His Father

That took an interesting turn.

“Definite old lady material,” Stone mutters and his anger slowly dissipates as he takes in Tempest’s appearance. “Where the fuck are her shoes?”

“They arrested her without them and turned over the house.”

“Why they take her?” His anger is back but for a different reason this time.

“Because they’re dicks. Why else?”

“Fuck.” Stone pushes his hair back and shakes his head. “This shit is getting too hot.”

“Whatever this is, if you think they’re not listening in right now you’re both idiots,” Tempest snaps. “And for the record, I have fuck all to do with it. Whatever it is.”

We both look at her and then at each other. I wince because she’s right and he looks around, his nose high as he tries to peer through the dark shrubbery that surrounds my property.

“Mr. Wolf.” Feinstein leaves the house and strides to us, his face a grim mask. “All of that priceless art work, they’ve trashed it. I will nail them.”

“Dirty fucking cops,” Stone grumbles and returns to his bike. “I want a name, Wolf. So will the Russian whore. If she wasn’t coming before, she is now.”

He clips on his helmet, winks at Tempest, and then the bike roars to life.

“Call me when you’re ready to talk.”

We wait for him to disappear before climbing into the car. I call my people, all of them, and demand they find Maddox. If I don’t get to him before Stone and Nastya do, we are fucked. They will kill him for this.

I’ve never been so terrified before.

It distracts me from what the fuck I’m going to tell Cassius. He’ll never forgive me either.

“Whatever it is,” Tempest says softly during the ride to the hotel. She places her hand on my thigh and rests her head on my shoulder. “It’ll work out. You’ll fix it.”

My arm goes around her shoulders and I hold her and accept the comfort she’s offering. It helps but only a little, but a little is better than nothing.

Tempest

I can’t sleep, neither can Sargent. He keeps calling Maddox, and every time there’s no answer, I see his panic rise. Even I don’t know where he could be at this point.

I hope he’s safe.

“Are you sure he hasn’t been arrested?” I ask, chewing on the nail bed of my thumb.

“Yes, Feinstein assured me he hasn’t been taken in.”

“I want to know, but then I also don’t,” I say softly. “How bad is it?”

The look he gives me makes me cringe. I want to demand answers as to why this is happening but I can’t. It would only implicate me. Whatever he’s into is his thing and I want no part of it.

But I can’t just be blind to everything. I need to know what it is he’s a part of.

“You’re not trafficking women, are you?” I blurt and his lips part.

“That’s the first worst thing you think of when you look at me?”

“You don’t think of women much beyond their vaginas.”

He doesn’t reply for a long time and I fear the worst. “It’s not women, I’d never…” Now I feel awful for asking.

“You can tell me, if you want to. I’m listening.”

His eyes shine with an unfathomable look. I wonder if it’s vulnerability laced with regret but it’s fleeting and I’m too burdened by my own emotions to try and pick his apart. “No judgment?”

“No judgment.”

He blows out a long and heavy sigh.

“My ex-wife has always been adventurous with heavy drugs. She dabbled and sometimes so did I. We were stupid and thought it would be okay.” His throat bobs as he gulps, trying to find the courage to go on. “I stopped when Maddox was conceived, she couldn’t. I didn’t realize how far she’d fallen. I got cocky and busy starting up the company with Cassius. We were making money but not enough to get to where we needed to be. My ex-wife’s ties with a local drug dealer helped get the money to front my company, so long as I paid them twenty percent of my personal earnings.”

“Shit,” I mutter, not liking where this is heading.

“Nobody knows, not even Cassius.”

And he’s telling me? Does that mean he trusts me or does he really need it off his chest?

“When business took off a few years later, Yaroslava, literally the fucking leader of the Russian mafia, decided to take Maddox.”

Every single part of me tenses. My heart thuds against my ribs.

“Does Maddox know?”

“He was four, I doubt he remembers, I’ve never asked as he was unharmed and was covered in ice cream and cake crumbs when he was returned. Yaroslava was simply showing me how easy it would be for him to take my family from me before he made a proposition that changed everything.” His hands fist and his jaw clenches. “I’d already paid him back what I borrowed and more through our twenty percent, but now…”