Sadie's Game (Ashby Crime Family)

“This is Sky News 10, Las Vegas, live at Ashby Manor where infamous female gangster Sadie Rose Ashby has been placed in handcuffs. As you can see below, the FBI and not local authorities are escorting her out of the lavish mansion. We can only speculate what prompted this arrest, but the charges must be serious. This is Caleb Gentry, back to you in the studio.”

These vultures were having a fucking field day with this news. Not that they were happy to see Sadie taken down, but news like this would give them fat to chew on for days. Weeks, even. The aerial footage of the mansion and the matriarch had played on a nonstop loop since it happened, and it was driving me crazy.

“You could shut that shit off,” Jasper growled at me from the doorway of the office I kept on the first floor, where I paid the house bills and house staff.

“It’s all the same goddamn thing anyway. Over and over. Fucking Beck.”

“I could, but I can’t.”

“Glutton for punishment as always,” Jasper shot back with a knowing smirk that I chose to ignore.

“It’s not all bad news.” I flipped the smart television over to the internet and played a video from a well-known podcaster.

“Say what you will about Sadie Ashby, but the truth is she is one bad mamajama. She did for the Ashby Organization what neither Colm nor Cillian could. She moved them into the stratosphere. Sure, we can only speculate about the cash made in the underworld, but the casino and resort businesses are booming, which means jobs and money for the local economy. Even their legal pot business rakes in a pretty fucking penny. The family and the organization have flourished under the leadership of Sadie Ashby, which is probably why the Feds have their panties in a bunch.”

Jasper snorted. “Sounds like a fan boy.”

“Maybe so,” I agreed with a shrug. “But that fan boy’s video already has nine hundred thousand views, and if it comes to it, I hope some of those people end up on the jury.”

Jasper went a little pale at my words. “Shit, don’t even talk like that, Thomas.” He shook his head and pushed off the doorway. “Where’s your stash?”

I pulled a bottle from the bottom drawer of my desk, along with two shot glasses. “I doubt it’ll come to that, but we need to prepare for the possibility.”

“I am,” he growled. “Doesn’t mean I want to fucking think about it.”

I knew what he meant. Even now, the thought of Sadie in jail, fingertips black from the fingerprinting process, the bright fluorescent lights giving her a headache, made me sick to my stomach.

“No shit.” I accepted one of the shot glasses and knocked it back quickly. “I think Beck’s been talking out of turn.”

Jasper glared at me. “What?”

I found another video, this one put up by another local news station.

“Sources from within the FBI and the local police department are being tight-lipped about the reason behind today’s arrest, but unnamed sources speculate it could have something to do with the death of Mrs. Ashby’s daughter-in-law, Bonnie Byrne-Ashby, who for our viewers who might not know, was found murdered alongside well-known Las Vegas area bishop, Father Dietrich Mueller. But other sources believe it might have to do with black market businesses.”

“Fuck. That bitch is determined to get under my skin.” Jasper shook his head and refilled the glasses. “I need to figure out what to do about her.”

“Sadie suggested seduction. You might give that a shot.”

He snorted. “That might be fun, but I have a feeling even a good fuck won’t get her off the Ashby hate she has going on.”

“I suggest more than one good fuck. It has a way of scrambling a woman’s brains.”

It certainly had a calming effect on Sadie, and she was the most difficult, standoffish woman I’d ever met.

“And what, I should just show up at her place and offer her my cock?”

I barked out a laugh at his ridiculous question. “You really need to get out more, Jasper. All work and no play has put a serious dent in your game.”

He sent me a glare that reminded me of his angry outbursts as a kid, and I laughed even harder. “Offer her something, and through that, seduce her.”

“My game is fine,” he growled and knocked back the shot just as the phone began to ring on my desk.

“Thomas Kelly.”

“Thomas, it’s Andrew. I’m at the cop shop, and that Agent Beck is playing games.”

I looked to Jasper and relayed the message. “What do you want to do?”

Jasper grabbed the phone from my hand, a dark scowl on his face. “What kind of games?”

I tapped the speakerphone button because this was Sadie, and I needed to know everything. Every detail. Jasper glared at me, and I shrugged.