In the Still of the Night:Sexy Romantic Suspense (Book 2 The Blonde Barracuda's Sizzling Suspense Series) (17 page)

“Lexie, we have very good, high-level information that the Korean mob, specifically the
Jopok
, has you in their sights. It won’t surprise you that they have been watching you and trying to put up the usual roadblocks in front of you, which is why so many of your previous initiatives haven’t been as successful as you’d hoped. But that information you got the other day, the list of permits given to illegal massage parlors—was the kicker. It was dynamite. The kind of dynamite that blows up in your face.”

He shook his head, to keep her from interrupting.

“For you, Lexie, and for the woman who got you that information.”

Lexie paled. “You… you… mean Ginny Lynn?”

“Yes, Lexie. Ginny Lynn was threatened yesterday. Someone knew that she sent you that information. Most likely because they are watching you, not her. Which means that all of your communications are being monitored.”

“Wait, Jake. What happened to Ginny Lynn. Please tell me she wasn’t hurt. Oh God.”

Lexie put her head down in her hands and started rocking back and forth. When Jake reached for her, she pushed his hands away.

“Tell me. Now!”

“Fortunately Ginny immediately reported the threat to Dan Rourke. She is a good friend of Dan’s wife’s and she knows that you and he work together. There’s no question that the people who threatened her knew that she gave you that information. Dan has a protective guard on her which will stay until we get this mess cleaned up.”

Lexie’s face was pale, her voice soft.

“How do you know it’s the
Jopok.
It could be any low level techie who hates me or Ginny, or some malicious do-gooder. Who knows? Why does it have to be the mob out to get me? Are you sure you aren’t overreacting?”

Jake sighed. He didn’t look forward to conveying this next bit of information.

“I wish it was. But Dan’s informants, Master Wan’s and mine—”

“Wait.”

Lexie’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“What do you
mean
, informants? Dan’s? Master Wans?
Yours
? You… you all have people informing on
me!
What are you saying, Jake? Tell me! Tell me that three of the men in my life aren’t spying on me! I… I can’t believe this. I can’t believe that you would allow this to happen and not tell me.”

“I know this is upsetting, Lexie. And I wish I could have told you. In the beginning, it was just concerns, no hard evidence. But as each of us has compiled more information, it is clear that this has gone far beyond mere concerns. The information I’m receiving now—particularly after what happened last night—makes the involvement of the
Jopok
a virtual certainty. Someone knew what Ginny Lynn sent you, and someone knew that you would be at the Rising Sun last night. What this means, and I hope you agree, is that you are going to have to pull back. Curtail your plans. At least for now. Until we can put names and faces behind what’s happening, it is too dangerous for you to go forward with your expose. The
Jopok
farms out ‘enterprises’ like this, Lexie. There is someone local who is overseeing this. What happened to Ginny Lynn is the key. No international mob boss gives a rat’s ass about massage parlor permits in a district in San Francisco. But someone who’s actively involved and who is in danger of being traced to the activity does care. Particularly if that individual has a financial as well as a personal stake in it. Your expose could take this guy down in a big way. And put you in serious danger.”

Lexie didn’t know when she’d started pacing the floor. Her head was swirling with questions. Trying to process what Jake was telling her. But it was a jumble. Two things jumped out. Both infuriating. One was that the important men around her were holding back critical information. And two, they were using that information to get her to pull back. To stop what she was doing. She took several long deep breaths. If ever she needed to center herself, it was now. While her temper often flared, what she felt now was rage. Cold rage. And it was directed at Jake.

“And you didn’t tell me this, Jake? Why?”

“First, because I couldn’t break a confidence. Second—”

Lexie broke in. “Really. You had information that was important to me, to my safety even, but you didn’t tell me because you didn’t want to break Dan’s confidence? Master Wan’s? Men I assumed had my best interests at heart?”

“You know they do, and you know that I do, Lexie.”

She shook her head, and pierced him with a fierce glare.

