Chapter Six
Dimitri’s Vehicle
H e hadn’t been expecting the call. When Greyson saw the number, and recognized it, he was surprised to hear from her. Tessa had been MIA the last couple of weeks, after they’d finished their last case, and he didn’t know what she could possibly be calling about.
It was a mystery.
“Hey, Tessa, what’s up?” he asked, answering the phone call.
He listened, and Dimitri could hear the crying from the phone. Something wasn’t right.
“Honey, calm down. What’s wrong? Is Paris okay?” Croft asked, trying to understand the woman.
He listened more.
“Okay, I’ll be right there. Just breathe and stop panicking. It’s going to be okay. I’m not busy. I have time to see you this morning. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
He hung up.
“Is she okay?” Dimitri asked in concern.
“No, so we have to head to Sky Villa first. Then we’ll hit up Julie’s apartment. Can you entertain Miss Pierce while I handle Tessa?” he asked.
“Is it about…?”
“Yeah,” he answered, cutting him off so the woman in the back seat wouldn’t get any information. Greyson didn’t trust anyone not in the family. “She and Paris had a fight about that right before work.”
“I’ll entertain her.”
Marissa sat in the back seat, saying nothing. She was too busy trying to find a way to get back in to Dimitri’s good graces. She was worried that he’d hate her.
“I’ll solve this, and we’ll get back to the case.”
“I’ll take Miss Pierce to my place and when you’re done, meet us there.”
“Thank you,” Greyson said, patting him on the arm. “I don’t want any of us outside unattended, if possible.”
He got it.
Dimitri still had that sick feeling that they were being followed, but he couldn’t spot a cop. They were so damn easy to see, driving in their obvious police issued street vehicles.
This time, he only felt the eyes.
It was rattling him.
Or maybe that was because of the woman behind him. He didn’t trust her, and his back was to her. She’d already tried to stab him once.
“Thanks.”
They pulled up to Sky Villa and parked in the underground lot. Dimitri rolled down his window at the check-in point.
“Mr. Gideon, welcome home. You should come home more often,” said the security guard. “Then we won’t be shocked when you’re here two days in a row.”
“I know, but I’ve been staying at Greyson’s home.”
“Our home,” Croft corrected.
Marissa listened, and tried to figure out what the hell was going on.
Were they having some sex orgy?
Was this a threesome?
She was confused.
“We’ll see you inside. Please have your guest check-in before you bring her upstairs.”
He pulled through, and parked in his spot. They all got out, and headed to the elevators.
Marissa rode up in silence, between the men.
This was some place.
Dimitri was definitely loaded. She wasn’t surprised. When you had his life of crime, death, and mayhem, you would be.
At the desk, Greyson warmly greeted the guards. He genuinely liked them when they lived there.
“Mrs. Archer is waiting for you,” Tom said. “You can head up, Mr. Croft.”
“Thank you,” he said, and then focused on his friend. “I’ll clear this up as fast as I can,” Greyson stated, patting Dimitri on the shoulder.
“Miss Pierce,” Dimitri stated. “She’s a one-time visitor.”
“You don’t want her on the list for access?” Tom asked, taking her picture to add to the database.
“Absolutely not. Just the family. You should pat her down if she comes here. She’s been known to carry weapons.”
She bristled. “Well, a girl makes one mistake...”
“Stab a person, and they don’t have to like you,” he mumbled beneath his breath.
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re clear,” Tom stated. “Just touch here,” he said, holding out a tablet.
She did.
“Prints match,” Tom said.
“What? You just swiped my prints?” Marissa said, in outrage. “That can’t be right! I know that’s not legal!”
“You can sit your ass down here,” Dimitri offered. “If you’re coming into my home, these are the rules. Sky Villa has a tough security policy for a reason. People who live here don’t want to be shanked in the elevator.”
She said nothing.
He was being an asshole, but she would take it. After all, she had stabbed him, but her patience was wearing thin.
Dimitri headed toward the elevator. Once inside, he hit the number fourteen.
“There’s actually a thirteenth floor,” she said, noticing the button.
“Yes, Tessa and Paris Archer live on that floor. My one sister has a place on eleven.”
