HOUSE OF PAINE

 

Chapter 1

 

 

The brilliant glare of the sun and the vivid colors of the spring day were offensive to Paige. It was as if there was a conspiracy to show her how the world would go on without him. It made Paige angry. The world shouldn’t still be spinning on its axis while her brother lay in a box that currently perched on the shoulders of his comrades as they carried it towards the freshly dug hole in the ground. Paige thought that everything should be as grey and ugly as her emotions. Funerals should never take place in the spring. The air should at least be cold and damp…or foggy. The singing birds and blooming flowers made her angrier than she already was and as she walked through the churchyard like a silhouette of herself, she wished that she was as insubstantial as the shadows. Perhaps then her insides wouldn’t be tangled into painful knots. Her mother clutched onto her hand…looking for support Paige felt too weak to give her as the honor guard designee escorted them to the staging area. He turned and saluted them, and then he saluted the casket as the rest of the honor guard carried it towards them. She despised the casket. It was the symbol of why they were here and because she needed something to focus her angst upon, she chose to focus it on the wooden box that cocooned what was left of her brother.

Greg is gone.

The light he brought to the world had been extinguished forever she thought quietly to herself as the tears gently rolled down her cheeks.

They took their seats in one of the white chairs in the front row, the ones that were reserved for family. She could hear her mother’s soft sobs and she could feel her trembling. Paige sat in silent grief and waited for her brother’s funeral service to begin. She was no stranger to grief. She’d only been ten years old when she lost her father. But the grief was buffered back then by the fact that she not only still had her mother but she had Greg. This felt different. It was stronger…deeper, more painful. She and her brother were always close, but the tragedy of losing their father at such a young age forged an even stronger bond between them…one that couldn’t be broken by anything…not even death. Paige lifted her head and watched as the casket was placed in its place of honor.

Then the chief of police said, “Will everyone please rise for the presentation of colors by the New York Police Department Honor Guard. The singing of the National Anthem will be performed by Officer Hayley Barrett.”

Paige gripped her mother’s hand and helped her to her feet. She glanced at her face. She was almost unrecognizable to her daughter. Greg’s death had aged her beyond her forty-five years. She looked sixty-five today at least. Her face was gray and drawn and no trace of the mother Paige knew lived in her eyes at that moment. Paige had a good idea that part of her mother’s grief was also regret. She had never been as close to either of the kids as their father was. His death, instead of bringing them closer to her had pushed them even further apart emotionally. Nevertheless, a parent should never have to bury their child.

It’s unnatural.

Thoughts were swirling so rapidly through Paige’s head that the sound of the National Anthem was like background noise to her. She barely heard it when they were asked to take a seat. Her mother tugged at her hand and she sat down. As the priest was giving the invocation and then the prayer, Paige let her mind wander into the past.

Paige was in her fourth year of medical school at Princeton. She lived with her mother simply because financially while she was in school, it was easier on them both. Greg was in New York. After graduating from the police academy in New Jersey he had worked patrol for about a year before taking the test for detective. Paige knew that her brother had one goal in mind and that was to bring down some of New York’s most notorious drug lords. That was an obsession that had taken root in his mind as a teenager when they had found out the man their mother married controlled most of New York’s drug traffic.

When Greg was twenty-five he got a job with the NYPD in their Vice squad. Within six months he was working undercover. He didn’t give his sister and his mother any details but he sent Paige a text once a month to let them know he was okay. During that first year, she went to New York three or four times and they would spend the weekend hanging out and just having a good time like they did when they were kids. He seemed happy and as long as she saw him happy and healthy and she got his text each month, her world was okay. It was on her last visit to Greg that the bad feeling crept into her soul and took up residence there. She somehow knew instinctively that things were about to change, dramatically.

She arrived on a Saturday morning like she always did and let herself into his apartment with her key. She was met with a shirtless, sweaty, shaky Greg…cocking his gun.

“What the fuck Greg!”

“Shit! Paige, what are you doing here?”

“What are you talking about? I just talked to you three days ago. I told you I was coming. Put that gun the fuck down, will you?”

Greg looked at the gun in his hand like he just realized it was there. Paige was suddenly feeling sick. His hair was greasy and long and he had at least three days growth of hair on his face. He looked like he’d lost twenty pounds since the last time she saw him and along with the shaking and sweating, his pupils were as large as saucers, taking up nearly his entire iris and making his usually pretty eyes look scary.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and went over to the desk in the corner of the room. He sat the gun down and ran a trembling hand through his matted hair.

“Greg? What’s going on?”

She saw his shoulders rise and fall. He was taking a deep breath before he turned around to face her. “Nothing is going on. I was startled, that’s all; Stop being so fucking paranoid. I’m a cop…I own a gun.”

“Yeah, I know. Usually seeing you takes care of that…but you look like shit, Greg. Are you sick?”

“No, I’m just tired. I’m not sleeping well.”

“You’re skinny. Are you eating?”

“I eat. Jeez Paige what’s with the fucking inquisition?”

“I just want to know you’re okay. Look at yourself.”

She looked around the apartment. All of the blinds were drawn but even in the semi-dark she could see that the place was a pig-sty and it had a funny smell.

“Look at this place. What’s going on Greg?”

He looked around the room with a confused look on his face like he had no idea what she was talking about before saying, “I work a lot. I don’t have much time for housekeeping. Let’s go out. Let’s go have a drink.”

“Greg it’s ten a.m.”

“So now you’re the fucking drink police too? That medical school bullshit is going to your head.”

“Greg…”

“You know what Paige? It’s just been a fucked up week, okay? I’ve had a bad week, I’m taking the weekend off and I’d like to relax and not have to explain myself to anyone, let alone my little sister. Maybe we could do this another time.”

“You want me to go?”

“Yeah, I think that would be best. I’m sorry; I just need to get some sleep before I have to go back out there. I need to be alert….”

“Go ahead and sleep. I won’t bother you. I’ll clean up while you…”

“No! No, Paige. You’re not my housekeeper. Please…just go home. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“That’s not what the ladies say,” he said with a grin and a wink. He was trying to pacify her…make her feel better so she would leave. That bad feeling was telling her not to go. If she didn’t know better she might think he was on drugs. He looked like a junkie that was just about to go out looking for a fix. Greg would never use drugs though. He hated them and anyone involved with them. But she had to ask…

“Greg…are you taking something?”

“Taking something?” he said, like he didn’t understand the question.

“Are you using drugs?”

“Fuck Paige! No! I’m a fucking undercover cop.”

“You’re human…you’re around them all the time…”

“Go home, Paige.”

“Greg…”

“No! Go home. I’m fine and I’m not a fucking junkie, okay? Go home and worry about your own life. Mine is fine.”

Nothing about her brother was fine that day. When he was a kid his room was so clean you could have literally eaten off the floors. He always had that kind of obsessive compulsive component to his personality that made him do just about everything with a sort of military precision. He would have never lived in the sty that his apartment had become. He also took a lot of care with his appearance. His dark hair was always styled, his face cleanly shaved unless he happened to be wearing a goatee and then he kept that neatly trimmed. He was always clean…always well-dressed. Everything she had seen that day was contrary to what she knew about her brother. That person was not Greg…she wasn’t going to leave him until she had some answers.

“Let’s just go get something to eat…then if you still want me to go home, I will.” She had to find out what was going on or she’d go back to Jersey and worry herself to death. Greg’s face visibly softened.

“Okay, give me a minute to clean up.”

She forced a smile at him and he disappeared into the bedroom. While he was gone, she’d cleaned up his living room as much as she could. She was on her way to do the kitchen when he came out. He had put on an NYU hat and washed his face. He had on a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans…but most notably, he wasn’t shaking. He wasn’t sweating and his whole persona seemed to change. She hated herself for it, but she had to wonder if he’d taken something else while he was in the room…something to take the edge off.

He grabbed her up into a bear hug and said, “I’m really sorry about my attitude. It was a long week and I am wiped out…but I’m always happy to see you. Let’s go eat.”

They went to a nearby diner and although Greg ordered a big breakfast, he didn’t eat much of it. He seemed to be constantly looking around the room, over his shoulder and towards the door. He jumped every time someone dropped so much as a spoon. He went out of his way for the rest of that day to prove to his sister that he was okay but she could see that he was visibly nervous or worried about something.

After breakfast they went to the Bronx zoo and walked around for hours looking at the animals and talking about her classes at Princeton. He was always interested in how she was doing, but that visit was almost as if he were desperate to keep her talking about anything that had nothing to do with him. After the zoo they went to a movie and then had dinner. Throughout the day Greg took about ten phone calls, each time walking as far away from her as he could. He usually looked even more nervous after one of those calls. Paige asked him a few times if he was okay and who was on the phone. He would say he was fine and the phone calls were “work related.”

Before Paige left the next day she made sure her brother’s apartment was clean. She talked him into showering and shaving and she went grocery shopping and filled his refrigerator and pantry. It was the first time she ever had to take care of her older brother. It was also the last time she would ever see him alive

Chapter 2

The mayor gave his speech and talked about all of Greg’s arrests and commendations. Then the Chiefs of Police from both Princeton, where Greg worked as a patrol cop, and New York where he’d been for the past two years, gave their speeches. They both held him up as one of their best. When it was time for the eulogy, Greg’s partner Tommy stepped up to the podium. Paige had passed on saying anything. She knew how she felt about her brother and anyone who knew them, knew that as well. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it together long enough to make a speech. When she looked at Tommy, she had to wonder if he could either. She could tell that he’d already been crying.

She’d met Tommy more than once on her trips to New York. He seemed like a really good man to her and Greg thought the world of him. Tommy cleared his throat and said, “Monsignor Byrne, Monsignor Romano. Mayor Todd. To Greg’s mother Crystal and his sister Paige and any members of his extended family, the New York City Police Department and I extend our deepest condolences to you.

Today, as we honor the memory of Detective Greg Acosta. I’d like us to recall the words that stand forever engraved on the national law enforcement memorial in Washington D.C.: “it was not how these officers died that made them heroes; it is how they lived.”

Today, we remember how Greg Acosta lived. He lived large. He was full of life. He loved his family and his friends. He cared deeply about the lives of his fellow officers. Greg was the guy who would always defend the weak against the strong and fight for what was right. He didn’t become a cop for the paycheck. He did it because he firmly believed that good should triumph over evil. His life was dedicated to making it so, and each day that I showed up for work and saw him there beside me, I felt safer.

Greg was the guy you wanted to show up if one of your family members ever needed help. His devotion to his own family was legendary. His father was a cop. Greg lost him too young, but he never forgot him. Bruce Acosta was a legend in his own right. He was a cop for almost twenty years before cancer took his life too soon. His son thought he walked on water and from what I hear from the cops that worked with Bruce, that wasn’t far from the truth.

Greg’s locker at the 102nd precinct is covered with pictures of his father and mother and his sister, Paige. Those of you who have eyes know that Paige is a beautiful girl. Those of you who wanted to retain your balls took care how you mentioned it to Greg.”

There was a rumble of laughter from the crowd. Tommy took a drink of his water and went on. “His family meant everything to him. He fought crime because he wanted his family to have a safer world to live in. If Greg had lived long enough to find his soulmate, she would have been one lucky lady. As it is, the world will be a sadder place not only without him, but without the lives he could have brought into it and nurtured and cherished.

Like most cops, Greg hated for his family to worry. He didn’t share any of the details of his day to day life on the job with them. When Paige would come to visit and we’d all go out, she would ask him how his day was and what happened…Greg would smile and say, “It was a slow day, Sis. Tommy and I sat on our asses and drank coffee.” In the two years Greg and I were partners, I can count on one hand the times we sat on our asses. Greg was extremely active and he spent the last two years of his life working deep undercover. For those of you who have never done it, I will tell you this: It’s like being in hell. Some mornings you wake up and forget who you are and where you’re at. You live in a constant state of fear that you’re going to forget at the wrong time and they’re going to make you for a cop…Greg didn’t have an easy life, but he thought what he was doing was important enough to make sacrifices for.

The mayor gave his speech and I’m sure you all heard this but I will repeat it, this year alone, Greg and I made over fifty arrests. We took hard core drug pushers off the streets. We broke up a sex-trafficking ring and we closed down more than one meth lab. We didn’t sit on our asses, and that was how Greg liked it. The first call I ever took with Greg was on his first night as a vice cop. I was skeptical when they put me with the rookie…I always am. Every time we step out of the house, we’re in the line of fire. You have to know you can trust your back-up, and I didn’t know that about Greg…yet.

We responded to a call at a strip club. The reason vice went in was because this was a place we’d been watching for a while in the hopes of establishing that they were selling drugs out of this establishment. One of the girls made the call. She was the suspect’s girlfriend and he actually shot her while she was on the phone with 911. When we got there, he was barricaded in a room upstairs and as soon as we got out of our cars, he started shooting from the windows. We found out later that he had an arsenal of weapons up there. We exchanged fire with him and when the shooting stopped and it was time for someone to go in and get this guy, Greg’s hand was up first.

I’m going to make this sound easy…Greg apprehended him. That took over an hour and a flesh wound to his shoulder. There was a lot of talking and a lot of bleeding. Greg saved a lot of lives that day, mine included. That rookie earned my respect and the respect of at least ten other officers at the scene. He was awarded a Medal for Exceptional Merit. It’s an award that some thirty year officers have never received. During that award ceremony every officer that was on the scene that day spoke about him and they all said basically the same thing. He was calm under pressure. He had an easy way with people. He was patient and didn’t rush in trying to be the hero…he just wanted everyone to be safe.

Greg was an exceptional officer, an exceptional son and brother and the best friend that I ever had. I think it’s important to ask ourselves where cops like him come from. I have to say that although he is certainly testing our faith on a day like today…the same God that brought us here, brought him to us. We can’t change the plans that God had for this incredible man, but we can thank him for sharing him with us, if only for a short time. I thank you all for listening, for being here today…and I thank God for the two years I had with my best friend.”

