Wicked Liar (Dark Syndicate 3)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dominic

The last time I got this many shocks to my system, I lost my father and my eldest brother.

As far as things have gone over the last ten days, I definitely wasn't expecting Candace to drop a bomb on me like the one she hit me with yesterday morning.

This ten-day roller coaster began with me finding out two men who were supposed to be dead were very much alive and in L.A plotting in their secret meeting with the next leader of the Circle ofShadows. Now I'm here, and so much has happened in this short space of time.

Once again, I have my priorities mixed up.It's one in the morning, Candace is upstairs asleep in my bed and I'm sitting in my office behind my computer investigating Richard Fenmoir.And that motherfucker, Jacques Belmont.

I should be looking through Alfonse's files like I promised Aiden not even a handful of days ago.I should be focusing on that because of the current situation.I should have at the very least checked in with Aiden, but I haven't.

When Candace's parents were murdered, their deaths shocked all of us.

Thirteen years ago we didn't have any names.Nothing but what she told us, which wasn't anything we could work with.She told us about the tattooed man and the masked men who came into the house.But all we saw was the one guy who would have raped and killed her if we hadn't come along.She was fifteen years old, and the fucking incident screwed with her.

Seeing that guy the other night with the same tattoo and hearing about this Richard Fenmoir was enough to send me into overdrive to help her.

That is why I spent the last few hours checking things out.

All my damn life I've never once gone against my instincts.Over the last ten days, the one constant I've had through this time is my pure dislike for Jacques.It's not like me to be so uneasy about a person.There was just something about him that didn't ring true to me, and my first reaction to him came from simply hearing the asshole's name.

Last week when I looked him up I thought he was too clean.Then Candace hit me with the one thing that dirtied his clean ass.

Massimo can tell me Jacques would be an asset to the Syndicate all he wants, but when I look at the fucker I see a snake.My instincts tell me that Jacques is not who he says he is, or what he wants us to believe he is.So, I'm sure as fuck following instincts when it comes to him.

Earlier, the first thing I did was call Gibbs.He sent me what he could on Richard, which wasn't a lot but made me suspicious as fuck.

The most prominent thing that caught my attention was when he traced the account the money came from it was closed and there were no details of the account holder that we didn't know.Which was just the name on the account.No personal details like a date of birth, or address.Nothing. It seemed to be a burner account.The same way people get phones they use for a single purpose and ditch them when they're done so they can't be tracked, criminals do the same with bank accounts.

A transaction of such a large sum of money coming from what looks like a burner account is enough to put Jacques in the negative for me.

I understand why Candace was being objective.Jacques is a businessman who deals with people all over the world, so we don't know how Jacques knows Richard.All we both know is twenty million dollars is a fuck load of money, and it is something you would investigate.But... what poor Candace doesn't understand when it comes to the criminal underworld is you suspect everybody until they can prove to you that they aren't guilty.

She was just acting like a normal person would.We are, however, far from normal and I wish like hell she didn't think selling herself to Jacques was the only way to get answers.

She was desperate. I understand that.She had to have been fucking desperate to think that plan of hers would work.Candace is an intelligent woman, but she doesn't know how to deal with men like Jacques.

She hardly knows how to deal with men like me.

I give her credit for the plan she came up with.If I didn't turn up and ruin things she'd be sleeping in Jacques' bed now, but I can bet any money he wouldn't have told her shit.That plan of hers was sketchy as hell and there's no way she would have thought about what she was going to do after he bought her.

She was going to wing it. I already know she would have gone through with the whole ordeal even if she came up with nothing because she loved her parents that much.She would have tried anything she could to find out why they were murdered.

Desperation did that to her.

Desperate was how she looked on stage when she took her clothes off and that's the moment that motherfucker placed his bid on her.He saw she was desperate too.

I know he wants her. The prick wants her bad, and I'm furious as fuck about it.He's not going to like that he didn't get to have her.But that's the least of his worries.

I think it's time Jacques Belmont and I have a little chat, man to man.I'm not going to sit here another night hacking something I know I won't find.The information I seek is not going to be anywhere online.

I'm going to do the thing Candace knew she would have to do and ask him about Richard Fenmoir.It's just going to be different coming from me.

I'll ask him, and he better pray that twenty million was a mere business transaction for one of his services, or his ass is not joining the Syndicate.

My phone starts vibrating on the desk.I answer straight away when I see it’s Aiden.He would only call me if he found something.