Chapter 69
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
CASPER
Ipulled the folded-up piece of paper out of my hoodie pocket and tossed it across the desk at Bugs. He glanced over at it but didn’t stop doing whatever he was doing on the other side of that screen.
It was obvious he had a cock-sized stick up his ass.
Bigger and less orgasm-inducing than the one I’d been driving into Bellatrix’s cunt a few hours ago.
She was back at the apartment sleeping. Didn’t even move when I crept out the door and took the drive over to B-wood.
I was tempted to snag her bike but didn’t want her storming over here to get it.
I didn’t plan on being home that long anyway, just long enough to get my face seen, grab some supplies, and do a little recon. I had to be smarter when it came to all my comings and goings. People were starting to take notice. And by people, I meant the bossman.
He didn’t say anything to me directly. Probably because he knew I wouldn’t tell him shit.
But he had the other guys hanging around my usual haunts.
Including Sullivan’s. Little horny spies more concerned about where my dick was going than they should be for guys who had dicks of their own to worry about.
Bugs clicked harder on his keyboard and mumbled to himself. I didn’t know why the fucker always left his door open if he didn’t like people barging in on him. Maybe he was worried about being trapped too.
“More banking numbers?” he asked with a huff, telling me he hadn’t even side-eyed the piece of paper yet. He was just guessing.
“Nope. Lawyers.”
That had him finally glancing up and to the right. He dropped his mouse, grabbed the paper, and quickly unfolded it.
I jutted my chin towards the names I scribbled out in my chicken-shit handwriting. Bugs could read it, though. Not many others could.
“I wanna know if there’s a crossover, any names or companies or aliases that have anything to do with the fucker who paid into those accounts.
” I didn’t wait for him to agree before throwing out the stack of cash I’d gotten from the politician’s wife.
It still smelled like her expensive perfume.
I had a half a dozen more bundles stashed away in various hiding spots, wrapped up in Ziplock bags and a couple of dryer sheets so these greedy fuckers couldn’t sniff ?em out.
“And this guy? Bernard Westbrook?” Bugs tapped on one of the names on the list. “He’s not a lawyer.”
He was right, but I wasn’t sure how he knew that. It wasn’t like I took the time to write out esquire next to each one of them who qualified for it.
“He’s in finance. Or he was. Before he disappeared.” I shrugged. Like I said, a lot of people disappeared in this city. We didn’t have a hand in all of them. Maybe half.
Bugs brought the list closer to his face, reading off the names in his head. His mouth always moved a little when he was reading to himself. “They all have a connection to Prescott R&D, don’t they?” he asked.
Prescott R&D was the company Bossman’s brother owned before the wife took over and the bossman took over his brother’s wife.
It wasn’t called that anymore. But some name changes were slower to catch on than others.
Especially names that had been around longer than most of us had been alive.
The Prescotts were one of the first families to settle in the city, and once they got here, they never really left.
I wouldn’t have left either if I had my hand in everything like they had. It was too lucrative.
“How did you know?” I cocked an eyebrow, and then immediately uncocked it. “Oh, right…”
I’d almost forgotten about Bugs’s little undercover operation.
The one and only time the bossman sent the chronic jerker in instead of me.
He’d claimed it was because he was worried his wifey would recognize my ass.
I think he was just afraid I would try to fuck her.
He wasn’t wrong. I probably woulda tried just to see if I could.
“I remember the last guy.” Bugs tapped on the bottom of the paper. “Emmy was making a spreadsheet on how his numbers didn’t add up.”
“Before or after he disappeared?”
Bugs glanced down at the paper again, then up at me. “Before, I think.”
I nodded once and pointed to the stack of cash. “See what else you can find and keep it quiet or…”
“Or what?”
I tucked my hands into my hoodie and lifted a shoulder. “Dunno yet. I haven’t decided. But it won’t be good.”
I turned and walked away, letting the threat hang in the air.
Sure, telling someone exactly what you were willing to do to them was scary. Sometimes. But leaving them to wonder about it? To obsess about all the possibilities? That was torture.