Paige wiped the tears once again from her face. She knew her brother was tough. She knew he was brave, and she knew he was an incredible human being. But, it was good to hear that other people knew it as well. The pain of losing him was still the most intense pain she’d ever felt, but somehow it felt better to know that she and her mother wouldn’t be the only ones mourning him.

As she had that thought and they were setting up for the 21 bells, she saw a familiar face standing back under a tree. It was her former step-father, Jackson Paine. He was standing with two young men. The two men looked very much alike. They both had dark hair and light colored eyes. She couldn’t see the color of them from where she sat, but they were quite a contrast to the dark wavy hair on their heads and the facial hair that one of them sported. They were both big guys, dressed in expensive suits but looking like linebackers. The ripple of their jackets hinted at a rock hard body underneath. Their features were different enough that it was obvious they weren’t twins, but alike enough that they had to be brothers. She wandered for a second who they were, but decided that they were probably Jackson’s bodyguards. Jackson Paine never went anywhere unaccompanied. When she was a girl, she used to think it was just because he was such an important businessman. Greg was the one that had at fourteen, discovered the truth: Jackson Paine was one of the most powerful drug lords that New York had ever known. That discovery caused a rift in Greg and their mother’s relationship. Crystal didn’t believe him and Greg suspected that it was because she just didn’t want to.

Paige’s attention was drawn back to the funeral by the sound of the bag pipes. After that was the final radio call…it was a hero’s funeral, and in spite of the way her brother had died, Paige firmly believed that he deserved it. Her mother clutched the American flag she was given tightly to her chest as if it were a life raft and Paige found herself slightly envious because she could feel herself being dragged under. As the service dragged on, it became harder and harder to breathe. When Taps were finally played, her mind once again drifted back.

 

Chapter 3

Paige was three days from finishing the school year. She couldn’t wait for the small reprieve that summer vacation would offer her before starting her internship in August. It was May and the sounds and colors of spring were everywhere. Normally that would have made her happy, but there was one thing holding her back…Greg. His texts over the past few months had been sketchy at best and each time she tried to go see him, he would tell her that he was working overtime and that although he missed her, they’d have to postpone it. That day as she left school, thinking about what she needed to take care of before it closed for the summer, she got a text.

She pulled out her phone and looked at it. It was from Greg and it said, “Paige, I need your help. Call me. I need to talk.”

She stopped where she was and called him right away. The phone rang a few times and went to voicemail. After the tone she said, “Greg it’s me. Call me back. I’m worried.”

She kept the phone in her hand as she got on the bus and all the way home. Her brother didn’t call or text her back. When she stepped off the bus a few blocks from home she texted him again. “Greg, you’re really worrying me. Please call…or at least text to let me know you’re okay.”

He didn’t call or text. The next two days Paige called and texted him at least twenty times. He never responded. She was crawling out of her skin and on the verge of skipping her last final and driving to New York when she finally received a text. It was a cryptic one and it didn’t make any sense to her. It said, “Make sure you check my apartment. I have something hidden there that is very important.”

She texted back right away, “What does that mean? When am I going to check your apartment?” He didn’t answer her and she didn’t hear back from him at all that night. She went to bed that night resolved to drive to New York in the morning and find out what the hell was going on.

The next morning she got up at six a.m., showered, dressed and she was headed down the hall towards the kitchen to get some coffee. She heard her mother up already. Before she made it to the kitchen, the doorbell rang. Her mother came out of the kitchen and they nearly ran into each other.

“Who in the world is here so early?” her mother asked as she headed for the front door. Paige saw her stand on her toes and look out the peep hole and when she came back down to her feet, her face was as white as a sheet.

“Mom? What is it?”

Her mother looked frozen, like she couldn’t speak and she was visibly trembling. Paige walked over and tried to look out. Her mother nudged her back. “Mom! What is wrong with you?”

Paige gently moved her out of the way and pulled open the door. Standing on their front steps were the two men you least want to see when your brother is a cop. One was an N.Y.P.D. officer in a uniform with a lot of brass and the other was her father’s partner Joe.

“No!” Paige backed away from the door.

“Paige.”

“No! Go away!” Paige was screaming at them. She ran to her room and grabbed her phone. She called her brother. It went straight to voicemail. She could hear the men talking in the living room and then she could hear her mother’s sobs. She called him again and again and again. Several minutes later, Joe was in her doorway.

“Paige, I’m so sorry honey. Is there anything I can do?”

“Where’s my brother? Do not tell me that he’s dead! Where is he? Is he sick? In the hospital? Do not tell me that he’s dead!”

“I’m so sorry…”

“No! Don’t be sorry! Tell me he’s been shot or stabbed or even ran over…but he’s still breathing!”

“Paige, maybe you should sit down…”

“No! I don’t want to sit down. I want my brother! I want Greg!” She tried to push past him but Joe was a big man. He grabbed her and wrapped her up in his arms. She pushed and fought against him until she finally collapsed into his massive chest in a torrent of tears. Paige had no recollection of time passing during all of that. At some point he let her go and helped her sit down on her bed. He told her that Greg was found dead on the floor in the living room of his apartment by his partner. “He was murdered?”

“No…at least that’s not what they’re thinking. He had a needle in his arm…heroin…”

“No! My brother was not a junkie!”

“Paige, no one is saying that he was. He lived a very dangerous and stressful life…”

“No. I won’t believe it. They need to test that syringe for fingerprints…”

“They will, but they did find other track marks…this wasn’t the first time your brother used.”

Paige wanted to continue to deny it…but Greg’s behavior had been strange since that last time she saw him…the time she asked him herself if he was using something.

The rest of that morning was a blur in her memory. She vaguely remembered throwing Joe and the police captain out of the house. Then she and her mother held each other and cried for hours. When her mother finally passed out, Paige wandered the house like a ghost, every so often collapsing back into big heaving sobs. She had no idea how to accept this. It all felt like a really bad dream. That was almost a week ago…and the night mares only got worse.

 

 

 

Chapter 4

She watched now as they lowered her brother’s casket into the ground. There were no words for what she was feeling.

She glanced back over where her step-father stood in the distance. He was the biggest reason Greg decided to do what he did and fight to get the drugs off the streets of New York. She knew that it wasn’t his fault Greg was dead, but the hate she felt for him seethed nonetheless. She asked one of the honor guards to take her mother to the car that was waiting for them and headed towards Jackson and his men. She was about halfway there when Tommy stopped her.

“Paige, we need to talk.”

“Okay…”

Tommy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the crowd. Then he looked over his shoulder and on either side of both of them before he finally said, “Greg didn’t overdose.”

Paige was still stunned from being dragged around. She thought maybe she misunderstood him. “What?”

“He didn’t overdose. Greg wasn’t a drug addict.”

“They found him with a syringe in his arm…heroin in his system…”

“He was murdered, Paige. It was made to look like an O.D. I know Greg and he wouldn’t have ever put that shit in his body.”

“I’d like to believe that Tommy, but the last time I saw him, he seemed really strung out.”

“He was a mess there at the end. We both were…but not on drugs. We thought they had made him as a cop. What you thought was strung out was anxiety. He wasn’t sleeping…that alone can make you psychotic. He barely ate…he couldn’t concentrate on much of anything other than looking over his shoulder twice as much as before. Every day he knew he was one day closer to his last.”

“Shit! What was he into Tommy?”

“We were both undercover. I was working in a shop where the drugs were trafficked through. Greg was way on the inside of Kramer’s organization…”

“Who is Kramer?”

“He’s your old step-father’s side kick, second largest in the city. They’ve worked out an arrangement….Kramer didn’t have a choice. Paine is twice as powerful as Kramer ever thought about being. Kramer was the smaller fish, but still a big one if you know what I mean. That was where Greg and I were going to begin before working our way up to Paine.”

“So this Kramer killed him?”

“Not himself. Kramer doesn’t do his own dirty work. He has a son named Caine. The last time I talked to Greg, he had a meeting with him. I told him to call me before he went…he didn’t. I think he knew it was a set-up and he didn’t want to risk my life. I’ll ask myself the rest of my days what might have happened if I’d gone with him. I may have been able to save him…”

“So this Caine killed him?”

Tommy looked around again like a paranoid schizophrenic. He looked like he was on drugs himself, he was so jumpy. “All I know for sure is that Greg never came out of that meeting alive. I firmly believe that he was murdered…by Caine Kramer or one of them in the family.”

“Shit! I got a text from him a couple of days before I found out he died. It said he had something hidden in his apartment. You’re right. He knew…Damn him for going in there knowing that!”

Paige felt the tears sting her eyes again. Greg was too brave and noble for his own good. She knew he didn’t overdose but the word ‘murdered’ cut her like a knife. The anger suddenly turned from a slow burn into a raging inferno in her chest. “Thank you, Tommy…for everything,” she said.

“I wish I could have saved him.”

Paige hugged him and said, “Me too, but you know my brother, if he’d made up his mind to do something, no one could have changed it.” Tommy nodded.

Paige squeezed his hand and started to head back over to where Jackson was. But he was gone. She looked around but didn’t see them anywhere, so she went back over to where Tommy stood. He was talking to another officer so she waited until they were done. Tommy’s paranoia had rubbed off on her a bit. She took his arm and led him away from everyone else, to a little path that ran through the cemetery. As they walked she asked him, “Tommy, did you tell the chief yet what you just told me about Greg being murdered?”

“No.”

“Why not? They think my brother was a junkie. Even though they gave him a hero’s funeral, I’d rather they knew the truth. Besides, I want the people who did this to pay for it.”

“You don’t understand, Paige. These guys are responsible for countless murders in the city every year…sometimes on a weekly basis. They don’t leave evidence, they don’t leave trails. These guys are not thugs…they’re not gang-bangers…they have more money than God and that money can buy anything.”

“So you’re telling me they’ll never be charged with my brother’s murder? They just get away with it?”

“That and a lot more; Paige, the Kramer’s and the Paine’s use their money as well as intimidation to control everything in the city. There are more cops on their payroll than there are criminals. I have a pretty good suspicion that the chief is one of them. Every time a cop gets close to having enough to put one of these guys away…they end up like Greg.”

“What about you then, you were his partner.”

“I’ve already put in for a leave of absence. I told them I needed it because of the trauma of losing my partner and best friend. That’s part of it of course…but the main reason is that I need to get out of here before I’m next. Greg and I uncovered a lot of evidence that could go a long way towards bringing down both of these empires. But I don’t know who to take it to and if I take it to the wrong guy…someone on the payroll, I end up dead.”

Paige was in shock. She couldn’t believe what Tommy was telling her. The NYPD was on her stepfather’s payroll? She wasn’t surprised about anything she heard about her stepfather, but the fucking NYPD? She knew Jackson was a drug lord, ever since she was a teenager and Greg found out what he really did for a living. At first, because he was so good to her and Paige really liked him, she’d tried to romanticize the whole thing in her head. He was bringing the drugs in, but he didn’t make people buy them and use them. Greg filled her in then on other things he’d found out. At fourteen years old, he’d already had detective skills that he must have been born with. He told her that Jackson Paine might not make people buy and use the drugs, but he encouraged it, strongly. He had his large distribution groups at the top that worked all the way down to putting people on the streets near schools and parks and had them give the stuff away to kids…the younger the better. Once the kid was hooked, they would sell their grandmother to get a taste. He also told her that their stepfather had no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way and that included their families. Over time, with each new thing Greg told her about Jackson, she grew to hate him as much as Greg did. They both grew to resent their mother who for whatever reason refused to believe Jackson was the bad guy.

“Tommy, before you take off, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Sure, if I can.”

“I need you to get me a new I.D.”

Tommy looked suspicious and said, “Why would you need new I.D Paige?”

“I’m going to New York. I’m going to find out who killed my brother and make sure the son of a bitch pays for what he has done.”

“No Paige. No fucking way.”

“I’m going to do it with or without your help.”

“I don’t think you have any idea what you’re getting into here.”

“Look at where we are, Tommy! I’m at my brother’s fucking funeral! These people killed my brother and they are not going to get away with it.” Her voice was pressured and she felt on the verge of tears again…this time from frustration. She took a deep breath and said, “Now, you can help me or not, it’s up to you. If I don’t hear from you by tomorrow, I’ll start figuring out how to do this myself. I think you know I’m capable of that.” Paige took another shaky breath and turned to head towards the car her mother was waiting in.

“Paige.”

She turned back towards Tommy and he said, “Don’t do anything stupid. I’m in town for a couple more days. I’ll come by tomorrow around noon.”

“Thank you, Tommy.”

“Yeah…sure, if you turn up dead we’ll see if you’re still thanking me.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

Damien Paine stood towards the back of the crowd of mourners with his father and his brother and let his mind wonder about things as the service progressed. He hadn’t seen Crystal yet. He often looked at the one photo his father still had of her in his office and tried to see similarities between her and his mother. They were polar opposites in the looks department. Where Crystal was petite with dark hair, Damien’s mother had been tall with light brown hair. Her eyes were blue where Crystals were hazel…but Damien knew his father well enough by now to know that as attractive as both women were, his father hadn’t picked either of them for their looks. He had been looking for a wife, not a lover. Jackson Paine had different standards for the women in his life. Damien had come to figure out that his father was of the mind that there were two types of women…those you marry and those you pay for sex. He so firmly believed that he was unable to understand why Crystal objected to him satisfying his needs with another woman. He definitely wasn’t going to apologize for it. Damien got the impression that his father actually thought that someday Crystal would realize her mistake and come crawling back. She never did.

Damien and Alex’s mother hadn’t left him because of infidelity, or at least she never mentioned it. She’d left him because at the age of twenty-nine when his father died, Jackson took the helm of the family business. Damien’s mother told him she refused to live that life and raise her son’s that way. The boys were both toddlers at the time. She told her sons when they were much older that Jackson told her she could leave and leave his sons with him. Instead, she pretended that she would stay in New York…setting herself and the boys up in an apartment near Jackson’s home. She waited patiently for the divorce to become final and then she withdrew the money she’d saved since the first day she realized what her husband’s family business really was, she took the boys to California and never looked back. Jackson told Damien he looked for them but never found them.

