CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR TRACE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
TRACE
“Mr.West, an Officer Montell is here to see you. She’s saying she doesn’t need an appointment.”
I frowned, not expecting this greeting when my phone had rung from the building’s front desk.
“Let her up.”
“Will do, Mr.West.”
I exited out of the portfolios that I’d been studying when the elevator pinged her arrival.
The front desk staff would’ve notified my assistant, who indicated my office for Jess, as she saw me through the glass walls we had in this building.
Normally I didn’t mind being surrounded by glass walls.
It’d been a trendy thing when they’d first designed this place.
Everyone wanted to see what everyone else was doing.
It cut down on any stupid shady shit, too, which I always thought was the real reason behind the design.
Everyone had coverings for their computers, so privacy was still maintained, but getting the warning burn from Jess’s glare had me cursing the see-through walls right now.
Still, when she came inside and once that door shut behind her, I hit a button, and we were soundproofed now. The windows clouded over. We were still visible, but our facial expressions would be blurred.
She came in, stopping just inside so almost the entire room was between us. Her hand was on her hip, where I knew she kept her weapon.
I stood up from my desk. “What’s going on?”
“You put out an order of protection on me? With the West Mafia stamp of approval?”
What?!
That would condemn her. It was the exact opposite of what I wanted for her. “I didn’t, Jess.”
“You did!” She started for me but slammed on her brakes. Her body ricocheted back from the force. “Do you have any idea what that does for me?”
“Yes. I do! I would never do that to you. Not that I wouldn’t want to, but I wouldn’t.
Jess.” This was the worst-case scenario.
I’d done so much to keep my mind off of her.
“What you said to me, the last time we talked, it’s true.
I wouldn’t want that for you. I wouldn’t want to do that to you. I’ve been staying away.”
“Then who the fuck put the order out on me? I look like—”
“I know what you look like. I know . I would never do that to you.”
Her eyes were sparking fire, and every inch of her body was rigid. She was ready to fight.
I brought out a burner phone and dialed Ashton’s number, the phone reserved exactly for these conversations. When he answered, I put him on speaker. “Just so you know, you’re on speakerphone. I’m in my office with Jess.”
He was quiet. “Well. Didn’t expect this call, though maybe I should’ve, considering you’re using one of these phones. What can I do for you both?”
“Jess just informed me that an order of protection was put on her, on behalf of the West family.”
He started laughing, which turned into a coughing fit as he tried to settle himself. “Sorry. I—just—what the fuck?!”
I relaxed at hearing that. He hadn’t done it on my behalf, and I sat down, lounging back in my chair. “Who would’ve done this, Ashton?”
He cursed. “You’re asking me? It’s your family.”
I cast the phone a look. “You know exactly why I’m asking you. Who do you think did this?”
Jess was still rigid, her head back and her eyes closed. Her chest was barely moving, and her hands were digging into her hips, but I noted that her right hand was not by her weapon anymore.
“I honestly don’t know, but ... can you take me off speaker?”
Jess’s eyes opened. She had a guarded expression over her face, but she didn’t object as I took my phone and took him off speaker.
Standing, I went to the window, my phone to my ear. My back was to Jess. “What are you thinking?”
“You did that so she could hear my reaction, right? Make sure she believed it wasn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
He exhaled over the phone. “Don’t fucking do that again.”
“I won’t, but who are you thinking did this? You know what this means for her.”
“Yeah. She’s marked on the streets. No wonder she showed up at your office.”
“Ashton,” I growled. He had a better feel for the streets than I did. That was his area of expertise. “Who did this?”
“Only someone considered family could’ve sent this out.
Myself, since I speak for your family on your behalf a lot or .
.. your uncle or your father. The question would be, Why would either of them do this?
Your father doesn’t know about her, and your uncle wouldn’t want to push you like this.
He likes that you might have a relationship with her.
He wanted to use it earlier before you removed her blood from the equation. ”
“That wouldn’t make sense. He’d use it for later, not now.”
“Exactly.”
Which pointed at one other member of the family, one who would want to hurt Jess.
“Trace.” Guessing by how low Ashton’s voice just got, I was guessing he was there too.
“You’re thinking who I’m thinking?”
He swore, still low. “I thought I had her handled. I took her back to Vegas. She was supposed to stay put.”
“She can make phone calls from Vegas.”
“I know, but—” More curses from him. “This means that she got someone asking questions about Jess. That is not good for you, brother.”
“I’m aware.” Every cell in my body was on alert. My sister in my business was most definitely not good. She was erratic and unpredictable, and she had no idea who she was going to blow up.
“I’ll put out the word that Jess Montell is not ours. It was the wrong call, but ears are pricked, and eyes will start watching.”
Which meant it was incredibly stupid for Jess to be remaining in my employ, and in this office itself. Not unless things were going to drastically take a turn. I’d seen her face when she’d barged in here. This was her worst nightmare.
“I’m fully aware of that too.” I turned, starting to include her when I said, “Your employment will—”
I stopped because she wasn’t there.
The door was open. The elevator door was just sliding shut.
Jess was gone.
“Ashton.”
“Yeah?”
