Page 181 of Cheater

“Who is that?” Derek asks.

“It’s Craig.”

He gestures for me to give him the phone.

“One sec.” I hand it over.

“Jenkins,” Derek greets, changing the phone to his left hand and taking the steering wheel with his right.

I knew Craig and Adam had been friends since they were kids. It’s hitting me now that Craig knows Adam’s history. Another person from his old life that he didn’t cut off when he tried to move on from the childhood trauma. Did they all grow up in Michigan and move here? Did Adam move here to be closer to Craig and Jeannie followed? Did Adam and Jeannie live together, too? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. It’s all moot now. Adam is no longer in my life.

Derek listens for a minute, then says, “Well, my wife is being pretty adamant about the fact that she doesn’t want your squeaky-clean record and conscience sullied, so if my wife plays her cards right, maybe she’ll get her wish.”

I fight the urge to gawk at him. Instead, I bite my lip and fix my gaze on the dark road ahead.

“Well…” Derek says after a moment, “I need to see just what she’s written first, but if you ensure Ms. Gilligan deletes her blog post and any and all negative content about my wife as well as refrains from hassling her any further, ensuring she stops slandering Chloe or anyone else with the name Steele, I’ll consider letting it go. Right. And hear me right now, Jenkins, this is the one time you get away with using Chloe to get to me. Clear? Bye for now.”

“How does your family force cops to turn dirty?” I ask.

“We gather information and use it to our advantage. If there’s a big need and nothing to find, we fabricate. With evidence to back it up.”

“That’s despicable.”

“I know.” He shrugs.

“Your father came from a wealthy family. Why turn to crime if there’s already money there?”

“Most successful people have some degree of corruption attached to them. People just don’t always find out about it. My grandfather and likely his grandfather before him had to get his hands dirty along the way to maintain power and wealth. My father inherited not only the family wealth, but also all those strategic relationships. My dead brother had issues. He was hotheaded and jealous of everyone. Especially Elijah. Thaddeus had substance abuse problems and got sloppy while he had a sometimes public battle with Eli, so it’s just in the past five years or so that the Steele name got enough negative attention to create whispers and rumors. We all run clean businesses. But to do that, sometimes we have to create unsavory relationships and occasionally get our hands dirty.”

“A dick swinging contest,” I mutter.

He laughs. “Sometimes, yeah. I run clubs in business districts, near airports, and in blue collar areas in the three big cities in the state. I have a team that sifts through the gathered intelligence, and it helps my family keep us ahead of things. Eli does things in his business that benefit the family. So does Jonah. Ash isn’t as involved, but he’s had to get his hands dirty, too, a couple times. I’m not close with my brothers, but we all work toward a common goal of protecting what matters to us collectively.”

I’m thrown for a loop when he turns off early but realize we’re going to the house. That beautiful home that I haven’t let myself enjoy. It’s only been a day since he brought me there but today has felt like dozens of days all rolled into one.

I’m suddenly bone-tired.

Despite her protests, I carry her over the threshold.

“You can put me down now,” she complains.

“No, I’m taking my bride straight to bed,” I tell her, lock the door, set the alarm, and move us up the stairs.

“What’s the alarm code?” she asks. “In case of emergency.”

“The date we met. Four digits. Month, then day.”

Her eyes change and I’m thinking she’s counting back, so I tell her the code.

“That’s different from what you gave the chauffeur.”

“That’s a garage and gate only code. That won’t get anyone into the house.”

“Oh.”

I flick the light on and set her on the bed. “I’m sorry our wedding day was dramatic.”

“Traumatic,” she corrects.

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