Damien didn’t believe that. Jackson never failed at anything. Damien liked to believe that Jackson hadn’t wanted to take the boys from their mother. He didn’t have many good qualities, but his father truly loved his family.

Although Jackson did tell them about Crystal, neither he nor his brother Alex knew anything about a step-brother and sister. It was the day before the funeral when his father called him to the house and told him they would be flying out to Jersey that evening.

“What are we going to Jersey for?”

“Crystal’s son is dead. Tomorrow is his funeral.”

Damien cocked an eyebrow and said, “Crystal had a son?”

“Yes and so you’re prepared there will be a lot of cops there. He was with the N.Y.P.D. a vice cop.”

“Ten years I’ve been here Dad. Why have you never mentioned that Crystal had a son?”

He shrugged. “It never came up,” he said.

“Did you still have contact with him?”

“I looked over him as well as I could. Obviously it wasn’t easy considering the career path he chose.”

“Why?”

Jackson gave him a hard look. He didn’t like being questioned…He knew how far to push his father and he was smart enough to know where to stop as well. Jackson wasn’t annoyed with him enough to worry Damien…yet.

“They were my stepchildren for five years. You know how I am about family.”

“They? She has more than one?”

“Yes, she has a daughter as well. Paige. She should be about twenty-five now. Last I heard she was in medical school at Princeton. She’s an incredibly smart girl.”

“Can I ask why you’ve never mentioned her…or her brother…what was his name?”

“Greg. It’s hard for me to talk about them. Crystal and I didn’t part on great terms and the children were disappointed in me as well. They didn’t care to continue a relationship with me. It hurts. Greg was never a fan of mine from the start. He rejected every olive branch I tried to hold out to him. His father was a cop…so I think he had a cop mentality from birth. In my defense however, he hated me before he ever found out what I did for a living. I suppose it was the age. At fourteen, you don’t want anyone trying to replace your father, especially when your father was your whole world. Maybe I tried too hard.”

“What about the girl. Did she accept you?”

He nodded and said, “At first. Paige and I had an excellent relationship until her brother discovered the “family business.” He brainwashed her against me and to this day I think it had something to do with Crystal leaving me as well.”

“Besides the fact you had a twenty-two year old blonde sucking your dick when she walked in?”

He gave Damien a warning look and said, “Watch your mouth. Go, you don’t have much time before the plane leaves. I’ll expect you at the airport in an hour.”

So now here he stood, dressed in a black suit in the middle of May. His father was on his right and his brother Alex on his left. They were standing amidst a bunch of people they didn’t know to pay their respects to a man he and Alex had only just heard of. He was bemoaning his luck when he saw her….

He recognized Crystal right away from the photo he’d seen. She looked a few years older, but otherwise just the same. She was still petite but curvy and she had shoulder length dark hair and amazingly smooth skin for a forty-five year old woman. But Crystal wasn’t what kept his attention. It was the woman that she clung to. He had to assume this was Paige. His father hadn’t mentioned that she was drop-dead gorgeous. But of course he and Crystal had been divorced since Paige was in her early teens. He didn’t know if Jackson had seen her since then or not. She was definitely all grown up now.

Damien was not surprised that he found her attractive, but he was surprised at how drawn he felt to her. Once his eyes found her it was like they were glued there and would require a great deal of effort to pull them away. He was thankful for his sunglasses. He was able to let his eyes roam her body freely. She had dark hair that fell to her waist in long, loose waves. It fell against the swell of her chest like thick chocolate. He knew it was an inappropriate thought for a funeral, but he wanted to rake his fingers through it while he stared into those really big hazel eyes. Her eyes actually looked more green than brown against her smooth, light olive skin, and they were framed with long, thick lashes. Damien felt like a pervert for lusting after the grieving sister of the man who was being eulogized, but he was powerless to stop. He tried not to stare at her full lips and that sexy little mole that sat just above the top one, but the effort was futile.

His gaze lingered on her cleavage. The dress she wore accentuated her perfect form. The flowing black fabric ended just below her knees, exposing her toned and muscular thighs. He caught himself picturing what she would look like sans the dress. She had curves that went on for days and the waves in her hair weren’t the only things he would like to get his hands on. He felt his pants growing tighter in front and he decided he needed to change his train of thought. He tried to picture what it would have been like growing up with his father. That took care of it.

After the service was over, he watched as Paige came towards them. He felt a strange and unfamiliar tightness in his stomach. Something about this girl was magnetic. Damien loved beautiful women and he’d had plenty of them…but none of them ever affected him this way. She was about halfway to them when a big white guy reached out with his meaty palm and took hold of her arm. Damien actually took a step forward. It was insanity at its finest, he thought. Even women he slept with didn’t elicit that kind of emotion from him.

“Let’s go,” his father told him.

Damien wanted to protest. He wanted to tell his father they had to wait and find out what Paige was coming to say. He didn’t say any of that however. What he did was what he always did…he followed his father. It was the life that he and his brother entered into ten years earlier when their mother died and they went to live in New York with their father. It was something Alex had wanted to do for a long time, not Damien. He would have preferred to just stay in California and lead a normal life. But out of respect for his mother who lived in terror of them becoming anything like Jackson Paine, Alex stayed along with Damien. Once she had passed neither of them had a choice and their father, uncles and aunt gave them no choice but to follow the family. When they first got to New York, Jackson had welcomed them with open arms. He showered them both with gifts and his affection. They both wondered what it was about him that their mother feared so much…that realization came later on, and by that time, it was too late.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

“Paige, Tommy is here.”

Paige heard Crystal call to her from the living room. She didn’t want her mother to know what was taking place between her and Tommy. She’d told her mother that she just needed to get away for the summer. Between the long school year and burying her brother who was also her best friend, she was exhausted. Since it was mostly true, Crystal bought it. Paige told her that she’d be staying with a friend she met in medical school in California.

“Can you ask him to come on back, Mom?”

A minute later, Tommy appeared in the doorway. Paige was packing. “Hi. Did you get them?”

Tommy had an envelope in his hand which she assumed was what she wanted. He looked reluctant to give it to her however and he said, “Are you sure that you want to do this?”

“I don’t want to. I have to.”

“I’m scared to death for you, Paige. You’re not a cop. Do you understand that the smallest slip and these guys will see it? They’re looking for it. They are the most paranoid sons of bitches you’ll ever meet.”

“I know this won’t be easy, Tommy. But like I told you before, I have to do this. I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t at least try to get justice for my brother. I’m not a cop, but I’m smart and I grew up pretty much a latch-key kid with Greg while Mom worked. I’m not soft and coddled.”

“I know you’re smart…it’s the only thing that’s going to help me sleep at night.” He threw the envelope on the bed.

Paige picked it up and looked inside. There was a driver’s license with her picture on it. It was a New York state license and the name on it said, Paige Gauthier. There was a social security card and a credit card. There was also a resume to which Tommy had added references they used in their undercover endeavors and a contact that she could trust if ever need be. Lastly, there was a dossier on both Jackson Paine and the Kramer’s.

She looked at Tommy. “These are great. Thank you.”

He grimaced. “I hope I won’t regret this. There’s some other stuff in there as well. I know that Greg filled you in on your stepfather’s business but I wanted to make sure that he hadn’t sugar coated it for you. That’s what the dossier is about.”

Paige pulled it out and read it. It read, “Jackson Paine…extremely intelligent, manipulative, aggressive.” Those were all things Paige already knew. She would also have to add charming to the list, considering how he had both her mother and her charmed all of those years ago. It also listed his stats: he’s currently single and 49 years old. He has two brothers, Kevin 48 and Brad 45, and one sister, Sylvie 39 who are all employed in the “family” business in one capacity or another.

What she didn’t know was that the “family business” was something he was born into. When he was a teen he began working for his father who was “the boss” at that time. His father passed away when Jackson was 29 years old and that was when he took over the helm. He’s been involved in organized crime for over thirty years and there was no one in New York in their business that would dare cross him…and live to tell about it. Paige looked at Tommy.

“Thanks for this, Tommy. All of it.”

Tommy surprised her by grabbing her into a hug. “Please be safe.”

“I will, I promise.”

After Tommy left, she sat down and started reading more of the dossier. Under “notable” characteristics at the bottom was typed: “One thing most notable about Jackson Paine is that although he is a career criminal, he is known to always keep his word.” Tommy or someone had written in pen next to that: “He doesn’t give a shit what the consequences are, if he said it was going to happen, it does.” It listed him as the owner and CEO of Trans-Paine Inc. His father founded the company five decades earlier. Paige knew that much because of her time with him as his step-daughter. It was what her mother claims she thought he did for a living the entire five years they were married…no matter how much her own son told her otherwise.

Trans-Paine is into a lot of different things according to Tommy’s paperwork. They have a trucking business that is the bulk of the company. Jackson’s father established it originally and it now employs several hundred people. According to Tommy’s notes in the side bar, the cops and the FBI know it’s a cover, but Jackson is too smart to get caught. He is an astute businessman and to date he has never been held up on any charges. At any given time he was being watched by at least three different government agencies including Interpol. The trucking company is connected to a shipping port and ships containers to and from other countries all over the world. Again, he’s never been caught importing or exporting drugs or other illegal items…but yet the police “know” that’s what goes on. Paige was beginning to feel her brother’s pain. He’d been obsessed with bringing Jackson down since he was a kid and he often bemoaned the fact to his sister that this guy seemed to be “untouchable.”

Then there were the Kramer’s.

After the funeral, Paige had done some of her own research. A lot of what Tommy gave her, she already knew. Lucas Kramer is the ringleader of that group. Lucas is fifty-two years old and has been married to the same woman for thirty years. Paige had a vague memory of meeting him and his wife Louise at her mother and Jackson’s wedding thirteen years earlier. Kramer was one of those guys who cleaned up well…like Jackson. He looked at home in a three-thousand dollar suit and articulated himself in such a way that he could easily pass for a college professor or a suave politician rather than a ruthless killer who would do anything to get ahead.

Paige learned that he owned Kramer Construction, Inc. which is his cover business. He also owns a nightclub. He is the oldest of five sons and he has one thirty year old son named Caine and a twenty-six year old daughter named Kelsey. Caine and Kelsey both work for their father. The Kramer’s dossier read like something right out of a crime novel. These people were ruthless…and so good at what they did, it was impossible to build a case against them. The police and the FBI believe them to be the second major source of drugs in the city…after her step-father of course. But although Jackson is mentioned in connection with a handful of murders, the Kramer’s have been implicated in dozens. Caine Kramer was mentioned again and again as a “person of interest” since he was a teenager. Somehow for over decades he’d managed to elude being charged with a specific crime.

Caine is the one that Paige meant to get close to. He’s the one that Tommy believes killed her brother. If he’s responsible, she intends to find out…and make him pay. There was more information on the paper…history, physical descriptions. Paige folded it back up for now.

She had a plane to catch.

Paige spent her time on the plane reading through the dossiers once more and going over her cover in her head.

She was Paige Gauthier.

Tommy had kept it close to reality because he said the more lies you created, the more chance there was to forget one of them and blow it. She was twenty-five years old and a native of New York. Her father was dead, a former longshoreman and her mother took off for parts unknown when she was just a kid. She’d never been married, but she had a string of bad relationships with controlling men in her history. She lives alone…and is basically a loner. She started out working as a bartender in a club and over the past four years she has worked her way through the club scene to a management position. She is interested in leaving her current job and working for the Kramer’s strictly because their club is larger and more popular and there would be more of a possibility for her to advance. Paige’s former “employers” if they were contacted, would say that she is “focused and driven” and one of the best manager’s they’d ever had. It was perfect. Tommy came through for her like a champ.

There was an opening for a night club manager at the Kramer’s nightclub and Paige intended to fill that position and spend her summer vacation getting close to these people. She wouldn’t be able to rest unless the people or person’s responsible for her brother’s death paid for it…and dearly. She didn’t just aim to have them arrested…she aimed to destroy them. This family and possibly her step-father as well, would be brought to their knees.

Chapter 7

A few hours after getting off of the airplane at JFK, Paige was leaving her hotel room dressed to the nines in a white skirt and blazer with a green silk blouse peeking out underneath. She planned on staying at Greg’s apartment while she was in New York…but she knew that going in there would be an emotional endeavor for her and she didn’t want to be overcome with emotion when she met the Kramer’s. She took a cab to the Kramer’s nightclub in Manhattan and with her head high and her shoulders back, she walked in on her five inch white Manola Blahniks, resume in hand. It was early evening, so the place was quiet yet with only a few patrons at the bar. From her online research she knew that as soon as the nightlife picked up, the place would be packed.

This was no seedy night club. It was definitely a place that you’d never suspect was owned by one of the most powerful crime families in the city. It was simply called ‘500 Club’ because it was located on the 500 block of 57th Street. From the street was a private entrance. The bouncer at the door that looked like a completely bald white gorilla in a t-shirt looked at her resume and told her to go on inside and talk to the bartender. The door he opened for her behind him led into a softly lighted area where luxurious VIP booths upholstered in deep red velvet lined the walls. Beyond that was another section, this one had bench style seating with private booths that surrounded the dance floor, but high backs that faced in that direction to allow for intimate seating. To the far left of the club is a large DJ booth and beyond that a large mahogany bar that ran the length of the wall. The glass case that held the decorative and colorful bottles of liquor was lit up with twinkling white lights and a mirror ran the length of it. On either side of the bar was an octagon shaped table with a ring around them like the ones that fighter’s use. Paige knew they must be for the go-go dancers from the research she did online.

Paige made her way up to the bar and smiled at the young bartender behind it.

“Hi, I’m here to drop off a resume.”

The bartender let his eyes take her in…but quickly and not in a creepy way.

“Have a seat. I’ll call Kelsey,” he told her.

“Thank you.”

