My name is Greyson Croft…
Vegas is a cesspool.
Let’s call it what it is.
Not only that, but it’s getting worse every day. With each corrupt official that I take out, three more take their place. It’s become my full-time job to keep the city on the up and up.
And I’m failing.
I’m man enough to admit it.
I may be in over my head in all of this. At the beginning, it seemed achievable that our small group of ex-Feds, Russian criminals, and my family could put a dent in this mess.
Now, I’m not so sure.
It’s beginning to become overwhelming. With each person that we agree to help at ‘Aquarius’, we have to turn four more compelling cases away.
The issues in Vegas appear to be worse than I originally thought.
How do I help them all?
Is there a way?
There has to be something I can do to save as many people that the system forgot.
I just have to figure it out.
AND FAST.
There are so many questions, and not enough answers to the problems that we face every day.
How do I make a difference?
Am I making one?
All of this goes through my head as I’m silently sitting at our home. I wonder if I’m making it better or if I’m adding fuel to the seedy element’s fire.
It’s a question I ponder each and every day.
There is no black and white in my world.
It’s all gray.
What I do know is that I have to rely on the people I trust to help me through this.
Without them, I’m screwed.
They are the ONLY people in Vegas I trust. I put my faith in the people we call our own.
The family.
Mia familia—as the old Italian mobsters of long ago called them.
They are my lifeline.
When the chips are down, the family will always have my back when I need them the most. We may not all be blood, but we are one.
We are united in the cause to save this city, and that’s all that matters.
We’ve sacrificed our time.
Our careers.
And now our lives.
We’ve given all we have under the guise of being the criminal element, and we will fight to our last breath.
They are my strength.
Beside me, I have my wife. She’s a blessing to me each and every day. When I get lofty, or think I’m going to slip into the dark side of this city, she’s there to pull me back.
Emma is my anchor.
She’s goodness and light, and she’s the one I rely on most in our family. When we are home in our bedroom or locked in my secret room, I can count on her to be my solace.
She’s my sanctuary.
I can count on her to love the man I am, and the man this hellish city has forced me to become. She sees the real me, and has always loved me for those gray areas.
I’m a killer.
I own it.
Let’s call a spade a spade. I’ve done some questionable things since losing my badge.
I’ve broken the law.
I’ve taken life.
I’ve played the odds to win after stacking the deck in my favor.
Still, for my sweet Emma, it doesn’t matter.
When I’m with her, the darkness recedes, and I am able to breathe again. When she sits in my lap, I have a firm grasp on who I am, and how I got here in the first place.
Truth.
Justice.
Law.
They all led me to this Godforsaken hellhole.
It takes a strong man not to succumb to the vile evil that pulses beneath the seedy underbelly of this town.
She’s the reason I stay afloat.
Emma is my goodness. She’s my purity in a world filled with hate and ugliness. Without her as my constant reminder, this city would have swallowed my soul whole.
She is my everything.
She’s also going to be the mother of our child. In her body, she’s growing a miracle. She’s making me a child.
That’s a gift I never thought I’d be given, and now one I can’t imagine living without.
Emma, my reason for living, is giving me one more miracle in my life.
I’m going to be a father.
Now I have everything to lose, and even more to fight for in this town.
I will do battle with the Devil, himself, to keep my wife and child safe. I will go full on rogue and play in the muck and mire to give our child a place to be safe.
Nothing will touch my core.
I will use every resource I have before I give up.
Speaking of resources…
Then there’s Dimitri Gideon. He was born Maximillian Marchenko, and he’s a killer too. He’s lived so long on the shady side of existing that he’s lost just like me.
Dimitri is battling his own demons, but as he keeps fighting, helping women in this city, he’s learned a thing or two about Vegas.
Don’t make it personal.
This city hates everyone.
Don’t second guess yourself.
If you do, you’ll never sleep at night, and he should know. Sleep, like peace, eludes him.
Don’t trust anyone you don’t call family.
He’s learned that one personally, and he’s on board with our team. They are his as much as mine.
Why?
Dimitri is my right-hand man. We share everything in this family.
Assets.
Money.
Power.
Nothing is ‘MINE’, but ‘OURS’, and he’s good with that. We’ve built our businesses to be unstoppable money powerhouses, and that’s what keeps us afloat.
His and my relationship has evolved.
At first, he was nothing more than security, but he’s become something so much more. Without Dimitri, I can’t pull off half the things I need to do to survive and protect my own without him.
He’s my friend.
He’s my partner.
He’s my brother-in-arms.
I trust him enough to call him my own, and know enough to see that he’s his own force to reckon with.
What I like best about him is that Dimitri isn’t one to mince words.
He tells me like it is, fearless from the repercussions. In the end, I won’t ever turn on him because I’ve chosen him to be my brother.
We are thick as thieves, and we plan to stay that way.
Yet, there are rumors.
Some people say he has a thing for my wife, as he’s always doting and watching her.
I’m not blind.
I see it all.
Honestly, it’s something I’ve had to come to accept. This is Vegas, where you can roll the dice and be a winner or dead by morning.
I trust my woman, and I trust my family.
