Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (26 page)

Emma cut him off. “Dante can stay here with Steele. He may not be up for it.”

“I’m going,” the man said from the doorway.

The whole room of people glanced over.

He was standing there in the doorway, and he was shaved, dressed, and he looked a little better.

Well, better than a corpse. He was in no way his old self, but it was a start.

“Steele, you don’t have to go,” Emma said, walking toward him. When she was close, he hugged her.

“I want to go. I know what they’re saying about me. I want to face it.”

She walked with him to the island. “You look a little thin, Steele. We need to get some food into you. What are you in the mood for?”

Dante watched Emma mother him. It made him love her even more. He was so glad his brother found her. She made their family complete.

“I don’t care, Emma. I don’t have a huge appetite anymore.”

Paris rolled over. “Can I see your wrist?”

He held it out and Paris checked his pulse. “You’re doing better.”

Steele was feeling better.

These people surrounding him did that.

Sleeping in the arms of the man he loved helped so much.

“I feel better,” he admitted.

“Great! Then let’s work on getting your weight back on you,” Emma stated.

“Okay,” he said, taking some coffee from Dante.

“I will make you a really amazing breakfast,” she said, cooking him a waffle.

Emma then grabbed a pint of chocolate ice cream and scooped it on top, covered it with whipped cream and then chocolate syrup.

When she put it down in front of him, he actually smiled. “That’s a pretty awesome breakfast.”

Greyson pointed at it.

“How come he gets that, and I have to eat a salad for lunch?”

“Because he’s my favorite.”

Curtis sputtered. “See? This is so damn wrong I don’t know where to even start! I’m giving you a grandchild. Where’s the love, Mom? Where’s the damn love?”

Steele began eating it.

“Okay, this is pretty awesome,” the man said, forking up some whipped cream.

When Dante tried to taste it, Emma smacked his hand. “Cholesterol runs in the family. You’ll be him in ten years.”

“Holy shit! Who broke Emma?” he asked.

She found him amusing.

“I really do want to go tonight, but I have to figure out what to do with my eye,” he said, honestly.

They all knew he would be worried about that.

“I have a solution,” Dimitri said, from his place against the wall.

They all looked over.

“I picked it up when he was hurt, and I didn’t get to give it to him.” Dimitri went to his laptop case on the floor and pulled it out. Crossing to him, he held it in his hand.

It was an eyepatch.

Steele took it and held it.

At first, they weren’t sure what he was going to say, do, or feel.

Then he put it on.

“Thank you. I like it. Do I look all sexy and pirate-y?” he asked.

“Argh, you do, matey,” Dante teased.

Emma smiled at Dimitri. “You get ice cream on a waffle too. You’re my next favorite.”

He found that amusing.

“I don’t like the mutiny on this ship,” Greyson said. “Someone’s booty is going to be in trouble.”

She snorted.

“How about we talk about work before we head out?” Emma suggested. “We have to split up.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Greyson said. “We’re taking the pimp, and you get the gay lover. I never thought I’d be saying both of those things in one sentence, but there you go. The times are a changing.”

Emma laughed.

He was a funny man. Even more so, since he thought he was going to get the final chuckle by giving her the easier interview.

Oh, her Croft-y husband was in for a rude awakening.

“Well, I need to take someone.” She checked out the people in the room.

Curtis.

Tessa.

Chris.

Oh, this would stop his giggles.

“I’m taking Chris.”

Greyson began choking on his coffee. He hadn’t seen that one coming. In fact, he’d made sure she got the safe part of the interview. With Chris, she’d be a target too.

“Emma.”

“Oh well. You did choose first. It’s not my fault you didn’t plan ahead, Greyson.”

“Yes, someone’s booty is going to be really sore.”

Curtis pushed his plate away.

Emma blew her husband a kiss. “Curtis, what do we have on the victims. Do we have the full autopsy reports?” she asked.

“We don’t have anything that’s going to make an ex-detective happy,” he offered. “They’re full of holes.”

Great.

“What do we have?” she asked.

“Basically, you have the bottom line on how they died, but nothing more. There’s no tox, no trace reports, and nothing to give us a direction.”

“Who are the victims?” Steele asked, eating his waffle. Every now and then, he’d feed some to Dante when Emma wasn’t looking.

“The women who were supposedly killed by Seth Bell,” Curtis answered.

He chewed as he thought about it. “Sallie Mae Patton, Ayla Keith, Glenda Mateo, Norma Hatch, and Daniella McPherson?” he asked.

They all stared at him.

“What?” he asked.

“How did you know their names?” Greyson asked.

“It happened right when I was starting to work for the LVPD. I was new, working under Lawrence Filmore,” he stated. “It was one of my first jobs. You don’t forget your firsts.”

“He was a dick,” Chris stated. “If you thought Doctor Hanlon the shrew was a pain, he was ten times worse.”

“Agreed,” Steele offered. “I wasn’t allowed to sign off on my own cases for a year. When he retired, I was able to take over. I did those autopsies.”

“Really?” Emma asked.

“If he’s serious, I’m going to kiss him,” Greyson stated.

Steele laughed when Dante stared at his brother in horror.

“You’re not kissing Steele. Emma can kiss him. You’ll have to watch.”

Emma loved her family. They were a never-ending source of amusement. “You realize that sounded so much more sleazy, right?”

“Yeah, after it came out.”

