Page 35 of As the World Falls

“Officers, I assure you everything coming in and out of my warehouse has been completely legal and accounted for. We’ve been experiencing false calls like this a lot recently. Sheriff Udovich has even come by several times and checked things over. If you want to call him, I’m sure he’ll tell you everything is fine.”

The two officers looked at each other skeptically, then finally took a moment to go to their cruisers to call Sherriff Udovich, who I knew would have them abort whatever mission they were on. Getting the police off my back, though, wasn’t my biggest concern as of right now. It was the fact that I was dealing with someone who clearly knew about our insider work and had been trying to expose it. The same thing happened recently when I met with a client at my club.

“So what? Do you have stolen crystals or hidden drugs inside them?” Cecilia boasts behind me.

I turn around, fixing her with a glare. “You’re ridiculous. Everything here is ethically sourced and sold.”

“Well, something illegal is happening here.”

“And you’re just chomping at the bit, aren’t you?” I ask her, noting the excited bounce in her legs and how her eyes dart everywhere, searching for clues.

The two officers come back, both giving uncomfortable smiles. “We’re all good here, Mr. Kingston. We were updated on all the harassment you’ve been facing lately, so there’s no need for any further investigation.”

“I appreciate that,” I smile at them as they leave. I happily turned back to face Cecilia, whose mouth could touch the ground.

“Are you kidding me?” she shouts. “They’re not even going to check and make sure?”

I smirked and used my finger to touch her chin, closing her mouth and bringing her gaze to meet mine. “When are you going to learn, little owl? I am King around here.”

When we got back to the headquarters, I let Cecilia go home early. She was clearly exhausted, and I had other matters to tend to. I called Tobias to see where he was at with business on his end. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be back from the West Coast for another couple of days, and I had things I needed to take care of tonight, so I called my next best option.

Stef answers the phone after one ring like he always does. “James,” he greets me.

“How do you feel about a little rendezvous tonight?”

“Entailing what?”

“Nothing major. Breaking and entering. Possible theft. Piece of cake stuff for us.”

He laughs maniacally. “Sounds like the old days.”

“So, you’re in?”

“Of course. Where to?”

“You’ll see tonight. Meet me here after dark.”

“You got it.”

When I hang up, my eyes find the chair across from my desk, with my jacket draped over the top, which Cecilia had worn and left here. I go to it, pick it up, and stare down at it before bringing it to my face and inhaling her scent.

My body hums at the smell of her, and I slip my jacket back on and sit back in my chair as I wait for night to come.

“You’re a sneaky son of a bitch,” Stef gripes, lying lower in the passenger seat of my rental car.

“You sounded more than happy to assist me,” I counter.

“You didn’t say it was the fucking mayor’s office you were breaking into. I thought it was some nobody that I didn’t have to worry about my face being shown around. I’m supposed to be lying low after the trial. If I get caught sniffing around here?—”

“You won’t,” I assure him. “There’s a city banquet tonight. Everyone, including Chuck and his team of imbeciles, will be there tonight, as well as the entire police force, who are keeping their heads turned per my request. Now, I suspect Chuck has something to do with the false calls I’ve been getting. He pretty much said as much the last time we spoke. What we’re looking for is proof of that. Got it?”

He nods, on board again. “Got it. Let’s get this shit over with.” I nod as we toss our hoods over our heads and lurk in the shadows, keeping close to tight corners as we enter the building. Stef keeps a lookout as I pick the lock on the door. When it opened, we burst inside, and I quickly tended to the alarm that would silently go off in about ten seconds. I punch in the code that my security guy was able to hack and obtain for me as Stef works on covering all visible cameras.

We both wasted no time finding his office, picking the lock on that door, and getting inside. We were on everything within seconds. The papers all over his desk, files in his cabinet, and all the contents in his drawers.

“God, this is fun. When’s the last time we’ve done this?” Stef chimes.

I focus on the task before me, never sparing him a glance. “Four years ago, when your cousin, Aldo or whatever his name was, sold you out to the cops for gunrunning.”

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