It was the wrong choice of words because King’s answering grin was downright satanic.
“Okay, well, I’ll let you two get down to business,” Marilyn murmured, leaving my office and shutting the door behind her.
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at King. “What in the hell, King?”
Smirking, he made his way over to the chair opposite my desk and slouched down in it. For the first time I noticed what he wore. A black suit, shirt, and tie, all well cut and, by the sheen on the fabric, obviously expensive.
He gave every physical indication that he was a well-respected businessman, which was a complete falsehood.
He also looked too damn good in that suit for my peace of mind.
“We needed to talk,” he insisted, “and I warned you last night that if it wasn’t at your apartment, it would be at a time and place of my choosing. This is it. I knew this would be the one place you wouldn’t cause a scene.”
I glowered at him, because he was mostly right. I didn’t want to cause a scene at work but I would if he pushed me too hard.
“If I agree to give you five minutes, do you promise to leave?”
He nodded in agreement.
With a sigh, I dropped back down in my chair. “So talk.”
King eyed me, propping his elbows on the arms of the chair. “It’s time for me to clear up some of your misconceptions about Justin.”
My back went rigid. “Do not say his name to me,” I whispered. “You have no right to talk to me about him.”
“Jena,” King snapped, his hands slamming down on my desk. “There are things you don’t know about him and it’s been nearly two and a half years since he died, so you’re gonna fuckin’ listen to me!”
For once I didn’t meet his temper with my own. “Fine, say whatever it is you want to say and leave.” I wanted him gone and I was willing to feign interest in whatever it was he thought he had to tell me.
He pressed a palm to his forehead, eyes shut tight. Finally, he looked at me. “I sent Justin to you,” he stated harshly. “He was the honey trap and you were the fly.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?”
“You used to do Clarence Peretti’s books,” he threw in randomly.
Confused, I asked, “So?”
“I sent Justin to you. We needed someone on the inside. A way to get information. He was supposed to turn you, get the shit he needed, then burn you.”
“Information? Burn me?” I asked, completely lost.
“Larry Peretti isn’t a good guy. At first, I thought you knew. It wasn’t until later that I realized you were completely clueless.”
“Not completely,” I muttered. “I’d heard him…screaming at some of his male employees before. I didn’t like it, but he was always nice to me.” I blinked at him. “How is he ‘not a good guy’?” I asked.
“Organized crime, babe. He’s got his fingers in a lot of pies and they’re all rotten to the core.”
“So, how would Justin have burned me after I provided you with the information you wanted?”
King stared at me blankly for a moment. “He would have cut ties with you. He wouldn’t have said anything to Larry, but it wouldn’t have been hard for him to figure out that the info had to have come from you.”
“And what would Larry have done?” I asked softly.
He shrugged. “I can’t say, darlin’. Since you weren’t in on everything, I’m not sure. I think Larry kept you around to give his businesses the illusion of being clean. I also think that he kept a second set of books you had no idea existed.”
“What normally happens to people who snitch on the mob?” My voice was thick with sarcasm and anger as I pressed him to admit what I already knew.
King just shook his head, refusing to play the game.
“They get whacked, King!”
He smirked again and I lost my temper.
“I could have been killed! It’s not fucking funny.”
He shook his head, the little grin fading. “No, it isn’t.”
“So Justin wouldn’t do it? Burn me?” I asked hopefully.
The look on King’s face was answer enough. “No, Justin was ready to go. I called him off.”
“I don’t understand,” I mumbled. “This makes no sense.”
“I told him to back off. Told him to break up with you and that we’d find another way to get to Larry. Then the fucker died before that happened.”
He had to be calling Justin a fucker because Larry was still very much alive as far as I knew.
“You’re lying,” I snarled. “I don’t know why, but you’re lying to me.”
King stood, reaching in his pocket. “I knew you’d say that. Justin was good at what he did.” He pulled out a flash drive and tossed it on my desk. “Watch that at home, not here. Call me when you’re done. I’m sure you’ll have more questions.”
With that, he turned and sauntered toward the door. Before he opened it, he looked back at me. “If you don’t call me, darlin’, I’m comin’ back here and hauling your ass out so I can tell you what you need to know. Understood?”
Numbly, I nodded, all the sass and attitude drained out of me. Everything he told me sounded like some kind of crazy crime novel or movie. Organized crime? Using the single woman who worked for the bad guy? It was nuts.
King studied me, jerked his chin up, and left, the door clicking shut softly when it closed behind him.
* * *
Later that night, I was sitting on the floor by my coffee table, a glass of wine in one hand and my laptop open in front of me. I had the flash drive King had given me in my palm and I was studying it closely. My instincts told me that I really didn’t want to know what was on it, but I knew I was going to watch anyway. I’d been waging this internal debate all evening, through two glasses of wine and my take-out sushi dinner. Now I’d made my decision, even though I knew I would probably regret it.
Taking a deep breath, I plugged the drive into the USB port. As the window opened on my screen, there were four files listed, all titled by date. My heart started pounding as I clicked the first one, which was dated a couple months after I met Justin.
A black and white video came onscreen. After a few seconds I realized it was King’s office. King was sitting behind his desk and Justin was pacing the floor on the other side.
It hurt to look at them together, two men who had turned my life upside down in completely different ways.
“King, man, we gotta make our move soon. My woman, she’s getting antsy, ready for me to be done with this shit.”
My brows lowered. What was he talking about?
In the video, King leaned back in his chair, steepling his hands and staring at Justin. “Not yet, Jay. You may think you’re in there, but you’re not. This woman isn’t just going to blindly hand you the info you want, she’s too fucking smart for that.”
“King-”
“Not yet, Jay,” he stated firmly. “You have to gain Jena’s trust completely. She’s not going to roll over just because you have a pretty face and you’re a good lay. Even if she does know what Larry is into, it’ll take a lot of work to get her to the point where she’ll share that shit with you. If she does, you’ll have to make her fall in love with you, man. That would be the only way to get her to give up what we need.”
Justin threw himself on the couch and sighed in disgust. “Man, she’s a fuckin’ ballbuster. Take-no-prisoners, take-no-shit.”
King chuckled, but didn’t respond.
“I know you get off on that kinda stuff,” Justin continued, “but I don’t like it. Every time she calls me out over some stupid bullshit, I have to bite my fucking tongue to keep from tellin’ her to go fuck herself.”
My pounding heart stopped beating altogether. I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.
“Stick it out for another couple of months, Jay. Take her some purple irises, take her out to dinner, court her.”
“Purple irises? Court her?” Justin asked incredulously. “What the fuck, King? Are we in the fuckin’ eighteen hundreds now?”