He didn’t know why he told her that.
When he was around Marissa, he wanted to do stupid things, even though she stabbed him.
She was wearing a simple skirt and shirt, and he kept checking out her legs.
He was an idiot.
Clearly.
“Are you going to be miserable toward me all day?” she asked.
He glanced over. “Yes.”
“Good to know.”
Dimitri had no choice. He was fighting that attraction. He wanted to touch her, and run his fingers through all that chestnut hair.
He knew one thing.
It was going to be a long ass day.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
At Tessa’s door, he knocked.
When she opened, she was red-eyed and crying up a huge storm. Immediately, she went into his arms, and he hugged her.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, Tessa,” he said, letting her cry all over him. She was part of his family, and he hated to see her hurting.
Especially since he knew why.
This was on him.
He’d been in charge of protecting his people, and Paris had taken that bullet on his watch.
“What’s going on, honey?” he asked, leading her to the couch so she could sit.
“Paris and I had a fight, and I don’t know what to do. He told me to fuck off.”
Greyson was shocked.
Were they talking about the same Paris who wore glasses, he read books for a hobby, and his ties matched his pocket squares?
That Paris cursed at his wife?
It had to be ugly if he had uttered those words, and toward Tessa. She was his heart and soul. Anyone who knew them saw how much he loved her.
It was crystal clear.
“Tell me what happened.”
“He started talking about having a baby again. I’m just trying to stop thinking about it, and it’s so hard. Kat and Curtis are having a child, and you’re trying. I feel like I’m staring in a window and can’t participate in the joy.”
He got it.
Again, on him.
“Tessa.”
“I have been miserable toward him, and he thinks I’m blaming him. I’m not. I just can’t handle it. It’s not fair. We played by the rules. We did everything right. I was discarded as a child and grew up knowing I was nothing. Now life hits me with this. I can’t do it. I’ve given up hope. Nothing is working for us. I feel like the universe is trying to stop us.”
He held her.
“Tessa, it’s okay.”
“I want to make him happy, but I can’t. I’m not happy. It hurts to know that I’ll never hold a child of my own. I’ll go to baby showers and know I’ll never feel any of that.”
“Tessa, he’s hurting too. As a man, it’s hard not to be able to provide everything for your wife. Paris is really suffering over this. He came to me.”
“I know. He told me he asked. That’s what started the fight. I wouldn’t have let him go to you. I wouldn’t have let him beg for sperm. Even saying that makes my heart hurt.”
Had this been any other moment, he would have laughed at the entire conversation.
Only, Tessa was hurting.
Paris was hurting.
His family was suffering.
“Why wouldn’t you let him come to me?” Greyson asked. “Why is that an issue?”
“You gave us this home. You give us income when we work for you, and you gave us money for IVF. I feel like we’re using you.”
He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “You’re not using me. If anything, I use you and Paris. We can’t help people without you. I’ve called Paris at all hours, asking him to profile. I’ve asked him to help Sam. I didn’t know we were keeping score. Had I, then I wouldn’t have asked for your help.”
He waited for her to process that. Tessa was smart, and she’d been a damn good agent. He knew she’d work through it if he left enough crumbs for her to follow.
“We love helping you.”
“So why is it so odd that it’s reciprocal?” he asked. “Why wouldn’t I want to help two people I consider my family? Because I supply money? Well, that’s bullshit, and you know it.”
She wiped her eyes.
“I just feel horrible.”
“You’re reading into this too much. Paris wanted to give you the one thing he can’t supply himself. It had to hurt him to know that he’s lacking in that department, Tessa. Still, he called me, had me meet him face to face, and asked me for help.”
Tessa listened.
“I can’t ask you to give me a child, Greyson. You and Emma are trying…”
He had to tell her.
It was time.
“We’re pregnant, Tessa. Emma is having my child.”
It hit like a ton of bricks.
Tessa could barely breathe. She stared at him, and her lower lip quivered.
“I see.”
“Tessa.”
She began weeping.
He could see how painful this was to her. Greyson had to make the choice. Emma wasn’t happy about it, simply because this technically would be his child, and they hadn’t really decided one hundred percent.
