Page 73 of Phoenix Rising

“Like an unwanted puppy?” Talia screeched in fake outrage.

Elijah waved his hands in a placating gesture. “No, no, nothing like that. I love my sister. You know that. There are other people with Down syndrome she can bond with, and they can give her proper care. As you saw, my life isn’t the best for her to be around.”

Understatement of the century. “About that.” Hunter glanced at Talia and then said, “Do you know what happened during the raid at the compound? Who initiated it?”

Elijah’s mouth firmed. “I have no idea who brought the Feds to my door. I lost everything. My business, livelihood, savings account, friends. If I ever find out, I promise you this. I will rain hell down upon them, the likes of which have never been seen before. The ten plagues in Exodus will seem mild in comparison.”

Hunter smiled to himself.Bring it on, tough guy. Anytime. Anywhere.

“I couldn’t find anything online about the bust. I don’t know what happened.”

“We were treated like common criminals.” Talia sniffed.

“I am so sorry that happened to you, Tina.” Elijah rushed forward and grabbed her hands. Hunter noticed the instant she stilled, preparing to knock Elijah on his ass or break his nose. Probably both. Hunter gave a jerk of his head, and she frowned at him. His tiger wanted to play, and he couldn’t keep the grin from spreading. She gave him one last glare before falling back into the role of helpless heiress.

“It was very distressing,” she whimpered.

Elijah pulled her in for a hug, and Hunter wasn’t sure he could stop Talia from snapping his neck like a twig. “I will kill him,” she mouthed over his shoulder.

“Not yet,” Huner mouthed back, trying like hell not to laugh out loud.

His humor instantly evaporated when Elijah released Talia and grabbed him. His oh so helpful wife doubled over in silent laughter. Hunter gritted his teeth, giving Elijah precisely three seconds to release him before he forcibly separated Elijah’s toothpick arms from his scrawny torso. Hunter was at two Mississippi when Elijah stepped back. Smart man. “Your buddy Clint’s wife, Joan, had been pretending to be someone else and she killed her husband. Rob died too.”

“Oh? Too bad. They were my lackeys not my friends. Good riddance to bad rubbish,” he spat. “I bet they had something to do with the invasion.”

“Possible.”Not really. You’re looking at the two reasons. “When the authorities descended upon the compound like maggots on a rotting carcass, they told us you’d been selling babies and killing people.”

Elijah’s eyes goggled. “What? No, no, no. I simply facilitated adoptions for families who didn’t want the children.”

Is that what he told himself to sleep at night?

“Elijah, they said you killed Nadine Fenton,” Talia told him.

Pure shock flashed across Elijah’s face. He honestly thought he’d gotten away with her murder. “Nadine hung herself. You saw the body. You took her down.”

“They said they found proof that she was killed in an underground bunker you used as a private lair that we knew nothing about,” Talia accused.

Elijah opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Finally, his shoulders slumped. “I had the room built so I could get away and be by myself when needed, and it was somewhere Tilly could feel safe.”

And to watch porn and live video of people’s sex lives.

“If I would have told anyone, I wouldn’t have had a place where Tilly and I could be together in peace.”

“Did Rob and Clint know about it?”

“No. I didn’t realize Nadine had followed me and seen me enter my private quarters. I went down one day, and she was there, naked on my bed. She was always trying to seduce me.” Elijah looked away. “I’m not proud of myself, but I gave into temptation. I liked and respected her husband, Mel, but she was like Eve with the apple, and I was powerless to resist. She wanted me to strangle her to increase the . . .” He looked at Tina and cleared his throat. “Experience. I didn’t realize I’d gone too far.”

Hunter called bullshit on his story. Elijah had killed her because she might tell people about his hidden operation and expose him.

“How did you make it look like she hung herself?”

“I panicked. She was dead, and I didn’t want Mel to know his wife was a filthy adulterer. I dragged her to my office and then had Rob and Clint handle everything.”

They’d done a terrible job. “That explains it,” Hunter said.

“Explains what?”

“I couldn’t figure out how she would’ve been able to reach the noose to hang herself. There was no chair beneath the body.”

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