Page 72 of Broken Promises
They weren’t expecting us, and they weren’t expecting to find Sergey, the evening’s guest of honor, dead on the table. After interrogating them, we lined them up side-by-side and the three of us sent them to their maker with a single bullet to the head each. Lucian contacted someone in the Bureau, and whenthe house was unexpectedly leveled by a gas explosion, they investigated and closed the case as a tragic accident.
Since there was no one to claim the bodies, the Bureau released them to Lucian, and he found them appropriate burial sites. Kelly was laid to rest in the swamps of Louisiana as she was cast into the murky water for the gators to snack on. Sergey got the royal treatment from the family and was tossed into a woodchipper, the remnants cast across a landfill.
No one would miss them, and no one would mourn.
We discovered through multiple conversations that Waylon was indeed a pawn in Kelly’s and Sergey’s demented plan. He had been abused most of his life, and when I saw genuine remorse in his eyes, and with him being Hannah’s half-brother, we decided to give him a second chance. We monitored him, but according to Samuel, he seemed happy, worked hard, and next week, he was going to move into Hannah’s house while still under surveillance.
Since Hannah and I got back home, she’d been plastered to my side. I thought she would want some space, but she had practically moved in, and when I suggested she stay here and rent her house out, she jumped into my arms in agreement. A few nights since we’d been back, I heard her whimpering in her sleep, and when I woke her, she pressed her head to my chest and wrapped her arms around me as I held her close, whispering how she wasn’t alone and that I would always be here for her.
She and Regan have grown close, and Hannah had been instrumental in helping Regan face her fears. Regan worried when she was outside the confines of my property, but Hannah encouraged her to venture out more. They enjoyed coffee at the town square a couple mornings a week, and Regan mentioned taking all her classes next semester on campus to finally finish her degree. I didn’t know what it was about Hannah, but shemade those around her feel better and gave people courage when they were afraid.
I was in my office listening to Hannah and Regan laughing from somewhere down the hall, and I smiled at the sound of their happiness. For years, my house was quiet, and I didn’t realize how lonely I’d become until I heard those joyous sounds. My computer rang, and I looked to see a call coming in from James. Glancing at the open door, I pressed the icon to answer and waited for it to connect.
James’s face appeared on my screen, and Lucian was sitting beside him. They both had a guarded expression as I asked, “What?”
There was no need for anything more than that single word. For the last few years, since Devlin decided to open his mouth and tell the world about his lamb, Elise, we had one thing after another coming at us, and I just wanted a short amount of peace before chaos rebounded.
“We found some interesting information about Ricardo Pickens,” Lucian began, and I held up one finger, asking him to hold. I stood and closed the door to my office before sitting back down and nodding to him. “He retired five years ago, just before Sergey was killed, and since then, he’s been a phantom.”
“How did he get connected with Sergey in the first place? He was a low-level analyst until the day he interrogated Rylee, so how did he move up and gain connections so quickly? And where is he now?” I asked. James pressed some keys, causing our screens to split so they were visible on one side and his presentation was on the other.
“Here’s what I put together from the journals and the pieces of information I found about him,” James began, and the presentation filled the screen as I listened to him talk. “He was one of those guys who couldn’t pass the physical portion of the Bureau’s tests, but he had the brains to secure a job. Slowly,he began working with senior agents, helping them build cases. He’d use his computer skills to find information, he’d learn the skills, and eventually, he was trusted enough to run ops. But how he got connected to Sergey is still fuzzy.”
“And we have no trace on him?” I inquired.
Lucian replied, “Not a solid lead, but I’ve discovered he’s got an ailing mother in a nursing home in Boca Raton, so I have someone sitting on it to see if he shows.”
The screen changed and I saw them again as James glanced at Lucian and back at me. I knew the expression in his eyes, and from the look on Lucian’s face, something else was going on. I rolled my hand to tell them to get on with it, and I saw James’s lips pinch before he spoke.
“Ricardo medically retired from the Bureau a little over five years ago, around the time you were trying to get Stella and Grace taken in.” I looked him in the eyes and felt vomit rolling in my stomach. “I’m trying to verify, but I think when Stella came to stay after her husband was killed, you started digging into the Syndicate, trying to figure out why Sergey was testifying.” I nodded, and he exhaled before he lowered his voice and spoke. “I think Ricardo discovered you were digging and that you had Stella. I . . . I think he’s the one who put a target on Regan.”
My nostrils flared, and I pushed back from the desk as my vision grew red from rage. Leaning my arms on the desk, I looked down at the computer camera as I asked with as much calm as I could muster, “Are you telling me that Ricardo, my former partner, arranged to have my sister kidnapped and tortured, so I would be preoccupied with that and lose focus on the Syndicate?”
“I can’t be sure, but it seems that was his way of proving loyalty to Sergey and, in time, to Kelly,” James remarked.
“I need you to find out for sure, because if you’re right, I’m going to find him and choke him with his own intestines,” Ibarked and briefly closed my eyes, trying to keep my temper in check.
Neither Regan nor Hannah needed to deal with my rage, so I had to push the violent desire out of my head as I waited for one of them to explain. “I’ve got everyone on my team looking, and I’ve got a trace on his pension check. If we can track his money, we can track him. Besides, with Kelly gone, he’s got nothing to cling to, so my guess is he’s going to poke his head out sooner rather than later.”
“You better hope you find him before I do,” I threatened and saw understanding in their gazes.
Regan was a good person, raised as best as James and I could while we ensured she was in the best foster homes with good people. She didn’t deserve to get dragged into this bullshit, and she certainly didn’t deserve to be brutalized. I want her to have a normal life with marriage, children, a career, and more love than the world has ever seen. Some days, I thought she was close to healed, but other days, I saw her staring at nothing for hours.
“Rhys, I don’t think you need to tell her. She’s just starting to get back to her old self,” James cautioned, and I agreed.
“Until there’s something to tell her, it would just cause more harm than good,” I acknowledged.
“Rhys, are you busy?” Hannah asked through the door, and I looked to Lucian and James.
“Call me when you find something.”
They nodded, and I disconnected the video call before speaking. “Come in, baby. I’m never too busy for you.”
She opened the door and peeked her head around to see what I was doing before she pushed the door completely open and walked in. Her smile was brilliant, and I swiveled my chair to the side as she approached. Patting my lap, she took a seat. Pulling her legs up, she laid against my chest as I wrapped my arms around her.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt your work,” she said, and I pushed my chest up a little, urging her to lift her head.
She repositioned herself on my lap with one leg on either side, and I gripped her hips and pulled her pussy over my needy cock as I gazed into her beautiful blue eyes. My cock was growing thick in my pants as she moved without meaning to, and when she felt him under her, her eyes hooded.
