Chapter 5
FACE TO FACE
Rebel Pierce
It wasn’t often I investigated deaths, especially deaths that might be connected to criminal organizations. Usually, my security firm, RP Cyber Securities, looked into companies for the U.S. government, trying to uncover embezzlement, fraud, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, and other white-collar crimes.
Nothing like this.
Although me and my team used less than legal means to do so, we had become very effective at discovering evidence against high-profile businessmen and women when the powers that be couldn’t. Even if it meant breaking a few state and federal laws to do so. Whatever it took to get the job done. And the government looked the other way as long as we got results.
But when José López, also known as Caesar, my ex-brother-in-law, called me to look into the death of Danielle Stevens, the wife of the President of the North Carolina Chapter of Demons United motorcycle club, he convinced me my skill of hacking would be of some use.
To my surprise, it was.
I thought Caesar was exaggerating when he said the police covered up her death or just ignored the evidence. But now I wasn’t so sure it was an exaggeration. Or at the very least, the husband had the right to question the outcome of the investigation.
I didn’t believe everything cops said. But what would be the motive to keep the cause of her death a secret? That was a fucking accusation to make without any evidence. However, after Caesar explained the relationship between the club and the cops, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
And I was glad I did.
Whether the police believed her death was an accident or not, it was ruled an accident by the coroner. But her husband didn’t believe it. Which meant if it wasn’t an accident, the coroner was also involved in a coverup. Or at the very least incompetent and screwed up this investigation.
Could it be grief driving her husband to question their investigation? Or did he know something the police didn’t?
Of course, the more I searched, the more I believed there might be something to his claims. Evidence was lost or destroyed from that day. CCTV recordings from the City of Charlotte, as well as surrounding businesses, were now gone. Even Danielle’s car she had been driving that day had been destroyed before her husband was even notified.
While he had searched for answers, he hadn’t been able to find any. But from the evidence I uncovered, there was no way Danielle Tyler Stevens, the sister of Demons United MC founder, Austin “Demon” Tyler, was in a fatal car accident. Accident being the keyword. Yes, she had died in a car crash, which also killed her child, but it wasn’t an accident. Too many coincidences almost always added up to the truth.
The light knocks on the door pulled my attention away from my computer screen. I was still combing through footage of that day to hand over to the husband that would prove it wasn’t just an accident. I was invested in finding out who would kill a pregnant woman and why. That was some cold-blooded shit, but given what her husband was involved in, there was no telling what happened and who had done it. The man was bound to have enemies. But the question was, would those enemies go after a woman and a child to get at the father?
Maybe I need to widen my search to see who would want to get back at the husband?
“Come in!”
I leaned back in my chair. I looked into the eyes of someone I thought I’d never see again as he walked through the door like he owned the fucking world. Well, at least I had hoped I wouldn’t see him again, but of course I couldn’t be that lucky.
I groaned when I saw the smile on his face.
What the hell is he doing here?
“Hey, babe. Are you ready?”
“Johnny, what the hell are you doing here?”
He stopped in front of my desk, crossed his arms over his chest, and cocked his head to the side. “What the fuck do you mean, what am I doing here, Rebel? It’s fucking Wednesday.”
I gazed at Johnny, whose actual name was Manny Chavez, like he was stupid. Why the hell they called him Johnny, I still hadn’t gotten a straightforward answer on.
He was drop-dead gorgeous, with chiseled features that could make anyone weak in the knees. The color of his jet-black hair matched the darkness in his eyes. He dressed in expensive clothes, giving the impression that he had more money than he possessed. Despite being sexy and doing very well in the looks department, the man was also one card short of having a full deck, which was one reason he was my ex. And finding him in bed with another woman a month ago was the other reason.
“And?” I asked, confused why he was standing in my office. “I know it’s Wednesday, but what are you doing here?”
I broke up with this man over three weeks ago and now he was standing in my office after I told him it was over, expecting me to go to with him like we were still together. But when we were actually together, he was always too busy to do anything I wanted to do, which included taking me to lunch once a week, on Wednesday.
