Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (61 page)

“You don’t –” he began.

“Get…
the fuck
… out…
of
my house!
” I bit out.

“The receptionist at his place of business dealt drugs,” Preston informed me.

“Get out of my house,” I kind of repeated.

“Her nephew, Kai’s col eague, was in business with her,” Preston went on.

Real y?

Darius?

Yikes.

Oh wel . Past tense. If it didn’t bother Mace (which obviously it didn’t), it didn’t bother me.

And anyway, Darius was cool.

“Get out of my house,” I repeated again.

Preston continued, “His organization was involved in a clandestine operation which culminated in an officer employed by the Denver Police Department discharging a weapon and wounding a man, something that has never been reported to the police.”

Oh dear. That probably wasn’t good and it was probably worse Preston knew about it.

I powered through my worry and again demanded, “Get out of my house.”

“His employer is on retainer with Marcus Sloan, shady dealings with a man who is not shady but entirely criminal, running guns and peddling flesh.”

Yikes again!

Marcus ran guns and peddled flesh?

Whoa.

Preston wasn’t done. “And the wife of one of his co-workers filed fraudulent reports with Child Protective Services in order to place two runaways with a known felon.”

Wel , at least I knew about that one.

I quit repeating myself and just glared at him.

Preston held my glare and stated, “Routinely, a man in Lee Nightingale’s employ performs il egal hacks not only on private accounts but also on local, state and federal government sites.”

I wasn’t a computer person so I thought that was actual y kind of cool.

Obviously I didn’t share that.

Then, softly, he said, “The man you cling to so desperately has taken lives.”

My glare intensified.

I was hardly clinging to Mace
desperately.
Lovingly, definitely. Supportively, sure. Desperately,
no.

“Many of them,” Preston whispered.

He fel silent so I asked, “Are you done?”

“No,” he replied and looked at Mace. “Your play, son, is to speak to Nightingale, tel him to agree to my investment. I obtain control ing interest in Nightingale Investigations, I clean up the cesspool that is your business, take out the trash including Darius Tucker, Vance Crowe, Luke Stark and that hideous receptionist, al of whom, due to their past activities and associations, leave much to be desired.

You’l keep your job because, clearly,” he threw out a hand again, “your woman cannot provide for you if you should need to get back on your feet, which you wil , considering the fact you just gave six thousand dol ars to her family which significantly depleted your reserve. Then Nightingale steps aside and I cal the shots.”

Uh-oh.

I felt my body get tight.

Mace spoke.

“You’re saying you’l leak this information if I don’t do as you say.”

Preston nodded. “Chavez wil lose his job and he’l not find one on my payrol when I take over Nightingale Investigations. He might even face charges. Shirleen Jackson wil lose custodial care and those boys wil either go back to the streets or into the system. Juliet Crowe wil also find herself unemployed. Brody Dunne and Lee Nightingale wil likely be questioned and possibly arrested for their activities –”

Mace cut him off, “That al you got?”

I felt my body jerk seeing as I thought al this sounded pretty bad. I looked up at him to see his face was bland, almost uninterested, as if this information wasn’t damning and more than a little scary but instead Preston was tel ing him that he knew Lee and his boys had trampled a few flowers in a public garden for shits and giggles.

“Kai –” Preston started but Mace didn’t let him get any further.

“First, you should know that Stel a’s place is wired, cameras with microphones. Your blackmail attempt was caught on tape.”

Preston’s body gave a smal start, almost imperceptible but I caught it and I also held my breath.

“I –” Preston began again but Mace’s head turned away from him, the movement so sudden, Preston stopped speaking.

Mace looked at something across the room, what, I didn’t know then he looked back at his father.

“Cameras are off now, Dad,” he said quietly and I again tensed. “Now, it’s just you and me and this is what I got.” Oh man.

I figured what Mace had was probably a lot so I settled in but I did it while I braced.

