Page 25 of His Sacrifice

I had been right about Leo being older. He wasn’t at all ancient, but he was well into his fifties. His silver hair was perfectly combed, and his clothes screamed businessman. Well, to be honest, he screamed mafia boss, but I doubt that was the look he was going for, though it was fitting.

They all screamed mafia.

Creed didn’t take his eyes off of me. “What is going on?” he asked.

I looked around and wrinkled my nose. “Uh, well, I’m not really sure where to start, but if you could tell me if you sweep your office for bugs, that might help me.”

Apollo tipped his head to the side. “Sweep for bugs?”

I still sounded crazy, but now it was in front of Leo and Apollo.

“There are no bugs in our offices, Jada. What are you going on about?” Leo asked.

I might as well just get it all out there and let the cards fall wherever they may. “Uh, well.”

Apollo sat in one of the chairs in front of Creed’s desk and waited eagerly.

Leo looked already upset, and Creed just looked concerned. He was probably wondering if I was off my rocker and if he should take back his offer of faking a relationship.

“Do you know how you said Candace was around the bookstore a couple of weeks ago?” Might as well just get right to it.

“I told you not to worry about that,” Creed cut in. “It was probably her way of letting us know that she knew where Tatum worked,” he explained.

I shook my head. “You’re wrong. She was there for me.”

Leo shifted toward me. “What do you mean?”

“Why didn’t you tell me when I told you?” Creed demanded.

I held up my hand. “Can I please just tell you everything before you get mad?” I knew they were going to have questions, and I just figured I should tell them everything right off the bat. “Candace came to see me. She walked into the bookstore and locked the door. She told me who she was and that she had an offer for me.”

“Fucking Christ,” Apollo muttered.

“She wanted me to find out any information I could about you guys and report back to her. If I did what she said, then I wouldn’t die,” I confessed.

“This happened weeks ago, and you’re now just telling us?” Leo demanded.

“We’ve been looking for her, and she literally walked right into your bookstore and didn’t tell us.” Apollo shook his head.

“I couldn’t,” I insisted. “She told me if I even whispered a word about this to you guys, she would…hurt my family and then me. I wanted to tell you guys, but I was scared.” I looked around the office. “I’m still scared. I don’t know how she does it, but she knows things. Things that she wouldn’t know unless she was close or she was listening.”

“That explains you babbling about sweeping for bugs,” Apollo sighed. “Thought you were going crazy, Jada.”

“There’s no way in hell our offices are bugged. If they were, Candace wouldn’t have recruited Jada to spy on us for her.” Leo sat in the chair next to Apollo.

“Which I didn’t do,” I pointed out. “I only saw her that one time in person, and yesterday was the first time she contacted me.”

“What did she say yesterday?” Creed asked. “Let me see your phone.”

“I left it in my car,” I explained. “And it was just a text. She said she knew I was hanging out with you and that she would be in touch. I didn’t text anything back. I was freaked out that she knew about us because she texted right after Tatum and I talked. I can’t figure out how she knew about you. She has to be watching me, or she’s listening.”

“It’s probably both,” Apollo grunted. “Damn, I hate this bitch.”

“I’m sorry,” I called. “I wanted to tell you sooner…” I trailed off.

Leo slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair. “Why can’t we get ahead of this bitch?” he shouted. He stood abruptly and paced back and forth.

Creed eyed me closely. “That’s everything?” he asked.

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