Chapter Three
Sky Villa
One A.M
W hen he arrived at his own personal place, he wasn’t happy. Dimitri, at the last minute, decided not to return to Terrace Glen. He, instead, headed to the luxury condominium to avoid the family.
No, not the family.
He headed there to avoid Emma and Greyson. For tonight, he needed to be alone, or something bad would happen.
Dimitri could feel it.
His mood was dark, brooding, and just about to the point where he was going to lose control. What he wanted was to have some booze, stitch his arm shut, and kill something.
Maybe Thomas Christ would be a good target?
Greyson had said no, but he was willing to ignore the man. After all, why the hell not? Greyson, clearly, didn’t care that he didn’t want to help Marissa Pierce on this case.
A part of him, the angry part, wanted to be defiant in protest. He could feel the trouble coming, and Dimitri had the sick suspicion he was going to be pulled into the storm.
Marissa Pierce was trouble.
Big trouble.
She’d been given a shot in his club, and she’d lied to him. When he hired employees, it was under the guise that they stopped the farce and lived their true lives. It was about rehabilitation before stepping out in the world.
She’d done neither.
That was a huge problem. They shouldn’t be taking this case, and he knew it.
Dimitri didn’t trust her.
He’d done his search on Marissa Pierce, and he knew about foster care. He’d never thought to look deeper.
Why?
He was good at picking up lies.
He was so damn good at it that he prided himself on it, and still, he never knew.
Why the hell not?
What charm did she have over him that he didn’t look or kill her when she came at him in that hotel room?
He never suspected any of this, and that was why he was so pissed.
At her.
At himself.
At Greyson.
Maybe he was losing his edge.
When he saw her tonight, and she’d stabbed him, he knew the truth.
She was corrupted—like him.
Only the wickedest of the worst element could lie to a pro and not get caught, and he didn’t want her near his family. He didn’t want her corrupting what he’d come to love.
The people at Terrace Glen were his heart. They filled him with something he’d never had before.
A family.
Now they would be in danger.
Dimitri also didn’t want to feel that sexual pull toward her. There was something about her legs, and those pouty lips that tormented the hell out of him. When he’d turned around and saw her, it wasn’t as a woman. He saw his purchased prize, and that lust filled him.
Then she shanked him.
And he still didn’t kill her.
What the fuck was his issue?
Dimitri didn’t like the feelings brewing in his gut. He didn’t like that she always grabbed his attention, making him want to break the rules.
His rules kept him alive.
Now he was angry, frustrated, and wishing he could walk away from the whole thing. He didn’t want to work this case with Marissa Pierce.
He knew better.
Only, if he walked, who would protect the people he loved most? Who would protect the Crofts?
Dimitri was trapped, and that pissed him off. He prided himself on always having an escape route to leave a bad situation, and now he was stuck in a predicament he didn’t really enjoy.
If he walked, he lost everything he’d built the last year. He’d lose Emma and her kindness, and he’d lose Greyson and his comradery.
He’d have to leave his sisters behind, and he’d never see Katerina’s baby born or Natasha get married.
His fight or flight instinct was telling him run, but his heart was telling him stay.
There was only one person to blame…
Marissa Pierce.
It all started the second he’d seen her again, and he knew it was going to be bad.
It was a punch to the solar plexus.
It was painful to know he’d been taken by this beautiful woman, and he’d never seen it coming.
He was tricked.
That ate at him.
What was he going to do?
As Dimitri paced Sky Villa, he needed to work this out in his head. The hotel scene had been confusing, but now he got it. He thought back to that night where he carried Marissa back to her apartment.
The scent of her perfume made him insane, but his control was still intact, and he was safe.
He recalled placing her on the couch and seeing the pretty kitchen decorated by her, and it didn’t fit in with the rest of the drab apartment.
She’d been a mystery, as if she wanted to give herself one place to be at peace. That kitchen, fancifully decorated, looked to be it.
In that moment, he’d known the undeniable truth.
He wanted her.
Something about her intrigued him, and he was drawn to that mystery.
When he watched her sneak out, feeding the homeless people, he honestly believed it was to help them.
Then she disappeared without a trace, and that mystery appealed to him too.
He couldn’t find her. She was like a thief in the night.
Dimitri had to do something, but what?
He didn’t like the way he reacted to her being around, and he didn’t like the way she was now touching his family.