Paige took a seat on one of the over-sized barstools and looked around while she waited. She saw a copy of the liquor license from the state of New York prominently displayed behind the bar. It was in Louise Kramer’s name. Above that were two framed certificates, one was for “Operator of the Year” in 2009 and the other was “Property of the Year.” in 2013. Along the far back wall on the opposite side of the club from where the dancefloor was, a wrought iron banister flanked carpeted stairs that led in a spiral pattern up to the second floor. Paige could see a small landing at the top and that was where Kelsey Kramer appeared a few seconds later. When Paige read the description of her in the dossier, she couldn’t help but picture her as pretty. She had been wrong. This woman was not pretty, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Kelsey had thick, dark brown hair that hung to her waist and small, delicate features that were offset by her full lips and the fact that her blue eyes were huge. She was wearing a plum colored pleated skirt that was long enough to look classy and respectable, but short enough to show off a pair of shapely, muscular legs that ended in a pair of plum colored designer shoes with a six inch heel. Her blouse was the same color as her skirt and silk. It was sleeveless and as she came down the stairs towards her Paige could see that she had a colorful tribal tattoo on her upper arm.

Kelsey walked in those skinny heels like she’d been doing it her entire life. “Are you here for the manager position?”

Paige stood up and smiled. “Hello, yes. My name is Paige Gauthier. I’m here to drop off a resume.”

Just then in her peripheral vision, Paige caught sight of someone else coming down the stairs towards them. It was a man and again from his description, she assumed that it was Caine, Kelsey’s older brother.

“Well hello there,” Caine said, all but pushing his sister out of the way. He held out a beefy hand and said, “I’m Caine Kramer…and you are?”

Caine was the male version of his sister. He was at least six foot, maybe six one with the same thick dark hair as Kelsey’s, only his was cut short. His eyes were as big as hers and they both had smooth olive skin that contrasted with their pretty blue eyes. Caine was wearing a two button black Armani suit over a white shirt and charcoal gray tie. Its sleek lines fit him so well that Paige assumed it had been tailor made just for him.

“Paige Gauthier. I’m pleased to meet you.”

Paige glanced at Kelsey. She was giving her brother a smoldering look. “Paige is here to apply for the manager’s position.”

Caine let his eyes rake slowly across Paige’s body. She could almost feel the heat from them. “Are you up for an interview, Paige?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Now?” Kelsey asked her brother.

“What’s wrong with now, as long as Paige is ready?”

Kelsey looked back at Paige and with a toothy white smile that looked forced she said, “I hope you’ll excuse my brother’s impatience. We’ve been without a manager now for a few weeks. If you’re not prepared today, I’d be happy to set you up with an appointment.”

“Now is fine with me,” Paige said with a smile.

“Perfect,” Caine said holding out his arm. “Let me show you to the office.” Paige tentatively placed her hand on the inside of Caine’s arm. Kelsey rolled her eyes and Caine led them up the stairs. The hallway was decorated with plush beige carpeting and the walls were covered in a paisley print tan and brown, velvet flocked wallpaper. She was led into a spacious office with a large cherry wood desk. “Have a seat Paige,” Caine told her. She sat down in one of the dark green wing-backed chairs and Caine took the other next to her. Their knees were almost touching and she wanted desperately to pull hers away. She willed herself not to. Kelsey went to the desk to sit down.

Paige handed Kelsey her resume and while Kelsey looked it over Caine said, “So, are you new to New York Paige?”

She silently quelled the nerves in her stomach and said, “No, I’m a New Yorker, born and bred.”

“Nice,” Caine said with another lustful look. Paige was beginning to feel like she was sitting naked in front of him.

Kelsey glanced at her brother again almost disdainfully and then back at Paige. “Your resume is impressive. Tell us a little more about yourself.”

Paige told them about Paige Gauthier. She is single and no children who has a degree in human resource management with a minor in accounting from NYU. Tommy had provided all the needed documents if they were to request them. Paige knew already that Kelsey was an accountant. She did all the books for her father…and according to one last tidbit of information Tommy had given her before she left…there were multiple books for each one of his endeavors. Somehow Greg stumbled up on some usb drives but he wasn’t able to get copies of them at that time. He did however manage to land a copy of a key that he and Tommy believed belonged to a safe deposit box. Greg told Tommy a few days before he died that he was pretty sure there was enough evidence on those drives to not only bring down Lucas Kramer and close down his operations…but they somehow implicated Jackson Paine’s organization as well. The trick for Paige would be figuring out where that box was at and getting to it without getting caught.

Kelsey did most of the interviewing. Paige’s nerves slowly gave way to confidence as she had a satisfactory answer to each one of their questions. Kelsey and Caine seemed to be impressed with her answers. Caine wasn’t trying to make it a secret that he was impressed with her in more ways than her managerial skills. Paige was disgusted and intrigued at the same time. She was disgusted because no matter how good looking and sexy this man was, he was a ruthless killer and very likely the one who murdered her brother. She was intrigued because she wondered how his obvious attraction to her could benefit her cause. If she got this job she was going to have to evaluate just how far she was willing to go to bring this family down.

Paige walked out of the nightclub and sucked in a lungful of the humid, early summer air. Instead of flagging down a taxi, she started walking. She was thinking about Greg…postponing the trip to his apartment. She knew she had to do it. She had to go through it with a fine tooth comb and try and figure out what her brother had hidden there…that was worth dying for.

She passed a poster on one of the bus stops for a movie starring Pauly Shore. Paul Hunt was the name her brother had used when he went undercover according to Tommy. His alter ego was a low-life drug dealer who was willing to do anything to get ahead. That anything included murder…which of course Greg would have never actually gone through with. The hopes had been to become trusted enough so that when someone was pegged for murder, Paul Hunt would be the guy they sent. That worked for both the intended “victim” and the police. The “victim” actually lives, secretly and the police usually ended up with a witness out of the deal.

The more Paige found out about how Greg lived, the better she understood why he would never really tell her what he was doing. He still talked to her a lot about Jackson and how badly he wanted to bring down the Paine organization. Greg’s need to do that bordered on obsession. He had started with the Kramer’s because he believed that would be his gateway to Jackson. Ultimately, in Paige’s mind, Jackson was as responsible as anyone else for Greg’s death.

She wondered around Manhattan for a while, letting these thoughts ricochet around in her head. She finally realized that the day was getting away from her and she hailed a cab. She went back to her hotel room first and picked up her suitcase and checked out. Then she took another taxi to Queens where Greg’s apartment was. She made her way to the manager’s office and found a middle-aged red haired lady with deep blue eyes sitting behind the desk.

Paige smiled and said, “Hi, my name is Paige Gauthier. I was Paul Hunt’s sister.”

The woman’s smiling face suddenly fell. “Oh honey. I’m so sorry. He didn’t have any kin listed on his rental agreement so I wasn’t sure who to call and offer my condolences.”

Paige forced another smile and said, “It’s okay. He was trying hard to do things the right way and on his own, so he’d kind of cut himself off from his family. I missed him a lot then…and even more now.”

“You poor thing. Now that I look more closely, I can see the family resemblance. Paul was a good looking kid before…”

“Before he started using drugs.”

“I’m sorry again. Seems like I can’t keep from stepping in it today. I didn’t know he was using drugs. He just didn’t seem like the type to me. He was such a sweet boy…but then things started changing. Every time I saw him over the past few months, he was a little bit skinnier and he was nervous all the time and he just wasn’t taking care of himself. I’m sorry. I should have known.”

“It wasn’t your responsibility,” Paige said, “But thank you. I am actually here to ask you for a favor.”

“What’s that honey?”

“I’m new to New York. I would very much like to go through my brother’s things and keep some things to remind me of him. I also need a place to stay. I was wondering if I could rent his apartment just for the month of June, until I can find something else.”

“Oh honey it hasn’t been cleaned yet. The tape is still up. The police just told me I could have it back a few days ago and I haven’t had time…”

“It’s really okay. I’ll be packing his things up anyways. I wouldn’t mind cleaning it while I do that.”

“Are you sure honey? It won’t be too hard?”

Paige gave her a sad smile and said, “It’s going to be hard no matter what.” That was honest. She wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

“Okay then,” the woman said, “I’m Faith by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Faith. Thank you for this.”

Paige filled out the paperwork that Faith asked her to fill out and paid her the rent for the month of June. Faith wouldn’t take the deposit since Paige was going to be cleaning the apartment out. When they finished, Paige slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way up the stairs. She saw the crime scene tape before she reached the landing. She stood there at the top of the stairs and looked at the door for a long time before propelling herself slowly forward. When she got there, she put the key Faith gave her in the door and pushed it open. She stood there again looking inside at the bare walls and minimal furniture. Greg told her before that there were no personal items out because of his work being undercover. It made her sadder to think about him dying in such an impersonal place. With tears already in her eyes, she finally worked up the nerve to break the tape that still blocked the door. When she finally stepped in and closed the door behind her, the first thing she saw was the man-shaped chalk drawing on the floor. She dropped her bag and dropped to her knees. Curling up near the spot in a fetal position, she lay there and cried for her brother. “I love you, Greg. I promise you…your death will not be in vain.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8

Less than a week later, Paige had her first night on the job as manager of the 500 club. Kelsey showed her around the bottom floor and into an office near the back which Kelsey told her would be hers.

“Are you here a lot Kelsey?” Paige asked her.

“I’d rather not be,” she said. “My father owns a corporation that I do the accounts for as well. I’ve been here a lot just because we haven’t had a manager lately.”

“Well then, I will do a good job so you can get back to your own work.”

Kelsey smiled, “Good. Thanks. I’m going to have you work with Nick, the bartender the rest of the night. I’d like to have you get used to the whole club and how it all runs.”

“Sure, that sounds great,” Paige said.

Kelsey took her out and introduced her to the bartender she had seen the day she came in to apply for the job. He was probably around Paige’s age with blonde hair; blue eyes and a baby face that made him look about twelve. His body was a different story, however. He wasn’t very tall, maybe five nine at the most, but his shoulders were broad and she could see through his t-shirt how hard his chest was. He was also covered from shoulder to wrist with tattoos. Paige wondered if she was the only one working here without them.

“Have you tended bar before?” Nick asked her after Kelsey left.

“Yeah, it was one of my first jobs,” she said. “But I’m a little rusty.”

“That’s okay. When we start getting busier later there will be three of us. We’ll all show you what we’re doing. We’re a pretty friendly group.”

“Sounds good, thanks.”

Paige worked with Nick for about an hour before the other two bartenders came in. While they were setting up, Nick left Paige in charge of their station while he went to use the restroom. She was facing the counter when she suddenly felt a hand on her ass. She turned around quickly and came face to face with Caine.

He grinned. “Hey there, how’s your first night going?”

Paige was somewhat in shock that he would be so aggressive and then act so nonchalant about it. “It’s…um…” He laughed. He was standing way too close. She could smell his breath which thankfully smelled like mint.

“That good huh?” He said with his face down close to hers. “If you need anything at all, you make sure you let me know, okay?”

Paige only nodded. She hadn’t been prepared for that. She watched as he stopped to say hello to the other male bartender, Robert and walk right past the female bartender Carrie like she wasn’t there and went upstairs.

Nick came back and asked, “How’d it go?”

“It was good…Caine came in.” Nick started to roll his eyes but seemed to catch himself.

“Oh yeah, what did he say?”

“Not much…”

“Did he hit on you?”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“If you don’t want him messing with you, talk to Kelsey. He’s older and he’s bad ass and all that…but Kelsey’s the real final word around here and even Caine knows it.”

“Okay…thanks.” Paige put that in the back of her mind. She didn’t want him messing with her…but she didn’t want to alienate him either. She needed to get to know him and if she was down here while he was up there, that was not likely to happen. If she complained to Kelsey about him there would be very little chance she’d ever get close enough to him to find out if he killed her brother. With all of that in her head, she continued helping Nick pour drinks. Some of the patrons flirted with her, but for the most part they were pretty respectful. Caine on the other hand, acted like she was already his property. He came back two more times, both times letting his hands roam across her ass as he passed by.

Paige made a hard decision that night…it was one of the hardest that she’d ever made. She decided that she was going to let Caine touch her…and if he wanted to take it further than that, she would let him do that as well. Some women had sex for money. Some did it to get ahead in their jobs. She herself had never had sex with a guy for any other reason than that she really liked him and she really wanted to…but she decided that her cause was enough to change that. It was just sex and if it would put her in a better position to find out what happened to Greg, then she was going to do it. The next time Caine came past her and stopped to grab her ass, she arched her back into his touch. This time, instead of walking away, he grabbed her by the hand and said, “Nick! Paige is going to help me out in the back.”

The place was getting crowded and Nick didn’t even look up. He just waved his hand to acknowledge he heard him. Caine led her away from the bar and through a door in the back that Paige had never noticed. Here there was a long carpeted hallway and the noise of the club was completely absent. There were four doors and Caine opened one and pulled her inside. They were in what looked like a huge hotel suite. There was a gas fireplace along one wall with a couch and two chairs arranged in front of it. Through an alcove straight in front of them, Paige could see a large, king sized bed. Her stomach was suddenly clenched into tight knots. Am I really going to do this?

“You are so hot,” Caine told her. He bent down and pressed his lips to hers. Paige willed herself not to throw up as she let her lips part and Caine shoved his tongue into her mouth. She tried to block out who she thought he was and concentrate only on what he looked like. She was able to relax somewhat as he kissed her and his hands roamed across the curves of her body. He had one of his big hands on her cheek to hold her in place and she suddenly realized she wasn’t kissing him back. With every ounce of will in her body, she leaned into it and let her tongue meld against his. She heard him moan as she did and he pulled her in even tighter against his massive hard chest. While still kissing her he moved that hand away from her cheek and fisted it up in her hair. He let his tongue weave in and out of hers for a while longer while he tugged on it. Finally pulling his face away from hers just half an inch he said, “You are so fucking gorgeous.”

