41. Chapter Forty-One
Chapter forty-one
N ick and Mason walked into the room and stared down at Javier Lopez’s pale face and tired eyes. It looked like he hadn’t slept at all.
His arm was swollen and bandaged.
Nick assumed it hurt like hell, along with the stitches over his eye and the black and blue shiner Aria gave him last night when she slugged him. He couldn’t help the swell of pride inside him that Aria had defended herself and taken this piece of shit down. “You thought she was weak. Just a woman. Someone you could easily take out in front of an entire bar of people and you’d just walk away. But she’s made of steel. She’s strong and smart and fierce. You thought you had her. Twice. And twice she handed you your ass.”
“Stupid puta.” He spit on the floor.
“She’s no whore. But that’s what you think of all girls and women. They’re nothing but things to be used. Well, let’s see if you even love your mother.”
Lopez’s eyes rose to his and the death glare he leveled on Nick would make many shrink away.
Not Nick.
“I will kill that bitch.” The softly spoken words held a world of intent behind them. All of it aimed at Aria. Javier had the connections and associates to carry out that threat.
Nick wasn’t taking any chances with Aria’s life. He had leverage. “No. You won’t ever touch her again. Because we’re going to make a deal. You leave Aria, me, and my family alone, and your mother receives a suspended sentence. If not, then she will be charged with an accessory to every crime you’re facing concerning those four children we found in her cellar. She’d spend the rest of her life in a cell, just like you.”
“And what do I get?”
Of course he was only thinking about himself.
“You can work that out with the DA. He’ll want to know where the rest of the children you’ve kidnapped and prostituted out are.” Not that it would help him much, since the seven bodies of the children he killed were being exhumed today from Dr. Pike’s sister’s land. Those seven murder charges would keep Javier Lopez locked up for the rest of his life. But he could give back the kids he’d kidnapped to get some concessions in prison. He could choose a better place to be, though he’d still be locked up wherever he went.
But he better act fast, because the FBI was on the hunt and ready to raid a few of Lopez’s underground places where he did business thanks to Dr. Pike’s information.
“This offer is only good for as long as I’m in this room. And my patience is running short.”
Mason folded his arms and stared down Lopez. “You should also know that the FBI has been rounding up as many clients as they can identify from surveillance at the Snowcap Resort. If those men know anything about any other children you’ve supplied to them, where they might be, or where else they’ve indulged their sick fantasies, then they’re going to use it to get a better deal for themselves. They’ve got money and influence and information to bargain with, and they’ll bargain quickly to save their necks and reputations.”
Nick waited to see what Lopez did next. The man was ruthless. Would he save his own mother? Or let her rot in a cell?
Nick tried to sway him. “If it helps, I didn’t want to hurt Julia. I admired her for changing her circumstances and working her way up to the manager position she held at the resort. I thought she’d done well. And your mother…well, she didn’t really have a say, did she. You used her like you use everyone.”
Lopez leveled his cold stare on Nick again. “You think you know something about me, my life, what I’ve had to do to survive.”
“I know you didn’t have to use children to survive. I know you could have done a lot of different things to better your life that didn’t involve hurting innocent people. So don’t bullshit me about how your life was so hard the only thing you could do was kidnap children and sell them into the sex trade. You wanted to make as much money as you could and you found a lucrative way to do it, because your customers would pay dearly to keep their secret hidden. And I’m sure you made them pay a lot. You’ll probably keep that money train going even from prison.”
Lopez’s lips pulled back in the slightest of grins. “You have your deal. My mother goes home to her house and property. You will not take that from her.”
“And you won’t take anyone I care about from me. This is done between us.”
Lopez nodded. “So long as you stay out of my life and business from now on.”
“I have better things to do.”
“And I have bigger battles to wage, so I better not find out that you’re still digging into me.”
“Not me. But the FBI will until they’re satisfied there aren’t more children out there under your thumb. I’ll have the paperwork delivered to your attorney.”
Lopez’s decisive nod ended their discussion.
Nick and Mason walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. For Nick, it felt like closing the door on the case and his past and finally stepping into his future.
Mason dropped his big hand on Nick’s shoulder and squeezed. “It’s over.”
“Thank God.”
Mason asked the question Nick was asking himself. “Do you think Lopez will keep to his end of the bargain?”
“I have to believe, somewhere in his cold heart, he said yes because he truly loved his sister and mother. So, yeah, I think he’ll back off now.” But he’d be ready to defend and protect those he loved if Lopez came after them again. “It’s not like we won’t be on guard in our line of work. In his world, his word means something, so I think we’re safe.”
He wouldn’t bet his life, or the lives of the ones he loved, on it, but he wasn’t going to obsess over it either.
He was going to live his life to the fullest now, because he had so much to live for. Aria. His family and hers. The children they hoped to have soon.
They were going to be happy and together.
Nick tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s go.” Nick led Mason to the room where Aria and Lyric had watched them talk to Javier.
They stepped inside and found Aria and Lyric sitting close together, so Stacy could see both of them in the call screen.
“So he’s really locked up for good?” Stacy stared back from her foster home, earnest and hopeful.
“Yes,” Aria and Lyric said at the same time.
“He won’t ever hurt you again,” Aria assured her.
“But how?” Stacy asked.
Nick didn’t hesitate and said, “Aria took him down, then punched him in the face for hurting you.”
Stacy’s eyes went wide. “You did? Wow.”
“I did it for you, sweetheart. I did it for us.” Aria looked up at him, her heart in her eyes.
“And you’re going to come and visit me, right?”
“Yes,” Aria assured her. “Nick and I will be there tomorrow.”
Nick left Aria with her sister and Stacy and pulled Mason into the hallway. If they were going to adopt Stacy, he needed to marry Aria soon.
He turned to his brother. “Want to go shopping with me?”
Mason looked like he’d rather do anything but that.
Nick raised a brow at him and smirked.
Mason quickly caught on. “Yeah. Let’s go shopping.”
Nick left all his concerns about the case, the children still out there, and whether or not Javier Lopez would stay true to his word, behind him. The FBI would hold Javier accountable and find those associated with him.
Nick was free to move on and focus on what was most important. His new life with Aria.