Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
GRAYSON
“What the fuck is he doing?” Theron asks.
“Looking for something.”
Silence passes between us as we continue to watch Landon Tate go through cabinet after cabinet, looking for something.
What he’s in search of, we don’t know.
When he starts walking toward the chest where I know Nadine’s money is hidden, my breath hitches.
“What?” Theron demands.
Clearing my throat, I shift in my chair.
“Nadine has her cash stashed in there.”
He hisses but doesn’t say anything else.
Our focus is on the trunk and only the trunk.
Landon opens it and begins taking items out.
He stands up and tilts his head to the side, looking at the bottom for a long moment.
I am only able to breathe again when he starts putting everything back inside.
Then he shoves his hand in his pocket and takes out his phone.
He touches the screen a few times before he holds it to his ear.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“No, nothing.
“I don’t know what the fuck she did with it.
It’s been five years.
She may have tossed it.
”
“I haven’t been able to get to her. Those fucks have had her under lock and key.”
He snorts.
“Don’t worry. Either they got tired of her, or they think I’m no longer a threat. They’ve loosened their rein. I’ll get to her.”
“I know I’m running out of time. You want it, you’re going to have to have some goddamn patience.”
“Yes, you can use her when I’m done teaching her a lesson.”
“Bye.”
He turns around in a circle in the middle of the living room, then shakes his head and leaves the same way he came in, through the front door.
Trying to keep my anger at bay, my control in check, is a harder task than I ever thought possible.
Because right now, I want to find this motherfucker and kill him.
I want to turn him inside out.
“I’m not even going to respond to some of that,” I grind out.
Theron clears his throat.
“What is he looking for?” he asks without commenting on the using and teaching her a lesson portion of our surveillance.
“I don’t know.”
We sit in silence for a few moments.
I debate calling Vaughn, because other than me, he’s been the most invested in all of this.
With his ties to the dark web and all that shit, I’m pretty sure that he would be the only one who might know something.
“I think there is more to find out about Landon and Nadine. Again, she has not been truthful, which is making it difficult to continue with this. I know we’re obligated because of the deal we made with the Night Devils. But I don’t like the way this is sitting.”
I agree.
I don’t like the way this is sitting, either.
“I’m going to talk to Vaughn and see if he can dig anything up at all. I don’t anticipate anything because I feel like we’ve exhausted all possible avenues of research on this fuck.”
Holding up my hand, I stop him from leaving as I remember what Nadine said.
He would let other men use her.
That isn’t normal.
That’s more than just control.
If he wanted her for controlling purposes, it would be the way I feel about her.
It would be touching.
That is Ravet shit.
When she said it, flashbacks of my own teenage years started coming and going.
“See if Vaughn can connect Landon with Ravet.”
Even from the goddamn grave this man is trying to ruin our lives.
Theron’s eyes widen, then his brows snap together.
“What the fuck do you mean?” he demands.
“Exactly what I said. Something she said makes me think we need to check that connection. It’s probably nothing.”
“But it could be something.”
“Possibly.”
“What could she have that he wants?” Theron asks.
Shaking my head, I clear my throat and tap my finger on the desk again.
“I’m not sure. Something small, though. Possibly a thumb drive or something like that.”
“Fuck,” Theron hisses.
“If that’s the case, and he’s connected to Ravet, this could go higher.”
“This could connect some dots.”
I don’t want any of these dots ever to be connected, not when it comes to Nadine.
But it would make sense.
Theron runs his fingers through his hair and leaves the room without saying anything else.
Staying seated, I stare at the computer screens, but I’m not seeing anything.
All I can do is think about Ravet, Landon, and Nadine.
Landon works for ATF…
or worked.
Ravet trafficked people.
Nadine was sold to Landon.
It all fits.
I don’t want it to, but it does.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been sitting and staring at the screens in silence, but when the door opens, I shift my eyes to the side, watching in my peripheral as Nadine slips into the room and closes the door behind her.
“Lock it,” I demand.
The door is locked into place, and only then do I turn around to face her, spinning in my seat.
Leaning back slightly, I lift my chin as I look up at her.
She’s standing with her back against the door, her hands wringing together in front of her.
“What is Landon looking for in your apartment?”
NADINE
I know that all the color drains from my face at Grayson’s question.
I’m not quite sure how to respond to that.
Staring blankly isn’t going to work.
I’m in this little room with him, his gaze boring into mine, and he’s not letting me out of here until he knows everything.
Everything, everything.
“I have something he wants,” I state.
Grayson smirks.