He feared for them.
Dimitri prided himself on being able to tell if someone was on the up and up.
Now he couldn’t.
He couldn’t read her.
That meant he couldn’t keep his family safe, and he couldn’t run for his life. So that left being a trapped animal, and that was dangerous.
As he moved around his luxury condo, he was pissed, bitter, and on the verge of hurting someone. Dimitri normally was a master at control, but now, he wanted to put his fist through a wall in anger.
Then the doorbell rang.
“Who the fuck?” he muttered storming there. When he whipped the door open, he saw her.
Emma.
She was there waiting for him.
“Well, this doesn’t look like home, but we have trackers on all the vehicles for a reason,” she said, ignoring the look on his face. She trusted this man with her husband’s life every day. There was no doubt in her mind she would be protected there.
Besides, this wasn’t like Dimitri. He wasn’t a runner. He was a fighter, and she knew something was off.
Her mom instincts were kicking in—big time.
“Where is your husband?” he demanded, his accent present and accounted for, despite his attempts to calm down.
It irritated the hell out of him too.
She irritated him, and for that, he was ashamed.
“He dropped me off. I’m your problem for the night. I guess heading here was a bad idea, huh? It’s kind of hard to hide fourteen stories up.”
That was a total mother way to handle it.
He crossed his arms and glared at her. The whole time, his heart was breaking inside. He wanted her to save him.
God!
Dimitri needed someone to save him.
“I’ve never been in here. Are you going to make me stand here all night, Dimitri?”
His heart skipped.
No one came here.
No one.
Dimitri didn’t fuck women here, and he certainly didn’t entertain company. This was his hidey-hole, and he came here when the demons threatened to take him under.
Like now.
Yeah, this was bad.
He was in no mood for the pretty redhead who tried to mother everyone she loved.
Right then, he was unlovable.
Broken.
Unfixable.
“You should go. I’ll drive you home.”
Emma could see, and hear, the storm. This man was struggling. This was exactly why she told her husband to bring her here. Against his judgment, Emma was willing to do battle for Dimitri and his soul.
Someone had to do it.
The man was slipping from their grasps, and she couldn’t let him go.
So, she’d face this scary storm.
She stopped him from grabbing his keys. “How about you do it after I help you with your arm? If you don’t want me here, then I’ll catch a cab.”
He stared at her. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Clearly. Love makes me do stupid things. I could be at home in my bed with my husband, and yet, here I stand, Dimitri.”
He let that hang there.
He prayed for a miracle.
And he got Emma.
Jesus!
What the hell had happened in the span of one day? Just last night, he’d been in control.
“Clearly, it does,” he said, handing the word back to her.
“Well? Can I come in?”
He moved backward, allowing her access to his private sanctuary. He didn’t let anyone there but Kat or Natasha. No one had seen it but his sisters.
And that realization hit him in the heart like a well-aimed punch. Emma was here.
One more sister for him to love.
That both made him relax and get angry all over again. She had this power over him too.
Now he had to wait to see if she’d hurt him.
“Welcome to my home,” he said, fighting to be pleasant to Emma.
When she entered, it was hard not to look around to check it out. The place was finely decorated, but it was contradictory of what she knew to be true.
Dimitri was making a statement.
He was hiding, and Emma didn’t buy it for a damn second.
“It looks like you,” she offered, as he locked the door behind her.
“Yes, it’s sparse and cold,” he said.
She stared at him like he was crazy. “Actually, I thought strong and masculine. It’s clear you don’t think highly of yourself, Dimitri. I, on the other hand, do.”
Dimitri didn’t know what to say.
“This is a bad idea. You being here, Emma, it’s not a good thing. Please just leave.”
“Why because you want to yell at someone, and I’m here? So, go ahead and bitch and scream. I’ll stitch you up, and we’ll get some sleep.”
He didn’t think she got it.
He was edgy.
Angry.
Horny.
Bitter.
“You’re not safe here. I’m a danger to myself and everyone around me right now. I don’t want to hurt you. Not you, Emma.”
There.
He said it.
There was no doubt in her mind that he was fighting an internal battle, and she would make it easy for him. She’d stand in front of him, giving him all she could.
Emma would protect him when he was too weak.
“Oh, Dimitri.”
She walked right toward him and into his body. Lovingly, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his torso. “I’m very safe with you. I wish you felt the same about me.”