“Brody’s good, you know that so you shoulda been a lot smarter.” Mace was stil talking quietly, I was thinking his quiet was not an indication he felt he had the situation under control but instead an indication that he was close to losing his mind at having to deal with this bul shit or his father at al and I bit my lip. “You know I know you fucked up.

You know I know what you did that got Caitlin kil ed. You
fuckin’
know.”

“I didn’t do a thing to –”

Mace interrupted, “Oh yeah you did.”

“Not one thing, Kai,” Preston clipped.

“Arms, Dad,” Mace returned.

Oh man.

Arms?

As in weapons?

What the ef?

“There’s not a shred of evidence to support that,” Preston retorted swiftly, now also talking quietly but his face had shifted, gone more vigilant, surprisingly giving it al away.

“There isn’t?” Mace asked and I watched Preston’s body straighten.

Mace kept going.

“What you don’t know is that we know that you haven’t stopped what you were doin’ to get Caitlin kil ed.”

“Kai –”

“Government contracts you got for your munitions plants, Dad, probably the Feds won’t be real thril ed to know your guns that are supposed to be in the hands of our boys in uniform are also finding themselves in the hands of not only enemy factions but seven terrorist sects.” Oh my God!

“APM Holdings have absolutely no dealings in munitions,” Preston replied.

“You’re right,” Mace agreed then disagreed, “But
you
do.”

Oh. My.
God!

“Nonsense,” Preston returned.

Mace studied his father, he did this for several long beats, I waited while consciously breathing because I knew something had changed, something was not right, my man was struggling.

Then I knew why when he whispered, “They blew her head off.”

I pressed closer to Mace and held on harder.

Preston paled but his eyes narrowed before he replied,

“And whose fault was that?”

At that, Mace leaned forward and exploded, “
They blew
her fuckin’ head off!
”

The hand I had at Mace’s abs slid around so I was holding him close with both arms.

Preston leaned forward too and hit back, “You never should have –”

“Given a shit about Tiny?” Mace returned. “Is that what I shouldn’t have done? Because, Dad, I was wil in’ to go down for her and I almost did. You didn’t do shit and you were the reason she endured that fuckin’ nightmare before they blew her head off and you didn’t do
shit.
Except, of course, after they ended her life, you gave in and started trading arms with them again so the next time it wouldn’t be you direct they played with.”

Things had degenerated into a place I did not want Mace to go therefore I decided to intervene and I did this by declaring, “I think we’re at a stalemate, boys, why don’t you retreat to your corners –?”

“Mouth shut,” Preston ground out, eyes cutting to me.

“This is none of your concern.”

That was when, no matter how hard I was holding onto him, I lost hold on Mace as he moved, swiftly and purposeful y, tearing out of my arms and closing the distance between him and his father. He was three inches tal er and several decades younger but he got toe-to-toe and bent his head to get nose-to-nose with him before he commenced in delivering the death blow.

“I warned you know I’m tel in’ you, do not
ever
fuckin’

speak to my woman again, I don’t give a shit what comes out of your mouth, never again. I don’t even like you lookin’

at her, you never speak to her or my retribution wil be physical. Hear me and believe me, I am
not
joking.” Preston drew in a swift breath because even an arrogant, thinks his shit doesn’t stink dick like Preston could see that Mace was definitely not joking but Mace was could see that Mace was definitely not joking but Mace was far from done.

