CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE JESS
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
JESS
“Val.” I called her as soon as I was on the elevator, as soon as I’d heard who was behind it. I was beyond the point of controlling myself. This little woman-child, blowing up my entire life? Goddamn their fucking family genes. I was done.
“Hey.” She sounded guarded. “Where are you?”
“Remmi West. That’s who put out the order.”
“What?” She laughed. “The Mafia princess. Doesn’t she reside in Vegas half the time? Why would she do that to you? She’s gotta know how that makes you look.”
“She knows. She’s got some crazy idea that our parents had an affair and that’s why her mom took her own life.”
“Whoa.”
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped out, ignoring anyone in my path and heading right for my state car. “Exactly.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to know where she is.” I was in the car and hit the speaker volume so it switched to the car phone.
“You want me to find her?”
“I want to find her before anyone finds her.”
“What are you going to do?”
I expelled a ragged breath, pulling into traffic. “I have no idea right now. Arrest her?”
“She’ll deny everything. And for what?”
“Putting my life in danger? Falsifying a report?”
She laughed, but it was cut off shortly. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious, but she did the order on the streets. Nothing’s official. And no one will testify against a West. You know that. Let’s run by option B.”
“I’m going to kick her ass.”
“I can stand behind that one.”
I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so serious. “Val, I mean it. I want to find her first. Can you ask your cousin? He works in the organized crime unit.”
“And when he asks me why?”
“I’m betting that he’ll know exactly the reason when you ask, but when you have that conversation, can you please hold off judgment before hearing me out?”
There was a moment of silence before she asked, her tone dropping as she did. “Why are you asking for that now?”
“Because when you ask him, he’s going to turn the tables and ask what my relationship with Trace West is.”
“And why would he ask that?” Her pitch went up a notch.
“Because he’s an itch that I’ve not been able to fully scratch and get him out from under my skin.”
“Oh, no. Jess .”
I hit my turn signal and headed for the interstate. “You know I work at Katya on two of my nights off.”
“Yeah, for extra cash. What does that have to do with Trace West?”
“He’s one of the owners.”
She sucked in a harsh breath. “Who’s the other owner?”
“Ashton Walden.”
“Are you kidding me?! Walden? You know that family owns cops, like a lot of them.”
“I know. If it means anything, I didn’t know who the owners were until a couple months ago.”
“You’ve been there for three years. How did you not know?”
“Because the owners came up as a standard LLC.”
“That place has always been a little shady.”
“What nightclub isn’t?”
“Yeah. That’s true.” She groaned. “I’m going to bypass the awkward conversation with my cousin because knowing him, he’ll just wait and corner me at our next family holiday anyways. He likes the live-and-in-person interrogation. I’m texting him.”
“You’re going to send off his radar.”
“You’re not saying anything we don’t already know. You don’t have to narrate the stupidity of this to me, but I’m still doing it. You’re going to be my daughter’s godmother one day.”
I almost hit the brakes, almost. “You’re keeping her? And her ?”
“I don’t know if it’s a her or him, but I’m envisioning a her, and you knew I was keeping her the day I missed work and sent Reyo instead.”
I did. I knew my partner. “You’ll make a great mother.”
“Yeah, yeah.” We both heard her phone beep, and she let out a sigh. “She’s in Katya right now, and apparently she’s been on the phone with a burner number they’re trying to trace fast. So my guess is that big brother Trace found her. You’re off to the races to get her first.”
I had what I needed, and I hit the turn signal because this was my exit. “Thank you, Val.”
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“You rough her up, how will they retaliate?”
“You’re asking the wrong question. They should be hoping that I only rough her up.”
She groaned again. “Just be safe.”
She’d been telling me earlier to be smart. My partner knew me, knew we were long past that.
“I’ll try.” I disconnected the call and sped up because I did know one thing.
I was getting to Remmi West first.