(Blood and Bone, #2) Sin and Swoon (29 page)

His face pales. “I don’t—I don’t know what you’re speaking of.”

“Except you do, and if it gets out that a member of this family was part of a huge, multinational sting, your father is going to disown you. Remember when I told you that your dad was a bad boy, but he was smart about where he dishonored his family?”

He swallows hard.

“You were not so smart, and there is a tech right now using face recognition to track down every person who is part of the Backcountry Brothers Society.” I get up and storm from the room. I pull my phone and send a text to Antoine.

I just warned Dash’s brother. You need to set up shop somewhere no one will ever find you. In case he calls this in and tries to get help from the big boys in our op.

He sends an annoyed face meme and a reply.

You are so good with international secrecy.

I send him a text back.

You need to listen and stop acting like this isn’t as serious as it is. Follow your own advice and RUN!

I delete it as I walk to Dash. I hadn’t intended to tell him, but I am not worrying about my partner. One of the few people left that I trust fully is possibly in danger.

Hands grab me hard by the wrist. Henry spins me. “How long do I have?”

I shake my head, jerking my hand free. “A week.”

He sighs, but I see something in his eyes I recognize from his brother’s. “You didn’t have to warn me, and I suspect no one else is getting this courtesy. So thank you.” He pulls me in and hugs me.

I step out of his grip, pushing back. “I don’t care about you. I care about the humiliation this would have brought your family—your brother.”

He laughs. “Says the main source of our humiliation.” He laughs again and walks off. He’s actually laughing at me. I turn to find Dash in the crowd of guests that always seems to be here, but when I locate him he’s standing next to an old man, chatting away. I wave, and he grins at me. I wonder if his parents know how lucky they are to have a son like him.

Angie stumbles over to me, linking her arm in mine. I hug her and pull her to the pergola, my favorite place on this whole estate.

When we get outside I lay her back on the expensive chaise and sit at her feet. I pull her shoes off.

She grins. “Wow, what is this? Touching, and she takes my shoes off? Who are you, and what have you done with my friend?”

I smile and place her shoes on the ground. “You ever feel yourself grow?”

She sighs and looks up at the lilacs and the stars. “I have felt that moment a few times. Once when my mother died. I felt her leave me, and I felt small for a minute.” She grins through the watery eyes. “Okay, a month. But then one day I was okay. And I knew I would be okay. And I knew she loved me, no matter where she was. And it was okay that I didn’t feel like I had a mother, because I did. She was just a star watching over me.” She closes her eyes. “I am waiting for that moment to happen for me with Rory. Not because I think I can’t live without him—I can. Not because I am heartbroken over his betrayal. But because I am honestly so disgusted that I was with a monster and didn’t know. How could I be so blind, and support and love and care for a man who was that evil?” She gives me a hard stare. “I feel dirty in my soul, Jane. Dirty all the way into the fiber of who I am. To my very core. That’s a type of filth you just don’t wash off.” She shudders. “He touched me with his monster hands and his monster lips and his monster soul.” She just lets the tears fall down her ruddy cheeks and looks back at the stars. “What would my mom think?”

I reach over, wrapping myself around her. “I am so sorry, Ang.” I hug her and hold her and offer up little bits of what’s left of my soul.

Dash finds us, her sobbing and me just frozen and wishing all the good things in life on her. He reaches down and picks her up from my arms and carries her to the guesthouse where she demanded to sleep. Sitting on the chair and staring at the stars, I wait for him to come back.

The door opens, and Henry brings me another glass of wine. “Drink?”

I take it, assuming it’s a peace offering. “Thanks.”

He sits across from me. “I was invited once. I’m not a card-carrying member. The senator where we were staying invited me. He and his son and me and my friend.” He looks down. “When I got there I understood it to be a regular brothel, just a regular-girl-who-was-paid-for-her-services sort of establishment.”

I sigh, drinking the wine. “No.”

He looks up. “I went the one time, enjoyed myself like any other man, and left happy. I gave all the girls a huge tip.” He looks sincere, but I’m not an idiot. “I never went back. It’s invite-only. Surely you can help me out. You don’t want Dash to get in trouble, do you?”

The answer is obvious, and I have no intention of letting it slip from my lips. I drink my wine, shaking my head, certain he thinks he’s manipulating me. “You had to know someone would know, eventually.”

“No. That’s the best part. Everyone was so cocky and arrogant, we never imagined anyone was filming. Everyone there had the same amount to lose.”

That part is a bit weird; who would have installed the surveillance without anyone knowing?

I blink, realizing my lids are heavy suddenly. If I were a regular girl, I would think it was the wine and the exhaustion.

But being me means I know he has drugged my wine. I place the glass down slowly, using every bit of precision that I have, before standing and walking toward the guesthouse.

His hand lands on my wrist harshly, but I turn, swinging hard. I drop him with one punch.

“Jane!”
Dash runs to me, catching me as I fall down.

“Henry drugged me. He was at the brothel in the mountains. I have him on video. He drugged me.” I blink and pass out.

25. Merry Christmas

 B
inx purring in my ear is the first thing I hear, but the pounding of my brain is the first thing I feel. I wince as something is pushed near my lips. “Take the painkillers. This type of drug has a harsh side effect,” Dash whispers. I know it’s him. I can tell by the rage in his whisper. He’s angry. I am too.