That melted the chill.
How could he be mean to her now?
“Emma.”
She held onto him. “It’s okay, Dimitri. I understand. We all have those demons. We all have those secrets that scare even us, and they chase us. Let me help you tonight. Let me fix up your arm, give you some pain meds, and just keep you company. I know you think you know what’s best, but tonight, I think you need me here.”
He did.
God!
He really did, and that was the problem. If she wasn’t married to a man he loved and respected, he would be trying to steal her away for himself.
He loved her.
He loved how sweet and innocent she was.
He wanted that in his life, and she wasn’t his.
“I trust you,” she said, when his heart quickened. “You’re my brother, my friend, and I love you as my own.”
He wrapped his good arm around her and let her heal a piece of him.
He was already wearing down from the fight. He was exhausted emotionally, physically, and mentally.
Dimitri knew he needed to hold on for one moment, and maybe he’d get strong again.
She looked up at him. “Now, where’s the pain meds and antiseptic. You’re a hot mess.”
He laughed.
“You have no idea.”
He pointed to the bathroom off the living room area. “I’m going to go change in my bedroom.”
He headed down the hall, and Emma went into the bathroom on a hunt for anything they could use to clean him up. Under the cabinet, she found the kit.
Including a tranquilizer bottle and painkillers.
Yeah, that would work.
She grabbed one of each. Someone needed to sleep, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer.
In the kitchen, she found water in the fridge.
Everything was pristine, black, and white, and spotless.
Yep.
This was Dimitri Gideon personified.
Cool.
Calm.
And hurt.
From the counter, she opened the huge first aid kit. She grabbed it and headed down the hall toward his bedroom. When she walked in, he was pulling on a pair of jeans.
“Emma!”
She laughed. “What? I live in a house with seven men. You have nothing I haven’t seen. Sorry, but the male anatomy isn’t shocking. I was a cop. We all shared a locker room.”
He still stared at her as he tried desperately to keep his back away from her view.
“I already saw them, Dimitri. You can pretend they aren’t there, or I can if you’d like.”
He stared into her green eyes.
There was so much emotion in his.
“Choose,” she said, giving him that escape route. When you trapped someone, who was wounded, they reacted like an animal, and she didn’t want him more worked up over all of this.
“I’d like option B, if possible.”
She shrugged. “Okay. Here,” she said, handing him the pills and the water.
He took them.
“I was thinking bourbon.”
“I was thinking it would be nice not to have you die from mixing drugs and alcohol, so the water is your drink of choice.”
He laughed despite himself.
She had that effect on him.
From the day that Randall Mason sicced him on her, he’d always been intrigued. Emma had that essence around her like she would never hurt anyone, and he needed that for now.
“Now, sit on your bed and give me the needle. I’m going to clean your arm and stitch you up.”
“Have you ever done this before?”
“Hell no! What sane person has? Had you come home, Steele would have done this. I’m not a seamstress. I was a cop.”
He raised his hand.
“Like I said…”
He laughed more. When Emma was around, he always felt a million times better. She had this way of making him feel…human.
No one else did.
People stared at him, and they saw Dimitri Gideon, the killer—the mercenary—the man who did horrible things for money. She saw Maximillian Marchenko. He didn’t get why she wasn’t afraid or loathed him.
He couldn’t figure it out.
What was it about her that made him seem like he was worthy?
“How hard can it be?” she asked, as she cleaned the wound with alcohol and clean gauze.
“I’ve been hurt worse. This is nothing. I could have handled it. You’re pregnant and should be home sleeping.”
“About that,” she began. “I needed to ask you something. I know it’s personal, but I figured this was as good a time as ever, since you’re a captive audience, and it’s just us.”
He didn’t like the sound of that.
At all.
It freaked him out. He was trying not to covet his friend’s wife, but it was so damn hard.
“What?” he asked.
“Our wedding is coming up in two months, and I was wondering if you’d walk me down the aisle. I want you and Chris to do the job. It feels right having the two people I trust more than anything beside me that day.”
He stared at her.
“Seriously?”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, I get it. You can say no, and there will be no hard feelings. I just wanted you to be part of my day. You and Chris ARE my brothers. I lost Gage a long time ago, and we eloped because Greyson didn’t want me to be alone on our wedding day.”
He listened.
