A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(35)

My aunt killed a man.

“Your men, on your orders, hid a dead body today. They did it fast and easy, and it’s very obvious they’ve done this before. You help with your family’s business. Am I wrong?”

I hadn’t arrested her. I hadn’t called it in.

I looked, seeing his jaw clenched. “At times, yes,” he clipped out.

“Illegal activities? That way of helping?”

Another jaw clench. “Not all the time.”

Right.

“Doing what I do, life is right or wrong. You’re either wrong, or you’re right. There’s no middle ground.” I took a breath. “Having said that, I do not want to ever know about what you do for your family. I cannot know. Do you get me?”

His eyes were blazing at me. “You just asked.”

I had.

I didn’t care. Shit was swirling in my head. Impending doom and shame were right behind it, going through me, filling me up, and I wished for a second, just a second, that I would shatter that glass.

Just for one second.

“My dad is dead.” I wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t know. “My brother was convicted for killing him. My mom’s a drunk, and because of her illness, she’s burned all her bridges with her family. That aunt is the first relative I’ve met in twenty years. I’ve had a few relationships during my life—most were just sexual. I’m twenty-nine years old, and during all of that serious shit, I loved being a parole officer. Which is surprising because it’s almost a joke now. New mission statements, new focus so even if a parolee violates, he’s given a new resource as a reward. Some rehabilitate. Most don’t, but they’re out there, and you can only hope they don’t hurt someone before they violate enough to go back in. Even with all of that frustration, I still loved my job. I loved the community, my coworkers, but today, all of that could be taken from me. The integrity I had, that was taken.” He hadn’t moved an inch since I started talking. “I don’t blame you, but I’m not an idiot. You guys were there for a reason. I’m aware my aunt’s abuser worked at a large shipping facility. But I don’t want to know why you were there, and I don’t need to know the reason. There’s no half-in and half-out. You’re not half of a criminal. You are a criminal, and today, I became one too.”

His eyes grew fierce, sparking from the emotion. He started for me. “I’m not going to speak about my family. The line is real fucking clear that you won’t be told anything, nor would the fuck I want to include you on anything. Instead, I’m going to give you a choice. It’s something you can offer to your aunt. We’ll help her disappear. Her and the kids. We’ll set them up in a new life, with money, assets. We’ll get her a job. We’ll make sure her family is healing and is starting to thrive before we pull our guys from watching her. I’m offering you that, for them, but also for you.”

“Why?” I grated out, my throat feeling so dry that there could’ve been cracks inside.

“Because you’re not the only one cursed here.” He took another step toward me. “And despite your derision, I still want to fuck the shit out of you. And because of that, because I can’t get you out of my head, instead, I’m trying to do something right for you.”

“What are you expecting in return?”

“Nothing.” He held both of his hands up, palms my way. “Jesus.”

“His disappearance will be noted.”

“It’s already handled. I won’t tell you the details, but we have a lot of people on our payroll.”

“They’ll look for her.”

“No.” His tone was so sure. “They really won’t. It’ll be assumed she vanished with reason. No one will look for her, not unless it’s you.”

A knot was in my throat, swelling up. “It’s so easy for you to make entire lives disappear? Just like that?”

“It’s not. It takes money, intelligence, and planning. A lot of planning. A lot of money. Your aunt is another sad story, but this time, she’s going to disappear of her own volition, not at the hands of him. Not this time. That’s all.”

His phone beeped, and he read the text. “She’s already decided. They’ll be gone by tonight.”

I sucked in my breath, rocking back by how much power was in that last statement.

An entire family, wiped out by his hands.

I started shaking my head, a sick panic beginning to fill me up. “What are we doing here?”

His eyes lowered, fierce. “You know what we’re doing here.”

Sex.

My body heated, instantly, but no. I shoved that down.

“No,” I clipped out, shoving everything down. I was moving, going around him. “I’m leaving. This conversation is over.”

“Jess.”

He was going for my arm. I knew it and anticipated it, and a part of me wanted to let him touch me. Wanted to let him pull me in, because he could. The power he had over me was spiking all my blood in fear.

But I couldn’t. So because of that, I moved out of his way. “After this, we are done. Do you hear me?”

I went to the elevator and pushed the button. When it opened, I stepped in. Staring straight ahead, not seeing him, not anymore, I hit the button for the main lobby.