“I can tell you what you need to know. As for trace reports, I have them at home.”

Again, they stared.

“What?”

“I kept a copy of every case I worked that first year. They’re on a zip drive. I wanted to be able to study them when I was called into court.”

“Did you testify?” Chris asked.

“No, Doctor Filmore was the one. Remember? He used to showboat on the stand and got off on it.”

Yeah, Chris did recall.

“If you go to my place, there’s a drawer in my desk with all my zip drives. It’ll be marked for that year. You’ll find everything on there.”

Emma moved around the island and kissed him.

Dante protested.

“What? You said I could kiss him.”

“Not with tongue!” Dante teased.

Greyson objected. “Hey! Come on! I’m in the room! At least wait until I leave.”

Steele started laughing.

“I missed you guys.”

Yeah, they missed him too.

“If you get them, I’ll help you out. I think I can handle looking at the files. I don’t think I can go back to handling dead bodies—especially ones who were buried like I was.”

They all got quiet.

Dante took his hand in his. “You don’t have to go back. You can stay right here.”

“I have to go back to work, Dante. It’s how I support myself. You know…my career.”

“You can stay home. You can come to work with me and help out there. I have a million things to do. I can use a sexy desk buddy,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Dante.”

He could see Paris watching him. He nodded.

“Okay, here’s the plan. Do you trust me?”

“Absolutely. I trust everyone in this room. You’re my family. I love all of you.”

“Do you trust me with the final decision?”

“Yes.”

“Terrific. Here’s the master plan. You’re going to plan a wedding. We’re getting married here in the gardens like we planned. That’s your new job.”

He stared at him.

“Dante.”

“No, Steele. It’s my turn to lead, remember? You trust me. Let me make these decisions.”

Kat spoke up. She’d been quiet the whole time. “You can help me plan our wedding, Steele. I don’t have a clue how to do it.”

He wanted to feel trapped and rushed, so he could back out, but he didn’t. Instead, he felt safe. Leaning over, he kissed Dante on the mouth. “Okay. I’ll let you lead. I know you won’t let me fall.”

“We can sell your place and stay here.”

He stared at him. “Okay, that’s jumping fast. I said lead—not fall off the cliff.”

Dante shrugged. “Let’s take a vote. Where is it safest for us to live?”

Dimitri didn’t hesitate. “Here. Everyone has to be here. With the police corrupt and the commissioner gunning for everyone, we’re all going to be roommates.”

Emma snorted. “I can’t wait for the tabloids to get their hands on this one next.”

They were aware.

Steele knew he was outvoted, so he sighed. “Katerina, I’ll help you plan your wedding too. It looks like we’re going to be busy.”

“Can I be a bridesmaid?” asked Nat, standing in the doorway.

Emma watched Chris’s head nearly spin off his shoulders at the sound of her voice.

Yeah, it hadn’t been just the drugs that day in the hospital. Chris Ford had a crush on a beautiful woman.

It did her heart good.

Kat laughed. “Of course.”

“I was talking to Steele.”

He grinned. “I’d like that, Natasha.”

She came in and grabbed some breakfast. As she passed her brother, she tossed him the keys. “They’re ready to go. The cameras are retrofitted, they’ll pick up the slightest whisper, and if anyone screws with a driver, we’ve got them.”

That was exactly what Dimitri wanted.

“What do you have planned?” Greyson asked.

Oh, a lot.

After hearing that recording from Chris Ford, he knew they were going to have to up their game.

While he didn’t doubt Commissioner Raye would lay low until he could plan the perfect strike, he wanted to make sure they were safe.

“Each vehicle now has a camera. If someone comes near you, or say a cop tries to pull you over, they’re going to be recorded.”

“And that will do what?” Emma said.

“It will give me their face, and we can trace them back to the commissioner. If he wants to send out his lackeys, then I can make sure we let them know we have their game out planned. No cop is going to want Greyson Croft on his ass. We are, after all, the mob.”

He grinned ferally.

The man had a point.

Natasha sat beside Chris, and Emma thought he was going to pass out from the red flush moving up his neck.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

She was going to bust his ass something fierce later when they were alone.

Christopher Ford liked a woman.

This was priceless.

“It’ll also give us a direct visual on what’s happening to any of the family. We can use GPS to get to you fast if we need to, and get you out.”

That part, Greyson really liked.

“Works for me,” Emma said. “Ready to head out?” she asked. “Team, get digging. I need some more names. Today is a short day, but we’re going to hit the ground running tomorrow.”

Tessa sat in Paris’s lap, and he rolled them toward the living room so they could do some searches.

Curtis and Kat headed out, holding each other’s hands.

When they were gone, Steele cleared his throat. “Can I say something?”

They let him speak.

“I really appreciate all of you,” he said. “When I left, I know you each tried to find a way to reach me, but I was too damaged to see that my family loved me. You’re the only ones I have in life and I won’t ever forget what you’ve done for me.”

Dante and Greyson exchanged looks. They knew about his brother, but they’d yet to tell him.

It wasn’t time.

“Emma, thank you for finding me. I know now that I didn’t want to die. That would have been the worst thing for me. I’m going to be okay.”

She took his face in her hands. “You’re going to be a Croft soon. Take Dante’s name, and let us give you the family you need. Let us have your back, Steele. We won’t ever let you down.”

He was aware.

Steele glanced over at Dante. He was curious.