“Well, here’s another wedding day, and I’m just as alone. My parents are dead, and I don’t have him anymore. It would mean so much to me to have you do what you did for Kat, and what you’ll one day do for Natasha.”
How could he say no?
Especially since he knew what Greyson had found out.
Yeah, he was going to kill Thomas Christ for what he took from this sweet woman.
“Well?”
“I’d be more than happy to do it. Will all three of us fit? Chris is a tad bit bulky.”
“I’m sure he’ll say that about your ego.”
He laughed.
He was feeling better.
“I’m in.”
She took his face in her hands and stared into his aqua eyes. “You are a good man, Dimitri. Despite the hype you believe about yourself, I see the truth.”
He was about to say something.
Only, she gave him a kiss.
It was soft.
It was gentle.
It lingered.
He moved away from her. “Emma.”
She smiled at him. “I trust you with my life. I know you would never hurt me. Sometimes, we just need to feel.”
He was speechless.
Emma patted the bed. “Time to stitch you up. Walk me through it.”
He explained what she had to do, and it wasn’t easy to stay beside her. Emma’s fingers moved over his skin, and her perfume was right there.
He was trying to be good.
He was trying not to think about it.
“I need a favor,” she said, as she threw in the first stitch. She knew he wasn’t going to like it.
“What?” he asked.
“No more hookers.”
He stared at her. “Emma, I’m sorry it embarrasses you, and it’s beneath our family.”
She put her hand over his mouth.
His eyes went big.
People didn’t touch him. They didn’t get too close, and they never treated him like he was just like everyone else.
Emma did.
She had no boundaries, and that confused the hell out of him.
“It’s not that. I’m not embarrassed by anything you do, Dimitri. I’m worried about you. We are watched. Don’t think that Thomas Christ or Commissioner Raye haven’t put out feelers on any of us. They could get to you through a hooker, and if I have to find you dead, I won’t survive. I lived that once, Maximillian. So, for me, I’m going to ask you lose them for the time being.”
He stared at her.
When she used his real name, his whole world shifted. He stopped being angry. Instead, he worried about her. He heard the sorrow.
He wanted to make it stop.
“Okay.”
Dimitri couldn’t believe he agreed to that. What the hell was wrong with him?
She hugged him. “Thank you. When the heat cools down, then I don’t care, but we have so many issues right now, and we can’t lose you.”
“I get it. I’m security.”
“What you are is an asshole,” she stated.
He stared at her. “What?”
“If you think that’s why I’m asking you, then you’re not half as smart as I thought.”
“Emma.”
“Here, let me spell it out for you. If you die, my heart will be broken. You’re important to me and Greyson. You’re not expendable. We can hire security. I can’t hire a brother. Let that sink in,” she said, throwing in the next stitch.
“Jesus! You’re mean,” he said, flinching at how much that one stitch hurt.
“Yeah, people are deceived by my sweet, sunny exterior. They forget I was a cop. I can be mean, and you won’t see it coming.”
The next stitch was gentle.
He relaxed.
“I understand what you’re saying,” he stated. “I’ll agree to it for you.”
She gave him a kiss on the top of his head.
It was so motherly.
It was comforting.
Dimitri relaxed.
And then, he noticed something. His tongue was getting fuzzy, and he was dizzy.
“What did you give me?” he asked, trying to lift his arm. His limbs felt like they weighed one hundred pounds each.
“A pain pill and a tranquilizer. You need to sleep.”
He began panicking. “I can’t sleep. I need…” His words were fuzzy.
She watched him as she finished the last stitch. Emma could see his jugular thumping. He was fighting it.
“Shhhh, it’s okay,” she said, trying to soothe him.
“I need caffeine. I can’t go under,” he mumbled, his words barely coming out. He didn’t like meds for this reason.
He never took them.
What had he been thinking?
“No!” he muttered, as Emma pushed him back onto the bed and lifted his legs. All the while, he fought hard.
“I’ll be here.”
He reached for her. “Please don’t let me sleep. Dreams,” he slurred. “I can’t fight the dreams.”
His fear upset her.
She’d never seen him look this panicked. Here, Dimitri looked like a scared child.
In fact, like Sam had that first night, and so many after it.
In that moment, she saw the similarities, and they broke her heart. She had intended to put him to sleep and head home, but he needed her.
So, she’d stay.
