7. Thad
Thad
“Was that—?”
“Yes,” I cut Kyle off.
“Does that say—?”
“Yep,” I stopped Declan from saying my name.
“Holy fuck,” Kyle muttered.
Declan’s hard gaze swung back my way and I braced. I’d known it was coming, knew I deserved it, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear his shit.
“What in the actual fuck was that?” he seethed. When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “Is she going to be a problem?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly.
There was no point in trying to hide the truth. Emerson was going to be an issue for me.
“Christ.” Declan’s arms crossed over his chest and his head tipped back. He was staring at the ceiling, and if I had to guess, he was trying not to murder me for bringing this shitstorm on his doorstep. “What’s her story?”
“No clue.”
“What do you mean no clue? You know her, don’t you? She’s got your fucking name scrolled across her back like a walking billboard.”
“I don’t have the first goddamned idea who that woman is.
” I tried but failed to keep the contempt from my tone.
“The Emerson Pierce I knew was a sweet, all-American college student. She studied. She worked. She smiled. She went to the beach. She went to school. She was down-to-earth. Never wore makeup. Never dressed like she was on her way to a high-class gala. And she certainly wouldn’t have ever been caught dead near a man like Garcia. ”
She’d also laid in my bed and whispered her dreams. She’d taken both my cock and my heart with vigor. She was sweet and kind and so passionate about the things she cared about she could make even the most cynical man believe. She was also the best fucking con-artist I’d ever met.
I didn’t see her play coming. I was wildly in love with her.
The morning I’d left for my work-up she’d been dancing in our kitchen trying to stay positive, telling me how much she’d miss me.
However, she was not in our kitchen when I returned.
Not only was she not there, none of her shit was either.
Emerson had packed her belongings and ghosted my ass. Poof—sayonara—gone.
Dec scrubbed his hands over his face before he reached into his pocket, angrily pulled his phone out, swiped the screen, and with the same irritation, he pounded in his security code before he brought the abused device to his ear.
“Garrett,” he greeted. “I need a work-up on Emerson Pierce.”
There was a pause and he turned to me. “Do you know her DOB?”
I gave him Emerson’s birthday and he went back to his conversation.
“Did you get that? Right. Last known residence San Diego. Yep. Thanks, we need that ASAP. And do me a favor, yeah? Tell Zane my per diem just doubled. Blame it on Bench. We were smooth sailing until he decided it was time his cold, lonely heart woke up from its long winter’s nap.
Now we have a shitstorm in the form of a sexy blonde who has Thaddeus’ name written all over her.
And I mean that literally. We also need evac for her.
The sooner the better or we’re all in trouble. Right. Thanks again.”
Anger rose at Declan’s callous jabs. I knew I’d fucked up by grabbing her, but what the hell was I supposed to do? I may’ve hated the woman. Okay, that was a lie . But no man would’ve left a woman unprotected around a bunch of wolves who would’ve snatched her in a heartbeat.
“You wanna share now how shit went bad between the two of you?” Kyle asked.
“She’s the one,” Max knowingly said. “The one you told me about when we were on our first training op. The one you’d refused to talk about after we got back.”
I knew he’d put it together.
“Later,” I told them. “Right now we need to debrief and figure out where the hell Leon Brown bolted to. Not to mention, there’s a stable of women that may or may not be getting ready for transport. All of the other shit needs to wait.”
“I agree.” Thankfully Brooks spoke before Declan could chew my ass some more.
“We hit the back entrance of the warehouse, and just as Gumby had warned, that shit was whacked. The ring was in full view. Two dogs were in a chain-linked fence enclosure tearing each other apart. Glad we talked to Faith first because she was also correct. As pissed as I was—and I was beyond disgusted—there was no way we could’ve saved those animals.
Hell, even if we could’ve gotten to them through the hordes of men and women, the dogs would’ve turned on us.
I’ve never seen an animal so enraged or vicious.
I don’t know what the fuck they do to those animals to make them that way, but the owner and trainers should have their balls cut off,” Declan told Max and me.
Kyle continued the story, “There was so much commotion with the fight going on, no one saw us skirting the back wall. The men who weren’t watching the fight were either taking bets, paying out money, or passing out drugs.
It was loud as shit in there. Dogs barking and growling, men and even women shouting and cheering.
It was enough to make you want to nuke the whole place. ”
Tatiana rounded the corner, coming back into the living room with Emerson following behind her. All thoughts of how grateful I’d been to have a reprieve from talking to my team about her evaporated with a single glance.
Gone was the fancy-assed dress. She was wearing a pair of Tatiana’s cargo pants and t-shirt that would’ve hung loose on Tatiana but was skin-tight on Emerson. Her blonde hair had been washed and was pulled back into a ponytail. She’d washed the blood off her face and all of her makeup went with it.
Fuck.
I had to blink the vision from my mind and turn away. This Emerson, fresh-faced with her hair pulled up was the one I’d remembered. The one I’d fallen in love with.
Goddamn it.
“And damn if Sidney wasn’t spot on. The dogs who were in the cages waiting to fight were heavily guarded. The smell was atrocious,” Brooks added.
“They guard the dogs so one of the competitors doesn’t try to poison the competition before the fight. Or harm it in any way,” Emerson told us.
“How many fights have you been to?” Declan inquired.
“Three big ones. One in the States. One in Spain. And one during my last trip to Venezuela.”
