Dirty Money (Bad Money #2) (2 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Kate

The bar was finally opened again to the public, the fire that had effectively closed them down a week having been written off as part of the drug violence that swept the city. Kate sat at the bar, her fingers tapping softly along the worn-out wood. Marcus had left more than four hours ago and she hadn't heard a peep from him. Something about it nagged her.

Victor expected her to come, but she simply wasn't ready to face him yet. Power was sexy and seductive, leaving everyone breathless who stood at the epicenter of it. Victor Parence was powerful and scary as fuck.

Marcus's old drug lord, Seth, had left her and Marcus at a huge disadvantage. Not only had he put her life in danger multiple times before everything went down, but he caused Victor to think she was someone that she wasn't - at least not anymore.

Sadness seemed to be a constant companion each time she thought of Jon. The last time she saw him wasn't more than a few days ago, but he was different - distant. He wasn't going to be able to live in a world where evil won. The only reason she knew that she would survive it was simply because it had been a huge part of her past, a substantial part of her raising.

There had to be a way to get him out of the mix. Maybe Victor would simply allow Marcus and her to work for him and they could just ask Jon to turn a blind eye to them. He didn't need to be a rat on the force. They could get someone much better suited for the job to have it. Jon wouldn't even have to know about the new guy.

"But what about us?" Kate ran her fingers through her long hair and let out a painful sigh. There would be no "us" soon. He would realize that she had no choice but to become the monster she was destined to be. The trajectory of her life had been toward the coming darkness for as long as she could remember, but Marcus had worked to change it. It just wasn't meant to be. She and Marcus would forever be locked in a life they didn't choose, Marcus wanting it and her hating every minute of it. Jon didn't have to though. He was a good guy and always had been. She would negotiate him being released.

Kate stood and turned at the sound of a knock on the door behind her. Her phone buzzed in her pocket as she walked toward it. Pulling it out, she let out a long sigh. Marcus had finally let her know that he left Victor's an hour or so ago and the bastard was headed her way.

It had to be him at the door, but maybe not.

"Please God, not." She pressed the button beside the large bolt that held everyone out. "We're not open until eight. Come back then."

"Katelyn. Let me in."

She shivered as chill bumps broke out along her skin. The last thing she should do was let him in and yet she didn't really have an option. For a moment she considered telling him to go to the back door so she didn't have to deal with the levels of protection that would have to be pulled back at the front of the club. Victor just didn't seem like the type of man who appreciated being told what to do in any situation.

Kate began to work on the locks before pressing her code on the panel next to the door to shut the alarm system down. She glanced down at her jeans and tank top and almost regretted not looking more put together. She would have to curse Marcus later for not texting her the minute he left Victor’s. A little heads up would be nice.

Victor stood in the brightly lit street, his sunglasses only seeming to bring out the tanned hue of his skin. His white button down shirt tucked into his slacks, which fit him beautifully. If he wasn't a monster he would be stunning. Kate had yet to place his age and nationality yet. He could be a lot of things, but the less she knew about him, the better off she was.

"Morning, boss," she spoke with authority, the sarcasm woven through her words.

His smile caused her stomach to tighten and she turned away, pushing the door closed as he walked in.

"Partner, Katelyn. Partners." He turned and slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks. Must have been something I ate yesterday." She nodded toward the back of the club. "Let's go to my office and we can talk there."

"Sure. Whatever you like." He moved toward the back as Kate walked quietly beside him. The need to continue the conversation died inside of her. There was no need to placate him or come up with something silly or trivial to keep them chatting. He was more than comfortable with who he was and what his desires were. She had no clue of either anymore.

Having spent the last twenty years of her life trying hard to push away anyone who even began to promise love or kindness, she was lost after meeting Jon. He promised both and came through on neither. She knew he was struggling, but she was too. He was supposed to rescue her, to offer her this great relationship she could see in his eyes, but at the first sign of trouble he had turned away - running fast and hard, and leaving her to fight alone.

Kate opened the door at the back of the club and moved into the darkness as Victor spoke.

"What is the security code for the front door?"

"Twelve forty-six." Kate moved into her office, flipping on the light and walking around her desk to try and put something in between them.

"Any significance to the number?"

"No. It's just a number. I'm not a sentimental type of woman."

