Deadly Promises (Tracers #2.5)(26)

Jeremy would give the feds enough to draw their attention away from CeCe to buy her time to get in touch with her brother.

He’d fall on the blade for her as an apology for what she hadn’t known about him. Everyone he’d been arrested with had thrown him to the wolves at one time or another so he was used to being the scapegoat. He wouldn’t blame her for turning her back on him and agreeing to anything that would get her out of here since he knew full well Special Agent Denton had told CeCe about his prison record by now.

That this trumped-up charge might land him back in prison.

But she’d give him a chance to explain, right?

He had more problems to deal with first. He thought he’d planned ahead for a worst-case scenario by keeping several text messages in his cell phone draft file. When he’d walked to the bedroom to get a shirt while the agents had waited in his living room, he’d sent a text to Blade to come down and bond him out as soon as he got booked to avoid contacting BAD.

That was before Denton made it clear Jeremy would have a better chance of winning the lottery than being turned loose. Once Jeremy could get a new message to Blade, he’d tell him to forget the bond, to pick up CeCe’s fiberglass base out of Jeremy’s garage, repair it, and return the base to her.

The more he thought on it, CeCe probably wouldn’t want to see his face again. The picture of her disgust would gut him worse than mere anger. He couldn’t dwell on that right now with no idea what they were going to throw at him.

Denton entered, flipping the door wide with a bang. “You’re free to go.” He wasn’t happy about it.

Jeremy sat up. “What?”

“Your hearing bad?”

“Who sprung me?”

Denton scowled. “Your girlfriend’s attorney. Guess it pays to be connected.”

“Connected?” Jeremy didn’t want to blow a chance to walk out free without having to involve BAD, but this just did not happen to him. “What are you talking about?”

The look Denton gave him was ripe with impatience. “Vincent DeMitri of the Ontario DeMitris. Cecelia’s stepbrother, your squeeze’s family? Any of that ring a bell?”

Slamming Jeremy in his solar plexus with a baseball bat would have been an easier blow to take. He’d heard of the DeMitris.

CeCe was part of a criminal organization?

“One more thing, Sunn,” Denton said. “If I find out she does have the photo memory card we’re looking for, you’ll both be facing an indictment.”

What memory card? Jeremy would ask, but Denton had dropped that little bomb for a reason, so he gave the FBI agent no response.

CeCe hadn’t thrown him to the feds. She’d used her contacts to free him, but she was related to a racketeering family that had been entrenched in Ontario for decades. Jeremy knew a few things about the DeMitri bunch that had surfaced on a couple of investigations over five years ago.

He needed some time to figure out what the hell was going on before he contacted BAD. Joe and his codirector, Tee, took care of their agents and would send help if he called, but Jeremy didn’t want to pull them into his personal problems and he wanted answers before he faced anyone from BAD.

BAD would eventually hear about this and that the FBI had found a member of the DeMitri family at Jeremy’s house half dressed early in the morning.

CeCe wasn’t going anywhere until he got answers.

ALL CECE COULD do was put one foot in front of the other and keep pace with Vinny’s long stride toward the exit. Anger boiled off him like an invisible steam. She understood. More than being angry about the mess she was in, Vinny felt as though he’d failed her. He’d been all business the minute he walked into the interrogation room. She’d had to admit he was damn good at what he did.

She’d just never expected to need his services.

Vinny stepped ahead of her and opened the glass doors. She followed him into a gloomy overcast day that matched her mood.

Ten paces down the walkway she heard, “CeCe, wait up.”

Vinny stiffened next to her, but she’d made a decision last night to stop letting everyone tell her how to live. Her family was going to have to accept her decisions, just as Jeremy would have to.

And she had to take responsibility for anything she did.

CeCe put a hand on Vinny’s arm. “I need to talk to him.” She turned around to find Jeremy closing in on her. She’d expected anger, but the disappointment ringing his gaze struck her harder than anger ever could have.

A strong breeze lifted the hem of her jacket, which she smoothed back in place. She’d run home and changed to a conservative pants suit before leaving with the FBI agents. Squaring her shoulders, she walked away from Vinny to meet Jeremy halfway.

“We need to talk,” Jeremy started.

“No, I need to go pack up my house and move.” She stood her ground, struggling not to give credit to the pain in his eyes. She’d changed her mind about asking Jeremy anything after walking out of the interrogation room. There was nothing he could say that would magically fix all this. Instead, she pointed out, “I asked you about your past.”

Jeremy shook his head and released a snort of disbelief. “You’re condemning me for having a record when you’re a member of the DeMitri family?”

At that barked reply, Vinny pounded up next to CeCe who glared at him. “As her attorney, I’m advising her not to talk to you.”