18. Jax
Jax
“The hell you are!” I practically yelled at the room.
My mother jerked her gaze toward me and whispered a warning.
“No, I’m not going to relax,” I said for like the tenth time. “Nova is not going out on a date with the man we think framed me for sex trafficking a minor.” I waved my hands around as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Nova stood up and walked over to me. “There’s no other choice.”
“Why?” I turned and took her arms gently in my hands. “Why is there no other choice? You could get on a plane right now, head home, and be out of his reach.”
“And leave you here? You know there’s a possibility that he’s just going to play with you and hurt you further until I come crawling back.” She cupped my face. “I won’t abandon you.”
I closed my eyes. “I won’t let you walk into the fire for me, either.”
“She won’t have to,” her mother said, standing up. We both turned to her. “I have an idea.” She smiled to the room, then frowned. “It’s slightly illegal and most likely won’t turn out the way I think it will in my head. But I have some strings I can pull if we get in too bad of a jam.”
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Brian groaned.
“For the love of god, take your daughter home,” I begged the man.
He shook his head. “I’m not in charge here.” He motioned to Beth and Nova.
An hour before sunset, Rick and I stepped out of the work truck together. I tucked my gloves in my back pocket—a very construction-crew move—and adjusted my hardhat to cover my eyes a little more. Then we followed the night crew inside the massive building.
“You should have stayed at the hotel,” Rick hissed.
“Too late now.”
Halfway down the hall on the first floor, we slipped from the pack and stood in the darkness, holding our breath.
Hell, in for a pound, am I right? What more could I be charged with? An actual crime that I was committing?
If all went well, we’d be long gone before anyone noticed us. Our working theory was that Kit was going to wine and dine Nova somewhere on this property. He did have a pattern, after all.
“I’ll take the bottom two floors,” Rick said softly. “You take the third and the next one up.” He motioned toward the stairs. “Text if you find anything.”
I nodded and we both slipped back into the hallway, walking as if we had purpose and had every right to be there.
Half an hour later, I found the fancy dinner setup and shot Rick a message and my location on the burner phones we’d purchased.
This was too easy.
The circular table was still being set up by staff members and one of Kit’s top men. I’d seen the guy hanging around him a few times. Dan. Or was it Don?
I watched from the shadows as the crew finished placing a small bouquet of flowers in the center of the table. Rick slipped quietly next to me, and we waited in the dark.
Finally, the man got a phone call and snapped his fingers, sending the setup crew scattering through the doorway.
“Now’s our chance,” Rick said. “Stay put.” He moved quickly and was across the room in a few strides.
He picked up the vase of flowers that sat in the center of the table and planted a listening device in the petals.
Then he added two more around the space, one in another vase and the last on a piece of furniture, before making his way back to me.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
We had just stepped outside the building when Kit’s limo turned the corner and parked at the main entrance.
Both of us pulled our dust masks over our faces and picked up bags of some sort of mix that were sitting by the front and threw them over our shoulders.
Then we walked within six feet of Kit Sterling without the man even batting an eye at us.
When we were a block away, Sofia honked the horn and we climbed in the rental car.
“Well?” she asked.
We both smiled. Rick leaned over and kissed her. “This is all sorts of exciting. I feel like James Bond.” He laughed.
“You two look like the Property Brothers, but I guess I’ll take it,” she joked back. “Let’s get back. Nova should be arriving soon.”
We made it back to the hotel room and sat with everyone else around the speaker to listen in.
“You are looking especially nice tonight,” Kit was saying to Nova.
“Thank you. This dress…” She didn’t go on.
Besides somehow sneaking the shoes and the bag into the back seat of the rental when they’d been there for the meeting, he’d also left a garment bag.
Tonight’s dress was no less amazing than the one before. It was another floral-print, short-skirt, halter-top thing that I instantly hated. But then Nova had put it on and, of course, my mouth had watered.
Still, she was determined to toss it or sell it after tonight.
“Here, have some champagne,” Kit said.
“Oh, what brand is this?” Nova asked.
“Louis Roederer,” Kit answered. “Cristal.” We heard glasses clank. “I know things haven’t necessarily started off on the right foot with us, but I do hope we can put all that unpleasantness in our past.”
It was quiet for a moment. “Of course,” Nova said. The glasses clanked again.
“To new beginnings,” Kit said.
From there, the discussion turned to the food, the Onyx, and any changes Kit had made to the building. As he talked, it was obvious that he was proud of his work. Extremely proud.