"So I gather." He pulled off his sunglasses and set them on the desk before taking a seat in front of her. "The code for the office?"

"Same."

"You should change it. If someone were to get into the front, they would be in your office within minutes."

"I'll look into it." Kate crossed her arms over her chest.

His voice was almost caring, but the devil never did come as evil incarnate. He always showed up as a savior with a kind smile and a seductive voice. Jon would pass well for the position too.

"You'll change them while I'm here." Victor leaned forward, reaching across the desk and brushing his fingers along a picture of her in front of the club. The smile on her face in the photo was genuine - one of the only times in her life where goodness reigned. "You're my future. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You're putting a lot of faith into someone you barely know, Mr. Parence." Kate slid her arm away from him and clasped her hands in her lap.

"It's Victor and I know far more than you think I do, Katelyn."

"It's Kate. I would appreciate you respecting my space too. I'm not a touchy feely kind of person." Kate pulled her arms back up and locked them around her.

Something about the villain in front of her made her skin crawl. She wanted to get up and run until the warmth of the sun covered her and yet there was a part of her soul that still craved the darkness. It was the power of getting lost in its hold, of never knowing if you would make it out unscathed because of its vast power. It was thrilling and horribly frightening. It was Victor.

"I think that once our relationship blossoms to its full potential you'll almost come to crave my touch, Kate." Victor stood and pressed his hands to the desk.

Kate stood as well, wanting to make sure he knew that she wasn't a docile flower that was going to bend beneath his power. She was grateful for Marcus pulling her out, but she was quite capable of handling her own. She leaned toward him menacingly and let her gaze move across him. Would she come to crave his touch? Something about wanting to know felt forbidden, tainted, taboo.

"Business partners share many things,
Mr. Parence
, but the best of them never cross the line. You and I are going to usher in a new era right here in the heart of sin city, but that's all we're going to do. I didn't send Marcus this morning because you scare me or because I'm not capable of handling your wayward demands on my own."

"No?" He stood and moved slowly around the desk.

Kate stiffened before forcing herself to relax. Many times in the past she had found herself in the presence of various monsters. This one would be no different. The fear that pulsed through her had everything to do with drowning in his powerful gaze and nothing else. He was beautiful and quite deadly. Victor Parence was a man that had yet to be told no. She planned on changing that.

"No." She slid her hands into her jeans as he moved closer, stopping only a foot from her. She glanced up at him and relaxed her shoulders subtly.

"Then I apologize. I thought perhaps you realized the potential and it scared you, frightened you to the core of your being." He took another step and Kate held her position, the tall drug lord almost pressed to the front of her.

He scared her in the apartment a week ago when he and his lackey had come to teach her a lesson. He was overwhelming, but the only way to make it through the new deal they had stuck between the two of them was to push each chance she got and hope like hell it would be enough to keep him at bay.

"You thought wrong. You do nothing at all for me. I showed you respect for the position you hold when we first met. Don't over-exaggerate where we are headed. You've called me out of a peaceful life and back into the fray. I'm not anything other than ready."

He hovered there for a minute, breathing in deeply before taking a step back, his lips lifting into a sardonic smile. "Good. I want you ready. Work hard to continue pushing against me, Kate. I like breaking a fighter more than anything else."

"Why are you here tonight? You have fifteen minutes before I'm meeting with my staff to start the night's laundry list of chores before we open."

"I wanted to see you, face to face. I felt the need to let you know that it's not me you need to fear. It's what's to come."

"I fear nothing."

He chuckled and moved back around the desk, his smile only making him more handsome. "I fear desolation. I fear having an empire that rules the darkest corners of the world and never having anyone to share it with. I fear the need that pulses inside my stomach when I think about how good it's going to feel to break you."

Kate swallowed hard and tried to calm her nerves. He was only trying to get her worked up and it was working. She wasn't sure if being overwhelmed by the monster and wanting to know the depths of his fear made her a bigger one than him.

How long would it take for her to resort back to the woman she was before?

The one who was willing to do anything for power - even kill.

