Sinfully Yours, Sir (Doms of Decadence 4)

“Well, apparently it has to do with your ex,” Rogan told her.

***

Dylan’s heart was breaking for Tilly. She looked absolutely shattered. If he could get his hands on that bitch, Miller, he would wring her neck. She’d thrown Tilly in the deep end without a thought to her safety.

Looking pale and drawn, she sat on a couch in Rogan’s living room. They’d waited until they were back at Rogan’s house to start questioning her.

She rubbed her head. “Are you sure they said that Miller was with them voluntarily? Couldn’t they have been lying?”

Dylan cupped the side of her face gently, turning her to face him. “To show that she was serious about joining, she offered them information they’d want. She told them that your ex had been stealing from them. When they questioned him, he told them that you had the money. She put you in harm’s way. She betrayed you. I know that hurts and believe me if I can find a way to make her pay, I will. But right now we need you to concentrate. It’s important.”

Tilly stared at him, her green eyes glassy with tears and fatigue. Then she thrust her shoulders back.

“Okay, I’m okay. But how did they even talk to Javier? He’s dead. He died a few days ago in prison.”

“How?” Rogan asked.

“One of the other prisoners stabbed him.”

“Probably one of Iker’s men,” Rogan said grimly. “They questioned him then killed him once he was no longer any use. So he’s going to be no help in tracking down the money.”

“I have no idea why Javier would tell them I had their money.”

“Start from the beginning,” Dylan told her. “Maybe something will help us figure this all out.”

Tilly sat nervously on the edge of the sofa. “I met Javier during my last year of school. I thought he was handsome and smart. He showered me with attention and gifts. I was seventeen and he was twenty-six and I thought he was wonderful.

“When I graduated from high school, I moved in with him. It didn’t take long for things to unravel. He would have these bursts of temper where he’d scream at me over nothing. He was out all hours of the night. The only time he seemed calm and normal was when we were around other people, especially around my family. I figured it was because he didn’t want them to realize that he was, umm…”

“Abusing you?” Rogan asked in a surprisingly gentle voice.

“He never hit me,” she said hastily. But his words could be incredibly painful. How many times had he screamed at her that she was a fat whore?

“I never really understood why he was with me when he seemed to hate me so much. I was such an idiot. He didn’t want me for me. He wanted access to my family’s ranch.”

“He was transporting things over the border?” Rogan guessed.

“Yeah. Drugs. He was hiding them on the ranch. Thank God we discovered what he was doing. If those drugs had been found by someone else on my dad’s land…” she didn’t want to think about the consequences for her father.

“Okay, so what’s this asshole’s name?” Rogan asked.

“Javier Cabeza.”

“Fucking hell,” Aedan said, glancing over at Rogan.

“What?” she asked. “You know him?”

“I know of him,” Rogan replied. “I’ve never worked with him. I don’t like his methods or his involvement in human trafficking.”

“He takes money from people just wanting a better life then leaves them to make their own way over the border. Old, young, doesn’t matter to him if they make it, only that they pay him,” Aedan said with disgust. “And you were with him?”

Tilly shrank back under his disgust.

Dylan sat forward, shielding her. “Do not speak to her like that.”

“That asshole didn’t give a shit that little kids died of starvation because of him. You haven’t seen the dead bodies. Then there are the young girls who were brought over to be sold off as whores.”

“And Tilly had nothing to do with that,” Dylan said in a low voice.