“What?”
I flicked the knife up, caught it in midair, and sent it through the air. It nicked the side of Worthing’s ear. He ducked, hissing, before looking to see where the knife landed. Three inches behind him. “I see those rumors are true. You do your own interrogations. You’re a sick fuck, Walden.”
I reached behind me and brought out a size bigger. Same selenite handle. Same just as lethal blade, but this one was more jagged. I held it up. “This one causes more of a mess.”
He swore under his breath, starting to pale a little bit. “Why did you kill my CI?”
“Because he was trying to break into Molly’s apartment.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “Jesus. You really are fucking her. I hoped you were lying.”
“Why would I lie about that?”
He snorted. “It’s you. You’re all about the mind games. I never know what the fuck you’re going to do.”
That made me smile.
But I still wanted to hurt him. That was coming back and growing. I liked it. The old me was still here. “You used to be one of my men. Now you’re the enemy, sending men after the woman I’m fucking.”
“I’m not your enemy.”
“Your last name says differently.”
“My last name—Nicolai, what he does—I don’t have a choice.”
“Bullshit.”
“I don’t! It’s different for me. He wants to use me to push his way in.
Justin ...” He swallowed, pain flaring in his eyes as his whole face tightened.
“My brother was always out. I was the cop, but he was the conscience for all of us. Nicolai is just as torn up as the rest of us. He wants to know who killed my brother. I’m saying that because the ceasefire is real on our end.
I didn’t send Walleye to do anything except put eyes on Molly.
I was worried, am worried, about her. If her dad is out there asking questions, that shit’s going to get to her immediately.
She’s his only weakness. She has to be protected. ”
He was sounding like he actually cared. That made me want to impale my newest blade into his stomach. “I liked my uncles. I liked my grandfather.”
He cursed again, flinching before looking away.
“I say ‘like’ because in my family, what we do, if you ‘love,’ then you’re considered weak.
My family wasn’t weak. I might admit that I ‘cared’ about them, but love .
.. I’ll never say that word. Once you ‘love’ someone, you will lose them.
You were destined to lose your brother how you did because you loved him. ”
“That’s so fucked up, and you’re lying. You loved your family.
You love Trace. You guys are like brothers.
How you love him, that was Justin for me.
Someone took him away, and when I think how he died—” His voice cracked.
He choked off. “I want to be here that day, with his killer. I want them in this chair, and I want that tiny-ass knife you threw at me, because I’m going to cut them to pieces. Inch by fucking inch.”
He almost had me believing him. Almost.
“Who told you about the rumors?”
He went still again. “Why?” More wariness.
“Who told you?” I was firmer.
He didn’t reply, his mouth thinning.
I was losing my patience with him, and I didn’t want that. The game would stop being fun. Because of that, I went over and pressed a button. “Bring me his phone.”
“What?”
I waited.
“What are you doing? You can’t get into my phone.”
The door opened, and Elijah handed me first his phone, and then my programming equipment.
“What are you doing?! What is that?” Worthing was starting to struggle, trying to get free. The chair scraped against the floor.
I ignored him, giving Elijah a nod that he could go back out. I spoke as I plugged my equipment into the phone. “Do you know my first business that I ever started?”
I enjoyed asking people that question.
“What does that have to do with anything? Stop fucking with my phone! That’s my phone—”
Beep, beep, beeeeeep!
I smiled, showing him his own screen as my program found the passcode. “It was cybersecurity. I know a thing about passcodes and passwords and firewalls.”
“Don’t! Ashton, please. Come on—”
I tuned him out as I went through his phone log first.
There was the call to Walleye, and after that, six calls to his partner. That was expected. A Laila popped up three times. But right before his call to Walleye, I knew that number. He didn’t have it saved, but it didn’t matter. I held up the screen. “I know who that is.”
Nicolai Worthing.
He cursed, slumping back against his chair. “I know where you’re going, but it wasn’t Nicolai. He would never hurt Justin. Ever. I mean it, Ashton.”
I didn’t care what he had to say. I’d find out one way or another, and I switched over to his messages. Some sexting with Laila, but nothing else incriminating. “Don’t you have a wife and kids?”
