Page 73 of Sins

She frowned, and in a flash, I felt like an ass because I knew the answer. “I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot to process lately, both the bad and the good.” She glanced at her stomach. “I knew a meeting was coming, and instead of explaining it all twice, I figured a few days wouldn’t make a difference.” I kissed her hand; I had a need to touch her. “Besides, you get frustrated whenever you hear Simon’s around.”

“You mean protective,” I corrected.

“Sure.” Her eyes lightened.

“Well, that makes sense.” Knox rubbed the back of his head and drew our attention back to the discussion. “Calli mentioned Griple a few times, and she seemed quite nervous of him. If he’s as involved as Simon says he is, I’m glad we’re watching him.”

“Indeed.” Mom seemed deep in thought.

A knock came at the door, and Jesse came into the room and handed me a small stack of printed emails. “Pardon the interruption, but you need to see this.”

“What is it?” I took the stack and skimmed where he had highlighted a few things. “The fuck.” I handed it to Dad. “These are emails between Cameron and Walter. Seems Walter Wallace is a Potens member and was in a position to order Cameron around.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Knox pulled out his phone. “I fucking hated him since I was a kid, and don’t even get me started on Jayden.”

Kenna stood as I did. “What? What about Jayden?”

“Nothing about him was mentioned.” Jesse held his hands open. “Who knows? If you didn’t know, he may not know a thing about it either.”

“Where is he?” Dad handed the emails to Mom.

“In holding downstairs,” Jesse answered. “Jayden too.” He shrugged. “Just in case.”

“You want me to handle this?” Knox asked. I pulled in my chin with surprise and noticed Mom and Dad looked taken aback at his offer as well.

“Let’s do this one together,” Dad suggested, and Knox nodded.

Mom lowered her head with a heavy breath. “How could so many of these people we considered close friends be secretly working against us?”

“I don’t understand it either.” Dad rubbed her back tenderly. “But let’s flush them out and keep those we know we can trust,” he looked at Kenna, “even closer.” Kenna smiled at him.

When we stepped out of the conference room, Kenna’s security were waiting for her. I didn’t have to look over to see her I-told-you-so smile; I could feel it. I should have known better. She wasn’t intentionally trying to be reckless.

I grabbed her arm and kissed her deeply then released her. “Check in with me later,” I ordered.

“Yes, Mr. Gates, and up yours in the nicest way possible.” She chuckled. She knew full well what that would do to my erection. Leal growled, and she turned to him and gave him a quick pat. It seemed to satisfy him, and he came back and stood next to his brother.

“Happy?” I chuckled and gave both pups an ear ruffle. Leal looked up at me. “I get it.” I loved her attention as much as he did. We watched as Kenna and the others headed downstairs, then I swung around to address Jesse.

“What’s your gut on all this?”

“As much as I’d like to get rid of his preppy ass, I really don’t think Jayden had any clue what his father was up to. He seemed genuinely confused when I questioned him.”

“Okay.” I let that sink in. “And Wallace?”

“He’s not saying a thing. A few blows to his fat face wiped that shit-eating grin off. He deserved it, and I was happy to deliver.”

“Sorry I missed that.” I chuckled softly. “You got the evidence we needed?”

“Yup, there for anyone to find, if you dared look.”

“Is your gut giving you any more assholes we should deal with?”

“Not really, but there’s a few I’d like to check out. Time will tell.”

Jesse looked at his phone. “How are you feeling about tonight?”

“It’s like I can feel something’s coming.” I felt myself go cold. “I just don’t know what it is yet.”

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