Bad Boy's Touch (Firemen in Love Book 3) (31 page)

Inside, there were voices: a man's and a woman. It sounded too much like Madison for comfort.

“We're not selling a thing, especially not to you,” I informed him. “Sorry. Suggest you pack up your thugs and leave. We got bigger problems tonight.”

“I think you don't understand me.” He came closer. “I ain't looking to buy. Gimme all of it or I'll gut you like a fish.”

I laughed at him. “If you think we're just going to hand it over –”

“Yeah, I do. And after you almost got me arrested by that bitch cop, I figured you owe me big time. Not to mention humiliating me in front of my gang.”

“To be fair, that one was all your fault. If you were a better fighter, it would have been you on top.”

Just as Rico readied to charge at us, knife raised, the door burst open. Out came Harvey with his gun drawn.

“Well, looky here,” he muttered. “We got ourselves a circus of criminal scum, ripe for the arresting. Looks like I'll be due for a second promotion after this.”

Rico dropped his weapon in shock. His boys turned to flee, but a warning shot from Harvey stopped them.

Great. Every cop in the building had to have heard that.

“Man, it's not what it looks like,” Rico protested. “They're the ones holding the coke, not us.”

“I think I'll take my chances and nab you anyway. You do have several warrants out, after all, especially after that stunt you pulled at the club.” He turned in our direction. “Let's see what we got here. Silver? Madison will be very displeased to see you're dealing drugs.”

“It ain't him you want,” Charlie growled. “It's me, you fat sack of shit.”

Upon hearing that voice, Harvey went pale. He turned to him, gun shaking in his hands.

“N-no, it can't be you,” he mumbled. “You're supposed to be gone.”

He laughed. “Gone? You mean rotting in a Mexican jail? Sorry, 'amigo,' but I've served my sentence and now I came back for
you.
”

Years of pent-up rage came forth as he strode toward Harvey, unafraid of the gun pointed at his chest. I tried to stop him – Maddie would be livid if I got her brother killed – but he would have none of it.

“You planted those drugs to frame me, didn't you? Yeah, it was so easy for you. Just snap your fingers and I was gone.”

Harvey managed to compose himself. “Yeah, I did,” he snapped.

“What I wanna know is why.”

“Why? Because.” His face fell and eyes watered. “Because you helped kill my son.”

It was suddenly so quiet you could hear the crickets chirping – but not for long. Madison burst outside and pulled out the pistol she'd hidden in her handbag.

“What in the hell is...”

Then she saw me. Our eyes met. And the look of disappointment on her gorgeous face broke my heart like nothing had before.

Rico raised his hand. “Uh, can we go now, piggy? I got a date with some hot slut in ten minutes, and I ain't got time for your
telenovela
drama.”

“Shut up,” Harvey wailed, thrusting the gun at him. “Steven died because of the drugs you sold him. If it weren't for me, you would have gotten away with it free and clear.”

“Dude, I didn't mean to kill him! C'mon, I was just a dumb sixteen-year old then. I just fell in with the wrong people and was trying to make some money.”

“There's no excuse for what you've done. You, and all the other bastards who had a hand in his death.” He gazed at the pavement. “No, it wasn't just a simple death. It was murder. You
killed
my boy.”

Madison lowered her weapon and boldly approached him. When he saw her, he appeared to become even sadder.

“Harvey, there's something I have to know,” she said softly. “Is it true? Our house was burned down those eighteen years ago. Was it... you?”

He didn't answer right away. Nobody dared move, or even speak. He was a loose cannon with a gun – not a good combination.

“What would you have done,” he muttered, “if someone took your kid away from you? I couldn't just let that go.”

Her face was a picture of pain. After all this time, she'd finally learned the truth. The man she worked with and trusted had betrayed her.

I longed to comfort her, but she'd just push me away. I was too stupid, too dangerous, to deserve even that much.

“Why'd you go through all that trouble?” Charlie shouted. “Why did you have to destroy our entire home? You could have killed my family, you son of a bitch. They had nothing to do with your son. You should have left them alone!”

“There's a difference, see, in shooting a guy in the head and letting nature do the job for you.” He twirled his gun around and stared down the barrel. “The former is... messy. Obvious. Easy to prove that somebody, quite obviously, wanted the victim dead.”

I'd always known this dude was ready to snap. At this point, I
wished
the cops inside would come rushing out to save us.

“But fire is hands-off. The flames wipe away whatever they touch. It's so easy, yet so hard to connect the dots.”

“So you put my family at risk just to get to me. Just because you were too much of a chicken-shit to come directly to me.”

Charlie was shaking. I had to hold onto him so he wouldn't go rushing after Harvey, which would only earn him a bullet in his chest.

“Wait a minute,” Madison added. “All the fires lately were somehow related to drug sales or production. That, plus Victor trying to convince me there was no arsonist... And covering it up by throwing an innocent man under the bus.”

I'd had an inkling Harvey was in on it this whole time. Now, I realized just
how
in on it he really was.

“It was you.
You're
the arsonist.”

At that moment we were surrounded on all sides by a slew of police. They had their guns drawn, and for a moment I felt relief. Finally, this was over. They'd haul Harvey in and Madison would get that justice she so very much wanted.

Harvey kept his cool. “Thank goodness you guys showed up. I walked out to my car and stumbled right into the middle of a gang-related drug deal.”

One of the FBI agents, a clean-cut fellow with icy blue eyes, watched the scene from the back. He said nothing, and made no move to apprehend anyone.

“You got it wrong, 'cuz,” Rico whined. “I'm the victim here. I was just driving by when this fool begged me to buy from him.”

