Page 32 of Thaddeus

Anger bubbled up. Of course he’d dangle the one carrot in front of me he knew I’d jump at. Fucking dick.

“Not a chance. Now I just feel like I’m in a bad sitcom. You sitting behind the phone like Charles Fucking Townsend talking to your Angels. Newsflash, Mr. Lewis—I don’t make deals with people I don’t trust. And after that bullshit, I do not trust you. You shouldn’t’ve brought up my sister’s name if you weren’t ready to play your hand. Now I know you’ve looked into my background and found something you can use against me. Fuck you for that. My sister isn’t a pawn in whatever fucked-up game you’re playing.”

“Huh, never thought of myself as Townsend. And my men are certainly no Angels, but your reference would be funny if you were in a position to be joking. Yes, I have a very thick file on what you’ve been doing for the past ten years. I’d say I was impressed if you weren’t so goddamned stupid. You’ve been lucky so far, but your luck ran out with Jefferson. Hell, it should’ve run out when you plunged your knife in David Duncan. But then Duncan wasn’t real high on the sex trafficking totem pole, was he?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked around the room. Shit, goddamn, shit. How did Zane Lewis know about David?

“What do you wanna know?” I asked.

Good guys. Bad guys. Trust issues. None of it mattered. If Zane had tied me to David’s murder I was now at his mercy. That was, if I wanted to stay a free woman and not spend the next, oh, lifetime, behind bars.

“Just answer their questions and I’ll get you what I have on Autumn.”

And that was check and mate.

Damn.

Thad

What the fuck was going on?

Who the hell was David Duncan, and was the knife Z was talking about figurative or literal?

And what did Emerson’s little sister Autumn have to do with anything?

“Declan, I’ll be in touch. Tex is still running down a lead. Be ready to move.”

“Copy that.” Declan disconnected and tossed his phone on the table. Then he turned to Emerson. “Ready?”

“Sure.”

She sounded anything but sure and she looked like she was spitting mad.

“Yeah, I’m not ready,” I announced. “Who’s David Duncan?”

“Everything’s in her file.” Declan pointed to a stack of papers not far from where his phone had landed.

Before I could pick them up, Max placed his hand on top of them and shook his head.

What the hell?

“Maybe we should put the brakes on this for a minute and let Emerson and Thad have a private conversation,” Max suggested.

“This needs to get done,” Declan retorted.

“Man, not even you can be that heartless. Just give them a minute. Thad doesn’t deserve to learn this from a file and you know it.”

“Learn what?” I growled, losing my patience.

Kyle was staring at his feet. Brooks nodded to his wife and she quietly made her way out of the room.

Why did I feel like everyone in the room knew something I didn’t? Because everyone damn well did. Something important.

Max didn’t answer me. Instead he looked at Emerson. “I didn’t share, darlin’. I was going to but then we had orders to grab you again. I figured it was your place, not mine. I’m gonna extend you this courtesy one time. You don’t take it, I’ll tell him. But either way he needs to know, and I mean, all of it.”

Darlin’? What the fuck?

Emerson paled and hadn’t taken her eyes off of Max. At that point I wasn’t sure what was pissing me off more. The fact Max had softened toward her, or that Emerson was looking at him pleadingly.