Almost twenty minutes into the meal and that was all he could talk about.
It was as if he was trying to impress Nova, but I knew it wouldn’t work.
Nova was probably bored out of her mind.
Not to mention worried that the listening devices would be found, and, most of all, scared of what she had to do next.
“Ah,” Kit said, getting my attention again, “it’s arrived.” We heard a snap and then there was a rustle. “For you. A sort of apology for everything you’ve had to go through this past week.”
I leaned forward and waited.
“Are these… real diamonds?” Nova gasped.
Kit chuckled. “I’ve never given anyone jewelry before sleeping with them before.” Kit’s voice lowered. “But something tells me you’re worth it.”
“Gross, man,” Rick said.
“As if she’d sleep with you,” Sofia shot at the speaker at the same time.
“I guess I do deserve them,” Nova said, adding a little annoyance to her tone.
Kit made a tsking sound. “You wouldn’t have been happy with someone like him. Trust me. Men like Jacob Mylonas will always be second fiddle. Now his older brother, Rick, that’s a man of my equal.”
I looked over to my brother, who visibly shivered at the comparison.
“I will never be anything like that man,” Rick said to Sofia, who smiled back at him and nodded.
“Yes, but he’s practically engaged.” Nova sighed. “I suppose if Jax is found guilty…” She dropped off.
“Rest assured, the man will get what he deserves,” Kit added.
“What do you mean?” Nova asked.
“Let’s take a walk,” Kit suggested.
Rick and I gasped and looked at one another.
“Oh, not before desert,” Nova added quickly with a little whine. “I would love something sweet after that meal.”
We heard a snap and, from the sounds of it, desert was delivered to the table.
“Can I ask you something?” Nova said a few moments later.
“Anything, my dear.”
“Does that sort of thing happen a lot around here?”
“What sort of thing?”
“I mean, I’ve heard of escorts, of course, but child trafficking? I thought that stuff was only in foreign countries. Not in Las Vegas.”
Kit chuckled. “You’re pretty naive about some things, I suppose. My family has been in Vegas since the time of the mob bosses.”
It was quiet for a moment. I just knew that Nova was trying to figure out what to say to keep him talking.
“Those are just stories, though, right? I mean, the mob didn’t really set people up and run Vegas, did they?”
“They still do,” Kit said, and Nova gasped again.
“You? Are you a mob boss?” She sounded interested, not scared, at this point. I silently thanked the years she’d spent in drama class.
Kit chuckled. “Of sorts. I mean, running my own casino is sort of the same thing.”
“I guess, but setting something nefarious up like that up, framing someone for that sort of crime, you’d have to, what? Coordinate with the police and all? That’s got to be hard.”
Kit paused. “If one were to frame anyone, as you put it, it wouldn’t be hard if a man had the right players in his pocket.”
“Players? Such as police officers?”
“Well, yes, but the police are just worker bees.”
It was quiet for a minute. “Lawyers, then?”
Kit chuckled. “Again, you’re thinking too small.”
Then Nova gasped, and I almost jumped out of my chair. “You’re not saying judges can be bought?”
“Who is buying anyone, my dear?” Kit purred. “Why waste perfectly good money on men who go around and corrupt themselves. All one needs to do”—there was a low pause and it sounded as if Kit moved closer to Nova—“is keep an eye out and an ear to the ground.”
“That sleazeball. He’s blackmailing judges?” Rick said.
“There’s not enough here to prove that,” Beth added.
“Who? Like, what’s his name, that just went up for reelection, Judge… Carver, Kroger?” Nova asked.
Kit chuckled. “Judge Conger has an affection for young boys that I keep an eye on.”
Nova sighed. “Wow, I guess you do have connections.”
“That is only the beginning,” Kit agreed.
There was some soft noises and my entire body went on guard as I could distinctly hear kissing noises.
“Surely, there’s no one higher up than a judge,” Nova said softly. “I mean, who is the most powerful man in the state?”
“State.” Kit laughed. “Why must it be contained to just Nevada?”
Nova gasped again. “Really?”
“My darling, why don’t you finish your desert so I can take you up and show you my new suites?”
“I think I need more champagne to help wash down all this chocolate,” Nova said.
I could hear the worry now in her tone. She had to find a way to get out of going upstairs. Plus, she no doubt still wanted to get that smoking gun of his confession.
Nova’s mother had clued us in to several facts before we had all agreed on this crazy plan.