Page 57 of Condemned Soul

“Where are the kids?” I search around the room when I realize how quiet it is.

“Jas and Addison have ‘em, I figured it would be best for them to be distracted today. Can I make ya somethin’ to eat.” I’m judging by the way he rubs his hand over his face that he hasn’t had much sleep, himself.

“I’m not hungry, I need to fix this.”

“You're gonna make yourself ill.”

“And my father’s about to make himself dead. I can’t let that happen. I only just got him in my life.” I walk out the door toward my car, relieved when I see the keys are still in the ignition.

I can’t even remember driving home from the club last night, I was in too much shock. I get behind the wheel and speed off before Nyx can stop me, driving down to the cabins to see if Maddy and Jessie are home. Last night, when Jessie came back and told everyone what Dad’s plans were, I could see how determined he was to solve this. That’s the kind of energy I need to be around right now.

I walk into their cabin and see them both standing over the kitchen table studying the papers that are scattered all over it.

“You got anything?” I ask, closing the door and joining them.

“We’ve been up all night, and I’ve printed off anything I thought could be useful but…” Maddy shakes her head helplessly.

“There has to be somethin’ here.” Jessie glances over everything in front of him. “I spoke to Burlusconi last night, he confirmed that he’s worked with Consuela and that she’s trustworthy, but I don’t know.” Jessie doesn’t look convinced

“She checks out,” Maddy adds. “I did a full check on her, and her police history. I really do think she’s trying to help.”

“So, what did she take him in for, what were her grounds for arrest?” I throw my hands up in the air.

“Drugs is what she said, he must have given her something to lead with when he was working with her on the Lambroni bust.”

“No, my dad isn’t that stupid.” I refuse to believe that after all these years he could slip up like that.

“No, Ella, he’s not, he’s real fuckin’ clever because he set all this up. He had to give Consuela somethin’ to arrest him on so she got her end of the bargain, this is a huge deal for her. Prez fixed this so she could arrest him and the confession he will give her will be worth somethin’.”

“But I don’t understand how he can confess to anything without incriminating the whole club.” I try so hard to understand, I thought his reason behind all this was to protect the club.

“Ella, ATF make deals with people like your father all the time. Gettin’ Jimmer put away looks like they’re makin’ use of all the government fundin’ they get. If this works out the way Prez wants it to, the club will get full immunity. Consuela will have a promotion, and we will have her on side. The plan’s kinda genius, but I don’t like the consequence. We have to make him see that there’s another way before he talks.”

“And find that other way,” Maddy adds, looking back down at the information in front of us and seeming overwhelmed. “Sounds to me like he’s already said enough.” She looks fearful as she picks up the picture of Consuela, along with her government profile.

Jessie shakes his head and marches out the cabin, slamming the door behind him and making us both jump. I sit myself at the table and pick up one of the sheets of paper when I see a face I recognize.

“Why do you have a picture of Judge Walker here?” My hand shakes as I lift it away from all the others and stare into the eyes of the man who abused me.

“I’ve pulled up information on all the other crime organizations that we know of. I thought maybe we could offer something in return for Prez.” She takes it from my hand and tucks it away when she notices me looking at his face. “From what I gathered, him and Cliff were both high up in the ranks with the agency,” she explains. “Your mom’s emails to Cliff started off as blackmail, but he offered her something more valuable than money.”

“I can’t believe my mom knew.” I stare at some of the other faces on the table, all men his age, lawyers, doctors, one of them is even a priest, for Christ’s sake. “Are all these men dead?” I check.

“Most of them, we had the list that Grace’s mom had put together and the other one from the encrypted file we found that had Walker’s name on it. I know the club decided to deal with the men their way instead of taking it to the law. But, since I hacked Cliff and your mom’s emails I found all the other people she’d been blackmailing and I’m sad to say it isn’t over.”

“You think this will work?” I look up at her hopefully and when she passes me a coffee I suddenly realize how much I need it.

“I hope so, Ella.” Her smile seems positive and I cling to hope because, right now, it’s looking like we need a miracle.

“Ain’t you got a club to be runnin’?” I call out to Jessie as I step inside the outbuilding that we use as a gym, he’s taking out all his anger on a punching bag, which is exactly what I came in here to do myself.

Jessie stops what he’s doing, resting his palms on his knees while he catches his breath.

“Your old lady’s at my place,” he tells me like he’s expecting me to be looking for her.

“You know I didn’t come in here lookin’ for my old lady, Jessie, I came in here lookin’ for you.” I step up and take hold of the bag to stop it swinging and he starts back up again, using blow after blow to get the aggression out of his body. Yet all it seems to do is build up more of it.

“Jess—”

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