Besides, the more people watching Emma in our family, the safer we are. We have to keep our eyes on the prize, and on the people in the game.
Emma is my queen.
She’s protected by him, and I’m willing to ignore that he’s coveting what’s mine.
It’s one of the sacrifices I have to make to survive in ‘Sin City’.
Then there’s my blood.
Dante Atticus Croft.
He’s a soldier to his core, and he’s an enigma. While we look so similar that people sometimes think he’s me, we are very different people on the inside and out.
I’m older, I hope wiser, and carrying the weight of this city on my shoulders.
Dante is covered in ink, and he happens to love men. I don’t get it, but that’s not my road in life. All I know is my brother would die for me, and I would do the same.
Dante would shed blood for any of us, and he’s a soldier in the fight against what is wrong with this city.
Corruption.
With my brother behind the helm of our businesses, I know the Croft empire will grow. Emma inherited this money, and Dante is making it profitable.
Why?
So we can help people.
The more he makes, the more people we can help. That’s our goal, and we’re going to ensure that we save the downtrodden that Vegas has threatened to consume.
Dante is blood, but he’s also my friend, and he has my ear, my heart, and best interests in mind.
Then there’s Curtis Croft.
He’s my son in all ways. He acts like me, he is a caveman in the making, and he’s also there to have my back. Curtis is the son I’ve always secretly wanted, and he makes me proud each and every day.
While I trained him to be a good guy, he’s followed me into the dark. While there, he’s changed.
He can hack with the best of them, playing on the Dark Web for shits and giggles.
He’s my computer guy, my head researcher, and a man I respect from the bottom of my heart.
My son is going to be a father.
Ironically, he’s going to give me a grandchild before my own child is even born.
This confuses everyone, but us.
When in Vegas, do it backward.
It’s the Croft way.
Curtis will one day be at the helm, and I’m trying to teach him the ways of this crooked paradise. If I need it broken into on the cyber trail, he’s the one who can make it happen. Maybe he was meant for this lifestyle.
He’s so damn good at it.
Then there is his wife, Katerina, my new daughter-in-law. While she’s pregnant, Dimitri has pulled her out of the rotation. While she’s carrying a Croft heir, she has to be kept safe. If anything were to happen to myself, she’s giving us a backup plan.
This child is wanted.
By them.
By me.
By Dimitri.
We will die to keep her protected. As long as we’re here, no one will touch a hair on that child’s head.
Dimitri has vowed that, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We know how dangerous it is to have children here. They are a way of strengthening our family, tying the Crofts and Gideons together, and putting a little something away for the future.
They are the next line of vigilantes being born of ex-Feds and Russian killers.
That scares a lot of the seedy element.
The scum in this city would kill her just to end that baby’s life. Curtis is already marked since this fortune is mostly his, but that baby…
They will want Sadie Emma Croft to die in her mother’s belly.
That can’t happen.
Not on mine or Dimitri’s watch.
As the men heading this family, it is our duty to protect the women. Being a caveman, in my world, is a good thing.
It will keep our family alive.
Kat has gifts you just don’t find every day. She’s excellent at weapons, and can shoot anything you hand her. She’s great at breaking into buildings, and she speaks more languages than the rest of us.
She’s an asset, and once this child is born, she’ll be back in the rotation.
We need her to have our backs.
The family is blessed to have Dimitri’s other sister on our team too. So, as Kat is taking a safety sabbatical, her sister, Natasha, is picking up the slack.
The woman is a mystery.
Literally.
She pops in, disguises herself, and disappears in plain sight. She’s the Harry Houdini of our family. If you need to go invisible, she’s your girl. We haven’t found a pair of handcuffs that can keep her contained.
She’s an enigma to us all.
Lately, as she begins her relationship with Christopher Ford, she’s been a lot more visible.
She laughs.
She smiles.
She kicks ass.
Having her on the team is an asset too. Natasha can steal anything, anywhere, and anytime. She has no fear of dying, and that, in our lives, is important.
At any time, we could go down.
There is always a chance of collateral damage. It’s the downfall of what we do. Vegas thinks we are expendable.
It just may be right.
This is one more price we all pay, and one more worry I carry to bed each and every night.
I worry about the women.
I’m not alone.
Natasha’s sexy heartthrob is none other than Emma’s bodyguard, Christopher Ford. He’s big, bulky, and smart. He was once a homicide captain, and he can run any operation with his eyes closed. More importantly, he’s madly in love with my wife.
I can see it.
I’m not blind.
While he courts Dimitri Gideon’s sister, he’s still carrying a torch for the woman he now calls sister. It’s a bond I have NO intention of trying to break.
That love was forged when Emma saved his life, refusing to leave him behind. In that bloodshed, it formed an attachment that matters.
I get it.
Once, back in Celestia, she saved my bacon too. She found the killers, rescued me, and I fell madly in love with her. So, I don’t blame Christopher Ford.
I get it.
Besides, the media has played with it. They’ve twisted it, made it something perverse, and cheap—that’s on them—not him.
We are a family, and I know they will never betray me. Besides, it keeps the seedy element guessing.
