Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Hellcat, we’ve got chatter,” Liam told me. “I’ve also found some more references to Erickson on the dark web.”
“Worse than a mean girls’ pajama party?”
“Think sorority girls on speed,” he replied.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, it’s not good,” he huffed.
“What do you mean?”
“I think you need to go back to Heaven’s Lace and speak to Sapphire.”
“Seriously? That bitch hates me. What makes you think she would tell me anything?”
I wanted to get away from my habit of calling women bitches, but when the shoe fits. Hunter never dated girls, but there were a couple he had repeated performances with. Unfortunately, Sapphire was one of them.
That was until she wasn’t.
One night, she came into the clubhouse and made it her mission to ruin my night. She figured since they had invited her to a couple of VIP parties, that she knew everything that went on here.
She was sorely mistaken.
“I wish I could go, but I can’t. I need to live vicariously through you.”
“You mean you’re gonna be watching everything while I’m there?”
“Maybe,” he replied. The little perve.
“Too bad for you. I’m gonna be in Cole’s office the whole time.”
“I could switch to a different camera while you’re in there.”
“What if something were to happen?”
“I’ll hear everything through your phone.”
That reminded me.
“So, just how much do you listen in on my phone?”
“Are you talking about the kiss, or the scandalous bathroom fuck, or the true nature of your relationship with the insanely sexy and completely forbidden cop?”
Fuck.
“Both.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I try not to listen all the time.”
“What about recordings?”
“I only record what’s relevant and scrub what isn’t. Don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me. Besides, you tell me everything.”
“You’re right, I do. I just didn’t want the details falling into the wrong hands.”
“You mean you didn’t want Kujo to mess up Pretty Boy’s face?”
“You know Hunter hates that name,” I warned him.
“Then tell him to get a couple of scars. It builds character.”
“You just want a piece of the action,” I teased.
Liam was a loud and proud bisexual. He had the best of both worlds, with more options to pick from. Sometimes I wished I could do that, but alas, tits didn’thing for me. Now, if any of the men I was sleeping with wanted to have sex with another guy in front of me, that was another story. Something told me there was a low probability of anything like that happening with the men I messed around with.
Alpha males, the lot of them.
Liam joked about us having a threesome together like that all the time, but I would never go there. He was too much like a brother to me. Even if he wasn’t, I would probably break him. He was touched by enough of the darkness in my life.
* * *
Later that evening, I found myself back at Heaven’s Lace. I was visiting this place so much that it probably looked like I held a VIP membership. The bouncer knew me by sight when I arrived at the door. He nodded, then opened it up and let me through. It was getting so that I didn’t even have to deal with either of the goons the owner had.
I had briefed Andria on my way to the strip club, so she already knew I needed to talk to Sapphire and why. She told me she would plan for me to meet with them in her office. Andria also already knew we had history, so I was glad she was removing the bitch from the back room where she had her cheerleading squad. It was comical what a change of venue would do to someone like her. Sapphire probably didn’t respect Andria as much as she portrayed, but being in the back where the owner was would ensure she behaved.
“What is she doing here?” Sapphire asked as I walked in the door.
Faced with having to deal with Sapphire, unlike all the times I had visited before, I didn’t take a seat.
“We told you we wanted to talk about something important. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing here.”
“I thought I was here about a raise or more responsibilities,” she whined.
Andria ignored her complaint and began the interrogation.
“Cherry overheard you talking about a hit on the cop and how you knew exactly when it was gonna happen. Was that just you being you, or was there some truth to the words you were spouting?”
“I don’t lie,” she huffed.
“Sure you don’t,” I told her.
“One of my regulars couldn’t shut up about how he was gonna make a mint by offing him.”
“And?” I pressed.
When Liam told me the hit was on Braxton, I immediately realized what was going on.
“Spit it out Sapphire,” I told her.
“I don’t answer to you,” she replied dismissively.
With another haughty flip of her bleach blonde hair, I’d had enough.
In two steps, I had my hand in her hair, wrenching her neck back. Placing the curved edge of my knife against her jugular, I repeated. “Tell me everything you know or I 'II bleed you out right here.”
A strangled noise came out of her as she tried and failed to remain still. Blood trickled in a trail down her pale skin, from where the sharpened edge of the blade sliced ever so slightly into her neck, until it reached her cleavage.
“Answer me or die,” I told her as I pressed harder. With only take one quick slice of my matriarch, she would be in serious peril.
“Somebody help me,” she shrieked. “This bitch is gonna kill me.”
The pathetic cow that she was, she actually thought someone in the room would stand up for her.
“I'd do what she says,” Andria advised. “From the looks of things, she's serious!
“Cole,” Sapphire whimpered.
“That’s Mr. Martin to you. Just because I blew my load down your throat a week ago doesn't give you power over me. Don't make Ms. Jordan repeat herself.”
My gaze snapped over to him. He smirked with acknowledgement of my secret. Somehow he knew, even with our history, that Sapphire didn't really know who she was dealing with.
“It's happening tonight,” she bit out.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Who's your regular?”
“Jimmy Romano.”
“Where can I find him?” I asked Cole.
“He's getting a lap dance in the private room,” Sapphire responded. “I was supposed to be in there making money instead of wasting my time in here with you.”
“Bring him to me?” I asked Cole.
“Sure thing.”
Cole made a call, Dale delivered a kicking and screaming Jimmy, and within ten minutes, Jimmy was no more, and I had the intel. I knew one thing as I walked out of that office.
Sapphire's life was forfeited if I arrived too late.