It looked like he was up to bat, and he only hoped his wife wouldn’t flip her shit.
He was doing this for the Archers. When he left, he’d call his attorney, and have Delilah begin drawing up the legal contracts. He had conditions, and they’d have to agree.
Or it was off.
Greyson held her as she wept. When she finally slowed down, he made his move.
“I want you to come to our house tomorrow. I want you to meet us in the morning. Can you do that?” he asked.
She kept crying.
“Tessa.”
She looked at him and nodded.
“I’m going to give you the donation. I’m going to help give you a child. God help you. The Croft genes are a hot mess. You’re going to have your hands full. If you get some gay baby who comes out in feathers, blame my brother.”
She laughed a little. “I’d still love a feathered baby. He would be mine.”
And that was why he trusted them with something so precious to him. Greyson never slept around, and before his wife, he never went dick diving without a shitload of protection. Before his wife, he didn’t want his sperm out there in the world.
Now he was going to trust two people with something so precious to him.
He wiped her eyes with his thumbs. “You and Paris give us unconditional friendship and love. You are our family. You both mean the world to me. When I was asked to hand in my badge, Paris tanked his recertification. You walked away. FOR ME. Who does that?”
“Family.”
“Exactly. Who do you ask for a sperm donation if your husband can’t provide it?”
“We’d ask a brother.”
He let that sink in.
“Chris is Emma’s brother, and so is Dimitri. Both men are mine also. Why is it so hard to think that Paris is mine too? I love your husband, and I’d do anything for him. If this is what you need, then you have it.”
“But Emma.”
“She loves you too. Ask her.”
Tessa wasn’t sure she would be so magnanimous if her husband was the one being asked. She only hoped he wasn’t lying. If she got her hopes up, and there was another blow, Tessa wasn’t going to survive it.
“Now, I need you to do me one favor.”
“What?” she asked.
“Pull your ass out of this funk. If me jerking off into a cup will give you a long life of happiness, so be it. Fix this with your husband. Tell him you love him, and be at my house tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll tell him…”
“No. I want you to tell him we have work. He came to me once and sacrificed his pride. It’s your turn. Tomorrow, you have to be the one who sacrifices for him.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “We are so blessed to have you as our family.”
Greyson held her hands. “You’re mine, too, Tessa, and you will always be mine. Paris matters, and not because I’m the reason he was shot.”
“You’re not.”
He smiled at her. “That’s my cross to bear, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to help you both, and I’m going to be blessed by watching you build a family. That’s precious to me.”
“Thank you, Grey.”
She hugged him.
“Now clean yourself up, slap on some makeup, and go fix the shit mess you caused. In this family, you own it, you fix it, and you get past it.”
She would. “I love you.”
He grinned. “I am a charmer. If your child gets my slickness, well, you are welcome.”
She snorted. “And Emma is a lucky woman. So am I. I found a sweet man, just like she did.”
Greyson squeezed her hand.
“Now go fix him. He’s hurting, too, and Paris doesn’t deserve it. He’s been handed shit too.”
She got up, felt better, and knew she could do it. It was time to take care of her husband.
She’d been neglecting their marriage.
And that was on her.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Dimitri unlocked the door and let her in. The second they cleared the doorway, he was waiting for a comment.
There was none.
“Would you like some coffee?” he asked. “I doubt that Greyson will be long.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He didn’t budge. Dimitri didn’t know why she rattled him, but she did. He was trying not to focus on her, but it was so damn hard.
“If I could go back and undo it, I would have. If I could tell the past me to ask you for help, I would.”
He stared at her. “I don’t understand why you lied to me. I tried to help you.”
“You scare me.”
There.
It was out there.
“Why?” he asked. “Why do I scare you? I’ve never been anything but gentle. I’ve never even yelled at you at work. I’m having a hard time understanding why you felt the need to lie and betray me.”
Did he not see it?
She could see the killer in him. Marissa could feel the air around him ripple with his anger and strength. It was terrifying to face him down.
He was dangerous.
“Why?” he asked again.
“You’re Dimitri Gideon. Do I really have to go there? When you carried me up those stairs…?”
He waited.