His hands went to her blouse then and she consciously had to make herself not flinch as he began unbuttoning it. He had his forehead pressed to hers and he was looking down, watching as each new section of her smooth skin was revealed. When he got it about halfway unbuttoned and he could see the black lacy bra she was wearing he breathed out a “Fuck baby…”

He left her shirt hanging open and let one of his big hands cup her bra. He was breathing hard as he found her nipples through the lace fabric. Paige put a hand on his chest and held herself steady while this man…, who quite possibly killed her brother, twisted and pulled on her lace clad nipples. He reached back up and pushed a piece of hair out of her face. She had to admit that she was surprised at how gentle he was being. She’d expected him to slam her into a wall in back and take what he wanted. Instead, he was acting like they were on a date. He kissed her again, this time softly and then he moved back just a hair and shrugged out of his suit jacket. He just let it fall to the floor like it wasn’t worth more than some people make in a month. Paige’s hand was against the silk shirt underneath now as he loosened the tie and pulled that off next, letting it join the jacket on the floor.

Paige just watched as he unbuttoned his own shirt revealing a toned, muscular chest underneath. He was covered in tattoos that ran across his abdomen, underneath his pecs and across the tops of them. As he shrugged out of the shirt completely, the taut and tatted muscles in his arms flexed and rolled. Paige swallowed the lump in her throat and did what Caine expected her to do. She ran her fingers across his hard chest, letting them flutter across his abs while he kissed her again.

He took each side of her shirt in his hands and Paige dropped her hands and let him push it off. Then he reached around behind her and unhooked her bra. As soon as it was loose, her large, firm breasts spilled out.

“Fuck me!” He said as he took them into his hands and then seemed to almost dive down into them. He kissed around the nipples and then she felt his wet tongue circle first one and then the other. Paige moved her hands up and let them rub thorough his hair as he played. In spite of the fact that she was sickened by this man and what he stood for, her body was responding…betraying her. She could feel her panties getting wet as he moved his head over and began to actually nibble on her other breast with his teeth. This guy might be a ruthless killer, but he was no selfish lover. Maybe that was what women like her mother and Lucas Kramer’s wife saw in them. He sucked that nipple into his mouth suddenly and she let out a groan against her will. That brought his mouth back up to her and his body pressing hard against hers. She could feel his rock hard cock pressing into her, pushing hard against the inside of his pants. She asked herself again: Am I really going to do this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9

Paige took another deep breath and let her trembling hands fall down to undo his belt. She unhooked the pants underneath it and then unzipped them and gave them a little push. They fell to the floor and she told herself this was it…no turning back now. He stepped out of them and she could see the head of his hard cock peeking out the top of his silk boxers. Caine licked her lips with his long tongue as his hands found the zipper on the side of her skirt. As soon as he pulled down on it, the skirt fell to the floor. She was standing in front of him now in nothing but her black lace thong. Caine looked at her, drinking her in with his eyes and growled. He reached down and pushed off his boxers, kicking them off into the pile of clothes next to him and then he took her hair in both hands and she knew what he wanted.

Paige knelt on the floor and looked up at his face. Caine smiled at her and she tried to manage one back. She decided she was safer not looking at him and concentrated on the task in front of her. Caine was huge and as she lowered her mouth down and kissed the tip of cock his whole body shuddered. She put her tongue against the base of his erection and worked it back up to the tip. Once her tongue was sliding around the tip of it, she wrapped her hand around the thick base and began taking him into her mouth. The whole time she was telling herself that she could do this. It was only sex and it would pay off two fold in the end. As more of his cock slid into her mouth he groaned loudly and his grip on her hair tightened. He flexed his hips, advancing more of himself into her wet mouth until he hit the back of her throat. Paige swallowed and let her tongue slide around the underside of his cock as he pulled back out, slowly. He moved forward again and she sucked him back in. She began to bob her head up and down in a rhythm while he used his big hands in her hair to move her head where he wanted it, pushing her to keep going and moaning the entire time.

“Shit baby!” He pulled back, letting go of her hair and put his hands under her arms and pulled her up. He kissed her hard, pushing his tongue into her mouth as he swept her over towards the bed. When she felt it hit the backs of her knees he broke the kiss and said, “You’re so fucking sexy. You have me ready to come already. Lay down baby.”

Paige did as she was told. She was trembling all over now and she hoped that Caine would just interpret it as excitement. He seemed too far gone at this point to notice much anyways. Before she even laid all the way back, he hooked his fingers in the elastic of her panties and pulled them down over her thighs and calves and pulled them down over her ankles. He used one hand to push her thighs open and then he started kissing the insides of her thighs, making his way further down towards her pussy each time. When he leaned in, she could feel his hot breath against her just before he plunged his tongue against the bottom of her clit. He licked it hard from bottom to top and Paige cursed herself for letting out a long moan. He was definitely encouraged by that. He began to lick and suck, taking her entire clit into his mouth and flicking it with his tongue. He gripped onto her thighs, keeping them open while he explored and sucked. Paige couldn’t help it; she was letting out gasps and moans as she writhed underneath him and felt herself hurtling quickly towards an orgasm. He moved faster with her every moan, plunging his tongue in further each time. Paige was powerless to stop what was happening to her body. She threw her head back into the bed and arched up her hips as the first wave of the orgasm crashed into her. Her hips were bucking wildly but Caine used his strong arms to hold her in place and carry on flicking his tongue wildly against her clit. For a second she was paralyzed with pleasure…but the realization of what she was doing returned, the second the orgasm passed.

Caine pulled away and stood up. Paige sat up and he used one massive arm to wrap her up and pull her back on the bed so she was in the middle. Then he reached into the top drawer of the nightstand next to the bed and pulled out a foil package. Thank God!

Paige had already decided that was what would absolutely stop this if he didn’t wear a condom. She watched him roll it on his length and she tried to will her legs to stop shaking. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves now, or the massive orgasm he’d just enticed from her.

Caine climbed up on the bed and pushed her thighs open. He took his cock into his hand and worked the swollen head up and down the outside of her pussy lips that were still wet from her own juices. Then suddenly and without warning, Caine thrust himself into her, deep. Paige let out a cry, but Caine didn’t stop…he was slamming in and out of her, each time getting deeper. One of his hands held onto her thigh and the other played with her nipples. Paige pulled herself up onto her elbows, trying to change his angle just a bit so that he didn’t hit bottom each time. Caine misread her and lowered his wet lips to hers. He was panting and grunting, pounding into her now with an almost animalistic drive. He continued to pick up his pace until all of a sudden she felt him stiffen and in a strangled voice he said, “I’m gonna come baby. You’re so fucking sexy.”

Paige felt it when it happened, again thanking God for the condom. He worked in and out of her until he finished and then pulled out of her as quickly as he had gone in and rolled onto his back. He was gasping for breath as he pulled off the full condom and tossed it into a wastebasket on the side of the bed. Paige was trying to catch her own breath. Her body was covered with her own sweat and his and before she could fully recover, he turned to her and pulled her in for another passionate kiss. When he was finished that time, he slid his arm underneath her head and pulled her up so she was lying on his shoulder. For some reason, the intimacy of that pose bothered Paige more than the actual act of sex.

“Wow! You’re fucking something else Paige.”

She swallowed hard and hoped her words didn’t sound false as she said, “So are you, Caine.”

He held onto her, rubbing his face into her hair as he did. She felt him inhale deeply. It was another intimate act and she felt her stomach begin to churn. “What is this room for?” she asked, trying to distract herself, but also genuinely curious.

She felt his hard body shake as he chuckled underneath her.

“Sex,” he said, simply.

Paige let her eyes survey the room as she lay on her back. This room was like one that you would have in a five star hotel. The furnishings were obviously expensive and built for comfort. She was sure they weren’t there just for the employees to use when they needed a quick roll in the hay but she wasn’t going to push it now and make him suspicious. She almost breathed a sigh of relief when she felt him let her go and rise up to a sitting position. He looked down at her and licked his lips. She was suddenly scared to death that he was going to want to do it again. Instead, he let his hand wander across her breasts and nipples one last time and then he said, “I got work to do babes. That was fucking great.”

Paige sat up next to him and said, “Yes it was. Is it okay if I shower before I go back out?”

He growled and said, “Damn I wish I had time to join you…” She immediately stiffened until he said, “But I have an appointment I can’t miss. Go ahead and use the shower. Everything you need should be in there.”

“Thanks.” She started to stand up and he grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her back down for another deep kiss. When he let her go, she forced a smile and stood up. As she walked away, he smacked her on the ass.

Paige locked the door to the bathroom behind her and leaned against it with her eyes closed for a few seconds trying to calm herself. The realization of what she had done was setting in hard and her mind was swirling. When she opened them she was stunned by the opulence of the room. There was a Jacuzzi tub and a walk in glass walled shower with two gold shower heads. The counters were thick gray and white granite and the double sinks and large deep tub were shiny porcelain. She ignored the mirror that stretched along one wall…not ready to look herself in the face yet. She leaned into the shower and turned on the hot water first. She let the room steam up, breathing it in slowly before adjusting it by adding the cold. Then, she climbed in and stood under the spray, letting her mind fade into dullness and everything around her become a foggy illusion. The sensations were calming her and she tried to imagine the memory of Caine’s touch on her skin being washed down the drain with the water. She was sickened by what she’d done, but at the same time she believed strongly it was what she had to do. She repeated the mantra in her head once more…“It was just sex.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

Kelsey and Paige were sitting at one of the tables in the nightclub on Friday afternoon. It had been two days since Paige and Caine had hooked up in the back room. He would occasionally pat her on the ass, or whisper things in her ear, but thankfully, he hadn’t tried to get her into the back room again. She wasn’t sure if he did that she’d be able to go through with it again. It had taken her these two days and a lot of positive self-talk to work through that. He was behind the bar doing inventory at the moment. She hoped to be finished with Kelsey and out of here before he was so that she could slip out.

“This is the form for ordering from Bowie’s Distribution. We get all of our vodkas…all brands from them and some of our whiskeys. The bartenders know what we use the most of and they will fill it out when we’re getting low on bottles and then they’ll bring it to you to sign. If you ever have any questions about anything they’re ordering, don’t sign it. You can always scan it to me if I’m not here and I’ll let you know if it’s an appropriate order or not. They’re all pretty good, but since you’re new I’d hate for them to try and take advantage of you.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

“Each one of the beer companies has their own form as well…”

“Kelsey baby!”

A middle aged man walked into the club. He was a nice looking man with close-cropped silver hair and dark blue eyes. He was dressed in a nice gray suit with a gray and white striped tie.

“Uncle Vic!”

Kelsey seemed pleased to see him. She jumped up and gave him a big hug. His eyes met with Paige’s over Kelsey’s shoulder and when he let her go he said, “Your bartenders are getting prettier.”

Kelsey hit him on the arm playfully. “This is Paige Gauthier. She’s our new night manager. Paige this is my ill-behaved Uncle Vic. Don’t pay attention to a thing he says.”

“Hello,” Paige said, holding out her hand.

Uncle Vic took Paige’s hand between his and brought it to his lips. He kissed the back of it and set it down gently on the table. “I’m honored to meet you,” Vic said.

Kelsey rolled her eyes and said, “This must be where Caine gets it from.” Caine stood up from behind the bar and said, “Did I hear my name? Vic! You’re back!” Vic went over and shook hands with his nephew.

“When did you get in?”

“Just an hour or so ago. I’m meeting with…”

“There he is…”

Paige’s entire body tensed when she heard the sound of that voice. It was her step-father. Shit! There was no way she could get up and disappear at this point. She was totally screwed. Vic and Jackson were shaking hands when Paige dared to look up.

Jackson wasn’t alone. He was with the same two hunky guys she’d seen him with at the funeral. Kelsey seemed to have forgotten Paige was there and suddenly all of her attentions were focused on the one that Paige considered the better looking of the two. She grabbed the lapel of his nice suit and brought herself up on her toes. Even in six inch heels, he towered over her. She was obviously going in for a kiss, but the mouthwatering gorgeous man brushed her off of him with one arm, gently nudging her back. Kelsey had fire in her eyes suddenly and Paige wouldn’t have been surprised to see flames shoot out at him. Paige turned her attentions back on Jackson. She was trying to make herself small in the booth so that maybe he wouldn’t notice her at all.

Would he out her right away?

Would he let them kill her?

“How long have you been back?” she heard Jackson ask Vic. He was smiling, but his tone didn’t sound all that friendly.

“I just got in Jackson. Those damned Mexican’s didn’t have anything ready on time.”

“But you have it?”

“Yeah, I have it. I dropped it in the locker as soon as I got off the plane.”

“Good. Caine pour me a bourbon and water.”

Paige could tell by the look in Caine’s eyes that he didn’t like being ordered around by Jackson Paine. He didn’t say anything however. He pulled out a glass and began to pour. That was when Paige’s eyes made contact with the blue ones of the God that stood near her ex step-father. She thought she saw his widen almost imperceptibly before he returned them to normal. She expected him to alert Jackson that she was there, but instead he left his eyes on her and seemed to be studying her face. She felt like she was melting underneath the heat of his gaze and as badly as she wanted to turn away, she was compelled not to.

The other man, the one that looked a lot like this one followed his gaze and found her face as well. Something in his eyes went dark and he was the one that gave Jackson a gentle nudge and then leaned in and said something in his ear. Paige saw Jackson’s eyes search the mirror in front of him. When he found her, his blue eyes looked like they were trying to convey a message. He brought his drink to his lips and took a sip before sitting it down on the bar and saying, “Caine, you have company in the club. You didn’t tell us.”

Jackson turned around and all eyes were suddenly on her. Caine grinned and came around from behind the bar. “I forgot you were there,” he told Paige. “Jackson Paine, this is Paige Gauthier…our new night manager. Paige this is Jackson and those are his sons Alex and Damien.”

His sons? Jackson has kids? What the fuck? Why didn’t he ever mention them?

Paige had to force herself to return her attention back to her step-father. She was just waiting for him to blurt out who she was. Instead, Jackson smiled and raised his glass. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Gauthier.”

Paige forced a smile and said, “It’s my pleasure, Mr. Paine.”

She looked at Alex and Damien then. She wondered if they knew who she was. The one called Alex had a hard, cold look in his eyes. The other one…the one she felt so drawn to…his eyes held something else. She noticed up close that his blue eyes were rimmed in green. She’d never seen anything like it. He seemed almost intrigued by her and his intense gaze made it hard for her to breathe.