“I have no doubt that you have a few things he wants, but let’s start with the one he’s looking for in your apartment, and why would he want it now versus five years ago?”
I’m not sure there is a lie I could come up with fast enough that Grayson would believe.
So, instead of trying to think of something outlandish or stupid, I decide to go with the truth.
Because sometimes, the truth is unbelievable in itself.
You don’t need to try to make up anything else.
“It’s a thumb drive,” I state.
That is the truth.
It is a thumb drive, but it’s more than just a simple thumb drive.
It’s got pictures.
Lots and lots of pictures.
I’ve never been able to stomach looking at them all, but they were Landon’s insurance.
Which in turn became my insurance and the whole reason I took them.
Grayson watches me, wordlessly waiting for me to go into depth.
I don’t want to, but I have a feeling he won’t let me get out of it.
Not this time.
I’ve evaded and omitted enough from him.
I need to come clean with it all.
So I decide to just say it all, lay it out on the table.
“I only looked at a couple of the pictures before I couldn’t stomach any more of them. They’re images of people high in the government and also people in the underbelly of society engaging in nonconsensual sex. They are Landon’s insurance policy.”
“And the reason he didn’t come for it five years ago?” he asks.
Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times.
“Probably because he didn’t know I had it.”
“Expand,” Grayson demands.
The last thing I want to do is expand on any of this.
I press my lips together in an attempt to delay the inevitable.
But I know it won’t work.
Grayson and the rest of the men here won’t stop until Landon is gone.
“I took it from an envelope in his safe, replacing it with a brand-new empty drive, knowing he wouldn’t look at it until he needed it and hoping I would be long gone and vanished by that time.”
“And you were banking on his never needing it.”
Shrugging a shoulder, I look down at my feet, then slowly lift my gaze back up to meet his.
“I figured either he would need it and try to come find me, or he would come and get me for whatever other reason he had. But with that drive, I could hold it over his head in an attempt to save my life.”
“Is it the blackmail we need to get him to disappear?” Grayson asks.
Rolling my lips, I inhale through my nose and let my breath out slowly.
“It is,” I confirm.
“But it’s worth a lot more than just him walking away. If he’s this frantic looking for it, then he needs it, and he won’t just walk away.”
“Where is it?” Grayson growls, his demand clear in his tone.
“Please don’t tell me it’s with the money.”
Laughing softly, I shake my head.
“It’s not with the money,” I say.
“It’s in my wallet.”
His eyes widen, then he stands from his seat, lifting his hands to his head and running his fingers through his hair.
I watch as he tugs on the ends in frustration.
I’m annoying him, pissing him off even, and definitely the bane of his existence right now.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asks.
I expected him to be upset, maybe even yell at me, but he hasn’t even raised his voice.
“That shit has been with you, on you, the whole time?”
Nodding, I don’t verbalize my answer, mainly because I don’t think I need to, and also, I feel really freaking stupid right now, and I don’t want to.
Grayson releases his grasp on his hair and moves toward me.
He’s so close to me that I can smell him.
Then he cups my cheek.
My breath hitches at the touch of his fingers against my flesh.
It almost feels as if my body has been starving for his touch.
It’s only been hours since he was inside of me, since he kissed me, yet it feels like it’s been a lifetime.
Grayson touches his lips to my forehead, exhaling through his nose, before he shifts his head slightly and rests his forehead against my own.
Closing my eyes, I wrap my fingers around his biceps and hold on to him.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you all this a long time ago.”
“No,” he rasps.
“Our secrets are not something we just go around telling everyone. I understand why you didn’t. But it’s time we know everything, because without it, we are wasting precious time.”
“Okay,” I breathe.
“It’s not going to be fun. You’re going to have to tell all of us, but I’ll let you in on something, baby.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
He is quiet for a moment.
The entire room is silent, and I wonder if he’s going to say whatever it is.
But then he lifts his head and takes half a step backward, keeping his palm against my cheek, but his eyes find mine, and he holds the connection.
Grayson’s thumb slides across my bottom lip again.
“Every man who will be in that room has not only been through everything that you have, but probably even worse.”
His words roll around inside my own head for probably thirty full seconds before they register.
“And you include yourself in that?” I ask, too afraid to say the words above a whisper.
“Yes,” he murmurs.
My heart squeezes.
I thought that maybe it could possibly be the case, but I really didn’t want to think about it or know it for certain.
Now that I do, I feel differently about him, but not in a bad way.
I feel closer to him.
I know I’m not actually any closer, but maybe closer isn’t the word—connected.
Yes.
We are connected.