If they think Emma has a few men courting her affection, they might not try to take her down.
Why risk retaliation?
I have to work with what Vegas has given me. The picture isn’t always clear, but muddied with falsehoods I’ve let slip by.
That’s the way I like it.
I have faith in my family to never cross that line, and I trust him not to break that bond.
He’s earned it.
Chris has saved my wife’s life before, and I have no doubt he will be forced to do it again. Suited up in the most expensive body armor, he faces down the fact that if he’s off his game, Emma could die.
I trust him with the most precious thing in my life, and I know what he risks for her each time they leave the house.
It is a labor of love.
It’s a risk of dying.
Chris has a hard job, and I’m not going to ride his ass. Just recently, the man has finally come around, forgetting that he was once a cop. Natasha has had a big part in that, and I’m glad.
It’s not easy going from carrying a badge to carrying the weight of this city on your shoulders.
But we do.
Daily.
That keeps everyone guessing. The bad guys fear the cops we were, and the supposed good guys fear what we know from our pasts.
It keeps the hounds at bay as our family is growing.
With each day, we have one more person signing on to fight the good fight.
We are covering our bases.
We have an ex-ME who knows the dead. Steele Bentley is on the cusp of becoming my brother. He’s marrying Dante in the next week, and he’s going to be carrying that bull’s-eye on his back too.
He’s got something that is more valuable than all the money in the world.
When he was abducted, he didn’t break. They abused his body, tried to destroy his spirit, and his soul, but they failed.
He was loyal beyond the moment they dropped his battered body into that grave.
He was going to die for the Croft family, and that’s an asset. Steele may be battered and bruised, but when he’s back on his feet, he’s going to help keep this train on the tracks. We deal with the dead.
He’s the king of them.
Having an ME at your fingertips is a blessing. The last two cases, he was able to see the clues in the victims, and that made the difference.
He may think he’s used up, but to us, he’s essential personnel.
But that’s not all…
We don’t have one doctor.
We have two.
Doctor Paris Archer is a psychologist with expertise in criminals. Once working for the FBI, beneath me, he’s now at my fingertips when I need a profile, or to help us keep this family on track.
He can analyze anything.
Anyone.
He can work a case from a totally different perspective, and that makes him incredibly valuable.
He gave up his legs out of love and loyalty, and he’s helped us make a difference. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.
Nothing.
He’s mine to protect.
Why?
I put him in that chair, and I’ll give him anything he needs to keep his life intact.
Beside Doctor Archer is his girl. Tessa was a Fed, and she’s good with details. We use her a lot to do the legwork. She’s got a propensity to work the details, find the threads that tie them together, and help us reel in a killer.
She helped find the last one with her deep searches, and we are blessed to have her on our team.
In Vegas, so much is fake and a fraud. It’s hard to tell what is real and what is going to bite you in the ass. One can’t be too careful, as you dig for the truth.
Beneath the lies.
Beneath the ugliness.
Beneath the vile disregard for human life.
It’s a never-ending battle, and I have some secret help from the other side.
Yes, I own a cop.
Don’t be surprised.
What kind of gangster would I be if I didn’t have someone working the cases right under the other cops’ noses?
He wants to clean up the corruption, and I think he’s bat shit insane to think he stands a chance.
Just like us.
So, Riley Henderson, the son of a cop, who was the son of a cop, who was the son…
You get my point.
It’s in his blood.
He’s out for justice, and with him on the inside, I know I can pull it off. We have our eyes and ears in place, and we’re ready to do battle.
We have our bases covered.
Our lawyer rounds out the power players on the team. Delilah Fleur is damn pretty to look at, but beneath that defense attorney gleam is a savvy woman who knows what she wants in life.
She defends the wrongly accused.
While the local cops despise her, she has her own little way of taking the bad guys down a notch. Delilah uses her law degree to make their life hell.
She’s a nightmare in the courtroom, and she’s playing for Team Croft.
Last, but not least, our newest team member is a child. He was tossed by his family, abused by the system, and now is one of us too.
He knows what the bad side of Vegas looks like, since he was dropped into it as a baby.
Sam is on the cusp of becoming ours.
He’s chosen Dimitri to be his father, and he’ll learn the ropes. Hopefully, we can teach him how to be a bad guy the right way. We have high hopes, and know the boy will do the family proud.
He has light fingers.
He’s silent when he stalks.
He’s got the makings of a perfect criminal.
Emma wasn’t the only one who fell in love. He has all of our hearts.
Sam has found his father-to-be, and he’s staked his claim on the Gideon clan. We are training him to fight for the underdog, like him—to always do what you can—even when it skates the line between wrong and right.
Most importantly, to fight for your family—blood or not.
And he’s learning fast.
He’ll learn from his soon-to-be sisters, his new father, and from me.
I’ll take him under my wing, and he’ll one day run this empire beside my son, my child growing in Emma’s body, and the people we leave behind.
We aren’t just a force to be reckoned with.
No.
We are an empire.
Destiny.
We are the ones you find when you can’t get justice from anyone else.
We are the Gideons and the Crofts, and we are going to save you.
No matter what the cost.
Signed,
Greyson Croft