Page 40 of Fallen Dane

“He paid off the coroner to skip the full toxicology. Harrison made sure the autopsy report said drunk driving.” She meets my eyes. “But he made me go with him and recorded our conversation with the man and kept proof of my involvement. That’s what he’s using to blackmail me.”

“What did he threaten you with?”

“Execution by the Council.” Her voice drops. “And if I didn’t cooperate, he said he’d marry Sloane himself, whether I was dead or alive. That he’d fuck her and convince her to marry him.”

The bastard is so fucking dead. I hope he’s enjoying the last couple of days he has on earth, because he’s going to die, and it’s not going to be quick.

“Watch this.” I release her and retrieve my phone from my pocket.

I pull up the security footage from Harvard. I scroll through multiple angles of the entrances to Sloane’s dorm, the library, and her walking routes. I stop at the view of the library where she’s sitting at a table. Surprisingly, Thorne is there with her, too. Good to see that he’s checking in like he’s supposed to.

“What is this?” Whitney’s eyes go wide, and I let her take my phone.

“I put security on your daughter the day of the auction.” I swipe through the feeds. “Thorne oversees it personally. That’s her there in the library with him now. If Harrison were to approach Sloane, or anyone else for that matter, I would fucking know about it.”

She’s staring at the screen. “You’ve been protecting her this whole time?”

“I told you on our wedding night I’d protect Sloane the same as my sons.” I take the phone from her and toss it aside on the bed, then grab her by the throat. “I’m not the one who fucking lies.”

“I didn’t know—”

“Well now you goddamn do.” I tighten my hold. “Once this is resolved, you won’t lie to me ever again. I can’t promise I’ll be so lenient if you attempt to pull any more of your secret bullshit.”

“I’m sorry—”

Her eyes are red, and her cheeks are wet with tears.

“Are you really?” I scoff. I can’t help it. This is a game I’m tired of playing with her.

“I swear, Dane. I would end Gerald one hundred times over, but it’s been killing me to keep this from you. If I had seen any other way—”

“You’ll beg for my forgiveness later. And believe me, Whitney, you are going to fucking beg. You are going to spend so much time on your knees crawling and pleading to be my good little kitten, you are going to forget how to fucking walk.”

I release her and reach across the bed to grab my phone again. I want everything behind us, and that means I have to tell her what I’ve been keeping from her. I pull up another file on my phone. “I didn’t want you to know this part, but that was before I knew you were the one who killed Gerald.”

I hand her my phone showing the pictures of Sloane. They are candid shots of her in various bathing suits and in her underwear while she’s sleeping. Some of them appear to date back to when she was twelve or thirteen.

“Gerald was trafficking underage girls under the cover of one of his businesses. He paid for them, shared them with business associates, then disposed of them.” I swipe through the evidence while she holds the phone. “These photos were found in Roland Whitmore’s files after he died. You might remember his widow, Briar, trying to escape. These pictures are what Gerald was using to command the highest bidder for Sloane amongst the sickest fucks in the Ravens, and if you hadn’t killed him, he was going to let Victor have her before she turned eighteen.”

“Oh my God.”

My wife is shaking, and I want to pound my fist into someone’s face for upsetting her. Gerald’s already dead, but Harrison would fucking do.

“I had no idea.” She’s crying beside me. “This is fucked up. Those poor girls. Oh, Dane! Sloane . . . she doesn’t know—”

“And she never will. I already had Fox scrub every bit of information we have found, and we will scrub Victor’s files, too. I have a plan to end him. He won’t be around much longer, I assure you.” I grab her jaw and stare into her wet blue eyes. “You will both be safe.”

She opens her mouth to speak, then closes it and swallows before trying again. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. None of this changes the punishment that’s coming to you for not coming to me in the first place.”

“I was afraid—”

“Of the wrong fucking person.” I lift her and settle her trembling, naked body on my lap. “Now we’re going to fix this my way, like we should have done weeks ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re going to kill Harrison.” I seize her ass hard. “There isn’t a chance in hell I’m going to allow him to keep breathing.”