Sebring

  I stared up at him, lips parted, frozen in disbelief.

  This went on for too long and I knew that when Tommy clipped out, “You wanna snap out of it?”

  “You get me?” I asked.

  He moved away half a step and tossed both hands up in exasperation. “Fuck, Liv, what do you think I’ve been eatin’ shit for the last six years?”

  I could not believe this.

  “Your wife is pregnant,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, and when I dump the bitch, the kid’ll still be mine. He’ll be raised half the time by you and me, which might suck, but kids deal with that shit all the time. He’ll be good.”

  I could not believe this!

  “When you dump the bitch?” I asked.

  “Liv, I’m in love,” he pointed a finger less than an inch from my face, “with you. We’re gonna make kids. You’re gonna do whatever you do at David’s office. I’m gonna run Georgia’s crew. And it’s all gonna be the way we wanted it to be.”

  “If it’s all gonna be the way we wanted it to be, Tommy, how is my cousin pregnant?”

  He shrugged.

  Yes.

  Shrugged.

  Then he explained, “It took Georgia longer than she expected. I kept ridin’ her ass. She told me she’d deliver. I saw the fruits of her labors, they came slow, but I saw them so I trusted her. In the meantime, your dad kept givin’ me a load of shit for not knockin’ up my wife. The bitch I got at home was also givin’ me shit. To shut them down, keep a lid on it, make them think I was still cowed and to give Georgia time to do what she needed to do, I knocked her up.”

  Was I once in love with this man?

  “Tommy,” I started for reasons I didn’t know due to the fact this conversation was moot. Regardless of what he thought, there was no him and me. “You’ll remember the way we wanted things to be was not being involved in this life.”

  “Babe, love you in a bikini on a Jet Ski. Love you in a bikini anytime. But you start havin’ my babies, the bikini will be out and you’ll have kids to take care of, so the Jet Ski will be out too. That was us bein’ young and stupid. This,” he pointed to the floor, “is our life.”

  “It isn’t my life,” I told him. “Or at least I don’t want it to be, Tommy, and you know that.”

  “It isn’t yours,” he agreed. “You’re right. But it’s mine. It’ll put food on our table. It’ll keep us with the family. You do what you gotta do, babe. You leave the rest to me.”

  I held his gaze as I stated softly, “I cannot believe you’re saying these things to me.”

  He shook his head in annoyance. “I can’t believe you can’t believe it, Liv. Fuck. You’re the love of my goddamned life.”

  “Did you think of sharing that sometime in the past six years?” I asked.

  “I did every time I looked at you,” he answered tersely.

  This was, I had to admit, true.

  “Perhaps you could have used your words,” I suggested. “And/or my sister using hers.”

  “The less people in the know with that, the better. And she was worried. Worried you couldn’t keep your shit together. You’re sensitive. Shit bothers you. You wanted out of stuff, she was diggin’ in deeper. We had to keep you in the dark. She saw that shit happen to you and me, she and Gill were gettin’ it on, they were tight, things were intense, she knew your dad would shut that down with them. Took her a long fuckin’ time, but she got it sorted. For her and Gill and for you and me.”

  All of this, all of it, was a surprise to me. My father, my sister, my ex-lover, none of them thought enough of me, my thoughts, wants, needs, even to discuss my own damned future with me.

  That didn’t matter.

  It was too late and Tommy needed to know that.

  “I’m with Nick now and—”

  “Right, Nick,” he interrupted me, spitting out Nick’s name furiously. “That’s a pile a’ shit you created, Liv. Now Georgia’s gonna have to deal with him and do it slick ’cause if he’s not dealt with right, that brother of his is gonna lose his mind, drag Sloan into it and Denver will be at war. We’re buildin’ up, we don’t need that kind of hassle.”

  Unease started creeping.

  “Georgia hardly has to—” I began, only to get cut off again.