What the fuck is going on?
“And?” he asked. “I’m here to take you to lunch. After all the times you bitched at me, I thought you’d be happy.”
“Did you forget I told you it was over? You know, after I found you in our bed with the fucking neighbor.”
He scoffed. “That was a misunderstanding. She just wanted to talk.”
“And somehow your dick slipped into her cunt while you two were talking?”
“You’ve had enough time to cool down, Rebel. You should be over that shit by now.”
Is this motherfucker serious?
“There was no misunderstanding, Johnny. Not only did you fuck another woman in our bed, but you’re also fucking crazy. It’s over. Get the fuck out.”
I rose from behind my desk, then tried to walk past him to go to the door, but he gripped me by the arm. At that moment, his entire demeanor shifted. His body stiffened and his dark eyes looked like swirling pools of nothingness.
“I’m not going any fucking where.”
Johnny had never been a violent guy towards me. We yelled and cursed at each other, but it had never gotten physical.
He squeezed my arm tighter, and pain shot up my arm. “If you don’t let me go, we’re going to have a big fucking problem, Johnny.”
“You think you can leave me? After everything I’ve done for you! What makes you think you can walk away from me, Rebel?”
“You haven’t done shit for me! Now, I’m going to tell you one last time. Let me the fuck go.”
He glared at me with a fiery intensity in his eyes.
“You heard the woman.”
We both turned our gaze towards the door. Standing on the threshold was a man who took my breath away with his striking good looks.
He stood in the doorway of my office, his massive frame filling the space. He wore black fitted jeans that hugged his muscular thighs, a white t-shirt stretched across his broad chest, and a black leather vest.
“Who the fuck are you?” Johnny asked, making sure he kept his hold on my arm. “This is my woman.”
“I am not your woman.”
I tried to pull my arm out of his hold, but he only tightened his grip. I’d definitely have bruises there tomorrow.
“Let her go, or I’ll make you,” the stranger said as he walked towards us.
It was like I was stuck. My brain couldn’t catch up to say one word as I watch him getting closer to us.
The dangerous aura surrounding him was suffocating, but also intoxicating. Apparently, I was oxygen deprived and delirious from lust.
Once he reached us, it happened before I could even stop it. He had a black, nine-millimeter Glock, semi-automatic handgun aimed at Johnny’s head.
Johnny quickly let go of my arm and held his hands up. “Okay, man. I don’t want no trouble.”
“I suggest you leave, if you’d like to keep breathing.”
Johnny’s intense glare made it clear that he expected me to interfere. That wasn’t happening. He shouldn’t be here, anyway.
“Fuck you, Rebel,” he said when I didn’t then he scurried out the door.
Hopefully, he’d get the hint this time. I couldn’t put it any plainer than what I had already done.
Soon as he was out of sight, the man put the gun away. I got the chance to look at him better, now that Johnny was gone, and the firearm had been put away. Immediately, I recognized the patch on the front of the leather vest he wore. Demons United MC. And another patch that said, President.
Jacob “J.D.” Stevens, President of the North Carolina Chapter of Demons United, and husband of Danielle Tyler Stevens and baby Luca had just threatened to kill my ex-boyfriend.
“I had that handled, Mr. Stevens.”
I went back behind my desk and dropped in my chair. He sat in the chair in front of my desk. One side of his mouth lifted at the corner in one of the sexiest smirks I’d ever seen on a man.
“Of course, you did, Ms. Pierce.”
He spread his legs apart, resting his chin on his fist, his intense gaze fixed on me. I’d love to fuck him. His smirk turned into a full smile like he knew where my mind drifted.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Stevens?” I asked, even though I knew why he was here and trying to get my mind back on track.
“Caesar said you have some information I need.”
“I do.” I leaned back in my chair and gazed into his eyes. “How much time do you have?”
“I’ve got all the time you need,” he said without hesitation.
“Well let’s get to it.”