Emma lovingly covered him with the comforter. “I’m here, Dimitri. I’m here,” she said, leaning down to kiss him on the forehead. “Rest. I have you.”
He lost the battle, and his eyes shut.
Emma cleaned up, and she climbed onto the bed. She called her husband.
“He’s asleep. I patched him up.”
“Do you want me to come get you?” Greyson asked.
She stared down at him. “He said something about dreams.”
Greyson didn’t know how much to tell her.
Then again, this was his wife.
“He has really bad nightmares. He’s lived a hard life, Emma.”
“I’m going to stay with him. I’ll sleep here beside him if he needs me.”
“Please tell me he’s dressed.”
She laughed. “He’s shirtless, but other than that, he’s dressed.”
Greyson relaxed. “Be safe, Kitten. I’ll be up working if you need me. Call. Maybe we can have some really raunchy phone sex,” he teased.
“Or, when I get home, I can make your eyes cross with one hell of a blowjob.”
“Vicious,” he teased. “Now I’m holding you to it. Take care of him, okay?” Greyson said, feeling for the man. He knew Dimitri was doing battle for his soul.
All soldiers did.
He did, too, at one time.
Emma was cathartic. He’d share her love if it meant saving a man who’d dedicated his life to their family and well-being.
Dimitri was a good man.
“I’ll see you at ‘Aquarius’.”
“Can you do me a favor, Grey?” she asked.
“Yeah, what?”
“He’s got nothing to eat here. Can you make food magically appear for me to make breakfast for him?”
He laughed. “Will he be getting bacon? If yes, then screw him. He can eat his leather couch.”
She snorted. “I was thinking more like the basics. Eggs and toast. Then again, I’ve never seen him eat breakfast, so this is mostly for me.”
“He’s more a coffee and protein bar kind of guy,” he offered, “always after he works out.”
“Well, he won’t be working out tomorrow. He needs to give that shoulder time to heal.”
Greyson was amused.
Someone was going to be mothered in the morning. That would frustrate the hell out of Dimitri.
Good.
He needed it.
“I’ll have it there for you before sunrise. Get some sleep. You’re carrying our child.”
She placed her hand over her belly. “I can’t wait to hold our baby.”
He grinned as he sat behind his desk. “I can’t wait to chase you around when you’re fat. I’m going to have my wicked way with you.”
She snorted. “You already do.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s good to be king.”
“I love you, Greyson. I’ll see you in the morning. Bring Chris to ‘Aquarius’. Then I’ll swap you bodyguards.”
He laughed. “Clever, my wife.”
“Always, my husband.”
She blew him some kisses and hung up. Then, she fluffed the pillow, and hit the light beside the bed.
She hoped he slept.
He would need it.
They both did.
Their cases ran them ragged, and from the looks of this one, it was going to be a marathon.
Not just the case, but the battle for Dimitri’s soul.
In his office, Greyson hung up his phone. Chris was sitting across from him. He’d opted to stay up, in case something went on at the house.
Natasha was going to patrol, but he wanted her to get some sleep. It rubbed him the wrong way to think she was out walking around at night alone.
She was a girl.
She should be safely inside.
She was his girl.
She should be in their bed.
Well, he said that to himself, not to her. Chris knew better. The women in this house packed more guns than anyone he knew, and he didn’t want to get shot in the ass for crossing the line into possessive caveman territory.
“Is Emma okay?”
“She’s with Dimitri at his place.”
Chris raised a brow. “At his place? Alone? And you’re not shitting a boatload of bricks? Who are you?”
“I trust him.”
Chris said nothing.
“You don’t?” he asked.
“I trust him. I just never thought I’d see you being all cool and collected when another man was near your pregnant wife.”
Yeah, he was aware.
“I let you near her.”
“Well, I’m safe.”
He laughed. “You’re always checking out her ass.”
“Nope. I’ve not looked once since I’ve started something with Natasha. I’m not stupid.”
He laughed.
“Smart. Dimitri would die before putting his hands on Emma. In fact, you take more liberties.”
Chris stared at him. “What? How did I get to be the bad guy here?”
Greyson poured them both bourbon. “True or false?” he began. “You’ve kissed her?”
“True.”
“With tongue?”
“I was bleeding on the floor, and my bucket list was to die making out with a babe. I don’t think you can hold that against me. I was supposed to die. Blame your wife for being stubborn. She saved me. That one is on her—not me.”
