Page 27 of A Man of Prestige

He pulls up a search on Damien, and we both read through the results. “There, stop scrolling.” He pauses over an article about Malroy from eleven years ago.

“Is there any crime he hasn’t committed?” Aiden mutters as we look at the long list of alleged crimes the article details. Among them are arms dealing, drug dealing, piracy, and sex trafficking.

“Why is the admiral encrypting messages to this guy?” I ask aloud.

“The bigger question is why do they know each other?” Aiden ponders.

I stand up and start pacing, it’s what I do when I need to think. “OK, let’s think this through.”

Aiden leans back in his chair and watches me. It feels oddly familiar, but I push that feeling aside.

“Say this is Damien. He’s managed to get an unapproved drug. But when? Let’s say it was eleven years ago. Why would he want it? Only one of those crimes seems to jive with needing a drug that makes you essentially unconscious yet able to move and follow directions but with almost no memory of what you did,” I state as I stare at Aiden, our eyes meet, and we both know the answer.

Chapter13

Aiden

“The women,”I say as I start to see how it fits together.

“Does Damien do business here in the area?” Ella considers.

“I don’t know. And how is Damien connected to Jared and Adam? I’m assuming that’s how he got to Blake,” I reply as I start to see how they all might be linked.

“We need to call Vivienne and the others,” I say after a beat. “We might be missing pieces here.”

Ella looks at me hesitantly. “Sebastian and Conner?”

“Yes.”

She blushes. “Do they hate me?”

I sigh and stand. I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her. She doesn’t fight it, which surprises me. Instead, she sinks into my embrace and leans her head against my chest. I wrap my arms tightly around her and kiss the top of her head.

“They don’t hate you. In fact, I never actually talked about what happened between us. So mostly they were just confused.”

“We should talk about that,” Ella says quietly. “Later, after we figure all this out.”

“I agree. Why do I feel like there’s more to it than what I remember?” I ask her as I pull back and look down at her.

“Because…there is,” she admits, her eyes glaze over and she pulls away and turns around. “Call them. We need to figure this out. The sooner, the better.”

I place my hands on her shoulders and kiss her head again. “This conversation isn’t over, star.”

She places her hand over mine. “I know.”

I pull out my phone and make the call. As luck would have it, they are home.

“They’re coming over.”

“Here?” she asks.

“Here,” I confirm.

“Is…it safe?” she asks as she looks around.

I smile. “Follow me.” I hold out my hand, and she pauses for a moment before taking it. I lead us out of my house and over to Conner’s tiny home.

“What…is this?” she asks as we approach it.

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