“Nice to meet you,” she forced herself to say to the two younger men. She wondered then why she hadn’t seen the resemblance to Jackson. Their hair and skin were much darker than his, but those eyes were unmistakably Paine. They had to be the most literally beautiful men that she’d ever seen in her entire twenty five years.

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” Alex said.

All she got from Damien the God was a tilt of his chin. Kelsey stood behind him with her tiny hand resting on the top of one of his massive arms…marking her territory, Paige thought. Damien still hadn’t taken those eyes off of her though and she felt like her chest might explode.

“Caine, I have to run some errands before I need to be back tonight, so if you’ll all excuse me…”

“Sure thing,” Caine said.

She turned to grab her bag out of the booth and felt him slap her on the ass. When she turned back around, Damien was still watching. Her insides felt like they’d liquefied and she wasn’t sure if it was worrying about Jackson telling them who she really was…or being this close to Damien. Either way, she felt like she needed to get out of there before she passed out.

“Thanks,” she muttered to Caine. “Nice meeting you all.”

She headed for the door then, trying not to run. Her breaths were coming in short gasps by the time she got outside. She felt dizzy and she was seriously afraid she might pass out. She waited until she’d hailed a cab and slid into the back seat before she finally let out the breath she’d been holding. She worked on controlling her breathing all the way back to the apartment. After she paid the cab driver she walked hurriedly into the building and sprinted up the stairs. She didn’t feel safe until she was inside the apartment with the door closed and locked behind her. She slid to the floor and put her head down between her knees. Fifteen minutes had passed when she finally calmed herself down and then there was a knock on the door.

She scrambled away from the door like it was on fire. When she was about three feet away, she got to her feet and just stood there. There was another knock. She ignored it again.

“Paige, I know you’re there. Open the door. We need to talk.”

It was Jackson…somehow she knew it would be. Paige took a few more deep breaths and went over to the door. Throwing open the lock, she pulled the door inward. Jackson and his two sons…the sons she never knew he had, stood there all looking at her with those damned intense blue eyes. Jackson had the gall to smile at her.

“It’s good to see you, Paige.”

“What do you want?” She could hardly bring herself to speak to him. She hated this man when Greg was alive. Now he was dead and they were standing in his apartment…and Jackson was involved somehow, she knew it.

Jackson gently took hold of her shoulders and propelled her back into the room. Alex and Damien followed, closing the door behind them.

“Sit Paige, we need to talk.”

“You’re not my father. I don’t take orders from you.” She saw Jackson’s left eye twitch and she knew she was pissing him off. She didn’t care.

“Sit!” He didn’t raise his voice, but he used that tone that everyone in New York knew meant. “Don’t fuck with me.”

She sat.

Alex and Damien both stood on either side of their father. She felt all three stares boring into her. Jackson took a seat in the chair next to the sofa she sat on. The “boys” stayed where they were.

“Paige, I know what you’re doing here and you need to let it go and go back to Jersey…tonight.”

“No.”

She couldn’t be sure but she thought she saw mild amusement in Damien’s eyes. She doubted that he’d ever heard anyone blatantly defy his father…and live to tell about it. “If you know what I’m doing here then you know I can’t just go home. You know how much my brother meant to me.”

Jackson nodded. “I do and I’ve had nothing but sympathy for you and your mother. But what you’re trying to do here is going to get you killed. The Kramer’s are dangerous people. Not ones to toy with.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“You might be aware in the sense that you’ve read up on them online…but that stuff there only scratches the surface of what they’re capable of.”

“Like your bio Jackson?”

He was doing his best to be patient with her. Paige could see it in his eyes. “Yes Paige, exactly like that. Just as you have no idea what I am capable of, neither do you have any idea what they are. The difference is that I care about you and I cared about Greg, they don’t.”

She snorted and stood up. “I don’t want your professions of how much you care. If you cared so much you would be doing something. They killed him! They put a needle in his arm and ended his life and left him to look like a fucking junkie! They’re not going to get away with it.”

Jackson stood up as well. The boys were still just watching her.

“Okay Paige, I’ll make you a deal. You go home to Jersey and stay there. I will find out if the Kramer’s are behind Greg’s death and if they are…I’ll deal with them accordingly. You need to understand that you cannot do this. They will not hesitate to kill you and then you will be as dead as your brother.”

“No! I won’t go home until the people responsible for his death have paid for it.”

“Paige…” Jackson reached for her.

That was all it took to snap the piece of twine that was holding her together. She started wailing on his chest with her fists, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to break free.

“You don’t talk about Greg being dead! This is your fault! He was obsessed with bringing you down. This is your fault for being a low life drug dealer!”

Jackson let her finish and then he grabbed both of her wrists and held onto her until she calmed down. “Let go of me!” He let her go and she said, “Admit it to my face Jackson. Admit to me that Greg was right all of those years ago and that business of yours is just a bull-shit cover for your drug business!” Jackson didn’t say a word and she said, “I knew you wouldn’t do it. I knew you didn’t have the balls. I loved you like a father! I had respect for you! It was respect you didn’t deserve. You lied to my mother and my brother and me! You let my mother call my brother a liar when he told her the truth! You make me sick. I don’t doubt for a second that you’re involved in Greg’s death as deeply as the Kramer’s are. You knew he was here, didn’t you? You knew he was undercover? You had to know, you were at the funeral.”

“Yes Paige, I knew that he was here. I knew he was undercover and I did my best to look out for him.”

“You didn’t do a very damn good job did you?”

His eye twitched again. “No, I suppose I didn’t.”

“I guess the great and powerful Jackson Paine does fail after all.” The silence in the room then was deafening until she broke it by saying, “Did you have anything to do with it, Jackson? Were you involved in his death?”

Jackson looked her straight in the eyes and said, “No Paige. I cared about Greg, just as I care about you. Please go home where you’ll be safe. I don’t want to lose you too.”

“You lost both of us a long time ago. I’m not going home Jackson. Not until this is over!”

Paige eyed the man she once loved but now despised. He stretched out his long muscular arm and his hand massaged the back of his neck. His hair was dark and cut short and he looked just as handsome as he did when she was a kid. He finally raised his head, his blue eyes connecting with hers.

“Okay, but you can’t stay here in this apartment. It’s a direct link to Greg.”

“Fine, I’ll find another place…”

“You can stay with Damien. He’ll watch out for you.”

“Excuse me?”

Those were the first two words that Paige heard him speak.

“You heard me.” Jackson growled, not even looking at his son.

“I’m supposed to babysit the princess? Why can’t Alex watch her?”

“I don’t need a babysitter and none of you have the right to pawn me off on anyone!”

Alex, for the first time looked amused. Jackson did not.

“Enough!” He said raising his voice. He looked at Alex and said, “You will do some digging and see if you can find out who killed Greg. Damien…you will take Paige home with you and you will not let her out of your sight. Paige…you will listen to what Damien tells you or I will take you home myself. Now get your things.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

Paige was so pissed at Jackson for ordering her around that she was shaking. “I have a job to go to,” she said, glaring at him and his asshole, tough guy sons too.

“I’ll pick her up at the club.”

“That’s fine, but I want you at the club making sure she’s okay.”

“Stop fucking talking about me like I’m not here!” Paige felt like her head would explode. Who did these fuckers think they were?

Jackson looked at her and smiled. “I apologize Paige. I just want to make sure that you’re okay.”

“You better worry about yourself because if I find out you had anything to do with Greg’s death, I will kill you myself!”

Jackson laughed. If she’d had a gun in her hands she would have shot him right there. “I’m proud of you, Paige. You’ve turned into such a beautiful young lady.”

“Fuck you!”

She looked at Damien and Alex. Alex’s eyes had lost their mild amusement and he was staring at her with that cold dead stare again. Damien looked pissed but she still couldn’t stop the way her heart sped up when she looked at him. She felt like an animal that could actually smell the pheromones coming off of him. As pissed as she was she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about how much she’d love to rip his clothes off and fuck him right then and there. Something about the way he looked at her told her that no matter how pissed he was, he felt the same way. All of that only served to piss her off that much more.

“Fuck you both too. Take your tough guy, asshole attitudes and go try and intimidate someone else. It’s not working here.”

“This is what I’m stuck with?” Damien said. He looked at his brother and said, “You better find something out soon. It looks like I’ll be living with a feral cat.”

“Get the fuck out!”

“Let’s go,” Jackson told them. Damien didn’t take his eyes off her face until Jackson finally stepped in between them and said, “Damien will be there tonight. Don’t do anything stupid.”

******

The nightclub was packed and Paige had been on her feet for three hours solid. She was helping out at the bar and giving breaks to the staff. The bar itself was packed because the girls were dancing tonight and the local perverts had to sit belly up so they could watch them. The girls were wearing skin tight white leather booty shorts and white bikini tops that only covered their nipples and nothing else. They had on thigh high white leather boots and both of them had long blonde hair that fell down past their butts. They used their hair a lot in their routine and more than once she saw Caine walk by and grab one by the hair or slap her ass. Paige found herself hoping that he chose to take one of them in the back room tonight and left her alone. She wasn’t in the mood to pretend that she wanted him tonight.

She worked non-stop for another two hours, thinking she was going to get lucky since the night was almost over. That was about the time that she felt Caine come up behind her. He wrapped his beefy arms around her waist and whispered, “I want you,” in her ear.

“It’s really busy Caine. They need me out here.”

“They can handle it.”

“But…”

“No buts! Come with me. I’m the boss, remember?”

Fuck! Paige put down the bottle she’d been pouring out of and followed him into the back. As soon as they were in the room, Caine’s hands were all over her. There was nothing slow or gentle about him tonight.

“Hey there tiger, slow down! I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn right you’re not. Get naked.”

“Jeez, maybe we could have a drink and get to know each other a little bit.”

“I know you well enough. Get naked.”

Paige forced a laugh. What she really wanted to do was throw up. His demanding attitude with her about her body was making her feel sick. She’d created a monster.

“Hey Caine, can I ask you something?”

“What’s that?” he was rubbing her tits through her blouse. It was hard to concentrate.

She took a small step back and said, “I heard some guys talking today about a guy named Paul…something or other. One guy said he disappeared and the other guy said something about him being dead…”

“What about it?”

“They were talking about where this Paul guy got his drugs and your name came up…”

“Who the fuck were these guys?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear them say any names…”

“What did they look like?”

“White guys, one was tall and thin with a lot of tattoos and the other was shorter and stockier. They looked about twenty five or so.”

“Are they still here?”

“No, they left.”

“If you see them again, you let me know, while they’re here.”

“Okay…do you sell drugs, Caine?”

“I don’t think you want to get too nosy here, Paige. Now, take your fucking clothes off before I tear them off.”

“I’m just not really feeling it tonight…”

“Then you can just lay there. Now, last time…take your fucking clothes off…right now!”

Paige was pissed. She wanted to refuse and run out of the room…but that wasn’t an option. She’d made this bed and now she had to literally lie in it. She started taking off her shirt. Before she got it over her head, Caine unhooked her bra and started fondling her tits. By the time she tossed her shirt aside, his mouth was covering one of her nipples. Her body began responding again, the same way it did last time. Caine pulled his head up and started stripping off his own clothes. She wished that he were as ugly on the outside as he was inside. She hated feeling her body respond as soon as she saw him. He was way too hot to be such a low life.

“Get the rest of them off,” he told her.

This time Paige did as she was told. She would just let him do her and get it over with. Caine reached down and picked her up off her feet.

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer her. He carried her into where the bed was and laid her down on it. He climbed up between her legs and took his cock in his hand.

“Caine…condom, please.”

He looked annoyed but he reached over and got one. He ripped it open with his teeth and skillfully rolled it on with one hand. He rubbed himself against her folds then and she felt him twitch in excitement and he lowered himself down until her breasts were crushed against her chest and began to enter her. He kissed her hard while his cock slid into her slowly. His tongue explored every dark, wet crevice of her mouth and rubbed against her tongue. Paige didn’t want to kiss him back, but he wasn’t going to relent until she did. She finally gave in and let her tongue dance with his as he thrust the rest of his length inside of her and filled her up. She closed her eyes and let him do his thing. She tried to pretend that it was someone else, but she was so repulsed by the fact that she was being fucked by a killer that she couldn’t even dream up a fantasy.

She felt him pull back slowly and then thrust back in deep. He gave her a few more slow thrusts before snaking his arm underneath her and pulling her hips up off the bed. He held her there while he moved in and out of her. At this angle, his cock rubbed against her clit each time he entered her. Paige felt herself getting excited in spite of what she wanted. She reached up and grasped his shoulders. The more he pounded into her at that angle, the more excited she became. She dug her fingers into his flesh and she heard him moan. He reached down with his free hand and grabbed a handful of her hair. He used it to pull her head to the side and then he lowered his mouth down to her neck. He started kissing her there and nipping at the sensitive flesh, sending goose bumps racing down her arms and her spine. Paige could feel the orgasm building inside of her. He lifted her higher with his arm and moved his mouth down to find one of her nipples. He licked and sucked on it, scraping along the side of it with his teeth every so often, causing her to whimper. He let go of her hips and used the other hand to pinch and pull and twist her other nipple. Paige was breathing hard. She was so close. Caine was thrusting in and out of her and she was bringing her hips up now to meet his. His thrusts became harder and he pressed deep and held himself inside of her with each thrust before pulling back out. He was grunting and she could feel him swelling and pulsing inside of her. Paige pulled her hips all the way up off the bed as she reached her climax. It took Caine about two seconds after her walls clenched down on him and released a gush of warm fluid…before he came too.

He gripped onto her tightly and worked himself slowly in and out of her until he at last collapsed down on top of her. He lay there recovering while she was crushed underneath his weight. Just about the time she absolutely had to protest so she could take a full breath, he rolled off of her. When she felt him fall out of her she rolled to her other side and let her feet fall off the bed.

“In a hurry?” she heard him say behind her.

“I thought you were.”

He reached out and put his big hand on the small of her back. “You’re one incredibly sexy woman Paige. You had me so worked up, I couldn’t wait.”