Greyson laughed, but the game wasn’t over yet.
“If she was single, you’d be all over her?”
“True.”
He didn’t even hesitate.
Greyson was glad. He didn’t like being lied to by anyone, and especially not the people he called family. That would piss him off.
“And there’s my point,” Croft said.
Chris defended himself.
“Emma’s beautiful, and she’s my type. I have a thing for redheads. I won’t pretend I don’t, and then there’s that sweetness. You’re a lucky man, and we all know it.”
Oh, he was well aware. His wife was the best thing that ever happened to him.
He got it.
Men coveted her.
“Dimitri needs some TLC right now, and she’s in her mothering mode. I’ll entertain it.”
Chris gasped. “I have a splinter. I need some TLC.”
Greyson stared at him.
“What?”
He laughed. “You’re lucky I like you. I didn’t always. I thought you were a dick.”
“Yeah, and I thought you were a corrupt asshole who wanted too much power in Vegas…oops.”
Croft laughed.
“Yeah, funny how that worked out. You were so damn good at your job that you were a year ahead of your suspicions. You get one more shiny star, Captain Ford.”
He snorted. “Thanks.”
Greyson tossed him a cigar. “While the pregnant missus is away, the husband will play.”
Chris figured it was a good time to go on the record. “I want to be honest.”
“Okay, shoot,” he said, as they prepped their cigars.
Chris cut the tip and lit it.
“If you drop dead, I’m marrying her. Okay, carry on.”
He stared at him.
“Are we talking natural causes, or are you plotting my demise?” he teased.
“I’d go with A on this one.”
Greyson laughed.
“I’m not worried. I see how you follow Natasha around,” he admitted.
“It’s true. I’m happy. Emma and I flirt. I wouldn’t do anything to cross the line. I wouldn’t hurt Natasha.”
And that was why he trusted Chris. He was a straight shooter, and he genuinely liked him.
“I believe you.”
Chris needed to talk to Greyson anyway. “I need to discuss something man to man.”
“What?”
“Since her name came up, it’s about Natasha, and I need to keep it between us.”
Greyson held up a finger and checked his tablet. She was tricky to pin down, and she liked to lurk. He pulled up the camera in the pool house.
“Okay, she’s in bed.”
Chris relaxed.
“What about her?” Greyson asked.
“She’s been talking weddings.”
He started laughing. “I owe Curtis money. He said you would be married before me.”
“Wait! Hold on! You all are betting on my relationship? That’s all kinds of wrong. We’re men. We should stick together. What happened to the bro code?”
He laughed. “Yeah, well, you know how the women always win. So, what about her and weddings?”
“I’m not ready yet. I’ve never had this girlfriend and boyfriend dynamic. I dated Denise for years, and then we got hitched right out of high school. I just want to go slow.”
“Dimitri is not going to give you twenty years to date his daughter/sister.”
“I don’t need twenty, but I need more than a couple of weeks.”
“Don’t get her pregnant.”
He was aware. “Thanks, Dad. Can you buy me some prophylactics while you’re at it?”
“All the cool kids call them rubbers.”
He snorted. “What I want to know is how bad is it if I just tell Natasha I’m not ready?”
“Will you ever be ready?” he asked.
“I hope so.”
“Well, then it’s fair to her. Natasha seems like a pretty laid back woman. I can’t see her pushing the issue. She seems happy with you.”
“She isn’t high maintenance. She likes watching movies, and she loves just being near me. That’s a nice change. I’m comfortable with her.”
“Then go for it. When you’re ready, I’ll go ring shopping with you. The pull top from a beer can isn’t appropriate.”
“That’ll teach you. Budweiser doesn’t have those anymore, and you’ll have to fight it out with Emma. She’s going to insist on going so I don’t buy the wrong thing.”
Yeah, he was right.
Greyson laughed. “Okay, you win. What was I thinking? How could I pick out jewelry for a woman? I have no practice.”
That amused them both. Greyson was the king of shopping for his wife. Emma was draped in trinkets at every given chance.
“Thanks for the talk,” Chris said. Then he realized that the man looked a little distracted.
“What are you working on?” he asked. “Are you working because Emma is right now naked in bed with a Russian?”
Croft lifted a brow. “I’m not going to kill Dimitri so you can extend your dating with his sister, but good try.”
