AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lawson
I couldn’t fucking believe it.
I just couldn’t.
Piper had been conned.
By the very group I’d been investigating.
It all clicked into place the moment I saw the letterhead on that phony letter.
And of course, Piper wouldn’t think twice about sponsoring a child. We’d all grown up watching our parents send monthly checks around the world to help the children who were less fortunate. And she was a pediatrician, for fuck’s sake.
Piper’s shaky voice pulled me out of my anger fueled inner rant. “What do you mean I’ve been conned?” When I looked at where she stood in the doorway of my office, her eyes round with shock, she suddenly looked tiny to me.
It was like that godforsaken day at the middle school all over again. She’d been kicking that kid’s ass, but when we got in the car and Hampton spilled the beans about what he’d been doing to her, I’d noticed how delicate she actually was.
I’d gone back and threatened that little shit within an inch of his life, taking care of the problem for her. And this was going to be no different. I was going to find these motherfuckers if it was the last thing I did, and I was going to make sure they knew they didn’t mess with Piper fucking Kelley.
I pulled in a breath through my nose, hoping to calm myself down before I spoke again, and when I did finally answer her, my voice was much lower than it’d been.
“The Children of the Ministry is the group that we’ve been investigating. They’ve been on our radar for years, but we’ve never been able to pin anything on them.” A new surge of frustration raced through my veins when I thought about how close we’d been to nailing them to the wall a year ago. If only that investigation hadn’t been botched, Piper wouldn’t be in the situation she was in now.
I had to force my hand to release the fist my fingers had curled into as I continued explaining. “I knew there was some sort of connection here, I just couldn’t figure it out. The names the prescriptions were written under. Josiah Matthews. Matthew Shadblow. They weren’t exact matches, but the ‘president’ of the organization is named Josiah Shadblow. That child you’ve been sponsoring? Not a real person.”
Her mouth fell open, but she shook her head. “No way. I got a video clip from him one time! He was in a dusty street all dirty and holding the soccer ball I sent.”
I worked to control my frustration. “I’m tellin’ you. This kid does not exist.”
Her mouth drew a tight line across her face as she argued, “And I’m telling you, he does!”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Okay, fine. The kid exists. However, he isn’t some destitute child from another country. They probably give him five bucks and a couple of the toys you send to have him record the videos and write you a thank you letter.”
“Okay, I’ll play along. This kid I’ve been sponsoring doesn’t exist, at least not in the capacity I thought he did.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “How does that explain prescriptions written on my pad, with my signature, being for people I’ve never even heard of?”
I didn’t have the answer to that.
Yet.
Right on cue, Pieters slung the door open, his large frame lumbering down the narrow hallway on his march back to my office. “This better be good,” he rumbled. “I was in the middle of some very hot action.”
“Sure, jackass, come on in,” I grumbled, making a note to start locking the door even when I was home to avoid people just walking in all the time.
He gave me the one finger salute before tipping his chin at Piper. “Sorry, didn’t realize you were here.”
She just shrugged and then turned her blazing eyes back to me.
Pieters lifted his brows in question, but I shook my head and held the stack of letters out to him. “Oh, it’s better than good. It’s the answer to all of our questions.”
“Ah, not exactly,” Piper spoke up. “Actually, it doesn’t answer any of my questions.”
Pieters cleared his throat and then looked at me pointedly.
“Piper, mind giving us a few minutes?” I asked, gesturing toward the door.
When she simply glared at me, her arms crossed over her chest, I rephrased my statement. “I’ll fill you in on everything later. But I’ve got to talk to Pieters privately.”
Pieters waggled his brows at her. “I’m sure you don’t care to hear about my hot date anyway.”
