Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
Morgan
I stepped outside and took the steps down to the beach. Sitting in the sand, a few feet from the shore, I stared at the water. Visions of my father and I swimming in the ocean when I was younger crept into my mind. I smiled as I dug my fingers into the sand and held some in my hand, remembering the times he’d let me bury him.
“You will not get away with it, you son-of-a-bitch,” I said as I stood up and dusted the sand off me.
Walking back into the house, I grabbed my laptop and took it to the table. After pouring a glass of wine, I brought up Agent Colin Weathers and stared at his picture—his smug look making me sick to my stomach.
Taking the new phone from the box I purchased, I encrypted it so it couldn’t be traced.
“Let’s see who contacts you and vice versa,” I told myself as I hacked into Colin’s phone and rerouted all his information to the new phone.
“What are you doing?” Roman asked, walking into the kitchen .
“Rerouting Agent Weather’s phone to this new one.” I smiled.
“Excuse me?” His brow arched.
“Every call, text message, and email he receives will go to his phone and this one.” I held the phone up.
“Morgan, I really?—”
“Stop right there, Roman. Just stop and don’t say another word. You cannot and will not tell me what I can and can’t do. This is my investigation, and I’m doing it my way.”
“Then let me help you.”
“How?”
“I’ll give Simon a call. He has a good friend named Roman, who is in the FBI. Maybe he can help.”
“No. Nobody can know about this.”
“Morgan, Simon is one of the best. You can trust him. I promise you. That is one thing you can count on from me. I never break a promise.”
I stared at him as he leaned against the island, his arms folded and his legs crossed, looking as sexy as he always did.
“You know I have trust issues, Roman.”
“I know you do, but not with me. You know me well enough by now to know you can trust me. In fact, I’m a little pissed off at you right now.”
“Why?” I frowned.
“Because you’re sitting there acting like you can’t trust me. I have never given you a reason not to, and it pisses me off that you won’t let your guard down when it comes to me.” He shook his head and walked out of the kitchen.
What the hell just happened? I got up from my chair and followed him into his office.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me,” I said.
“There’s nothing left to discuss.” He sat behind his desk. “You can’t, don’t, and won’t trust me. Not everyone in this world is untrustable. Some of us are decent human beings who actually care about another person and what they’re going through.”
“You care about me?” I asked.
He momentarily stared at me from behind his desk, leaned back in his chair, and placed his hands behind his head.
“Yes, Morgan. I do care about you,” his voice was grave. “Does it bother you that I care?”
“Maybe.” I crossed my arms.
“Then too bad for you because I do, and nothing you say or do will change that. So, get used to it.”
My heart beats loudly in my ears, realizing the weight of his words in my soul. All the work I’d done over the years keeping my emotions in check had gone out the window in a flash.
After walking over to him, I sat on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, staring into his beautiful eyes—the same eyes that made me smile every time he looked at me.
“Call Simon and see when he can meet with us.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I—I do trust you, and if you say I can trust Simon, that’s good enough for me.”
The corners of his mouth curved upward as he lifted his hand and swept the back of it across my cheek. “I’ll call him now.”
I pressed my lips against his, stood up, and returned to my laptop. I needed more equipment if I was going to do this correctly.
“Let’s go.” Roman walked into the kitchen.
“Where?”
“Simon’s house. His wife is out, and he has Nora. He said to come right over. ”
“Let me grab my purse. I’ll drive.” I grinned.
“Hey, you two. Welcome to Casa Kind.” Simon grinned. “Come on in.”
My eyes scanned his beautiful home.
“Your home is beautiful,” I said.
“Thanks. Grace did a lot of redecorating. Beer?” We followed him into the kitchen.
“Sure,” Roman and I spoke.
Simon opened the refrigerator, grabbed three bottles of beer, and handed us one.
“Let’s go sit on the patio and talk.”
The three of us sat at the elongated table with six chairs.
“What’s going on?” Simon asked.
“Do you know an FBI agent named Colin Weathers?” I asked.
“I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s a dick. Why?” His brows furrowed.
I inhaled a sharp breath. “Fourteen years ago, he and his partner came to our home and—” I glanced at Roman. He reached over and placed his hand on mine.
“And, what?” Simon asked.
“Colin Weathers shot and killed my father.”
“I’m sorry. What?” He shook his head.
“He’s a corrupt FBI agent, Simon. He wanted a program my father developed.”
“What kind of program?”
“A program that allows someone to hack into anything in the world without being seen or getting caught.”
“Your father was a hacker?”
“One of the best. He mistakenly told another FBI agent, Tony, about the program when he thought he could trust him.”
“If a program like that got into the wrong hands, Morgan?—”
“I know.” I tipped the bottle to my lips. “That’s why my father gave Agent Weathers a fake flash drive and put the original one with the program on it in my backpack the night he was killed. My Uncle Louie took me, erased my identity, and created a new one so he couldn’t find me.”
“Oh my God.” Simon ran his hand down his face. “I can’t believe this. So, your real name isn’t Morgan Ashley?”
“It’s Madison Morgan Lucido.”
“Hold on a second. I’ll be right back.” He went inside the house.
My seat faced the ocean. As I stared at it, I could hear the whispers of the waves crashing against the shore. Simon returned with his laptop.
“The police ruled it a break-in?” He glanced up at me.
“Yeah. They made it look like a robbery. My father had a Rolex that his father had left him when he passed away. He wore it with pride every single day and never took it off. They took it from him.”
“Were you in the house that night? Because according to the report, nobody else was home.”
“I was there, and I watched Agent Weathers shoot my father three times from upstairs. I ran and hid in my secret room behind a bookcase. Once I knew the two men had left, I ran downstairs and called my uncle.”
“But you were a witness. You could have nailed that son-of-a-bitch right then and there.”
“How many corrupt friends do you think Agent Weathers has, Simon? Think about it. He would have sent anyone he could after me. I never would have been safe. So, we needed to make it look like my father was the only person at home. Colin Weathers has many off-shore accounts in the Caymans totaling over five million dollars.”
“Excuse me? Where the hell did all that money come from?”
“We believe he is and has been laundering money. Four years ago, he was placed on administrative leave while being investigated for shooting and killing a store owner, which was a front for money laundering.”
“Jesus Christ.” He tipped the bottle to his lips. “You’re going after him, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I’ve been waiting fourteen years to nail that son-of-a-bitch.”
“What about his partner?”
“He’s in Seattle running his own security firm. I went undercover and got a job there. I friended him and his wife to get close enough to find anything I could, tying him to Agent Weathers and my father. But then he started to get suspicious, and I had to get out.”
“I’ll see what else I can find out about him,” Simon said.
“Discreetly, right?”
“Always.” He grinned. “You need to be careful, Morgan. He’s dangerous.”
“And the daughter of a murdered father is more dangerous,” Roman said, gently squeezing my hand.