Page 34 of I Stop Somewhere Waiting For You

“Got it,” I nod.

“Next up—” he slaps another picture up alongside the first “—Lucas Frost. In and out of foster care from the ripe young age of six right up until he phased out. Priors include possession, grand larceny, and sexual assault—and all that was before he even turned eighteen. This one, he’s the guy who dragged her downstairs.” He picks up the remote from the table, flipping on the flat screen on the opposite wall. I spin to be met with an image that has my heart splintering in my chest.

“How did you get this?” My voice comes out strained.

“I uploaded them all into the facial recognition software and then ran them against the social media profiles of all Jonsie’s known acquaintances and classmates. This picture was floating around on a random person’s Facebook.”

I can see how it went unnoticed. We’re only able to see it because the image has been enlarged and enhanced so significantly by Bentley. It’s a picture of two girls playing beer pong, one’s getting ready to throw the ball. A boy stands next to them, his arms outstretched up above his head as he cheers them on. However, if you look between the bodies, there in the background is the piece-of-shit Lucas supporting what looks to be a severely intoxicated Jonsie. But she’s not drunk, she was drugged. Drugged and dragged down to Hell.

“Keep going,” I grit out.

Bent spins back to the board and slaps the remaining two pictures up. “David Landers and Kellan Trusler. These two fucknuts are stepbrothers. They did everything together. David’s biological uncle owned the house. I think you can deduce from all the other information I’ve provided what exactly their role was in all this.”

I swallow down the vomit attempting to crawl up my throat. Thoughts of them touching my Queen—harming her—drive me to the brink of madness. “Ok, Bent. Now do what you do. Make it make sense.”

Bent turns back to the table, sliding one last photo out from under the folder that he previously left covered. He approaches the board, tacking it up in the middle of the others before backing away.

My blood runs cold as I feel the life drain from my body. I’m hypnotized by the evil black orbs staring back at me from within the image, as if taunting me from beyond the grave.

“We did this to her,” my voice slips out, low…broken. “Nicky and I are to blame.”

I don’t need Bentley to read me the profile on this one.

Theodore James Vickers. AKA—T.J. Vick.

Self-proclaimed wannabe gangster who set up shop over in Killington shortly after Nicky and I took control of our territories a little over three years ago. Even though he was older than us, he was reckless. Wouldn’t play by any rules, followed no moral code. Didn’t respect the neutral zones. Nicky and I, given all our differences, rule with order. T.J. was a live wire. And when he started intentionally polluting the market with fentanyl-laced product, Nicky and I did something we’d never done before, nor since. We formed a temporary alliance and took T.J. and his bullshit crew down.

My eyes slip closed as all the pieces pop into place. “T.J. had an older brother. I remember him from the background checks we ran. It took us a while to locate him because they’re half siblings and had different last names, but when we looked into it, Nicky and I deemed him not to be a threat. He was living in Nicky’s territory and from what we could tell they had no contact. We didn’t think he’d be a liability.” I open my eyes, my gaze meeting Bent’s. “Charlie,” I force out. “Charlie Landers.”

“Charlie Landers,” Bent repeats. “Mr. Crispy Critter himself when Nicky got done with him. He orchestrated the whole thing. Kellan and David were living with him for several months. They worked to form superficial friendships with some of the local guys at Jonsie’s school and then used that connection to set their house up as a potential party spot. Lucas had done a brief stint in juvie with them, but they stayed close after. When Charlie pulled them in for this and opened his house to them, the invitation was extended to Lucas as well.”

“And Billy? What was his motivation?”

“Billy was a low-level dealer for T.J. when we took them down. He came sniffing around here and Nicky’s place after, looking to be absorbed into one of the crews. We sent him packing. He was bitter about it.”

“How did we not tie off that loose end?”

“We were kids, Mav. Jesus, you and Nick were barely eighteen when you claimed your thrones. We made mistakes back then.” He tosses the remaining papers he’s clutching onto the table beside us.

“Mistakes that she paid for.” I drop my head back, covering my face with my palms as I apply pressure to my eyes. “So, Nicky knows all this, then?”

“Yeah,” Bentley nods, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Nicky’s brain? There’s no way he didn’t piece this together, especially once he found Charlie. You think she knows?”

I swipe my hair back from my face. “I don’t know. If she does, she doesn’t let on. And I can’t ask her about it. It’s not a topic open for discussion.” I stand in place, slowly shaking my head. “How do we find out if there’s any more of T.J.’s crew lying around? Someone we missed?”

“Mav, while it pains me to say this… Nicky C. is smarter than me. I doubt very much I’m going to turn up something he didn’t already uncover back then. I think you have to trust he got them all. Not to mention, a few more months and Nicky’s deal with the new distributors is gonna go through. He’ll be running those territories and then we’ll have full assurances there’s nothing to worry about. At least not if we maintain the treaties with him.”

“I’m hoping for us to be out of this shit by then, Bent.” I release a deep-rooted sigh. “Where we at with the nightclub acquisition?”

“On target,” he replies. “But even still, if we get held up, at least we know how to co-exist with Nicky. That is, unless someone does something to provoke him.” He pins me with a glare, and I know exactly what he’s insinuating. Jones and I have been sneaking around for a few weeks now, and to say it’s put Bentley on edge would be a massive fucking understatement.

He’s gonna have to deal with it, though, because I’m not giving her up.

CHAPTER 19

MAV

I thrust the key into the lock with one hand as I keep my other firmly planted over J’s eyes.

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