Of course, this party wouldn't be complete without Victor. He stormed into the alley looking mighty pissed.

“What's all this racket? You're ruining what was supposed to be a nice dinner.” Then his gaze fell on us, and his eyes widened. “Rico and friends. Brett Silver. Quite the catch.”

“The backpack,” one of the cops yelled. “What's in it?”

Uh-oh.

Harvey grabbed the bag from Charlie and emptied the contents on the ground. Out tumbled the bags of coke.

The police whispered and murmured among themselves. They probably hadn't seen so much drugs in one place in their lives.

Victor gloated as if he'd hit the jackpot. Several cops nabbed Rico and his men and pushed them into the back of a cop car.

Harvey grabbed Charlie and cuffed him roughly. Despite his wail of pain, Harvey just laughed.

“I didn't get you in the fire. Couldn't keep you locked up,” he said quietly. “Now, though, you'll be going away for a long time. Justice is at last served.”

“Why don't you tell everyone what you told us, huh?” Charlie kicked and struggled, then yelled for all to hear. “This is the guy you want! He's the one been burning buildings down.”

Harvey shoved him into his cruiser so hard he hit his head on the door. Why were the other cops and even the FBI just standing there? Why wasn't anyone
doing
anything?

“Officer,” Victor said to Madison, pointing at me. “Arrest that man.”

She frowned, then pulled my hands behind my back and slapped the cuffs on. It was even more humiliating than the first time I'd been in this spot.

“Maddie, I didn't do anything wrong,” I whispered. “You know that, don't you? We were just trying to help.”

She said nothing as she put me in the car with her brother. That hurt most of all.

“Okay, boys. Let's get them down to the station for processing,” Harvey said, waving to the officers.

Something small and plastic fell out of his sleeve, bouncing noisily across the pavement. The object stopped when it rolled up to Victor's feet.

His brow furrowed, he carefully picked the thing up. “Officer,” he said, “What is this?”

I couldn't see it, but Harvey suddenly seemed very nervous. He fumbled with his gun and almost dropped it sliding it back into its holster.

“I, uh, found it in Silver's pocket,” he said quickly. “Thought maybe it was important.”

One of the cops had “Bomb Squad” on his shirt. He took a look at the device.

“Looks like a remote trigger for detonation, sir.”

Victor, for once, was speechless. Then he pocketed the device and waved Harvey away.

“Get them out of here. We'll have plenty to talk about once we return to the station.”

I was so startled I couldn't even feel anger for him blaming that on me. Harvey had a trigger, which meant... He was planning to blow something up.

This just got way worse than a few fires. That, my boys at the department could handle. But a bomb?

I gazed at Madison through the filmy glass as we drove away. She wouldn't look me in the eye anymore.

“Sorry, man,” Charlie said, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “We tried.”

And now I'd lost everything – including the one woman in the world I could love.

Chapter 23 - Madison

I'd thought about it long and hard. I was going to give Brett a chance. Living life without him in it felt so empty and lonely. He was a bad boy – but, I decided, good for me.

And now he was in jail.

“A whole kilo of cocaine,” said one officer to another in the evidence room. “Nice haul. There's so much; you don't think they'll notice if we skim some off the top?”

“Nah. Long as Victor gets his, he doesn't care if a bit goes missing here and there.”

I should have been infuriated that my co-workers were up to no good, but I wasn't surprised anymore. Far as I knew, this police department was corrupt to the core.

But what
were
they doing with those drugs? Where the hell did they get them from? Maybe Brett's vices went deeper and darker than I wanted to admit.

“They should have stuck with the plan,” murmured Jenna. She sat on the edge of my desk, the sparkle gone from her eyes.

I hugged her, not knowing what else to say or do. The revelation that Harvey had destroyed our childhood home stunned us both into some kind of stupor.

Worse was that he would remain a cop, protected by Victor's hand. The two of them had vanished into his office when we returned, and hadn't come back out since.

“Charlie just got out of prison, and now he's already back in it,” Jenna added. “I feel so bad for him. Life's dealt him one shitty hand after another.”

Everyone around me was celebrating about how they'd finally bagged Rico and the huge drug deal they had broken up. The energy in the room was electric, yet it felt as if a cloud of hopelessness hung over my head.

“Mad, we've got to
do
something.”

“What, Jenna?” I glared. “What can we do? It's over. Victor and Harvey have won.”

She gave me a challenging stare. “I can't believe you're saying that. When the fire happened and we lost it all, it felt like our world was over. Charlie ran away, and then dad couldn't take it anymore and abandoned us. It was just you, me, and mom. Remember?”

“I would rather not.”

“Mom and I were distraught. It was you, though, who tried to keep our spirits up. You encouraged me, told me things would get better.” She held my hand and sniffled. “You believed we'd make it through the nightmare together – then did whatever it took to make that happen.”

“That was different,” I muttered. “This is beyond you or me. We don't have the power to do anything. I used to believe a good cop could change the world. Not anymore.”

In Victor's office, the two men had begun arguing so loudly I could hear muffled shouts through the walls. I felt so defeated, though, that it barely mattered. What was the point in caring? All that had done was got me buried in this hole.

Jenna wasn't accepting my pitiable protests.

“Charlie's our brother; we can't just leave him in there. And do you have feelings for Brett, or don't you?”

When I thought of him locked in that cell like an animal, it made me sad and pissed off at the same time. Yeah, he'd gotten himself into the mess. He was packing a ton of coke in that backpack. As a cop, I should have left him to his fate.

But as a woman, I couldn't.

“We need to get them out of there.”

I laughed. “This isn't a movie.”