CHAPTER FOUR

Jon

Jon took the first seat he could find at the bar before pushing the other barstools away. He needed a little bit of room to look through the file without those around him checking out the contents. The information on Kate was hard to get a hold of and not that anyone else would be looking for it, but his paranoia was getting the best of him. He had been one of the good guys too long to enjoy the feelings of guilt that clung to him. He had used the file manager's feelings toward him to check out the file while showing no record of doing so.

He had to know about the woman he was currently willing to give everything up for. Who was she really and why did he sense that pushing their relationship to the next level was the worst thing he could do? Maybe he was reading her wrong. Maybe she wasn't as into him as he wanted her to be. Kate was guarded. She protected her heart at all costs from what he could tell. She had let him in a little, but not much. Sex seemed to be the key - almost as if physical touch was the language she best understood. Jon shuddered at the thought of Victor, or even Marcus, touching her intimately now that he had. Could he stomach that?

"Fuck no," he grumbled and glanced up as the bartender stopped in front of him. It was an older man with a cheeky grin and a rather cheerful disposition.

"What'll it be for you, son?"

"Jack and coke, double please." Jon glanced back down at the file, opening it as the bartender moved away, whistling a tune Jon knew, but couldn't place. He would need to get through the information on Kate before the liquor took its hold on him. Otherwise he wouldn't get through it. It had been a long time since he'd drank to simply escape.

Sitting at the top of the large stack of papers that made up the file was a picture of Kate. It was the one he'd first seen when he and Seth had begun to look into her. That file was a condensed version of this one, a need to know only version. This one held everything from her days of criminal activity.

"It's about to get thicker," Jon mumbled as the glass of liquor was set down in front of him.

"Enjoy. Want me to start you a tab?"

"Sure do." Jon glanced up and took the drink, lifting it to his lips and tensing at the thought of getting blitzed in a bar in the middle of the day. His need to drown himself in liquor was a place he never wanted to visit again and yet here he was.

He took a long drink and set it down, enjoying far too much how badly the liquor burnt his throat and chest. He tugged at the clips at the top of the file and pulled the picture of Kate off the top, lifting it toward his face. Dark circles sat beneath her eyes, her expression rather deadpan. Even in the midst of tragedy, she looked gorgeous. The need to save her roared to life again and Jon put the picture down, not needing any more fueling the fire inside of him where the woman was concerned.

He moved quickly through the various facts containing her height and weight, eye color and birth information. He didn't care about her family past or where she grew up. The goal was to understand better what type of criminal mind he was falling in love with. Was she simply a bystander that got wrapped up with the wrong crowd, or was she another Seth?

Had she fooled him like his partner had? It was highly likely, and the thing that would hurt the most. He had no faith in himself after watching Seth turn the tables on him so easily. If he didn't believe in himself, why the hell would he believe in her?

She had almost seemed willing and ready to join Victor the last time he saw her. True colors or simply resignation to what was coming her way? She couldn't stop the bastard so why not man up and join him?

Jon pulled off a handful of papers, leaving them to lay on top of the picture as he leaned over and scanned the next part of the file, the information exactly what he was looking for. She had been brought in on two counts of possession and one attempted murder. The file labeled her as the right hand of Billy Turner, which wasn't too surprising. He was the drug lord that Seth had worked diligently to bring into the station. The man was a piece of shit and a scary one at that. Marcus and Victor had nothing on this guy, and somehow Jon's preppy-ass partner had busted him.

The picture began to clear up more and more though. Seth wasn't anything he said he was. No wonder he had access to Billy. He was part of his entourage as well. Which meant that he knew Kate...

Heat rolled over Jon as he tried to push through the buzz the liquor afforded. He needed to figure out what it all meant. Kate had never seen Seth, or at least not while Jon was around, so maybe he had her as fooled as he had Jon about everything? Or maybe Kate was well aware of who Seth was. Maybe she was helping him.

The file included the details of the drug busts Kate got wrapped up in, but nothing on the attempted murder. Jon flipped through the file once more and then again. His mind moving frantically through the details of what he had, trying to piece together anything that might bring him to a clearer conclusion. Was she who she said she was?

Did she need a savior? Someone to bring her out of the darkness and love her into being the good woman she was capable of being, or was she as nefarious as Seth? One thing was for certain - she knew Seth. Why had she acted differently in the old warehouse when they came face to face?

