Epilogue
LAKE
"Hey, boss. I have some questions for you." Lucky Marino was the top man left alive from the mafia, and he was a royal pain in my ass.
He jumped up to follow me past the main room as I headed toward the office.
"They can't wait?" I sounded surly and petulant. A terrible state for me, but this is what they'd driven me to.
I'd wanted to be the biggest player on the board, but I hadn't anticipated that would mean being the leader of the board. I thought we'd make such an example out of our enemies that no one would dare fuck with us again.
Instead, I inherited an organized crime group of twenty strong who wanted my approval for practically everything. On the bright side, that was twenty more bodies between us and danger, and to be fair, the sect of business that they ran in their old town still operated, practically running itself.
"Nope." He popped the P.
I scanned my badge, and Guy was coming out of his office as I was letting myself into my office. Lucky bristled at my back.
Guy raised a brow.
It seemed that Lucky liked being the top man, and Guy was holding a position he wanted. Well, too fucking bad. He'd have to learn to live with it.
In my office, Lucky sat down across from my desk. "There's a Christmas festival coming up and the boys want you and your..." he cleared his throat, still a little off-center about our unconventional dynamic, "family to join us."
"I thought I said no to that." I turned on my computer to check the spreadsheets and emails. In the few months since we'd finally cleaned the board, things had been quiet. Too quiet, but it was a boredom I was happy to take.
Lucky licked his lips. "You did, but you're the boss, and you have to make an appearance. Trust me when I say that you don't want to let any grass grow if you don't have to. The boys, they respect power, and we know they love Snatched." He smirked.
They did. Since bringing them under our umbrella, they’d banded together and bought several apartment complexes that they rotated in and out. Their families stayed home, but here, they enjoyed the perks of the club, and replaced the security we'd outsourced.
I'd never admit it, but they were damned good security. They took their home turf very seriously and didn't stand for anyone disrespecting it. Just their enthusiasm for our safety put my mind at ease.
Especially after we'd cleared out the couple bad apples that Desiree, Tandy, and Lucky had all agreed wouldn't fit into this new world.
"Anyway, absence does not make the heart grow fonder with the boys. So, I'm asking again—come, hang out, meet more of the families and let them meet yours. It will be good for everyone and keep the peace."
I sighed. "What date was it again?"
"The nineteenth."
Beasty would be able to see Linda, and Books would probably be there for a visit. I guess there were worse things we could do.
"Fine."
"Great! I'll let ‘em know!" He stood, slapping his thigh like this had been a good chat.
Fucking mafia men.
Atlas
I watched Beasty practice with the dancers on my phone as I sipped a drink in our VIP booth. The reporter was late, but it didn't matter.
I was doing my absolute favorite thing in the world.
Actually, second favorite. My first favorite was fucking Beasty. No, fucking Beasty while she fucked Joaquin or any order of the three of us. Or five.
"Mr. Jones?" The reporter was here.
Sighing, I tucked my phone away and half-rose out of the booth to shake her hand. I gave her a bland smile because I wasn't fucking Kim trying to charm everyone into submission.
"What can I do for you?"
"There's been so much happening in the media, all stories that seem to have some connection to America's Sweethearts.” She blinked, not giving any indication of her opinion either way. “I’d love to start with Valencia and her upcoming trial. I was hoping you could comment? And well, to be honest, Snatched is doing so well, I figured it was a double opportunity for you.” This time she did smile.
“You know, get your opinion on how it was to work with a woman who had been so ingrained into the criminal underbelly of the rich and famous when you had no idea, and also how you all managed to turn everything around from being kidnapped in the woods to being multimillionaires and running one of the most successful clubs on the East Coast."
The story had broken, dominating the news for days. Pictures of Valencia and the fed plastered on every channel. It had been a scandal for the fashion industry and the government.
Like Parker had said, he knew people, and those people were fucking scary. They fabricated texts, emails, and pictures that no one, not even the best in the FBI could identify as fake.
No matter how loud Valencia screamed and tried to point fingers, no one believed her. She had already lost credibility, and that felt amazing.