  “Babe, you don’t know, you would have totally fuckin’ lost it, Georgia fuckin’ lost it when she found out and that was when her plans went into hyperdrive. But when your dad got messed up in that human trafficking shit, it was not pretty.”

  He’d been saying so much to me I couldn’t believe, I’d forgotten he’d said those words previously.

  And I’d forgotten I’d heard them before.

  Now I focused on them.

  “What human trafficking shit?” I asked.

  “The human trafficking shit the Feds were all over. Hawk Delgado was all over. It was so hot, only a moron would get near it. Plus, human trafficking? What the fuck? The guy won’t deal meth because it’s a poor man’s drug, but he’ll sell a human being?”

  He didn’t expect an answer.

  He kept spewing hideous words.

  “Georgia nearly screwed everything after your dad ordered Gill to whack Nick and his Fed girlfriend…”

  My lungs started burning.

  “…and now she knows Sebring is biding his time for revenge. Fuck, we just found out he had bugs all over this fuckin’ warehouse and they been here a long time, Liv. Fuckin’ years he’s been listenin’ to everything that’s gone down here. Every-fuckin’-thing. Who knows the shit he’s got on us? We just know it could fuck us, all of us, including you.”

  Nick had been listening.

  For years.

  Tommy didn’t see he was lacerating me with each word out of his mouth, he kept talking.

  “Georgia doesn’t know he used you as an in to get to your dad and Gill. And it sucks we gotta tell her that part. She needs to have to deal with the Sebrings while axing your dad outta the business like she needs a hole in the head. But the guy’s a threat and he’s gotta be dealt with.”

  “His Fed girlfriend?” I whispered.

  “His Fed girlfriend,” Tommy confirmed. “Nick’s brother and his buds got him out before Gill did him. But now Gill’s got that hanging over his head. You kill a Fed, you’re fucked. He shoulda done Sebring first. He didn’t. He did her right in front of Sebring. A witness living and breathing and building an army right here in Denver. Sebring’s been holdin’ that card awhile. Georgia and Gill were gonna be done with livin’ under that cloud eventually. Maybe sooner is better than later.”

  “Gill killed Nick Sebring’s girlfriend,” I stated and Tommy finally focused on me rather than vomiting words at me.

  “Gill killed Nick Sebring’s Fed girlfriend,” he confirmed. “Man was an informant, Liv. A CI. You know how those brothers are about women. Human trafficking is not gonna happen in Denver if either of them can do shit about it. Nick went in. Got tight with this girl. Your dad was desperate. He had partners putting on pressure. The House of Shade needed something. He tried to pull that shit off, got wind Nick was a CI and the girl was undercover, he made the order. Sebring’s fucking you to get to your family. He even owns that club where Harry takes you to watch people go at each other. Silent partner, him and his brother. Harry needs money and I need information so I give him money and Harry finds out a lot of shit. He found that out when he caught Nick and a bunch of his boys on your ass, watching you. And Sebring’s been watchin’ you for years, Liv. Fuckin’ years. Since that shit went down with his girl. He bought that club, my guess, he was done watchin’, ready to roll, sole purpose of the buy to make an opening to get to the only weak link in the House of Shade. That weak link bein’ you.”

  His face twisted with jealousy before he finished.

  “And he got that right because he got you.”

  Nick owned the club.

  Nick had been watching me.

  Nick had been watching me for years.

  Nick had been listen
ing for years.

  Listening to everything.

  Nick had been a confidential informant for the FBI.

  Nick had a girlfriend that Gill had whacked.

  Nick had a girlfriend that Gill had whacked on my father’s order.

  Nick.

  My Nick.

  No.

  Not my Nick.

  He’d never been my Nick.

  Not ever.

  I looked away from Tommy, murmuring, “I need to get ice on my face.”

  His voice changed, went low, sweet, and he got close again when he replied, “Yeah, you do. You want me to get it for you, baby?”

  Baby.

  Tears started to flood my eyes but I took a deep breath to hold them back.

  I shook my head, “No, I just want to go home.”

  “Take you, Liv.”