“All with Garcia?” Dec continued .
“Yes. Besides those, he’d taken me to dozens of smaller ones.”
“Smaller how?” I asked.
“Smaller in the number of dogs fighting and attendees. Jefferson traveled all over scouting dogs he wanted to buy. He’d go to small fights put on by the locals of wherever we were, and if he felt the winning dog had potential, he’d buy it.”
“Why would they sell their dog if it was a winner? That doesn’t make sense. Were they breeders or using the animal as income?”
Emerson held my eyes when she answered. “Because the people he bought the dogs from didn’t have a choice. If Jefferson wanted their money maker, he’d take it. No one said no to Jefferson Baldwin.”
No one said no to Jefferson Baldwin.
The thought turned my gut. And Emerson had been his woman. She’d slept in his bed and hung off his arm like a prize.
Fucking gross.
“When we got upstairs to Jefferson’s office, the target was gone. The room was empty,” Declan finished.
“Jefferson’s office isn’t upstairs. Not in that warehouse. There’s a room off where the kennels are kept. He likes conducting business in full view of his snarling dogs. He thinks it’s a show of power,” Emerson corrected.
“Fuck,” Declan snapped. “Bad intel or misdirect?”
“How many people know where Jefferson’s office is?” Tatiana asked. “What I’m trying to get at is, is it well-known he conducts his meetings near his dogs or does he try to conceal his location?”
“His security knows. Anyone who’s met with him in private knows.
He doesn’t keep it a secret but I wouldn’t say he broadcasts it either.
I guess what I’m saying is, anyone who paid attention would see him entering the room.
And considering you’re dealing with shady criminals, they all paid attention.
But if it was someone’s first time at one of his fights, they may not know.
There are offices upstairs but he doesn’t use them. ”
“We’ll have to have Garrett run his informant to find out how involved he is in Garcia’s dealings.”
“You keep calling Jefferson, “Garcia”. You do know he changed his name to Baldwin, right? When he and his mother left Brazil.”
Interesting. Emerson knew some of Garcia’s background.
“When’d he leave Brazil?” I asked, fishing to see just how much she knew.
“When he was a kid. From what I could gather, his dad made some bad business dealings and was killed. His mom took him to Guyana and changed their name.”
“And where did you gather that information—from his LinkedIn for Gang Leaders account?”
Emerson cut her eyes at me and part of me was happy to see she’d taken a hit. I knew I was being a dick, was doing it on purpose, and hoped she’d read my message loud and clear.
“Actually…” Her lips curved up in a cruel smile and I knew I didn’t want to hear her answer. I was hanging onto what was left of my sanity by a thread, and if she told me she’d learned about Garcia’s childhood from whispered words and pillow talk I’d lose my shit.
So instead of listening to her spew some shit that was going to make me go ballistic, I cut her off.
“His father was a snitch and was killed because of it. Pablo Garcia actually wanted better for his family and informed on a local gang leader in exchange for money from the government so he could move his son and wife out of the slums. Lizza Garcia took Jefferson to Suriname where she worked until she could afford to buy them new identities and get them in Guyana, where she found a job as a maid.”
“If you already knew, why’d you ask?” Her smile turned into a deep frown and I simply shrugged my shoulders.
“Right. Now that that’s outta the way, let’s talk about tonight. The clock is ticking,” Declan reminded me.
All eyes landed on Emerson and suddenly she looked nervous. Her gaze slid to Tatiana for support and that pissed me off. I wanted her eyes on me, I wanted her to look to me for comfort just like she used to. I’d refuse her, because I was an asshole and wanted her as uneasy as I was.
But that was the truth. I wanted Emerson to feel every bit of the hurt I was.
“This morning after Jefferson dropped me off at the hotel, he left to go do his inspection.”
“Did he tell you that?” Tatiana inquired.
“Not in those words. He told me to rest, he had business to attend to and would be back later. When he got back, his mood had turned. He was ticked off and anxious. Jefferson had summoned Carlos, the other man you killed, to the villa. I overhead part of the conversation. He was upset that some of the girls were too old, others were unattractive, and one was what he called overweight. They’d slipped into speaking Portuguese so I missed part of the conversation.
When they switched back to Spanish, Jefferson was telling Carlos he was only taking possession of ten of the girls.
He was also clear he wanted Carlos to find him a new supplier—that was the second time the stable hadn’t passed his examination. ”
“You said he didn’t discuss his business dealings with you. How did you know he was going to inspect his stable in the first place? And to that end, if he didn’t talk to you about activities why would he discuss such things in your presence?” Max asked disbelievingly.
Max had a first-class bullshit meter. He also had trust issues that stemmed from birth and were built upon one conniving brick at a time, over the span of his life, until all that was left was cynicism and distrust. When someone broke through Max’s hardened exterior, you had his loyalty and that loyalty would be for a lifetime.
Emerson was holding Max’s stare. Her head held high, shoulders back, and fuck me, I knew that look. Defiance. The woman had grit and a backbone to back it up. I remembered that, too. When she felt she was in the right, she didn’t back down. Not to me, not to her boss, her teachers, not to anyone.
She was also gearing up to mouth off to Max. That wasn’t her smartest play, but I wasn’t going to warn her she should hold her tongue. If she wanted to go toe-to-toe with my teammate, that was her business. And when Max had enough of her lip—he’d handle it.
It wasn’t my business.
Emerson Pierce could take care of herself.