“I thought they did. As I thought you did. Now I don’t know. But wait. I want to understand about this ‘confidence business.’ Let’s see if it works for me. Ask me what I learned from Peter Kim today, Jake? Don’t bother asking. Because I won’t tell you. You see, I don’t want to break a confidence.”

Jake’s face flushed. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Lexie, that is not the same thing. I work at a different level. Behind the scenes. My effectiveness is based on my ability to keep confidences. It’s not the same as yours.”

She tossed her head with a derisive snort.

“It isn’t? No, of course it isn’t. Your work is important. Your confidences are important. Mine are nothing but show, right? The cute little girl showing off her perky ass? Is that how you and Dalila talk about me—describe what I do—when you’re discussing your
important
, confidential work?”

Jake stepped up to her and pulled her into his arms. “Darlin’, you know that isn’t how I feel. I am so proud of you. But, Lexie, I’m so damn worried about you.”

Lexie refused to hear him. She jerked out of his arms. Dammit, this time he was not going to sweet talk her out of her anger. She was crushed. These men: her friends, her lover—were discussing her behind her back, like she was a child who couldn’t be trusted to handle a challenging situation. As though she weren’t a grown woman with an important initiative that could change lives. The indignity of it hit her full-force. As did the double standard that Jake apparently was comfortable with.

She glared at him. Jake’s face was tight with a mix of concern and anger. She ignored the concern. She didn’t want it. Any of it. She gave a harsh laugh.

“What a fool I’ve been. Over and over you castigated me for not trusting you. Making me feel that somehow I’m not loving enough. But you don’t trust me, do you Jake? None of you do. Dan, Brady, Master Wan. All the men I thought respected me and respected my work. I’m almost as angry with them as I am with you, Jake. Just so you know, I’m done confiding in any of you. None of you any longer are my confidants and that includes Master Wan and you!”

She got to her bedroom door, then turned to face him. She wished she could keep her voice from shaking. But that wasn’t possible. She had to hang onto the doorframe as it was. Lexie’s legs felt like rubber.

“One more thing, for all you big boys to work into the important ‘secret’ work that you do. I am not stopping. And there is no way that you can make me stop. I am going before the City Council. Peter agreed today that he will put me on the agenda for this Friday. Two days from now. Do you understand?”

As she turned to go into her bedroom, she said over her shoulder, her voice shaking with ill-disguised scorn, “And Jake, did you honestly think I didn’t expect—
assume
that the Korean syndicates are involved? Who the hell do you think I am after? Who do you think owns these fucking parlors? The local dry cleaners?”

She should have understood just how angry mentioning Peter’s name would make him. Later she wished she hadn’t. Peter was a tangent that kept them from addressing the real issues. Jake moved toward her, his hands clenched in tight fists at his sides. Looming over her, his breath was hot against her face. Only his voice was cool, dangerous. He spit out each word as though they were tacks, nailing her to the door frame.

“No, Lexie. I do not think the drycleaners own the brothels. I think the more likely candidate is a very well-connected businessman. One who appeared like ClarkfuckingKent in the middle of the night to ‘save’ the woman who is about to blow up the illicit massage businesses in his district. Oh yeah, and who drives a Jaguar and has finagled a spot on the City Council after the former councilman had a ‘stroke.’”

Lexie stared at him. It wasn’t that she wasn’t suspicious of Peter, she was. There were too many unanswered questions. But she knew that Jake’s possessiveness, his need to control her, was the impetus behind his accusation.

She tossed her head.

“You may be right, Jake. There are a lot of things about Peter Kim that warrant investigation. So it’s a good thing that Peter Kim is interested in me, isn’t it? I should be able to get first-hand information. Wish I could share it with you… but you know how confidential that information is likely to be.”

Jake’s voice was low, cold. She hated the look in his eyes.

“Lexie, I want you to stop. Now. All of it. Including the City Council appearance. No more luncheons or meetings with Peter Kim. No more midnight visits to brothels dressed like a whore. I want you to stop. At least until I can get a better read on all of this, and find out who is the local operator fronting for the
Jopok
.”

The outrageous order galvanized her. Her legs stopped shaking. Even her heart settled, stopped banging at her chest. Instead she felt an icy calm. It made her strong.