I gave her a practiced somber smile. "Growing up how we did, I'm not surprised by anyone anymore. That's why I only have my family and the love of my life, Cressida Hart."
The reporter's eyes brightened, and I got the sense that this was the real reason she was here. To talk about our dynamic since we'd gone public. The world now knew in no uncertain terms that Beasty was ours in every way she could be. And the world both loved and hated it.
Some a little more in one camp than the other. But it was great for business.
You know what they say, all press was good press.
“Did you fear for her life when the world found out that the very detective harassing your club was mentally unstable and had succumbed to a killing spree”—She raised a hand at my darkening mood—“We can keep that off record if you’d like.”
That was the second story to break in the last few weeks.
Detective Barton’s arrest had almost been as public as Valencia’s. He raged against the officers trying to detain him, shouting that he’d been framed. But somehow, most likely thanks to Fletcher, a video clip of his interrogation had been leaked showing just how guilty he was.
By that, I mean his begrudging admittance that he sent emails to his buddies, some of whom weren’t even part of his investigation, that the Pescis would be taken down, no matter what he had to do.
To the court of public opinion, and apparently the legitimate legal system, that was enough to condemn him.
There would be no trial. We’d heard this morning that he’d been shanked in jail. An unfortunate side effect of putting law enforcement in the same place as the people they’d arrested.
On that note, we’d managed to keep Lake and Joaquin’s arrests out of the media. Good for us, but this woman had done her homework. I wouldn’t put it past her to know that Detective Barton had at least taken them into custody.
Stretching back against the booth, I pushed my hands across the table in a classic unbothered position.
“Look, like Valencia, no one surprises me anymore. I did see the news, I did recognize him, but outside of that, he does not matter to our family. He’s a non-issue, just like Valencia is a non-issue. ” I shrugged.
“You have no comment on why he was so interested in Mr. White?” Her eyes sharpened as she leaned over her notepad.
If she knew anything juicy, she wasn’t sharing. Too bad for her, I wouldn’t be either. “People wanting a piece of us is nothing new. It’s my understanding that he wasn’t even interested in us, but obsessed with a crime family hours from here.”
And the cartel, but Fletcher had completely erased their names from his communications.
She nodded. “From the same town that Cressida lived in for a time, yes?”
I forced one side of my mouth to stay flat instead of frowning, but it was difficult. It seemed that with the takeover of the mafia, we also inherited the police department.
Between the police and Fletcher, any record of Beasty in that town had been destroyed.
Even more fortunate for us, as soon as the house was discovered with the bodies neatly stacked in the corner, our new friends managed the evidence collection. Nothing was getting logged that would tie those deaths to us.
But that was assuming Guy wouldn’t have done a damn fine job, which wasn’t the case.
“Cressida never lived there.”
“What? I found in my records that she did.” She started flipping through notes.
“No. I think you probably mistook it for a town about an hour west of there with a similar name. It happens.” I raised one shoulder.
“If I were you, I’d be focusing more on our love lives, and not these other people who don’t matter.
” I dangled the carrot that readers would salivate to read: How one woman had captured the hearts of four very powerful and successful men.
Her eyes rounded with feverish excitement. From that one statement, she knew I was willing to talk. "Can you tell me more about that? How you came to be a unit?"
Gotcha.
"Well," I started, dragging my finger down the condensation of my water glass.
"It all started when this little feral beast of a girl was walking in the woods.
" I smiled, looking at the table but seeing the beautiful wild girl with tangled brown hair in her bright hazel eyes.
"She wanted to know why we were so pretty. .."
I chuckled. I couldn't wait to see Beasty's face when this was published.
Kim
"Beasty." I caught her walking out of the dressing room. Letting my gaze trail down her body, I appreciated how the dress was perfectly tailored to her curves. But it was her neck that kept drawing my eyes.
By the time I met her at rehearsals, she was already dressed in her workout gear. I hadn't seen what she'd worn before that.
She glanced up, her eyes warming. "You didn't have to wait for me."
I shook my head. "Of course I waited on you." There was never a time when I wouldn’t wait for her. The only reason I wasn't with her earlier was because of an issue in one of the rooms that I had to take care of.