“You freaked me the fuck out. Okay? My fight or flight kicked in, and I fled. Had I known it would lead to this...?”
“You stabbed me! I should be the one freaked out,” Dimitri stated. “You were aiming for my fucking throat, Marissa! You had no intention of pulling that knife. You wanted to kill me!”
“I know! Like I said, I was scared. I thought you’d hurt my sister, and she had to come first. I’ve let her down, and I had to find her!”
She began pacing, and he made sure to keep her in front of him. Really, he didn’t trust her.
At all.
“How do I fix this?” she finally asked, stopping in front of him.
“I don’t think you can.”
She began crying.
Jesus.
This was NOT what he was expecting. Dimitri didn’t do well with crying women. He’d raised girls, and that he got, but with this one…
He wasn’t sure what she was going to do next. He preferred predictability.
With her…
There was none.
He couldn’t read her. While his gut warned him it was all an act, his heart was breaking for her. He’d had to save his sisters.
He got it.
He did put a knife through his father’s throat. She was living a parallel life with him, only he was good at killing.
She was barely able to plan it out.
“I wish I could go back weeks and stay. I wish I had the courage to tell you about what was going on in my life, but you’re unapproachable. You scare people.”
He thought about it.
Emma seemed to be able to approach him.
Greyson did too.
Hell!
Tessa upstairs even could.
Maybe it had something to do with her childhood. He knew shitty. They’d all lived it.
“Don’t cry,” he offered, pulling the handkerchief from the pocket of his suit.
“I don’t know how many times I can tell you sorry, so maybe if you just stab me, too, we can get past this.”
He was horrified.
“I am NOT going to stab you.”
“It’ll make you feel better.”
“No, it won’t.”
She sat on the couch. “My sister, the ONLY person I have left in the world, is gone. My mother didn’t care about us, we were abused and molested, and now Julie is gone too. I’m afraid of finding her dead. I’m tired of fighting, Mr. Gideon. I have nothing left. I want to give up.”
That he got.
He was about there, himself.
If not for Emma and the previous night, he would have been a nightmare to deal with. She’d bought him some time.
“I wake up each day and wonder why I was put here. I’m desperate at this point to find the truth. Last night, I was furious that you’d touch a young girl. I walked into that room expecting to find some man and there you were. Then I saw you, and I snapped. Here was this man who I thought was decent, and it pissed me off. You weren’t decent. All of the sudden, the only thing I knew to be true was wrong too.”
He had news for her.
“I don’t have sex with children.”
“But you hire hookers.”
“I do. It’s wrong, and I know it, but finding anyone who will see me for me is hard. Look at you. You said you’re afraid of me. Why? I’ve never hurt you.”
He had a point.
“I don’t want to be afraid of you.”
“What do you want?” he asked.
“I want to find my sister alive. I want to have one more day with her, and I want to stop being afraid of you.”
“I will never hurt you. You stabbed me, and I didn’t even fight.”
She pointed at the bump on her head.
“I had to knock you out. I didn’t slice your throat, or kill you. I was defending myself from a crazy woman, wielding a blade.”
She laughed.
“I needed that.”
He did too.
“I’m not dangerous to people who don’t deserve it. I’ve never hurt anyone who didn’t ask for it, and when I hire a girl, and she wants out, I get her out. ‘Aquarius’ is proof of that, and you know it.”
Okay, he had a point.
She did know it.
“Can I ask you something?” she asked. “It’s important.”
He waited, unsure what it could possibly be. “Okay.”
“Are you in a relationship with Emma Croft? Are you some kinky threesome?”
He was a little taken aback.
How to answer that?
“Uh, she’s like my sister, and he’s my best friend. I don’t poach. Why?”
“I needed to know.”
“Again, why?”
“For this.”
She moved toward him, and she kissed him. Her mouth found his, and the kiss was explosive. She climbed onto his body, and her hands moved through his shoulder length black hair.
Now she wasn’t afraid.
Marissa knew she owed him this. When she stabbed him, he hadn’t hurt her, and she had to trust him. If he was going to find her sister, Marissa wanted them on common ground.
What wouldn’t she do to save Julie?
This was nothing.
As the kiss intensified, Dimitri didn’t know what to do. His whole sense of well-being was thrown off balance.