I manage to get one eye open as I swallow the pill. The room is dark and quiet. “Where is he?”

“Gone. My parents threw him out. My father has disinherited him. It’s bad, Jane. I barely got his confession on the type of drugs he used on you before my father nearly tried to kill him.”

I wince. “I am so sorry, Dash. I should have told you, I just didn’t know how.”

His lips press against my face. “No, I’m sorry. My brother is a scumbag and a piece of shit, and he has no remorse for the terrible things he does. My parents are distraught. They had no idea.”

My head hurts just imagining his mother distraught.

Binx snuggles against my face, rubbing Dash’s face. “Oh God, my head, and the mess of explaining to your parents that they can’t ever tell anyone what they know.”

He kisses my forehead. “Don’t think about it right now.”

I don’t. I close my eyes and let sleep take me again.

When I wake the pain is gone, but my neck is stiff. I open my eyes to find Binx and Dash sitting in the armchair in the corner, both fast asleep. The room is just light enough to see that.

I pull back the covers and grab my phone, sending a message to Antoine: You okay?

Yup, but your boys sent people to my known address.

I wince. Your mom’s house?

He sends a selfie of him giving me a face.

No! My mom’s house is safer than anywhere. You kidding?

Did you solve all our problems? Do we know who we can trust?

No. There’s the VP, and that’s about it.

I tap a finger against my head.

We need to find Rory. We need to know what they know. I could mind-run him and make him tell me.

He sends a worse photo of a scared face. No.

I hold my breath for a couple of minutes and then send the message I don’t want to.

Send it to the world. The government is going to cover it up. Send it to the world. We will lose our jobs, but I don’t care, do you? Those girls will never get the justice they deserve.

He sends a photo of him smiling with a thumbs-up. Best idea all week.

Merry Christmas, Antoine!

Merry Christmas, Jane!!!!

I put my phone away and wait for the scandal to hit the world. I know it won’t take long. He’s probably already made the report. Dash wakes, giving me a slow smile. “You’re awake. You okay?”

“Yeah.”

He sits up, lifting Binx, and comes to the bed. “You look worried.”

I nod. “I am. Me and Antoine are about to get fired.” I wince. “I haven’t not had a job since I was thirteen. I worked at this shitty chicken shack in our small town and the owner was this mean lady. She always called me useless and threw chicken at me.” I grinned a little despite the fact I was terrified of what I had done. “The funny part was her name was Mrs. Beek. She had a chicken shack and her name was Beek.” I laugh at my own joke but Dash doesn’t smile. I cock an eyebrow. “You’ll still love me jobless, right?”

He scoffs. “You are the golden girl of the entire world. What could you—” he pauses, no doubt coming to the conclusion of my worry and possible actions. “Shit, Jane, did you get Antoine to send the information out globally?”

I bite my lip, wishing I could say no. I have never leaked information before. Ever. “Yeah.”

He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. “So he’s exposing them all? Every person who went there is about to become a public spectacle?”

“I couldn’t let it get swept under the rug. I couldn’t risk it.” My insides hurt, but I have to ask even though I know the answer. “Did you go there?”

“No!” He offers up his answer and a wounded look. “Absolutely not. I never pay for sex; that’s insane. Water and sex should both be free to everyone.” He looks deeply into my eyes. “You realize what this means, right? You are done. No one will ever work with you again. I am for certain done. My career is over.”

I hate that this is where he’s going with it. “But they won’t ever have their day in court. The government is going to do the national-security bullshit, and then it will vanish. It will be some urban legend. And all eleven of those dead girls will have died for nothing. My job is worth their lives. I couldn’t risk it being swept away.”

He nods, lifting my chin. “As is mine.” He kisses me, and instantly my phone vibrates.

I glance at it, wincing as I answer. “Hello?”

“Going for code. Prepare,” a man says slowly. He comes back a second later. “Agent Spears, is there a reason our entire case has just gone to every media outlet in the world with the precise list of who made it happen?” The vice president’s voice is strong and harsh, even Christmas morning.

“No, sir.”

“I think you are lying to me, Spears. I think you know why. I imagine it has something to do with the fact you have zero faith in the system and its ability to prosecute those guilty?”

I gulp. “Yes, sir.”

“You have fucked this bad—really shit the bed on this one, but I suspect this was the option you were given. I don’t suppose you regret anything?”

“Just not seeing Guthrie for the man he was.”

He grunts a little. “Yeah, that is unfortunate. I suspect he will have very few friends now. Finding him might not be so hard after all.”

My brow furrows. “Why?”

“Have you seen the media blitz, Spears?”

“No, sir.” I point at the TV. Dash turns it on and scans channels until he comes upon one with Rory’s face on it.

“Merry Christmas, Spears.” The VP hangs up on me. I lower my phone, slack-jawed and shocked as Rory is named the whistle-blower of the biggest scandal in American history.

“Holy shit!” Dash snuggles in with me as Binx finds himself a new comfy spot to rest, oblivious of the outside world around him. “He’s screwed. That organization has some of the most powerful men in the world in it, and Rory has just betrayed them all.”

Epilogue

 S
o you’ll be a lady then?” Angie is squealing she is so excited.

I shove her a little. “No. I don’t know. Dash’s dad is still young. I don’t think I have to think about this for a few years. I’m good. Just stop. Don’t make that face.” I point.