Page 26 of Twisted Lies
Bigsby’s grin slipped before his lips curled up into a stiff smile.
I winked at Cate while addressing Bigsby. “I hope your beautiful fiancée has taken care to bury them deep.”
Bigsby wrapped a possessive hand around her narrow waist.
I glanced at the chunky gold ruby-and-diamond-encrusted horseshoe ring on Bigsby’s middle finger. “That’s a unique ring you have there, Calhoune. It’s one of a kind, I’m sure.”
Bigsby smiled cockily. “Yes, it is. I’ve had it for over forty years. It’s custom-made.” He looked over at Cate. “And I’ll never take it off.”
Cate sighed heavily, looking at the gaudy ring with disgust. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”
Bigsby winked at Cate. “It’s my good luck charm. You will have to pry it off my dead body, sweetheart.”
She stared back with a simple look and said plainly, “Do I really have to wait that long?”
Bigsby laughed loudly. “You’re such a minx.”
Mitch waved to someone across the room and then looked over at me apologetically. “Can you excuse us? We need to make the rounds before dinner is served.”
“I’m leaving anyway. I have important business to attend to,” I responded.
Mitch looked disappointed. “I seated you at our table with Cate and Bigsby, but I understand.” He started to usher the couple away. “We’ll talk this week.”
Exiting the venue, trying hard to contain my building rage, I pulled out my cell and barked, “Kevin, dig up everything you can on Bigsby Calhoune.”
* * *
My mind snapped backto the present. Unclasping my fingers, I said to Ram, “The plan is now in motion. After all these years, we’ve finally found the ring. What are the odds of that?”
Ram leaned forward. “We’ve been searching for that shit for years, and it’s been right under our noses.” He paused. “So what’s Sinthia’s connection?”
“I don’t know. Kevin dug up some interesting intel about Bigsby looking into Sinthia Michaels’s business. If he’s interested in her and her business, there has to be a pretty damn good reason.” I leaned back in my chair, smiling coldly. “Now he has to deal directly with me.”
When I’d gotten the call from Kevin about Bigsby’s interest in Sinthia, my first question had been,Who the fuck is Sinthia Michaels?
It hadn’t taken Kevin long to do a thorough investigation, but he hadn’t found anything linking Bigsby to her. I had known, though, that if Bigsby was interested in Sinthia, there had to be a sinister motive, which was why I had to acquire Sinthia Michaels’s business fast. I’d had Kevin search through her background again, looking for anything that could be used as leverage. Surprisingly, Sinthia was squeaky-clean and free from scandal. Frustrated and running out of time and options, I found a chink in her armor—money.
She needed money, and I had lots of it. But to my frustration, I couldn’t find a way to get into Sinthia’s small inner circle without raising suspicion or scaring her off.
That was when Kevin had found the game changer—Tabitha Thorp. I had known Tabitha from the old neighborhood. When we were young, we had hung out in the same criminal circles. The only difference was, back then, the now-famous Tabitha had worked as a drug mule for her seedy drug kingpin boyfriend, Ben Vargos. I knew Tabitha. I’d even fucked her several times behind Ben’s back. She was a money-hungry whore who could be easily manipulated.
So when I found out the currently successful Tabitha Thorp owed a shitload of money to her unsavory criminal ex-boyfriend, Ben, I swooped in.
One call later, I’d recruited Tabitha to help me get close to Sinthia. Tabitha had convinced Sinthia of the value of getting an investor—specifically, me—to help her expand her business. In exchange, I’d agreed to pay off Tabitha’s debt to Ben and send her on a very long vacation.
Bigsby was a dirty criminal underneath his slick, cleaned-up politician veneer. I still couldn’t figure out why Bigsby’s socialite fiancée, Cate, would marry a lowlife, but she had cleaned Bigsby up like some stray puppy she’d found on the street. She’d gotten Bigsby a well-paid publicist, and she was now helping him run for mayor.
“Bigsby Calhoune might have a new identity and life, but he’s still the power-hungry thug who killed my mother and left me to die. He’s going to pay for what he did,” I hissed.
I had thought of nothing but revenge for years. It consumed me. Just thinking about the night when the unknown assailant had shot both Mom and me fueled my hate fire. Mom had died, but I survived.
I stood up, absently tracing the scar across my brow while staring at the Manhattan skyline. “Bigsby is unfinished business. Business I’ve been waiting to resolve for far too many years.”
“I saw the picture and read the newspaper article about Sinthia Michaels. But what does she really look like?” Ram asked.
I shrugged. “A stunner with curves in all the right fucking places.”
“A stunner?” Ram laughed. “I’ve heard you describe women as fuckable, but never a stunner.” He paused. “Interesting.”
