Page 125 of The Tempted

“I know,” he said.

“It’s one of Jimmy’s,” he lifted his eyes to mine.

“It’s the hitman that murdered Val.”

“Fuck,” I growled. After Val died, Vic lost his mind, to say he became crazy with guilt would be an understatement. The entire organization devoted itself to avenge Val’s death and Vic wouldn’t stop until every man that played a part in his underbosses death paid. He ordered the hit on the man that riddled Val with bullets, tortured the son of a bitch and he deserved it. Vic didn’t care about the repercussions, he should’ve waited until the dust settled on Val’s death, but there was no talking to him. It didn’t matter that the police were sniffing around, waiting for Vic to make his move, they stalked the fuck out of him. After Jimmy did the job, they brought all of us in for questioning on the disappearance. They knew Vic was responsible but without a body, there was no case.

“I’ve had an unmarked car tailing my ass since yesterday morning.

“I’m not sure what they have, if they even have anything. My guys say it’s out of their hands and has become a RICO case.”

“Fuck,” I said. RICO charges were no fucking joke, Racketeer Influenced and Organized Crime was federal and provided a loophole for extended criminal penalties. Vic didn’t just have the cops breathing down his back he had the feds. He was fucked. We all were. Because if they were investigating him for a murder that took place years ago that meant they were sticking their noses in a lot of other shit. My guess was they were going to be building a case against him and this body surfacing was just the beginning of what they were going to uncover. We’d all go down with Vic, myself included, and this time I’d go down for shit I actually had been ordered to do.

All the Feds needed to do was prove, within a ten year period, two crimes under RICO activity on a list of thirty-five crimes, twenty-seven of them being Federal and eight being State. Two crimes. Vic’s list was a hell of a lot longer than thirty-five crimes – shit was going to get ugly for us.

“I called in a favor to Jack Parrish, he’s got a guy on his bank roll that can get us the intel we need.”

“We’re taking this to Satan’s Knights?” I asked, trying to shut down the million fucking scenarios running through my head. “You sure that’s wise?” It’s not that I didn’t trust Jack or his brothers. They’ve helped us out of a lot of fucked up situations. I don’t know why they’d get in deep with the Feds when it had nothing to do with the MC.

“It’s our only option. He’s willing to help in exchange for the warehouse in Jersey, seems like a fair enough trade. You know what we have to do, don’t you?”

I stared at him knowingly but I didn’t say a word.

“We take out the pig investigating the case and wipe out whatever shit he has on me.”

He wanted to kill a fucking cop, possibly a fucking Federal Agent, and there was no “we” in the equation. He was sitting in front of me for no other reason than to order me to be the one who commits the crime.

“There’s a meeting going down, Jack will clue you in. He’s expecting you at the dog pound in an hour, he’s prepared to do the job himself, I need you there as a watchful eye.”

I stared at him for a moment digesting the bits and pieces of the plan he divulged. I didn’t like not knowing what the endgame was and leaving Adrianna to meet Parish at his compound wasn’t how I planned to spend my morning. I cupped the back of my neck, shaking my head at how fucked my life was. The quicker this shit was buried the sooner we’d be able to move on… hopefully.

I rose to my feet staring down at Vic. “Just to be clear, I’m not taking orders from Parish.”

“No one asked you to. Jack’s guy will lead you to the guy in charge of my case and Jack will be the one who handles the matter. You, you’re my eyes and my ears, making sure Jack does what he has agreed to do” Vic said, as he stood up. “And if things get messy well, then you’re there.”

“You’re relying on Jack to do the hit?” I asked puzzled, trying to figure out why he was sparing me of the gruesome duty.

“You got a problem with that?” He asked raising an eyebrow at me. I didn’t answer immediately, so he continued. “You have one hour to get to the compound,” He glanced around the apartment a faint smirk playing on his lips. We didn’t speak another word to one another. He gave me one last look before seeing himself out knowing he had the final word. In one hour, I’d be sitting down with Jack “Bulldog” Parish at his dog pound.

I watched as he walked out the door, closing it with a soft click behind him, before turning to stare at the bathroom door.

“You can come out now he’s gone,” I said softly, dreading the inevitable. She didn’t open the door, so I walked over figuring she was probably shaken up over what she had overheard and knocked on the door. “Adrianna? Baby open the door.”

Silence.

I sighed, turned the handle on the door, and pushed it open to find the bathroom empty. I leaned against the doorframe looking around the bathroom before turning and looking over my shoulder into my bedroom at my empty bed.

I clenched my fists at my sides, realizing that Adrianna had left me, ran the fuck out on me the first chance she got. It was for the best but even knowing that didn’t ease the brunt of that blow. I didn’t know what I had expected or even what I would’ve said to her this morning but still, I’d like to have had the chance. After last night, after waiting to have her for so long, I didn’t like she had left without a trace, making it like last night meant nothing or worse making like it had never even happened at all.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out the delicate diamond earring she had left behind and stared at it for a moment. Instead of having her, all I had was her earring.

I told myself that I had turned my car around and was driving back to Anthony’s because I had left behind my earring. I rationalized that they weren’t just any pair of earrings but the ones my dad have given me on my sweet sixteen – when my dad was the first man I ever loved and I was just his little girl before our relationship turned to shit. Those earrings were all I had left to remind me that my father wasn’t always my enemy, he used to be the number one guy in my world.

It sounded good in my head, dare I say even sweet, but I wasn’t the little girl holding on to what was left of her daddy and none of the fancy little scenarios I drummed up in my head would change the truth. I turned the fucking car around because I didn’t want to walk away from Anthony. The earring was an excuse to crawl back into his bed and force him to give me what I wanted.

Him.

All of him.

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