  I looked back to him. “I need some time alone, Tommy.”

  He studied me a moment. It was a long moment, too long. Long enough to make me fear I’d lose it, and I did not want to lose it, not there. Not close to Georgia and Dad. Not in front of Tommy.

  Thankfully, he nodded.

  “Give you tonight, Liv. Tomorrow, honey, we gotta talk.”

  I was not talking to Tommy.

  I didn’t know what I was doing, right then, the next second, the next day, the rest of my life.

  All I knew was what I needed and that was that I had to get out of there.

  To do that, I nodded to Tommy and moved around him.

  I was halfway to the door when Tommy asked, “Babe, you gonna at least give me a hug or something?”

  I again looked to him. I was losing my fight to control the tears. I knew this when I felt them start to spill over.

  “Liv, baby,” he whispered, making a move toward me.

  I took a quick step back, lifting a hand. “Don’t. Please.”

  He stopped.

  “I need some time,” I repeated.

  There was a hesitation before he replied, “Okay, Liv. You got tonight. Yeah?”

  I nodded.

  “We’ll talk tomorrow. Sort shit out,” he declared.

  I nodded again.

  “We been waiting a long time but now’s our time. It’s finally our time. Okay?” he asked.

  I made no verbal or non-verbal reply. I didn’t have it in me. I just kept looking at him.

  “Love you, baby. Always loved you,” he said gently.

  Maybe he did love me. It just wasn’t the kind of love I needed.

  I knew the kind of love I needed. I’d tasted it.

  It was sweet.

  So, so sweet.

  Ambrosia.

  Even if it was a lie.

  “Talk to you tomorrow, honey,” Tommy said. “Now go home, get some ice on your face. You want me, call me. I’m there.”

  I nodded yet again then moved as quickly as I could in my tight skirt and heels, pulling my bag I’d completely forgotten I had and somehow held on to throughout it all down my arm.

  I got out my keys.

  I got out of the warehouse.

  I got into my car.

  I shoved my sunglasses on my nose, the throb in my face and sting in my wrist completely unnoticed seeing as I was more focused on the ice that was forming around my heart.

  I reversed out of my spot.

  On my way home, I looked in the rearview mirror once, seeing who I knew (but had never met) was one of Nick’s men trailing me. Trailing me like he’d probably done often over the years. He wasn’t obvious, but I saw him.

  I didn’t see Harry but now I knew he could be back there.

  He’d played me.

  God, I didn’t even have Harry, such as he was, a reminder of a golden time when I still hoped. When I still had it in me to believe.

  Now I’d learned. Definitely learned.

  Gold didn’t exist. It was all fake and tarnished.

  My phone rang. I looked to the dash to see it was Nick.

  That ice crawled up my throat, frost crackling and spreading.

  I ignored it as well as the strange coolness of the tears sliding unnoticed down my cheeks.

  My phone stopped ringing but it did chirp with a text.

  It would do this repeatedly for some time.

  But I kept ignoring it.

  I was too busy.

  Too busy reminding myself.

  Too busy reminding myself never, not ever, not ever again to forget.

  There was no Brightside.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Dark

  Nick

  11:49 – That Same Day

  Tweaked and pissed off that he knew Olivia left that fucking warehouse, made it home, but didn’t return a single call or text, on his way to her house to check on her, he ignored Knight’s first call.

  Tweaked and pissed, Olivia not communicating, the second one coming from Knight five minutes later, he took.

  “I got shit happening, brother. Something I need to know?” he asked as greeting.

  “Late last night, anonymous tip came in. The body of Drake Nair was discovered early this morning in a shallow grave that is absolutely not the Shade MO but absolutely is exactly where the tipster said it would be. The cops got their search warrant, they hit the Shade warehouse. Found what they figure is the murder weapon right in Vincent Shade’s desk drawer, residue of blood spatter on his carpet. Shade has been arrested. CSI team went in. My guess, more evidence is gonna rack up.”