Paige didn’t say anything to that. She reached for her clothes and started dressing. She felt Caine’s weight shift behind her and move off the bed. He started grabbing his clothes off the floor as well and once he had them gathered up; he took them into the bathroom and closed the door. Paige finished dressing and using the mirror on the dresser, she worked her fingers through her hair so that she wouldn’t go back out into the bar with it all matted and tangled in the back. When she finished with that, Caine was back and fully dressed. Paige then disappeared into the bathroom to clean up. A few moments later she came out and started to head for the door when she felt his arm circle her waist. He used his hand to move her hair out of the way and he kissed her on the side of the neck. She tried not to stiffen up, or flinch, but it was hard. She waited to see what he would do next, but he finally just let her go. He followed her back out into the bar and the first thing she saw was Damien’s beautiful face.

He was sitting at the bar and Kelsey was standing behind it. Kelsey saw Caine and Paige before he did. She gave her brother a look that said she didn’t approve of his backroom trysts and then turned her attentions back to Damien. He had already spotted Paige and those blue eyes were on her face. His eyes roamed her features and neck and her defenses tried to push her gaze to the floor, but once again, she was captivated by his masculine allure. Awareness passed between them like a silent confession, igniting her blood. She sucked in the air around her and rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. The man could bed any woman on earth with just one look…

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let me just grab my bag.”

“Wait…you’re here to pick her up?” Kelsey said cocking a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

“What’s up with that?” Caine asked.

Damien picked up his drink, drained his glass and looked at Caine first and then Kelsey and said, “Mind your own fucking business. Come on Paige, let’s go.”

Paige’s face was hot as she followed Damien out the door. When they got to the car she said, “Way too go being so discreet.”

“Nobody said that I had to be discreet. Get in.”

He slid into his side of the little red sports car. Paige was still standing outside. Damien started the car and lowered the passenger side window.

“Get the fuck in!”

Paige was sick of men telling her what to do. She just had sex with a murderer because he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. They were all pissing her off. She pulled open the door and got in, slamming the door behind her.

“Don’t talk to me that way.”

Damien just looked at her and smirked. He put the car in drive but before they were out of the parking lot she said, “We need to go to the apartment…I need my things.”

 

 

Chapter 12

Damien couldn’t believe that his father had “assigned” him the task of babysitting this impetuous, angry girl. It was an insult when there were so many other things Damien could be doing. He lived about five minutes away from the club. Instead of being at home where he wanted to be right now, he was driving out to Queens so that she can pick up her stuff. He had a feeling she left it there on purpose so that she could make him drive out there to get it. He glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye. She was looking out the window, so all he could see was hair. Long, thick, dark gorgeous hair that he couldn’t get out of his head. That just pissed him off that much more. If she was just some random chick, he’d have her in his bed already. The burning need pushed against his chest each time he saw her and the tension coiled in his stomach. He could actually feel the blood racing through his veins, flooding his head with delicious visions of his hands all over her sexy, curvy body. Desire burned hot in his belly and quickly spread south.

He had to get that out of his head though. This was his father’s step-daughter who he professed to “care” about. She was obviously not stable. She’d not only attacked Jackson Paine with her fists…she’d threatened his life to his face and then she told him to fuck off. Although Damien thoroughly enjoyed the entire show, he knew that she had to be crazy to risk talking to him like that. Nobody spoke to Jackson Paine that way and got away with it. Paige obviously held a very special spot with his father for him to allow her to act like that.

Damien pulled up in front of the converted brownstone and Paige jumped out. With a sigh, he stepped out behind her. He had to take giant steps to catch up with her, she was practically running.

When she saw him behind her she said, “You can wait in the car.”

“Nope.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

“Whatever it was the answer is no. For some reason my father wants you “protected.” I’m not letting you go anywhere alone.”

She took the stairs up two at a time. Damien followed on her heels. When they got to the apartment she started to stick the key in the door. Damien took it out of her hand. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m opening the door so you don’t go racing in there and get your fool head blown off.”

“This is ridiculous,” she said as he pushed the door in and flattened his back against the wall before going in.

He flipped on the light and looked around. Satisfied, he made his way through the rest of the apartment and made sure it was all clear. “Okay, you’re good…and I agree.”

She looked at him like he was crazy. Even that look was sexy on her.

“You agree with what?”

“Your assessment that this is ridiculous; this whole situation is ridiculous. You shouldn’t be sticking your nose in places where it doesn’t belong and you shouldn’t be running around New York putting other people at risk because you think you’re Sherlock fucking Holmes.”

She looked at him long and hard and then without saying a word, she flipped him the finger and that long gorgeous hair over her shoulder and disappeared into the bedroom. A few minutes later she came out with a duffle bag and a rolling suitcase. “Okay, ready?”

She didn’t answer him again.

Jesus Christ she is a fucking pain in the ass.

She brushed past him leaving a trail of a delicate floral fragrance in her wake. It filled his senses and he had to bit his lip as lust saturated his brain. His fingers itched with the desire to bury them in her hair and pull her up to meet his lips. With a subtle shake of his head to clear those thoughts and a heavy sigh, he followed her out, locking the door behind him. This time she talked as they drove and he wished that she would just shut up already.

“This is a nice car, did you steal it?”

“No, I didn’t fucking steal it.”

“Did you buy it with your daddy’s drug money?”

“It’s none of your business where I got the money.”

“I just don’t understand how you can enjoy anything you have knowing it was all bought with filthy money that ruins other people’s lives.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Unfortunately, Damien had to admit to himself that she did know. There wasn’t a day that went by that Damien didn’t hope for a way out of this life someday. He was smart enough to know that the only way out of this business was death.

Thankfully, she seemed to be finished with her tirade for now. The rest of the ride was silent until they pulled up in front of his building. Paige looked up at the thirty story glass building and said, “Damn! Being a low life thug pays better than I thought.”

“I’m not a thug.”

“Oh that’s right; you’re an upper class drug dealer and killer…”

“Just shut the fuck up will you?”

He got out of the car and opened the trunk. He was pulling her suitcase out when she jerked it from his hand. He shook his head and handed the keys to the valet.

When the doorman opened the door and said, “Good evening ma’am,” she said it back. When he said, “Good evening sir,” to Damien, she laughed. He seriously might have to throw this snarky little wench out the window.

They rode the elevator up to the top floor and when they stepped off and she saw the luxurious lobby, she rolled her eyes. When he opened the door and she stepped into the 5000 square feet apartment her mouth fell open. The Living Room is decorated with two white leather reclining sofas and a 60″ flat screen TV as well as a state of the art sound system. The prints on the walls were original and expensive and there was a formal dining table that seated twelve guests. The balcony opened up to a stunning view of Manhattan and it was adorned with a hand-made built-in barbecue pit.

“This is ridiculous,” she said.

Damien let it go. He was quickly learning two things about her. The first one was that it didn’t do any good to argue with her and the second one was that no matter how much she pissed him off, it only made him want her more. His emotions swirled in a cocktail of confusion and desire warred with self-preservation inside his head. His cock was already at half-mast. He wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to live with this woman knowing that he can’t fuck her.

“Come on, I’ll show you your room.”

She followed him through the ultra-modern, glass-walled living room and down the hall. He showed her to the one furthest bedroom from his own room. Maybe if she was way down the hall, he’d sleep better. Paige acted like she didn’t notice the dark oak furniture and the pillow top King sized bed. She tossed her bags onto the floor and Damien left her there. He went into the kitchen and pulled a beer out of the refrigerator. He twisted off the cap and took a long pull from it. He still couldn’t believe his father did this shit to him. Damien went out into the living room and was disappointed to find her there. He was hoping she would hide out in her bedroom. Instead, she was sitting on one of his couches when all he wanted to do was relax and watch some television.

He decided to ignore her and he took a seat on the other couch. He used the remote to turn on the 60 inch television and the room was quickly filled with the sights and sounds of classic cars and motorcycles. As Damien settled back to watch it Paige said, “Why didn’t I know about you before? Where were you when my mother and your father were married?”

Damien took another drink from his beer, picked up the remote and pressed the volume button up a few notches.

Paige shook her head. “Wow, mature.”

He continued to ignore her…or at least pretend to. What he should have done if he really wanted to ignore her would be to go to bed. Instead, he sat here in the living room with this annoying woman because no matter how much of a pain in the ass she was, he wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman. He couldn’t figure it out.

Eventually she tired of being ignored and went to her room. Damien turned off the TV about a half an hour later and headed for his own. As he got close to hers he realized the door was cracked open and he thought he heard her crying. He stopped where she couldn’t see him and looked in. She had her back to him, but he could tell by the way her shoulders were shaking and the way she was breathing that she was crying. In her hand was a photograph. Damien couldn’t see who was in the photo but he assumed that it must be her brother. He felt a tug of sympathy for her.

Alex wasn’t a nice person, but he was Damien’s brother and technically all he really had. He would be devastated if anything happened to him…much less if he was murdered. He would do the same thing that Paige was doing; only with a lot less patience and class…he’d go on a spree. He left her alone. He didn’t know her brother and she acted like she could barely stand him so he doubted that she’d want any comfort from him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 13

Paige slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The sun was beating through the glass wall. She’d forgotten to pull the blinds before she finally gave in to sleep last night. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as her mind registered where she was.

She was in Damien’s penthouse.

She could smell the aroma of coffee and it was enticing. Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she slipped into her moccasin slippers and still dressed in her tank top and booty shorts, she stuck her head out into the hallway. She could hear the shower running. Thinking she could get her coffee and get back to her room before he got out, she headed for the kitchen. She walked through the swinging double doors and looked around. She hadn’t come in here last night. It was a gourmet kitchen with every amenity a gourmet chef might want. She went over to where the coffee pot sat, reached up into the cabinet above it and found a cup and poured herself one. She brought the mug up to her nose and inhaled its aroma letting the steam seep its way into her pores as she did.

She took a sip just as she stepped out into the living room and nearly choked on it. Damien was standing in the center of the room, rubbing a towel through his hair. He was completely nude and Paige had never seen anything like him in her life. Something coiled deep inside of her, something she’d never felt before…like a dam on the verge of collapse. Her body trembled with a raw need. He looked like he’d been sculpted out of clay, or stone. His smooth tanned skin encased a body of solid muscle without an inch of fat anywhere. Brilliantly colored tribal tattoos sleeved his entire right arm and climbed up to his collar bone and neck. On his inner right forearm was the word ‘PAINE’. They caught the light of the sun coming in through the glass walls and Paige wanted to trace them with her fingers. She stood rooted to her spot, fighting the violent urge that coursed through her body to touch him. She could picture herself running her hands across his broad shoulders and letting her fingers dance down across the most defined set of pecks and abs she’d ever laid eyes on. She let her eyes roam over his body freely, soaking in every detail, and as they fell on what he carried between a pair of muscular, shapely thighs, the words “total package” ran through her mind.

“There’s coffee made,” he said, without looking up. He knew she was there watching him. His confidence…or was it arrogance…only served to turn her on more.

“I got some, thanks.”

She was surprised that her voice even worked. It felt like everything inside of her was shaking. He looked up at her then. Paige wasn’t sure what her face looked like at that moment but whatever it was amused him. His sexy full lips quirked up on the edges in a mischievous grin as he said, “If you need a shower, it’s free.”

He turned away from her then and she couldn’t help but watch the flexion of his taut ass and quads as he walked away. His back was as muscular and defined as his front and he had tattoos across his upper shoulders as well. When he disappeared from her sight, it still took her several seconds to recover her heart rate and breathing enough to move herself forward. Paige shivered, then allowed herself to picture him again and finally headed for the shower…a cold one, at that.

When Paige finished her shower she put on a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra and tank, pulled her hair into a ponytail and went out into the kitchen to see if she could find something to eat. What she found was Damien…in a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else. It was at least a little less distracting, but not much.

“Eggs on the stove,” he said, “There’s bread for toast.”

“Thanks.”

Paige fixed a piece of toast and served herself some eggs. She brought her plate over and took a seat at the little table across from him. She wasn’t sure that she’d be able to eat with him sitting there looking like something that just came down off of Mt. Olympus. She moved her eggs around on her plate, and then trying to ease some of the tension by breaking the silence she said, “You have a lot of tattoos.”

“Yep.”

“Do they all mean something?”

He looked up at her then. Those eyes were as ridiculously sexy as everything else about him. God was having a very good day when he made this man. Then he opens his mouth and completely ruins it, “Why do you care what they mean?”

“I don’t. I was just making conversation. Just pick one to tell me about, like the one on your arm that says, PAINE.”

He looked down at it, like he didn’t remember what it looked like. Then he looked back up at her with that same crazy intense gaze and said, “It’s a family crest. We all have them.”

“Nice, so it’s like a stamp that says, “I’m the direct descendent of a drug lord…”

Damien almost spat out his coffee and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Don’t start.”

“Don’t start what? I’m just stating a fact. You wear your family “crest” so proudly that one might actually think you were a model family.”

“You don’t know a fucking thing about me or my family.”

“Really? I think I do. My mother was married to IT. I lived in IT. My brother died for IT.” She said with venom rolling off her tongue.

“Let’s not go there.”

“Why? Because you know that your father knows more than he’s saying about my brother’s murder? You wear that crest like you’re royalty when the truth is no matter how nice you live or dress or look…you’re just a criminal underneath, the same as any other street thug.”

“And you have a big fucking mouth. If your brother’s mouth was as big as yours— it’s no wonder he’s dead.”

Paige could instantly feel the blood rush to her head at his words. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about my brother. He had more integrity in his pinky finger than your entire family has all put together. You’re not fit to let his name roll off your lips.”

He stood up, pushing his chair back hard. He dropped his fork onto his plate. Paige made herself sit tight and not jump at the sound. She didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of knowing that he startled her. He stood there for a second with his chest rising and falling, looking at her like he had something else to say. He must have decided against it because he took his plate over and tossed it into the sink and then headed for the kitchen door.

“Damien…”

He stopped, but he didn’t turn around. “What?”

“Does your father know who killed my brother?”

Damien turned to look at her then. Something swirled deep within his eyes but she wasn’t sure what it was.