Something didn't add up. He needed the rest of the file. Who the fuck had it? Either way, she was hiding something. The thought made him less willing to drop everything he had worked so hard for in order to bring her into his life, into his world. A leopard couldn't change his spots, but Jon was trying and had been for so long. He was almost there. Almost to the point of convincing himself that he was one of the good guys.

He couldn't do this. Turning his life around years ago meant putting his most depraved desires to rest and never looking back. Kate was the exact replica of those things. The need to have her burned like fire along his insides, but left him in full awareness. He wasn't going to live the life that she was being forced to live. He needed to offer her the option of running with him or he would simply have to get out.

Crime and death weren't a choice for him. He refused to be anything but one of the good guys. He had to prove himself good and right and true. If he had been more convinced of that earlier in life, Adam wouldn't have followed after his ways and would still be alive.

If he had been better as a kid his father wouldn't have died and would still be around to take care of his mother. His mother wouldn't be lost in false religion and uncaring as she was. It was all his fault. He lived a life that beckoned death and disease to follow, and it had. There wasn't much left to lose, but what little he had - he couldn't fathom giving up.

Jon finished his drink, ordered another one and texted Marcus. He couldn't talk to Kate just yet... she would dissolve his willingness to walk away. Just one look at her and he would be sucked back under.

Jon:
Count me out of this new lifestyle, Marcus. I can't do this shit. I wasn't built for it. Tell Kate.

Marcus
: Fuck you. Where are you?

Jon:
Feebers at the edge of town. I get it. It's whatever.

Marcus:
It doesn't work like that, Jon. Stay where you are. I'll be there shortly
.

Jon scoffed and slipped the phone back into his pocket. Of course it didn't work like that. The good guys never won. They never got the chance to redeem themselves. His mother's voice filled his ears as he closed his eyes and pressed his hands to his face.

"Once a criminal, always a criminal."

She was right... he would never be good again. It was a shame he couldn't force himself to stop trying.

Jon glanced up as Marcus sat down beside him, the large thug looking more like a drug dealer than ever. His dark blue button up shirt fit snugly across his massive chest, matching his black slacks and dress shoes perfectly. It was his bald head and the tear drop tattoo under his right eye that labeled him something to keep away from.

Marcus didn't speak until the bartender stopped in front of them both. "I'll have what he's having and bring him another. I'll drive his ass home."

"Sounds good, son." The bartender smiled and patted Jon's arm. "Is it woman troubles or woman troubles?"

Marcus chuckled and shook his head. "It's always woman troubles."

Jon picked up his glass and threw back the remnants of his third drink. The liquor hadn't seemed to help numb the fear that everything was about to shift for the worst. How long had he been looking for love? Too long. Kate was the perfect girl for him, but her past screamed of everything he hated about himself. It would come back to haunt them forever... it already had.

"What the fuck is up with you? This about Adam or Kate?"

"It's about living someone else's life." Jon glanced toward Marcus. "I don't want this shit. I'm a cop, Marcus. I know you don't get it, but my whole purpose in life is to take down the bad guys. Now I'm being forced to become one."

Marcus glanced toward him, his expression softening a little. "I get it. Kate went through the same thing a few years ago. The night we met she said something similar. It's the reason I helped to pull her out of it."

"Yeah, some good that shit did." Jon rolled his shoulders and let out a long breath.

"It did lots of good, but sadly enough, my own greed threw her into another cycle of it. If I would have just followed my gut, I would have never hired your brother and this shit would be someone else's problem. Seth offered me a substantial bonus to take on Adam as a protégé." Marcus shrugged as Jon turned his full attention to the behemoth beside him. "I never would have thought it was a fucking set up. I didn't give that bastard nearly the credit I should have."

"I didn't either." Jon reached for the drink the bartender offered and drank of its promises deeply. "I don't want to fall in love with Kate. She's not at all the type of woman I want birthing my kids or to grow old with. It just doesn't seem her style."

"She's exactly the type of woman I want for all of those things and more." Marcus looked down at his glass as Jon watched him.

Thinking about Kate with anyone caused a sense of angst to lift inside of Jon, but something about Marcus made it less of an anger and more of a nausea. Marcus was Kate's savior, the one who had gone into hell and drug her back out. He was the kind of man who would do anything for the beautiful girl...

But I would too... right?