“How the fuck you know about them?”
I gave him a look, raising one eyebrow.
He cursed under his breath. “We’re divorced. She’s in California. And save your breath, I know you don’t go after kids. That was the deciding factor why I went on your payroll. I never would’ve if I knew you used kids like the cartel.”
Yes. That was our one redeeming quality being in the Mafia business.
I pressed a button, and Elijah came back in. I handed everything over to him. “Clone his phone. What else did he have on him?”
“You want me to bring it in here?”
I considered it. “No, but reach out to Shorty Easter. Tell him I want to see him.”
“You? Not—” He motioned in the direction of the house. “You know.”
“I want to see what he says to me.”
“What do you want to do with Detective Dick back there?”
Him? I narrowed my eyes. “Didn’t think I’d be gambling today, but I’ve decided to play a hand. You know my little surprises, my newest little invention?”
“The tape?”
I gave a nod. “Put a tiny piece on the detective’s gun, where it won’t be found.”
Elijah shot me a look, nodding.
The door shut, and Worthing’s head moved back, waiting. He swallowed, but a wall slammed over his face. “I know your games, Walden. I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of begging. You want to kill me, set off this war again, go ahead.”
I took my knife and knelt, cutting through his zip tie in one swipe.
He quieted.
His gaze shot to me, watching intently with the second zip tie.
I moved behind him and did the last two.
He shoved off the chair and was reaching for his gun when he cursed, remembering we’d already taken it. “I want my gun back.”
I took the knife out of the wall. “I want you to go back to your cousin and ask who told him about Shorty.”
“Are you serious? Your guys jumped me, brought me wherever the fuck we are—and trust me, I will find out—and now you’re giving me orders?”
“I’m not killing you.”
“And you’re joking?! If I didn’t know your men would swarm in here in two seconds, I’d pummel your face into the pavement right now.” He cursed again, eyeing the door. “I’m still half a mind of barring that door and going out with a bang.”
I smiled. “Now you’re being foolish, thinking you could pummel my face into this pavement.” I gave him a wink. “Want to try? I’m game. I’ll even tell my men to only come in if you’re winning.”
He swore, rolling his eyes. “So twisted in the head. I never understood you.”
“Cheer up. You’ll probably live.” I smiled.
He was back to scowling at me. “Why do you want me to ask Nicolai about Shorty Easter?”
“Because before your man got to her apartment, a bomb had been placed on her door.”
His scowl vanished. “What?”
Some might say it was a stupid move, having a cop kidnapped, but not me. Not with this life, and like Worthing thought he knew me, I also knew him. For a reason that I wanted to investigate at a later date, he was worried about Molly.
I was willing to let him go because like I’d planted a seed with his partner before, I was doing another one. To him, about his own cousin.
“If I hadn’t shot your man, the bomb would’ve taken him out anyways. Either way, your man was the one to trip the bomb, not Molly. Seems like she’s got the good luck that both of us don’t.”
“I didn’t know about the bomb.”
“I know. I want you to help me find out who put it there, and since I can’t question your cousin ...” I let it hang as I opened the door. Elijah and Avery were both there, along with two of my other men. They came in, forming a cage around the detective.
Avery started to zip-tie his hands behind him.
“My men will escort you back to the city.”
They led him out, but I motioned for Elijah. “Bag over his head, like I know you did on the way here, but take him the long way back. I want him thoroughly confused when he checks his GPS later.”
“We put his phone on airplane mode when we grabbed him. We should still be good.”
“I know, but I still want him confused. No one knows about this place. I’d like to keep it that way as long as I can.”
“Boss.” He lingered.
“What?”
“What about the leak you wanted me to do? We spread the word that she’s at one of the warehouses in the city, but you mentioned using her as bait.”
“Has there been any movement yet?”
“Not yet, but if you’re thinking of using her as bait, do you want her there?”
I didn’t answer him. I knew what I should do, what would benefit the business, but there was the issue of what I wanted to do.
I walked away because I didn’t know the answer myself.