“You are dead to me. You treated me like shit, Mom like shit, Chloe like shit and
Caitlin
like shit and you got her dead. You know it. I’ve been itchin’ to let loose the shit I got on you, itchin’ to do it for… fuckin’…
years
. I got a new family now and you think you can fuck with them, piss in your goddamned corner, prove you’re the man with the biggest dick by playin’ with them, think fuckin’ again. I wil bring you down and I’l smile doin’ it. I know you found out where your guns were goin’, you found out your partner was fuckin’ you, you put a stop to it and the men who were gettin’ those guns didn’t like it. They pushed, you pushed back but you didn’t do it smart. Thought your fuckin’ money made you untouchable but you… were…
wrong.
You had no clue what you were dealin’ with and weren’t smart enough to learn. They pushed harder, took Caitlin and you let her swing in the wind for
your
fuck up. There are so many reasons you’re a piece of shit, it’d take me a decade to count them down. But from this point on, your shit does not encroach in my life. Not again. You took my sister and every fuckin’ day, I think of her and my mind bleeds for your fuck up. That’s
all
the shit you get to shove at me but that’s fuckin’ more than enough.”

Preston had straightened his spine and shoulders to face down his son and when Mace was done talking, he shot back, “You have no evidence to support those accusations, Kai.”

“You wanna try me?” Mace returned.

“That evidence doesn’t exist,” Preston replied.

“The only proof I’l give you that it does is to feed it to the media, Dad. There is no show and tel with this shit. You do not back down and slink away, I’l bring you down. You try to fuck with Eddie, Shirleen, Lee, any of them, I fuckin’

promise you, you’l have an indeterminate stay at some government facility no one even fuckin’ knows exists, courtesy of me and trust me, post-9/11, the people who’re gettin’ your guns, the Feds don’t care how much money you got. That’s a good deal, Dad, ‘cause just thinkin’ about you or thinkin’ about Tiny and what you did to her makes me lose hold on the control that keeps me from exposing you for the total, stinking piece of shit you are and always have been. And I think about Tiny al the time, every day, every hour, every minute she’s in my head, beautiful and whole then thin, broken and terrified and final y very fuckin’
dead
.”

“You have no evidence,” Preston persisted, his face beginning to get red.

“You believe that, cal my bluff,” Mace invited.

“Your friends are on the line, Kai,” Preston reminded him.

“You think you got us by the bal s, cal … my…
bluff,
” Mace bit off.

Preston glared at him.

Mace glared back.

Personal y, if you asked me, I thought Mace’s glare was a lot better.

This went on a long time too but I didn’t try to intervene and even Juno sensed she had to let this play out so, along with me, she remained silent.

Final y and suddenly, with some surprise, I watched Preston Mason’s face twist and he whispered so low it was nearly inaudible, “I had no idea Caitlin –” But Mace didn’t let him finish.

“I know you didn’t which makes your monumental fuck up a colossal fuck up because even after you fucked up, you fucked up again with those goddamned commandos then again when you didn’t come clean to the FBI and work with them to find a way to get her out of that fuckin’ mess then again when you let me walk in there and watch my sister die.”

“Kai, I had no –” Preston started again.

“You think I give a fuck?” Mace whispered and the tortured way those words came out made my stomach clench and even Preston flinched. “Honest to God, you think I give a fuck about anything that has anything to do with you? They tortured her, Dad, they cut off her fuckin’ hand then they took her fuckin’ life and al that is on
you.
This is not a fuck up like you grounded her for too long because she missed curfew and she’s pissed like any teenager would be pissed because their Dad is an asshole, for fuck’s sake.” Mace spit the last three words out and kept going. “You fucked up and her life ended. Even after it was done, I cleaned up your goddamned mess and kept my mouth shut. Way I see it, you owe me, you owe me huge, you owe me a fuckin’ sister and there’s no way to repay that so I’m tel in’ you now, you repay by getting the fuck
out
of my life and
staying
out.”

Preston held his son’s eyes.

Then, because he was a dick, he kept trying.

“Every day, I think of her and –”

Mace took a step back, most likely to retain a shred of control even as he lost it and roared, “
Fuck!
I do not
give
a
fuck!
”

And that was when Juno woofed but her woof was not a woof of solidarity with Mace; it was a different kind of woof.

It was the kind of woof that made Mace’s head whip toward her so my head whipped toward her and I saw she was on al four paws on the bed, staring at the wal .