Page 6 of Revenge

“That woman may be your wife, but she will never be my mother.” I’ve been saying the same thing for the past five years and it’s been falling on deaf ears.

“Do it for me.” My dad’s voice softens, and he knows I can’t deny him anything when he does that.

“Fine. I will see you tomorrow night.” A deep sigh escapes me.

“Gracias,Mija. Dinner’s at seven. Don’t be late.” There’s no missing the smile in his voice before he hangs up.

I toss my phone on the table and hang my head in my hands. Dinner with my dad and his wife is the last thing I want to do. I’d rather shove razor blades under my fingernails than set foot in that house.

The sound of a book falling has my head shooting to the side. There’s nothing there, but this time there’s no mistaking what I heard. A sense of unease fills me and it’s time to get the hell out of there. I pack up my things and do just that. From the time I leave the library until I reach my dorm, my pace never wavers. Quick glimpses over my shoulder are the only things that slow me down until I’m in my room and tucked safely in my bed. I plop back against the softness of the mattress. I’m so used to watching my back with my dad’s line of work that I’ve become paranoid over every little thing. I roll my eyes at my stupidity. Old habits die hard, but I’m free from the watchful eyes of that house and I promise myself I will enjoy it. Consequences be damned.

Chapter Three

Asher

“I already told you what happened.” I rub my temples as the bright lights beam down on me, causing my head to spin. He won’t give me a damn thing for the pain. I know what he’s doing. Making me sweat until I’m so tired I’ll confess just to get the fuck out of here. But, he’s wrong. Dead wrong. It will not make me say shit that didn’t happen. I sink back against the cold metal chair and stare straight ahead. Being locked in this damn room has my teeth on edge. I’m used to sitting on the other side. Not the one being treated like an animal.

“Bullshit! You saw some other guy fucking her and couldn’t handle the fact that she needed to get it better elsewhere.” Detective Norris slams down the pictures of Lauren’s lifeless body on top of the metal table. Ice pumps through my veins at the images before me, and I avert my eyes. “So you beat the shit out of her and when that wasn’t enough to satisfy your ego, you shot her in cold blood.”

I swallow down all my rage and anger, because it’s exactly what this prick wants, and meet his gaze head-on. “You’re wrong.”

He leans down until I smell the coffee on his breath. “Am I?” His knuckle taps against the photographs but I don’t take my eyes off of him. Those images will haunt me until the day I die, and I don’t need to see them anymore.

Blood pounds in my ears and my vision narrows. I lose all sense of control. My fists clench and jerk forward, causing the metal of the cuffs to dig into my wrists. “I didn’t kill my wife!”

“Ash? Wake up, man!” I jolt upright at the sound of my brother’s voice, sending papers flying across my desk. My heart pounds against my chest as a sheen of sweat drips across my forehead. The nightmares have haunted me every night and haven’t stopped. Being out seems to have made them worse.

I lean back against my chair and rub the sleep from my eyes. “Thanks.”

Zane leans his hip against the side of my desk and crosses his arms over his chest, watching my every move. He’s worse than the damn warden. Sometimes it’s a pain in the ass how perceptive he can be. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” I shake my head and go back to glancing at the file open on my computer, feeling his eyes on me the whole time. Numbers and names blur together causing me to stare at the same line over and over again. My muscles tense under his scrutiny and I wait for him to call me out on my bullshit, but he never does.

He sighs and lets it go. Zane knows when to push me, and when to back off. His chin tilts toward the screen. “Find anything useful on there?”

I relax at his change in subject. He’s letting me off the hook for now, but the look in his eyes promises we’ll be hashing shit out soon. I ignore the tightness in my chest and answer him. “Not much. There’s nothing directly tying Diego to Benny’s Automotive.”

“Maybe he used an alias?” His dark eyebrows narrow together.

“I thought about that, but Diego’s one cocky son of a bitch. He thinks he’s untouchable. There’s no way he would hide. He’d flaunt it out in the open, seeing it as an opportunity to shove it all in APD’s faces.”

Zane scratches his beard and lets my words sink in. “Have you tried following the money? It might help to see where it goes.” He leans in closer to the monitor and squints, attempting to make sense of it all. Judging by the look on his face, it might as well be in a foreign language. Give him a gun and he can have it disassembled and put back together in a matter of seconds, all while blindfolded. Numbers, however, are another matter entirely.

“There are a few minor discrepancies with certain accounts that run through there, but nothing major that stands out. Whoever Benny had doing the books was much smarter than him. Still, it doesn’t explain the large amounts of cash he’s been flaunting around. There’s no way he can afford half the shit he has.” I’ve been coming around to the same conclusion for hours and it’s doing my head in.

“What about the drugs?”

“No damn clue. There’s a connection between this case and what happened to…” It’s been years and I still can’t bring myself to say their names out loud. Not sure if I’ll ever get to that point. “I feel it in my gut. There’s more to this and I just need to keep digging.”

“You’ll figure it out. You always do.” He pats me on the back and squeezes my shoulder. “How did it go last night?”

“I had Axel with me. How do you think it went?” I shake my head and light up a cigarette.

Zane gives an understanding grunt. Not sure how he’s lasted this long without kicking Axel’s ass a time or two.

As if he has supersonic hearing, Axel pokes his head in and takes in the two of us. “What are y’all doin’ in here?”

“Talking,” Zane says.

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