Page 51 of Scorched King

“Exactly. Well, I went digging through Cash’s background so many times and nothing new stood out. I even scratched at the surface of Chel and didn’t get much more than a string of bad dude boyfriends and some minor drug use infractions. What I didn’t think to do was run a check on the kid’s name. He’s only eight years old so what could there be right?” I nodded. “Wrong.”

“There’s a string of shit hole laundromats from here to Leavenworth listed under a shell corporation that are all registered to one Skyler Grayson. There’s some kind of trust attached, layered behind some private security, and I haven’t gotten to the details yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because they filed with some attorney in a shit hole town in the mountains that doesn’t even have fucking internet.”

“Such a place exists?” That was impossible to believe in this day and age.

“Yeah. Some of these mountain towns are too far out and too disconnected. Everything there is done the old-fashioned way. Via paper with no electronic copies.”

“Well, that’s fucking smart. Why aren’t we using that to hide shit?”

Tel looked at me and rolled his eyes. “Because you don’t need it. You’ve got me. Ain’t no one getting ahold of your business records no matter how hard they try.”

Yeah, we’d thought that about our security systems too and look where that got us. I wasn’t going to bring that up again because I’d already made my feelings crystal with Tel about all of that. And he’d responded appropriately by redoing every bit of our security himself. We were now locked down so tight, there were days I wasn’t even sure I could get out of this fucking fortress.

“Anyways. You think it’s a front for something illegal, right?”

“Of course it is. Laundromats are still a go-to business for all kinds of things. Cops don’t generally give a shit about places like that because the payoff would be too small. So it’s easy to run at least a small business through.”

“Drugs?”

“Likely. But there’s also money laundering and gambling. Hell, there’s an endless use for them. Including just making a little money.”

“So, he could just be setting up some kind of college fund for his kid.”

“Possible. But his mother is the wild card. There’s a rumor she’s got a new man in her life and he happens to be the VP of the Vipers.

“You have got to be shitting me? Chel is spreading her legs for those snakes now? What the fuck is wrong with that woman? No matter which way this lands, Cash is going to lose his shit.”

“It could be a coincidence. He might also already know.”

I grumbled under my breath. I fucking hated coincidences. Manufactured bullshit if you asked me. “What about the others?”

“Cain wasn’t on the radar at all until I found this.” Another few clicks and what looked like a county recording showed up on screen.

“What’s that?”

“A deed recording for some apartment property in Seattle. However, I couldn’t find any kind of record of sale or financing registered for that particular piece of land.”

“I’m not particularly interested in my guys using their money to invest in real estate. I’m a little surprised, however, considering Caleb seems more interested in pussy and weed than becoming some slum lord. But whatever. I’m not going to judge him as long as he shows up when the club needs him and gets the job done.”

“Uhm. You should look a little closer. In particular at the address.”

I read it off and while it sounded familiar, I couldn’t quite place it. “Why does that seem so familiar?”

“Because we were just there a few months ago killing a psychopath.”

“What?” My body went rigid and on full alert. “What the mother fucking shit? You’re telling me that Caleb owns that luxury condo building on the water? Not only is that way too coincidental, but we both know he doesn’t have the scratch forthat. That job we did in Vegas didn’t even pull in enough for something like that.”

I clenched my hands into fists as I pictured Caleb planning our club’s demise. I could feel the pressure in my head rising as I clenched my teeth. “Where is he?”

“Probably chilling in the clubroom waiting on the meeting.”

“I’m going to kill him.” I slammed the chair I’d been sitting in against the wall and stalked to the door. I wrenched it open.

“Boss, wait. There’s more you need to see before you make any decisions,” Tel said, clicking through screens. “Zook made three calls to Seattle just before the explosion.”

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