At first, he was shocked.
This woman was hot, and then she was cold, and then she was hot again.
He was off guard.
But her mouth…?
Jesus H. Christ.
Her mouth was doing something so sinful to his, and he desperately wanted to feel. He wanted to experience what everyone else took for granted.
She was touching him.
And he wasn’t paying her.
She was kissing him.
And there was no fear.
In that moment, he was just like every other man in the world, and he got lost in that alone. Dimitri was finally normal.
His arms went around her, and she settled into his body. As they tumbled back and made out on the couch, there was this sense of euphoria. It was as if the cage was being opened.
Dimitri didn’t feel so empty.
Maybe two broken people could make a whole. Maybe what he was looking for had been right under his nose the entire time.
He moaned as she bit his lower lip. Slowly, she pulled away.
“The day you carried me home, that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to run. I wanted that moment.”
He couldn’t think.
“I wish you wouldn’t have run. This was much more pleasant than the other option.”
She laughed. “You’re funny.”
“Oddly, you’re not the first person who told me that. I’m beginning to believe it.”
There was a huge smile, and she batted her eyes at him.
Dimitri was screwed. In that moment, he got lost. Marissa and her charm did him in.
She was beautiful.
He was lost in her brown hair, and how it felt against his fingers. It looked different, like she had recently changed it, but it didn’t matter.
For the first time in his life, there was a woman kissing him who didn’t have an ulterior motive.
He took a chance.
As Dimitri moved closer to her mouth, a part of his internal warning system was going off. It was screaming, but he wanted this one piece of normalcy for once.
Here was a woman he didn’t have to pay.
He didn’t have to have sex and pretend it was just with some woman he picked up in a bar. He could build an attachment, and he didn’t have to be worried.
His heart skipped as his mouth found hers again.
She held on, even as his one hand started at her ankle and slid up her leg.
Slowly.
A chill rushed through her.
“Mr. Gideon,” she whispered.
“Miss Pierce.”
Dimitri knew what he wanted, and he was pretty sure she did too. After all, Marissa was sitting in his lap, and there was no doubt that he was aroused.
Her fingers went to his shirt, and she unbuttoned the top one, and his breath hitched.
His hand slid further up her leg, breaching the hem of her skirt. Marissa’s flesh felt so warm and inviting, that he knew what was coming.
He had to have a piece of forbidden fruit.
Her mouth found his, and the kiss was deeper than he’d ever felt before. She assaulted his senses with her tongue and lips.
He moaned.
God!
It felt so good.
As she shifted, straddling his hips, he let her take control. If she feared him, then so be it. He would show her he could be gentle.
He was human after all.
As she rubbed against him, his brain went on auto-pilot. His hands were now on her thighs. As they slid further up, he had handfuls of glorious ass, and he went back there.
His brain took over, flickering back to that one memory.
Of her.
Of the betrayal.
Of the woman that he killed.
It shut him down.
“Dimitri?” she asked, as he stopped kissing her.
Fortunately for him, there was a knock on the door. Then his friend’s voice.
He wasn’t sure if he should thank him or hate him for the rest of his life.
Dimitri knew this woman was offering herself up, and now he had to regroup.
God!
He needed to figure this out.
The spell was broken. Marissa slid off his lap and fixed her hair.
Dimitri, torn by the turn of events was now even more frustrated than last night. Instead of saying anything, he headed for his door.
The second he opened it, Greyson grinned.
“It’s all handled. Sorry it took so long.”
“Oh, was it a while?”
He lowered his voice. “Want me to give you time?” he asked, as Dimitri fixed his shirt.
‘No,’ he mouthed.
Apparently, Greyson was saving him.
Whatever.
“You have lipstick on your face,” he whispered. “You might want to wipe that off.”
Dimitri did.
“I’ll meet you at the vehicle.”
Dimitri knew he was going to bust his ass, but oddly, he didn’t mind. It was what friends and family did, and he’d come to love it.
“We should go,” Dimitri said, standing as far from her as possible. If he touched her again, he was likely going to scare her. He couldn’t count on that one memory to come back and stop him again.