  Shit.

  Shit!

  “Georgia is makin’ her move,” Nick guessed.

  “So it’s not you,” Knight replied.

  “No it’s not me,” Nick bit out. “I made that move you think I’d do it without tellin’ you?”

  “I hoped not. Good to know I hoped right.”

  Nick couldn’t let that annoy him. He had more important things on his mind.

  “Olivia was called to the warehouse this morning. She left, went home and in between she is not taking my calls or returning my texts. Your sources who gave you all that shit, they say anything about my girl?”

  “No word breathed about Olivia or Georgia or any of the Shade crew, outside Vincent.”

  “You know, Knight,” Nick said.

  Knight knew. And what he knew was that Olivia was there when that shit went down. She was a witness to her father shooting Drake Nair. A witness that didn’t come forward. Murder covered up, that made her an accomplice.

  She was vulnerable.

  “Not a word, Nick. Nothin’ about Olivia,” Knight assured him.

  “Sylvie and Creed findin’ anything for me with the Feds?”

  “Nothin’. All clear. So fishy it smells bad, it’s so clear. This includes them not seein’ any link from the Feds to the Shades. Georgia picked a solid crew, none of them are stupid, none of them are fuckups. Not like the dad. It’s a new dawn for the House of Shade. She played the long game and cleaned up along the way. Though, she tied shit tight, Sylvie and Creed have heard Valenzuela is not pleased with Georgia’s recent activities. He was amusing himself with her, thinking she was a joke like her father. Her getting her feet under her, he’s not amused anymore.”

  “Shit, shit, fuck,” Nick muttered.

  “Shit’s hot, brother,” Knight told him something he knew but he did it quietly.

  “I don’t know what’s goin’ down, I just know whatever goes down from here on out might need to be fast, Knight. Lightning speed. You got my back on that?” Nick asked.

  “Don’t piss me off with stupid questions,” Knight answered.

  Nick drew in a breath and let it go, parking in the first spot he found close to Olivia’s house, a parallel job one door down.

  “I’m at her pad, gotta go.”

  “You need me, I’m here and I’ll put out the alert in case we need to break a sound barrier.”

  Nick wanted to be amused.

  He was too worried to be amused.

  “Gotcha. Thanks.”

  “It’s gonna be okay, Nick. If i
t isn’t right now, we’ll make it that way,” Knight told him as Nick knifed out of his car.

  That felt good. Having Knight at his back, that felt good.

  But he didn’t have a good feeling about this. Liv knew he wanted her communicating. He reached out, she knew to reach back. Her non-response was more than a little troubling.

  “Thanks, brother, I’ll check in soon.”

  “Right. Later.”

  They disconnected and Nick tore his eyes from Liv’s house when he heard his name called.

  He looked to the car where Jed was sitting across the street.

  “Stay or go?” Jed called his question.

  “Stay,” Nick called back. “And get another man here. Eyes everywhere. Anyone approaches this house, they’re stopped and I’m notified.”

  Jed nodded and closed his window.

  Not giving a shit, the jig was up because, with shit going down at the House of Shade, he was not going to let Olivia out of his sight, he walked right up to her house.

  He tried his key.

  It didn’t work on the front door.

  He rang. He knocked.

  She didn’t answer.

  He turned and looked to Jed who was now leaning against the door outside his car.

  Jed pointed at her house with a sharp upward jerk of his chin.

  She was in there.

  Why didn’t she open the goddamned door?

  He called her and got voicemail again.

  “I’m out front, Liv. Open the fuckin’ door,” he growled into the phone.

  He disconnected and then he texted that same message to her.

  He hit the doorbell.

  He knocked.

  No answer.

  Fuck!

  He moved around the side of the house, found a foothold in order to jump the five foot tall fence and prowled to a set of French doors that led to the pool. He tried his key.

  His temper cooled considerably when it worked.

  He opened the door and moved into her space.

  Then he moved through her space, going where he thought she’d likely be, the front great room.