“You’ll need to ask my father. I’m not his keeper.”

“Fine, how about this, do you know who killed my brother?”

“No. I have no idea.”

He turned and left the room then. Appetite gone, Paige got up and emptied her plate in the garbage disposal and rinsed it off. As she finished putting hers…and his into the dishwasher, she heard a knock on the front door. She peeked out the kitchen door in time to see Damien rush down the hall and open it. Kelsey Kramer was standing there…looking as fresh and gorgeous as ever. Damien propelled her back with his body and closed the door behind him. He didn’t want her to see Paige. Paige wondered if it was about keeping her safe…or not making Kelsey jealous.

She slipped quickly down the hall to “her” room before Damien opened the door again. She closed the door behind her in case Kelsey came inside and she grabbed her phone.

She had a text from Tommy.

It simply said, “Bronx Zoo at noon, by the alligator exhibit.”

Paige was surprised. She thought Tommy was long gone by now. She hoped that meant he wasn’t still in danger. She sat down on the bed trying to decide if it would be better to ditch Damien and sneak off on her own or just tell him and let him drive her…but stay away when she meets with Tommy. The question was really whether or not she trusted him and the answer was that she trusted him as much as she did any of the rest of these people…which amounted to zero.

She heard Damien come back inside a few minutes later. She looked at the clock. It was almost ten-thirty. If she was going to meet Tommy, she needed to go soon. She pulled open her door a crack and looked out. She saw Damien move across the foyer; he was alone. She stepped out and went into the living room. He was slumped on the couch flipping through the channels on the television. She was pretty sure this wasn’t what he was used to doing. She wondered what he would be doing if she wasn’t remanded into his custody, then she decided that she’d probably rather not know.

“What did Kelsey want?”

He didn’t answer her; instead he gave her a look that said ‘don’t ask’. He went back to his channel surfing and she said, “I’m going to meet my brother’s old partner at the Bronx Zoo at noon.”

That got his attention. He sat up straight on the couch and said, “Not alone you’re not.”

“That’s fine. You can come with me. You just need to keep your distance while I talk to him.” He smirked and she asked, “What’s so funny?”

“You.”

“I’m funny?”

“Sometimes…when you try and act like you’re in charge.”

Paige narrowed her eyes at him as he got up and walked towards his bedroom. She let that go, but what he obviously didn’t know was that she is in charge. These controlling, angry, tough-guy, wise guy, assholes just think that they are. She went and changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and when she came back out he was waiting for her. He had on jeans too and an N.Y. Mets jersey with a backwards baseball cap. He was ridiculously sexy in it. He looked good in a suit and tie, jeans and a ball cap…and absolutely nothing. It’s too bad he didn’t have an attitude to match.

They drove out to the Bronx in silence. When they got to the zoo it was about eleven forty-five. “I’m meeting him near the alligator exhibit. Please stay out of sight, okay? I don’t think he’d be happy about me bringing you.”

Damien snorted like he didn’t give a shit what Tommy was happy about or not, but he found a bench near the front entrance and sat down. Satisfied, Paige made her way to where she was meeting Tommy.

He was already there.

“Hey! I thought you were leaving town.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Tommy looked like shit. He had big bags underneath his eyes and he looked like he’d lost ten pounds since the funeral.

“Are you okay?”

“As okay as I can be,” he said, vaguely. He had a package in his hand. He handed it to her. “That’s what Greg wanted you to find. I took it from the crime scene before they could take it into evidence.”

Paige wondered why he was waiting until now to give it to her, but she didn’t ask. Instead she said, “Do you know what’s in it?”

“I have an idea,” he said. “I need to go Paige. Be careful…please.”

“Okay. Thank you, Tommy.”

“Don’t thank me. I should be discouraging you from doing this instead of helping you. Keep yourself safe Paige and whatever you do, do not get sucked into their world.” Tommy hugged her then and took off towards the backside of the zoo. Paige looked down at the package in her hand. She wanted to see what was inside of it…without Damien looking over her shoulder. She tucked it into her backpack and went the way Tommy had. As she suspected, there was a small gate at the rear of the zoo where you couldn’t enter, but you could exit. She slipped out and took off jogging. She jogged about two blocks before she stopped and hailed a cab….to Greg’s apartment leaving Damien waiting.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 14

Once Paige was inside Greg’s apartment she opened the envelope Tommy gave her. There was a USB thumb drive and a small audio drive. She pulled out her notebook and plugged in the USB. When she brought it up there was a list of files on it in chronological order. She clicked on one of them and a manifest opened up.

The manifest read, “Trans Paine Inc.” at the top as the shipper. Under the area that read, “Port” New York was listed. The name of a ship was listed as well and the name of the captain and where the shipment was coming from…and Kramer Construction was listed as the receivers. There were over twelve of these manifests, different dates, but otherwise very similar. One notable was that the shipments all came in on the same ship under the authority of the same captain. The captain’s name was Seth Vickers. Paige made a mental note to call Tommy and see if they had any background on him.

The USB also held a list of names. The names were all Columbian and Greg had put in parenthesis at the bottom: Cartel.

Paige wasn’t sure yet what to do with all of this, but she knew that this was good information to have. She had to wonder however why it would be enough to kill for. Surely Lucas Kramer and Jackson Paine had a safety net in place in case their manifests ever went public. Surely they had a legitimate shipment come in as a cover for whatever else…likely drugs, was brought in along with it.

Paige took out the USB and put in the audio. She waited for it to load and pressed play.

“Do we have a deal?” The voice was male and heavily accented. Paige would say Columbian, considering the source.

“Yes, I’ve already given you my word. What more do you want?”

That voice didn’t sound familiar to her. “I want what Jackson Paine has, Mr. Kramer.” Lucas Kramer!

“This will be our start. The July shipment is one of his biggest yet. If this goes south for him, he’ll lose customers and he’ll lose respect and he’ll lose millions…”

“And that’s your reward. My reward will be that I’ll have the product waiting for me out on the island. I’ll move it back to Columbia and sell it and I will make the millions he loses. It will make a very happy man to see him suffer for it.”

“Mine as well,” Kramer said. “It’s all set. The captain is set to run the ship aground. You’re men will need to be there and ready to unload it as quickly as they can. The ship will then sink and the captain will be assumed dead.”

“What about the crew?”

“They will do what the captain tells them to do.”

“You’re sure? We can’t afford any wild cards.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? I don’t do wild cards. I wrap up my loose ends and tie them up in a bow.”

“Like the two DEA agents last year?”

“That was Jackson’s doing…mostly, but yes, like that.”

“That was…”

Paige heard a noise that sounded like the door opening. She pulled the file out and shoved it into her pants. She turned toward the sound and saw Damien standing behind her. It was the first time that he actually looked scary to her. She looked up at his large frame and his eyes had that cold hard edge to them that his brother’s held all the time.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I needed to pick up some more things…”

He reached down and pulled her up out of the chair. He held her up off the floor, close to his face. Paige felt her breath catch in her throat. She was torn between “How dare he touch me?” and “Oh my God his lips are so close.”

“You took off on me at the zoo. I had no fucking clue where you were…”

“Obviously you found me, so put me down and calm down.”

He let her down on her feet but he still didn’t let go of her arms. She felt dizzy being so close to him. She wanted to touch him so badly that she had to ball her hands into fists to keep herself from doing it.

“Do you know what he would do to me if I let anything happen to you?”

“He? Your own father? Don’t you think your well-being would be more important to him than mine?”

“You would think,” he said, letting go of her. She fell back on the table, losing her balance and sliding down into the floor.

“Jesus, fuck Damien!”

He reached his hand down to her and she hit it away. A murderous look crossed his face and for a second she thought maybe she had gone too far. She was pissed at this point and didn’t care.

“Get away from me.” She pulled herself up and said, “Why do you and your father want to keep me away from here so badly? Is there something here that you’re afraid I’ll find? Do you know something about my brother’s death?”

“I’m supposed to watch you, period. I don’t know shit! Now get your stuff and let’s go.”

“No! Stop telling me what to do!”

“I should just leave you here then and let you end up dead like the cop.”

She stepped back up close to him. She was seeing red now. She pushed her hands into his chest and said, “That cop was my brother! He was my big brother and now he’s dead and I’m the only one who gives a shit!”

She pushed him again and he grabbed her wrists. She was breathing heavy, fighting off the tears again. She was well aware that this man could kill her right now for putting her hands on him, but she was so pissed she couldn’t think clearly and right now she just didn’t care.

“Let go of me,” she said through gritted teeth.

Damien let go and when she looked up at his face she saw his eyes had softened.

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

Paige was shocked. An apology? From a Paine? Hell must have frozen over. She didn’t know what to say at that point and she was afraid if she tried that she would lose it completely and start to cry. So instead of saying anything, she grabbed her pack off the table and said, “Let’s go.”

Damien followed her out. When he turned to lock the door, she fished the USB out of her pants and stuffed it back into her pack. She would have to look at it later.

*****

Damien alternated between being pissed at Paige and feeling sorry for her. If anyone else had put their hands on him like that…there would have been hell to pay. As it were, his blood was still roaring from the heat of her touch. It had aroused him for her to touch him at all and his cock twitched in his pants even now at the memory of it. She’s such a pain in the ass. He can’t begin to imagine why she affects him the way that she does, but he felt powerless to control it. This morning when he’d been naked and he knew she was watching him… the weight of her stare shot heat through his veins and he had been right on the verge of taking her. He knew that he had to keep himself in check. Paige was not part of their world no matter how tough she liked to pretend that she was, or how much she wanted to believe she was in control. She didn’t belong here and Damien could never leave…so taking this damned attraction anywhere would be a mistake. She was destined to be a doctor and have a family in some nice little suburb of New Jersey and he was destined for a life with someone like Kelsey…a hot fuck whenever he wanted it, but nothing beyond that.

When they got home, Paige disappeared into her room and he didn’t see her again until dinner time. He’d made some spaghetti and seemingly subdued, she fixed herself a plate and sat down and ate with him. Dinner was silent, but afterwards she thanked him before cleaning up her plate and going to get ready for work. He thought he had his desires under control until she came back out of the room.

She was wearing a white pencil dress that didn’t leave one single curve of her voluptuous body to the imagination. The neckline was high but there was a hole cut right over her cleavage area in front and the back was open to the small of her back. Her long shapely legs ended in a pair of “come fuck me” white heels and her hair was in wild dark curls across her shoulders and down her back. Damien’s pants were instantly too small. All he could think as he followed her out the door and to the elevator was…Fuck Me!

He drove her to work and after dropping her off, he headed over to his father’s restaurant. He walked in past the hostess who was trying to greet him and the tables full of people he would normally talk to. He found his father, Alex and his Uncle Kevin right where he knew he would…at their private table in the back.

“Damien, you’re just in time to join us for dinner,” Jackson said.

“Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have me following this angry, impetuous little woman around twenty-four-seven. I deserve to know what is going on.”

Jackson glanced at his brother and then looked back up at Damien. “Sit down Damien. Now!”

Damien sat down next to his brother. The waiter rushed over but Damien warned him off with a look. “What happened to her brother?”

Jackson sighed. “I care about Paige,” he said, not for the first time. “I cared for her brother. When I married Crystal I really thought that it would be forever. I thought of them as my own.”

Alex and Damien exchanged a look. They both had issues with all of the years they spent without a father. Neither of them has ever brought them up to Jackson. “Greg never liked me. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get close to him. But, I never stopped caring about him. I would never have killed that boy. I knew he was here and I knew what he was doing…and like Paige, I didn’t blow his cover.”

“But you know who did kill him, don’t you?”

Jackson looked around to make sure no one else was near and he said, “Yes, I know. I’m not going to tell Paige so that she can run off half-cocked and get herself killed.”

“And you’re not going to do anything to him because his father is your close friend and business partner…do I have that right?” Damien suspected he knew who killed Greg.

His father proved him right as he said, “Yes. That’s not why I’m doing “nothing” as you put it. It’s not that simple. If I killed Caine Kramer it would start a war not only with Kramer’s crew, but with the Columbians. My relations with the Cartel are shaky. Kramer actually holds that together for us and he would easily be able to bring them in on his side if he needed to.”

“So what are you going to do? Why are you keeping her here, acting like you’re helping her?”

“First to keep her safe,” Jackson said. “She has no idea what she is doing here. Caine found out that Greg was undercover. He tried to get Greg to tell him what he had on him. What Greg did tell him was that it was enough to put him away. Caine freaked out and killed him. He would just as easily do the same to Paige. We have to find out what Greg had and if anyone ended up with that information, it was his sister. Then, we can decide what to do with Caine.”

“So you want to use her as the bait? You think she has this evidence already?” Damien was thinking about her meeting with her brother’s partner. Was that what that was about?

“I think you need to find out,” his father said. It wasn’t a question or a request…it was a direct order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 15

Paige breathed a sigh of relief that Caine wasn’t at the club tonight. Kelsey wasn’t either and it actually just felt like a normal job for a change. They were busy and shorthanded, so she was on her feet and moving all night. That made the time go by quickly and for that she was grateful. Damien was there right on time to pick her up.

On the ride to the apartment he actually asked her how the night went. Surprised that he was trying to be nice, Paige told him it was good, but busy. The rest of the ride was quiet with her wrapped up in her thoughts of figuring out how to use the evidence Tommy gave her and Damien appearing to have things of his own on his mind.

As soon as they got to the penthouse Paige went to her room, closed and locked the door behind her. Then she changed out of her work clothes into a white cami with spaghetti straps and soft yellow pajama pants. Before going back out to the kitchen she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and looked up at the vent. Earlier when she was getting ready for work she had dug the USB and audio files out of her pack and looked around the room for a place to hide them. She had spotted a vent above the dresser. She wrapped the two files in a t-shirt and climbed up on top of the dresser. Reaching up, she opened the vent and put the t-shirt up inside the vent before closing it back. Everything looked untouched.

When she walked out of her room she found Damien leaning back against the counter, drinking a beer. She felt the searing heat of his eyes as they moved over her body, practically leaving her panting.

“You want a beer?”