That was the only reason they weren’t having sex on his couch.
Well, that and Greyson’s timing.
“Okay,” she offered, heading his way.
“Miss Pierce?” he said, needing to know one thing before he continued to think about what could have been.
She stopped. “Yes?”
“Are you still afraid of me?” he asked.
Marissa smiled and gave him her best flirtatious laugh. It seemed all was forgiven. “Absolutely not. It’s like when you turn on the light and come out of the dark. There’s nothing to fear. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
She headed out.
Dimitri watched her, and her words unsettled him.
He was the dark.
And that’s all he could ever be.
But worse, she had no fucking clue what she was doing. If she did, Marissa Pierce would run.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
LVPD
Captain’s Office
He was pissed and worried. In fact, truth be told, he was ready to freak the hell out at any second. Thomas Christ was a man on the edge, and he didn’t know if he could keep it under control.
The shit was about to hit the fan.
It was only a matter of time.
Somehow, Greyson Croft knew what he’d done.
He didn’t doubt that the world was going to know too. The man didn’t play games, and this was a dangerous one. It could end badly, for him.
Christ did NOT want to go to jail. He’d sent away too many men he’d framed by planting evidence.
If they sent his ass back to Philadelphia, he was a dead man.
Jail.
Death.
They were the same to him.
He needed help on this one, and since he was screwed, there was only one man who could do the job.
Jeffery Raye.
Once his nerves were settled, he reached for his office phone. He could see his detectives milling around, and it didn’t give him any comfort.
His newly found kingdom was about to be stripped away by some two-bit criminal.
It made him desperate.
When the commissioner answered the phone, he couldn’t wait.
“He knows.”
“He knows exactly what, and who are we talking about?” Commissioner Raye asked, taken aback by the man’s borderline hysteria.
“Croft knows about Gage Starling and how you made the papers disappear.”
There was silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
The man wasn’t even breathing.
“How the hell did he do that?”
“I don’t know. He told me he found the file. He told me that he had it.”
“Well, we have to get it back,” he said.
“How?”
“We need to get into that house. My neck is on the line just as much as yours,” the commissioner said. “I falsified your resume and the testing results. I went to bat for you. What the hell, Tom?”
Oh no.
This man wasn’t hanging this one on him.
No freaking way.
“Well, then you better find a way into that mansion of his because the shit is getting real. If I go down, you’re joining me,” he admitted. “I’ll sing. So get my ass out of this sling. You brought me here, and I’ve done what you asked.”
He was aware.
He needed to think.
This was going to be a delicate matter, and he needed to measure everything they did.
Croft would be watching and waiting.
“Help me.”
“I’ll make a call. The FBI Director owes me. I’m about to call in that chip. We are going to get into that house, and once I do, we’ll find that paper. We can bribe a fed or two. It’ll disappear. If he has the originals…”
Thomas Christ hung up.
He didn’t want to know anything else. If he was going to swing, he was taking down the man who put him in this position. Back East, he wasn’t a cop, but he was living an easy life. Now he was about to go to jail.
No.
NO.
Christ was worried. He didn’t know if he could trust the man.
He didn’t know if he could allow him to run this anymore. Everything the commissioner seemed to touch turned to shit. Instead, he picked up the phone and took the situation into his own hands.
“Do you want revenge?” he asked.
Heath Spencer wanted that and so much more. He was out on bail as he waited for his trial, and he was ostracized. He wanted the Crofts dead, and he had nothing left to lose.
His career was gone.
His life was over.
All that was left now was to take them with him.
“I want blood.”
“Greyson Croft has a file I need. If you can find a way into his house, I’ll make sure a couple of cops grab Emma Croft, and you can take your revenge out on her.”
Heath laughed. “Oh, I will get you whatever you need, but it may take time. That house is hard to enter.”
He was well aware.
“I need something.”
“What?” he asked.
“They took my guns. I need some.”
That he could do.
“I have a friend who deals in guns. Here’s his address. Tell him I sent you. Get into that house, and find me that file, and then disappear.”
Heath could do better than that.
He was going to go out in a blaze of glory.
Fuck the Crofts.
They destroyed his life, and it was his time to begin to destroy theirs.