AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shut the fuck up and get out, Candice,” he barks at her. “I’ll call you later.”
She throws him a look that would melt steel, but then she glances at Max and me and hurries from the room.
As soon as she’s gone, Pete Hayes climbs out of bed, his limp dick swinging between his legs, and pulls on the boxers he grabs from the floor. “When I asked who the hell you thought you were, it was a rhetorical question.” He sighs, running a hand through what’s left of his hair as he sits back down on the bed. “So, Mr. Moretti”—he fixes his blue eyes on me—“perhaps what I should have asked is what the hell do you think you’re doing bursting into my motel room the way you just did?”
I pull up the remaining chair and take a seat. Despite who I am, even I would think twice about taking out the deputy superintendent of the Chicago police department in broad daylight, and he knows it. We have an amicable, if somewhat strained, relationship with Chicago’s finest—meaning that we stay out of each other’s way.
“I just need a little information and then I’ll leave you to your day, Deputy.”
He bristles at the disdain in my tone, but he shakes it off. “Since when do you and your ilk come to me for information?”
“Since it pertains to you.”
His Adam’s apple bobs and he glances toward the door, which Max promptly goes to stand in front of.
“You should’ve known we’d respond to the spate of raids on our businesses. Did you think we’d sit back and not look into that?”
“It was a few raids. Nothing was found.” His nostrils flare and his fists clench by his sides. “You’re really coming at me over this?”
“I want to know why you allowed a piece-of-shit cop from Boston to pull your strings like that.”
A muscle ticking in his jaw, he shakes his head.
“Don’t mistake my calm demeanor, Deputy Hayes. Yes, we have an uneasy truce, but I will happily peel your skin from your body and roast your cock and balls on a barbecue before forcing you to eat them if you don’t tell me what I need to know.”
Face turning pale, he flinches. Hayes has heard the rumors, it seems, and believes me fully capable of committing such a violent act. But I’ve been around the block long enough to know that fear doesn’t motivate all men. “Look, I have no interest in you. My family and I are happy with the way things operate in this city, and we have no desire to change that. But I do have an issue with Mulcahy.”
“You won’t come after me?” he asks, and I suppress a grin. I knew self-preservation would be his downfall. That’s how Mulcahy was able to use him in the first place.
“I only want Mulcahy,” I assure him. “So, tell me what that fucker has on you.”
He takes a deep, shuddering breath. “She was his girlfriend.”
Girlfriend?What the fuck is he—oh, fuck no. Every muscle goes rigid. Max senses it and takes a step toward me.
“That prick set it all up,” Hayes continues. “Told me she was into role-play and that they’d planned it all out. He said she was supposed to say no. The screaming was all part of the act. She was supposed to fight back.”
Bile burns the back of my throat.
Max places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Fight back?”
Looking down at his feet, Hayes nods. “He told me it was all part of the fantasy. He even told me her safe word, but she never used it.”
My growl echoes around the tiny room. “Stop talking in riddles, Hayes, and tell me what that fucker has on you.”
He blinks up at me, tears forming in his eyes. Tears for himself. “He filmed it all. That twisted piece of shit filmed it all.”
“Filmed what?” I shout.
“Me f-fucking his girlfriend. He t-told me she had a rape fetish. I knew her. I knew that she’d toyed with the idea of it a few times. So one night…” He swallows hard, eyes darting between me and Max. My blood boils in my veins. “He arranged for me to h-have sex with her. He said it was the fantasy.” He wipes sweat from his brow, and his voice drops to a hoarse whisper. “So she screamed at me. She scratched me and she c-cried, b-but I thought she wanted it.” He looks thoroughly ashamed, as he fucking should. But it’s not enough. All I can think about is my beautiful Mia being pawed by this sack of shit. Her cries and screams as she tried to fight him off. I don’t care who the fuck he is, he’s going to die a painful death for what he did to her.
He looks up at me, eyes wide and pleading. “I fuck around, and I like it when women fight back, but only consensually. You have to believe that. I’m not a rapist. I swear I thought she wanted it.” He drops his head in his hands.
Stepping forward, I ball my hands into fists, but Max squeezes my shoulder and pulls me back. “You were partners in Boston, right? Thirteen years ago?”
Hayes sniffs. “Yeah.”
Thirteen years? Mia met Brad ten years ago. I let out the breath I was holding.
