Chapter 39
Zephyr
Iheld Grace close as she caught her breath. I was sitting up, leaning against the headboard with Grace sprawled on top of me. My cock was still inside her, softening slowly, holding her in place.
I nuzzled her hair and looked out of the apartment window. ”Storm”s coming,” I murmured.
She turned to look at the darkened city. ”How can you tell?”
”Experience.”
Hurricane season was from June to November, but right now we were in the middle of rainy season. Storms brought heavy rain, lightning, and thunder. On rare occasions, we”d even seen a tornado or two. I loved the sound of rain as it beat down on the streets of the Quarter, cleansing them.
Grace”s phone pinged, and she reached down to the bedside table. She looked at her message and threw the phone on the bed next to us. She put her cheek back on my chest, looking out of the window. I stroked her back.
”They find Henri yet?” The son of a bitch had gone missing a day after Camille was arrested. She was out on bail, but Blaze had made sure she had round-the-clock security. He wanted her alive so she could go to prison for a long time.
Grace didn”t think WITSEC would be possible for her—or rather, she didn”t want it to be. I was on her side on that matter.
It had taken her a few days, but Grace, along with Nick and Ash, had managed to put together the evidence needed to take Alina Volkov into custody.
Grace had warned me that I would have to testify if there was a trial, though she had a feeling there wouldn”t be. Alina would plead guilty to lesser charges, do time, and get the hell out. Based on the evidence they did have, Alina would get a couple of years maximum. She didn”t have any evidence that the Volkovs hired Vory Zakone.
”I”m authorized to give Hugo immunity for his testimony,” she told me. ”That was the message I just received…from Josh.”
Henri was not representing Hugo because he was part of the criminal conspiracy. My heart was heavy. Everyone envied the Doucets…I had no idea why. Was it just the money? Because the family was fucked up. My cousins were trying to kill us; my mother was trying to kill Rome; Henri was fucking trying to kill everyone.
”Is Miss Matty going to be in trouble?” I asked.
Miss Matty had probably administered the fatal morphine dose that killed Grandpère, but I was certain it was an act of mercy to give a dying man his dignity. Grace had interviewed her, and Miss Matty had been steadfast about not talking about Lucien”s death. Blaze had hired counsel for her. He was done representing the Doucets, he”d decided and had instead brought in a top criminal law firm to handle Camille, Hugo, and anyone else who was caught up in this decade-long money laundering scheme Henri had concocted right under everyone”s nose.
It had made the Doucets richer…which baffled me. Sure, BBH had lost money, but half of a hell of a lot of money was still a hell of a lot of money. I wanted to get away from the BBH board, but Blaze had said that this was a new era for the company, and I needed to get my ass in for every board meeting. Kill me now!
”Miss Matty helped fill in some of the blanks, but no, she”s not in any trouble. She is retiring, though,” Grace informed me.
I kissed Grace”s forehead. ”I feel like someone died. I feel this grief the way I did when Grandpère passed. But no one has died, not really, except Yves, and I didn”t give a shit about that asshole. Losing Henri is hard, Grace.”
”I know. But it”s more than that, Zephyr. You also lost your sense of family and the pride you took in being a Doucet.” She looked up at me and shifted so she was sitting, her face close to mine. ”But Blaze will bring that back…he”s already started. You guys are a formidable team: You, Rome, Gaia, Blaze…hell, even Imran.”
”I never liked being a Doucet. I took advantage of it but never liked it. Didn”t care for my family much, except Gaia and Blaze. Henri wasn”t a Doucet, which for me was a sign of decency.”
”This is a tough time for the Doucet clan, Zephyr.”
”We”re all fucked up.”
She smiled, cupped my cheek, and dropped a kiss on my lips. ”All families are fucked up in some way or another. You at least have relatives.”
I wanted to share my people with Grace. I wanted very much to have her with me. But we”d just started to date, and I didn”t want to rush it, didn”t want to skip steps. It was my first time in a real relationship, hers, too. I wanted us to enjoy it and take our time. She wouldn”t agree to living together or getting married right away…and that was okay by me as long as we worked on us getting there. I had no doubt we would. Unless I”d knocked her up, in which case, all bets were off.
”Regardless of the fact that we”re not officially married, my family is yours, Grace. The fucked-up parts, too,” I teased.
Her eyes filled. ”It”s too soon for the…official part.”
I could see her heart and her mind. ”I know.”
”I know you know.” And she could look into me.
”Angela called and wanted to know when the police detail would stop hanging around Big Daddy”s. Apparently, a cop car outside a whorehouse is bad for business.”
Grace laughed. ”We can probably get to that sooner than later.”
”You sure the Russians won”t come for us?”
She nodded.
I quirked an eyebrow.
”I made a deal with Alina Volkov.”
”A deal?”
”An off-the-books deal,” she admitted. ”I”ll get her a lighter sentence, and she”ll stay away from the Doucets and BBH.”
”Grace.” I straightened. ”Anyone finds out, your career is over.”
Not just her career. She could end up paying a legal price for doing this.
She shrugged. ”Your lives are more important than my career. I don”t want y”all to be looking over your shoulders. BBH is clean of corruption. I wanted to make sure y”all are free to build it back up without the Volkovs—”
I yanked her into me and slammed my mouth against hers. ”I”m gonna marry the fuck out of you when you finally let me. God, Grace. Thank you.”
”Well, you did say your family is mine.”
Some men were lucky, and some were very lucky, and I was the luckiest bastard alive.