He grinned. “Damn it.”
“We have a case.”
“Want help?” Chris asked.
He’d planned on telling them all in the morning, but since the man was there, they could talk about it.
“Yeah, I need help.”
Greyson told him all about what had happened. He mentioned the meeting in the morning, but made sure to leave out anything about hiring a hooker. He was going to protect Dimitri as long as he could.
Eventually, it was going to get out.
“What was he doing at the hotel?” Chris asked.
Greyson tried to come up with something.
“Um…”
“If it’s about him buying women for sex,” he offered, “I already know. Natasha told me. Kat told her because she was worried about him.”
So much for protecting the man.
“I won’t deny or confirm. That’s his business, and not ours.”
Chris got it. “I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you. Anyway, Marissa, who used to work for him is searching for her sister. She said her sister’s pimp was killed.”
“Did the cops…?”
He shook his head. “They turned her away.”
He wasn’t shocked. “We do have Riley. He might be of use on this one.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same. I’m going to call him around seven. He’s usually heading to work. He might be able to give us something.”
“What’s the pimp’s name?” he asked.
“Gerald Darden, and he worked out of a place called the ‘Titty Corral’.”
He began laughing.
Greyson was a smart man. He knew exactly why Chris found it amusing. Every time he had to step foot in a strip club, Emma got something pretty.
It was a good thing they were loaded, or he’d be selling off organs.
His.
“Yeah, I’m not taking that interview. The media loves making up stories about me being some lecherous, lap dance loving asshole.”
Chris was amused. “Yeah, you have a reputation. The media loves seeing you going into those places.”
“Yeah, I’m STILL not taking that interview.”
“Well, if you’re not going…?”
Chris got it.
“Shit! I have a girlfriend. Now, I’m the one who is going to get his ass kicked. That doesn’t seem right.”
Greyson grinned.
“I don’t care. You and Emma are going. She’s always saying she misses being in the field, well, how much trouble can the two of you get into in a strip club?”
He wiggled his eyebrows.
“I will hurt you if you even pretend to enjoy it.”
Chris laughed.
He knew the man wasn’t serious. He gave him a great deal of latitude when watching Emma. As long as she didn’t get killed, Greyson was calm.
“No worries. I’ll take Emma after our meeting with Miss Pierce in the morning. We’ll cover our bases. What will you be doing?”
“I’m going to have Marissa take us to her sister’s place, so Dimitri and I can look around. We might find something we can use to help us out.”
He was good with that.
Greyson paused.
“What?” Chris asked, seeing the storm brewing in his eyes. Greyson was worked up about something.
“I need to know where your allegiance lies, Chris,” he began.
Oh, that didn’t sound good at all.
Something bad was coming.
“What?”
“I need to know…”
He cut him off. “I don’t like the sound of this. Why do I feel like our happy little family is about to go nuclear?”
He pushed the file toward Chris, and let him read it.
“Curtis and Kat found this while they were in Philadelphia.”
He read.
“Oh, holy shit. This is bad.”
“Do I tell her?” he asked. “Do I break my wife’s heart all over again over a man who killed her brother? I don’t know what to do, and for the first time, I’m actually afraid that my actions will hurt her. That’s saying a lot since she tossed her badge for me, and now I’m the mob.”
Chris closed the file.
This was a slippery slope.
“Grey, you have to tell her. She’s always wondered what she could have done to save him. If she finds out that it was a hit, she won’t carry the burden of it being her fault. Emma thinks Gage died because her timing was off, and she wasn’t strong enough to fight that man off. You can’t hide this.”
He was aware.
All of this was weighing heavily on his mind. A part of Greyson wished he’d never asked Curtis to find their contacts in Philadelphia and dig this up.
Now he was burdened with carrying it.
Emma was going to have to deal with whatever choice he made, and it wasn’t going to be a good one.
He could tell.
Croft spelled it out for his friend.
“If I tell her, I’m going to kill him.”
Chris didn’t flinch. “If you tell her, WE will handle him. Emma is all of ours to protect. Lies and secrets are bad, and that’s not how you run this family.”
Yeah, he got that.
Well, Chris said tell her.
Dimitri said don’t.
It looked like he was the tie-breaking vote.
Lucky him.
Sometimes, running this family was harder than it looked.
His job sucked.