This Is Where I Sleep (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Coral

              I was nervous. This was new for me because I didn’t get nervous in these situations. Angry? Yes. Perturbed when things didn’t go my way? Possibly. But not nervous. I knew it was because the stakes were personal this time. I’d found out the real reason Li left, and it only made me love him that much more. I wanted to be his, but I didn’t know if I was ready. I looked over at Laura, who was drawing on the table set up in this huge hotel suite we were staying in. We’d been huddled up for hours with the FBI, turning over page after page of evidence against Liam’s father. It was difficult to comprehend that a U.S. governor would betray his own country like this for money, and most of all, power. But, I’d seen people do a lot to get and maintain power. I was hardly shocked by it anymore.

The head of San Antonio’s FBI was livid. “I can’t believe this!” he yelled. Although it had taken some maneuvering, we were actually able to get him here. Clearly, he was dumbfounded by the information we’d presented to him. “He’s been doing this right under our noses. And from the looks of it, he’s not alone. This goes all the way up to members in the Senate and House of Representatives. I’ll need to call the Director immediately, and get our men in place.”

“The Director had already been contacted,” Liam said. “The Director of the FBI was one of my first phone calls when we got the information back in Dallas. I’ve been in contact with him for a while now trying to get an angle on my father. He is actually flying out as we speak. We’re going to make some phone calls and take a trip to visit dear old dad. I expect you to have your men in place,” Li said before turning back to the papers on the table.

Leave it to Liam to give orders to an FBI field office director like it was his job.

Everyone began scrambling to come up with a plan to execute. We already knew the press was going to have a field day with this. Not to mention the type of international trouble this would cause. I stepped away to take a break from it all. My job would be to remain here with Laura and let the men go off and do their thing. For once, I was okay with not being the ringleader of this mission. I gazed out the window, watching the Austin skyline and remembering the first time I did this back in Dallas. It felt like so long ago, but it was only about a month and a half. I began to wonder what life after this would be like. I’d been ripping and running for so long trying to escape my demons, some real, some made up, that I never took the time to ponder a life outside of working to save others. Could I see myself married and as a mom? Do I even want that?

“What are you thinking about?” The deep voice penetrated my thoughts and warmed my entire body like a favorite blanket, as Liam’s strong arms enveloped me from behind.

“You. Us. All of this,” I answered honestly.

“Stop wondering,” he commanded, spinning me around to face him. “You and I were always meant to be here. From day one it’s been me and you. Bullshit got in the way of that, but I won’t let anything else come between us.” His voice was so full of certainty I couldn’t help but trust it. This was the only man I’d ever felt safe enough to feel this way with.

I looked up into his emerald green eyes and reached up pushing a dark blond lock of hair away from his handsome face. “I love you, Li.”

“‘Bout damn time,” he said, grinning like I just served him the world on a platter. “I love you, CeCe. Always have. Always will.”

I smirked. “I’m holding you to that. Bring your ass back here in one piece,” I told him.

“Will do, Sergeant Coleman.” He mock saluted me and then gripped my ass firmly right before he delivered another soul-stealing kiss.

“Take care of our Princess,” he said after pulling back.

I turned my head, looking over at Laura, who was now playing with a doll on the couch. I smiled at her innocence. “With everything I have.”

“I’m leaving Ron here to watch the both of you.” He held his hand up when I frowned. “It would make me feel better knowing someone is watching out for the both of you.”

“I will watch out for the both of us,” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“And Ron will as well.” He kissed the tip of my nose. I relented only because that was not the time to argue. Soon, Liam would be responsible for sending his father to jail for a very long time, but also causing a huge media storm and turning his mother’s life upside down and causing a media storm.

“Alright. Fine,” I agreed.

“You should start thinking about what wedding dress you want to wear on our big day,” he said.

I rolled my eyes.

“Or, you could wear jeans. Either way, we’ll need to set a date.”

“Shouldn’t you be thinking about the fact you’re about to send your father to jail?” I asked.

“I can do both. Anyway, we’ll be back soon enough, and this will be all over. Have the dress chosen by the time I get back.” He gave me one last kiss before going over to Laura. I grinned widely when she began giggling from his tickles. I watched them for a few minutes until I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Ron was watching Li and Laura. A chill went down my spine, but I didn’t have time to analyze it before my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Tasha. I called her as soon as Quincy left the house to let her know he was on his way. I sent a picture so she knew exactly who he was. He called as soon as he arrived to confirm. I still haven’t told Tasha exactly what’s going on and of course, she was antsy.

“Hey Tash,” I answered.

“Now, can you tell me what’s going on?” She sounded exasperated and a little nervous.

“Okay. It’s like this…”

I told her all of what I can for now. I wanted to ease her fears and let her know she could trust Quincy with her life, but I didn’t want to scare her. I also sent Jabari to Atlanta and told him to take my Aunt and Uncle, to make sure they were all together and safe. Now, it was a waiting game. I watched as the FBI agents, Li’s security, Brian, and Liam head out the door. He gave me one last look back and reassuring nod before closing the door behind him.

I looked at my phone and saw that it was almost ten a.m. But given that we’d been up for hours it felt like so much later. Yet, I was much too anxious to feel tired. I knew whatever happened today would determine the course of the rest of my life. I sighed and headed towards the living room couch to play with Laura.

****

Liam

I was feeling anxious. Not the nervous or scared type of anxious, but the “I’m ready to get this shit over with,” anxious. I’d been waiting for this moment for far too long. Yes, I was here to take down my own father. The man who taught me to play chess. Who was a bastard my entire childhood unless we were out in public. I’d waited years to put the right pieces in place to take this man down. I used the game he taught me to maneuver around him and take him down.