I had a distinctly bad feeling starting in me. “Find my sister.”
“To warn her off?”
“No.” I was moving because I knew what Jess was going to do. She’d been pushed too far this time. She had one thing left in her life, and that was her career. She was going to snap. “To protect her. From Jess.”
“Oh, shit. Will do.”
We hung up, and I grabbed everything. “If I have any meetings today, cancel them. Cancel them for the week.” I breezed past my assistant, heading for my private elevator.
Once I got to the parking floor, Pajn had a finger to his ear.
He saw me coming and straightened up. “Got the call you were heading out. What’s going on, boss? ”
“Call my sister.”
He started to reach for his phone but stopped. A funny look on his face. “Boss?”
“Your phone. I’m guessing she won’t pick up for me or Ashton, but she will for one of you two. She’ll be too curious not to answer.”
The gravity of the situation hit him, and he brought up my sister on his contacts, hit dial, and handed me the phone. After one ring, she picked up.
“Pajn? Is Trace okay?”
“No,” I ground out into the phone, indicating for Pajn to get behind the wheel. I took the phone to the back seat and lowered the privacy divider. Demetri was in the passenger seat, looking between both of us but keeping quiet. “Where the fuck are you, Remmi?”
She didn’t answer right away, but then her voice was shaking when she did. “You sound angry at me, Trace. Why are you angry? I don’t like when you’re mad at me.”
“Then you completely blew that out of the water because I’m livid with you. Where the fuck are you? You’re supposed to be back in Vegas. I’m guessing you’re not there.”
I couldn’t get Jess’s face out of my mind, how pale she’d been coming into my office.
How she left without a word to me.
“You’re scaring me, T.”
“You should be scared. You fucked with the wrong cop.”
She inhaled sharply. “How do you know about that?” Her voice went shrill. “And why do you care about her?!”
Jesus Christ. It was her.
I pulled out my burner, sending a text to Ashton.
Me: It was her.
He replied back right away.
Ashton: Word is out to correct what Remmi did. My contacts say they’ll spread it out, but some damage is done. Will have to spin this somehow to protect Jess. You want me to handle your sister?
Me: No. I got her.
Ashton: Don’t murder your own blood.
I pointedly did not respond to that one, barking into the phone, “Tell me where the fuck you are! Now, Remmi!”
She cried out, half screaming, “Okay, okay! I’m at your club.”
“You’re where?”
“At Katya. I’m here to threaten her. Doesn’t she work tonight?”
It was the following Tuesday, but that meant Remmi was guessing, and it also meant that Anthony was not being cooperative with her. “Is Anthony there?”
“He just went into the hallway to take a call. I think it was Ashton.”
“You stay put.”
Her voice came out trembling. “Why am I scared right now? She’s a cop. She shouldn’t be working here anyways. What did I do wrong here?”
“Stay put, shut up, and don’t do anything stupid. You got me?”
“Yeah.” She was sobbing, her voice hiccuping. “Trace, what did I do wrong, though? I don’t know what I did wrong.”
I swallowed a curse because fuck me for not making sure she’d been handled the right way before. Switching to my burner, I dialed Ashton.
He answered after the first ring. “She’s at Katya.”
“I just got off the phone with her. What did you tell her when she saw Jess at Katya the first time?”
“I drove her to the airport, put her on a plane for Vegas, and told her to forget that woman ever existed. I told her not to mess with Jess, and if she did, she’d be messing with family matters.”
“She say anything back? You used Jess’s name?”
“I didn’t use Jess’s name. That’d be throwing gasoline on the fire, and no, Remmi got quiet. She started crying, but she got on the plane. I watched her get on the plane, and I watched the plane take off.”
“Which meant she flew to Vegas, pissed and stewing, and probably turned around and got on a plane right back here.”
“Yeah,” he ground out. “I thought I handled it. Remmi is—”
“She’s my sister. I should’ve handled her, not you.”
“We handle each other’s families for the other all the time. Sometimes Remmi listens to me when she won’t hear you. We both know that. Your sister is just unpredictable. Who could’ve guessed she’d do something this extreme?”
“Find my father. Her going after Jess in the first place is suspect. If she’d been stewing about Jess’s mother since our mother died, we would’ve heard about it.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking someone’s putting shit in her head, someone who has reason to be angry at me.”
“That fucker, if he did that.”
“We handed him over to Uncle Steph. We cleaned up after him. I’m guessing he wasn’t too appreciative of how we handled his situation.”
“He should’ve been. That prick is too entitled.
If you’re right and he did this, what the fuck are you going to do?
Because he’s fucking with family business, and your family business is my family business.
I can’t predict what Stephano will do, but I can tell you how my uncles will handle him.
Especially since they’ve been treating him with kid gloves over the years because of you and me. ”
My dad was dead if he’d plotted to hurt us, found out about Jess, and gone from there. That meant finding Remmi. Manipulating her, filling her head with whatever fucking lies he’d filled her head with, and now this was the end result. Jess was put on blast with her career.
He did all that, and that meant he knew about me and Jess.
My tone went real low. “He did this, I’ll kill him myself.”
I didn’t care what the consequences were.