“I’m sorry Jake. That doesn’t work. Not for me and not for you. You cannot tell me what I can or can’t do. Any more than I can insist that you stop what you are doing. What if I said to you, ‘I don’t like what you are doing, Jake. It’s dangerous. I worry about you and for that reason you need to stop.’ Would you, Jake? You know you wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t respect you if you did. Don’t you see the double standard? Can’t you see how you are insulting me? Minimizing me? My work? What is important to me?”

His expression tightened further… but with concern, not anger.

“Lexie. It’s not the same. This is serious. I’m not asking to stop the investigation. Rather I need you to wait to break the story. At least until we can—”

She shook her head again underscoring her determination.

“No, Jake. I won’t wait. I can’t. Everything I am doing is time sensitive. Someone, a bad someone, knows I have the secret list from the City. Any delay will allow them to cover it up, take away my best advantage. And Jake, just to be very clear. You are not my father and you are not my husband. And even if you were, you do not have the right to keep me from doing my life’s work.”

Jake’s lips pressed in a thin line.

“That is not what I am asking, Lexie. I’m asking for time. And as for not being your husband, the only reason I’m not is because you refuse to set a date.”

His arrogant calm spurred a torrent of qualms to the surface.

“Why do you think I haven’t Jake? How can we possibly get married when we feel so differently about these important issues?”

Jake’s face grayed. He stepped back, shocked, as though she’d struck him at heart level with a terrible weapon. And she realized she had. The weapon of words.

His voice was low.

“Are you telling me that you do not want to get married?”

Lexie was shaken. The look on his face frightened her. But if she pulled back now, he’d never take anything she said seriously.

“I… I don’t know. All I do know is that right now I want you to leave me alone and stay out of my business.”

The shock in his eyes belied his icy calm.

“I see.”

The level of pain on his face startled her. Frightened her. It was ragged, open, and terrifying in its intensity. She had hurt him badly.

“Jake, I’m sorry. I just need some time.”

He put up his hands and shook his head. He was at the door to the hallway in seconds.

“Where… where are you going Jake?”

When he didn’t answer, she asked again, “Where are you going? I know you’re angry as I am, but… we.…”

She didn’t want him to go. They’d never fought like this. Never said such harsh things to each other. Particularly her. She felt that they had turned a corner, to an uncertain place where she didn’t want to be.

His voice was cool, almost mocking. But he was mocking himself, not her.

“Where am I going? That a good question. The woman I love more than anything in the world has just told me that she doesn’t want to marry me.”

“I was angry when I said that, Jake. I shouldn’t have—”

“No, Lexie, you shouldn’t. There are some things that are too hurtful… that should never be said—unless you mean them.”

He closed his eyes and leaned against the door, his hand on the doorknob. She thought she might have seen tears in his eyes, but that wasn’t possible—was it?

When he opened his eyes they were cold, hard.

“In answer to your question, where am I going? Well, let’s see. As you reminded me this morning, this is
your
bedroom,
your
quarters, and
your
house. As I don’t have a house or a place of my own in this city, only
yours
, I will go to Brady’s. It’s no doubt better that way. I can get roaring drunk without upsetting either Master Wan or Madam Juen. Although I have a feeling Master Wan wouldn’t mind joining me.”

Jake stood quietly for a long moment studying her through narrowed eyes. Lexie tried to hold his gaze. But it was hard to do. Almost as hard as the lump in her throat that made it impossible to swallow.

“I’ll be in D.C. for several days, if you need anything. But of course you won’t. Anything you need, you can get for yourself. Or turn to a willing Councilman who in addition to being interested in your ‘perky little ass,’ seems to have other interests as well.”

Lexie was startled. Jake knew how important her meeting before the Council would be. She was stung by his willingness to simply leave. When she needed him more than ever.

She tipped her chin up and shrugged.

“Are you really going this time? Or are you going to pretend to go, then sneak around to see if you can catch me doing something I shouldn’t?”

Jake shook his head. His expression was grim, his voice thick with disgust.