As we entered the gates to the Governor’s mansion, I felt my fingers twitch. When the FBI field director requested I leave my gun in my vehicle, I glared at him for nearly a full minute before conceding. It was likely for the best. No telling what I might’ve done if my father started spouting off his bullshit, especially if he said anything about Coral. My father and I had spent very little time in the same room in the last five years for a good reason. He’d only met my daughter once. Of course, for the media it was spun as the Bennett family leading very busy lives, but the truth was I’m not all that sure I could have resisted putting my fingers around his throat and squeezing as the life flees his body. Just thinking about it sent a jolt of energy through my body. I cracked my knuckles.

“You’re right. I don’t need my gun,” I smiled devilishly at the field director.

His eyes lowered watching as I cracked my knuckles. “There’s no need for this to get physical either,” he said.

I simply stared, agreeing to nothing. “Let’s go,” I motioned my security. I knew the director was probably perturbed by my taking the lead, but he’d just have to suck it up. I had waited too long for this.

We headed up the pathway to the front entrance of the mansion. I looked up to see the plantation style, crisp white building with six huge columns along the front entrance. Hanging from two of the columns was an American flag and the Texas state flag. I shook my head thinking of how my good for nothing father betrayed both of those flags. The flags I’d risked my life fighting for overseas. He’d betrayed me in more ways than one.

The security guard who opens the door looks surprised to see me heading this group of men. “Mr. Bennett.”

“Sir, we’re with the FBI,” the director announced, holding up his credentials.

I didn’t wait for any instructions. I knew exactly where my father was. I moved down the long hall towards the main office. My father’s secretary looked up surprised, prepared to speak. I held my hand up, cutting her off, then snatched the door to his office open; unfortunately, I was granted a view of my father’s bare ass as he thrust in and out of some brunette he had bent over his desk.

“I guess we can add this to the already long list of adulterous behavior when mom files for divorce,” I stated casually, folding my arms across my chest.

“Goddammit!”

“Oh, my God!” My father and the woman both yelled at the same time. The girl shrieked and tried to cover her face, but I still recognized her. She was an intern in his office.

“Typical,” I chuckled and shook my head.

“What the hell is going on?!” my father bellowed when he noticed that I was with an army of men behind me. The way he hurriedly tried to stuff himself back into his pants was comical. The two were a tangle of arms and legs trying to affix their clothing as five pairs of eyes watched them.

“Liam what the hell is this about?!” he demanded.

“Young lady, you probably want to leave immediately and go home and update your resume,” I said looking squarely at the red-faced young woman, ignoring my father. This angered him even more.

“You don’t get to fire my damn staff! I don’t know what you think you saw, but-”

I held up my hand, cutting him off. “She’ll need a new job because, by the time you leave this office, you’ll be stripped of the position of Governor. You can leave now,” I said sternly to the girl, whose head was lowered.

Without any words, she scurried out of office, shamefaced.

“Bert, what are you doing here?!” My father looked over my shoulder and saw the field director standing there. As governor, my father had met all the field directors in the state on numerous occasions. 

“How could you, Richard?” Disappointment was evident in his voice.

“Look, you know how these young girls are. They come to work in these tight skirts-”

“Shut up!” I yelled. I was sick of hearing his shit. “No one gives a fuck who you fuck, least of all me. Hell, your wife doesn’t even care as long as it’s not her. But betraying your state, your country while shaking hands with your constituents and holding babies for the cameras? All this time you were funneling poison to the most vulnerable. The ones you were supposed to protect.” I took a menacing step closer. My fingers twitched with anticipation as my father puffed up his chest trying to intimidate me the way he did when I was a child.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He was lying. I could see it clear as day in those green eyes so much like mine. “This,” I snatched the file out of the director’s hands and tossed it at him. Papers fly everywhere. “Take a fucking look.” I pointed at the papers scattered on the hardwood floor.

Ever prideful, he refused to bend down to pick the papers up. Instead, he looked down at them trying to read them. When he reached the first picture of him with a well-known drug runner out of South America, his facade slipped a little. His eyes moved to the next picture of a brothel just outside of Texas, on the Mexican side of the border where he kept many of the girls that were trafficked, and his face whitened. As the cold, hard reality that his time had finally come, he visibly deflated. For some reason, that pissed me off even more.

“You know you caused your own demise,” I said, menacingly, taking another step closer, right on the very papers he was looking at. I got directly in his face. “The moment you threatened my woman’s life you started the countdown to this moment.”

“I was doing you a favor!” he shouted. “That girl is not right for you. I groomed you to lead Bennett Industries. To do what needs to be done when times get tough. I taught you to make the hard decisions to get ahead. So what I had to get my hands dirty to get where I am. So what! You meet some girl in college and all of a sudden you care about the little man and being a fucking do-gooder. On top of that, you hire that bastard nephew of mine! That gets you nothing in this world. Fuck that little bitch. I should have killed her in Colombia when I-“His diatribe was cut off when my hand began s crushing his windpipe. “L-Li-,” he struggled trying to remove my lethal grip from his throat.

“Liam!” I heard and felt the director yelling and pulling me to release my father, but all I kept hearing are his threats on her life.

Suddenly an image of Coral and Laura giggling together the night before as they made cookies penetrated my mind. I pulled myself back from the edge. “I could kill you right now,” I threatened. “But death would be too easy for you. You deserve to live and watch your entire life crumble before you. Then you deserve to spend your last breaths locked in a six by eight-foot cell.” I pushed him away, nearly causing him to fall to the floor, but his fall was stopped by the FBI agents on either side of him.