Page 31 of Covert Affair

Cole chuckles. “Oh little broski. I saw the headlines and I’m not stupid. Why do you think I didn’t call you hours ago to ream your ass out for not showing up for work today?”

“Yeah, about that. Sorry.”

“You sound sorry,” he teases. “Is she okay?”

“She’s got some bruises. The bastard is involved in some shady stuff and yet he’s somehow back on the streets. That’s the short version.”

“And you’re not in jail. I’d say that’s pretty telling.”

“Only the dickhead boyfriend is still in jail. If he wasn’t, it might be a different story.”

Not surprising, Cole goes on to give me the same damn lecture that Smitty did last night. I listen to what he’s saying but I can’t promise I’ll follow his advice. “Cody, I mean it. You’re no good to her or any of us if you end up behind bars too. I can pull a lot of strings but jail time isn’t an easy fix.”

“Do I need to remind you that technically you got arrested as part of a raid because you were too busy thinking with your dick?”

Oh that was a hell of a meeting to sit on after the fact. Cole finally pulled his head out of his ass and got his girl but it cost him a few hours in holding down at the police station and some jokes for a long time after. And I got a black eye out of the deal for getting Molly into a strip club undercover to begin with. It was all worth it to see Cole finally fucking happy though.

“That was hardly an arrest and you know it.”

“Call it whatever you want. I don’t think you’re one to be giving me advice. Besides, there’s a big difference. I don’t have feelings for her.”

“Whatever lie helps you sleep at night, little brother.”

I don’t have feelings for her,I repeat to myself. Except Cole’s right. I do have feelings for her. And they go way beyond just being concerned about a woman in an abusive situation.

Instead of arguing with Cole, I let him know that I’m taking the rest of the week off. Maybe longer until we figure out how long all of this is going to take. “And while we’re at it, I’ll take the offer to expand this company to Nashville. Ahem,” I clear my throat. “If the offer is still on the table, of course.”

Cole lets out a full on belly laugh on the other end of the line. “Oh, the lies you tell, Cody. We’ll work out the details later, but yeah, the offer’s still on the table.”

“Great. I’ll stop by the office when I’ve got a chance. In the meantime, I’ll keep working on my other cases in between taking care of things here.”

“Yeah. Keep me in the loop, but don’t you dare call me for bail money,” he says before ending the call. “I don’t have to warn you that the Feds are involved with this guy’s case already. I would tell you to stay out of that too, but I’m already too late there.”

“You know we’ve got more resources than they do, too. I’m merely making sure they have everything they need to pin this asshole to the wall. Now, if you’re done bossing me around, Boss, I have shit to do.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later, dumbass.”

With that out of the way, I fire up my laptop and try to get some work done before I dive back into uncovering anything and everything I can on this guy. I will be the one to put the nail in that bastard’s coffin if it’s the last thing I do.

15

STACEY MAE

A million questions.

A metric ton of information.

Even more questions.

By the time Agent Hunter finishes with his interrogation, I’m at even more of a loss than I was before.

Waylon Ellison…Franklin Tomlinson. Wanted for money laundering, tax evasion, and fraud. That was just the short list.

He’d been evading authorities for far too long and I was being credited as turning him in. If he had never laid hands on me…he very well may have still been hiding in plain sight.

I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. We’d been together for six months or more. His face was plastered all over gossip sites any time we went out together. I thought he was a well known record producer. How was it that no one knew?

From what Agent Hunter said, Waylon got lazy. Too comfortable. He had no idea that the feds were already building a case against him and had been following him for the better part of a year. Following me, since we started dating.

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